Forza Horizon 6 DLC Explained: Premium Upgrade, Car Pass, Expansions

Forza Horizon 6 sells three editions and one add-on that matters more than the rest: the $59.99 Premium Upgrade, which bundles the VIP Membership, the Car Pass, three car packs and both Premium Expansions. If you expect to play the first expansion when it lands on 21 January 2027, the upgrade is the cheapest way in; if you only want the base game, nothing on the store is essential.

This guide is built on Playground Games' edition breakdown on forza.net (22 January 2026), its 8 October PS5 announcement, and the Steam listings for the game and its 33 add-ons, with US prices checked on 24 October 2026. It describes what each purchase contains and costs; none of it depends on playing the game.

What are the Forza Horizon 6 editions?

There are three editions on Xbox Series X|S and PC, and the same three are coming to PS5. The Premium Upgrade is not an edition but a path from Standard or Deluxe, or from Game Pass, to everything Premium contains.

Early access no longer matters on Xbox and PC, where the game has been out since 19 May 2026. On PS5 it still does: Standard and Deluxe unlock on 26 January 2027, Premium on 21 January.

What does the Premium Upgrade actually include?

The Premium Upgrade listing names six components, every one of which Steam also sells on its own. Here is each one, its standalone price and what the store says you get.

Bought piece by piece the six add-ons cost $119.94, almost exactly twice the upgrade. The VIP Membership is a one-off purchase that lasts for the life of the game, and every car in the packs is a one-time addition to your garage rather than a car you can claim repeatedly.

The pieces are not equally useful. The expansions are the only part that adds new places to drive; the car packs and Car Pass add cars to a game that already has more than 550; and VIP is aimed at players who race a lot, since its 2x Credit boost applies to race rewards. If you mostly cruise and take photos, the Credit boost matters less than the house and the three exclusive cars.

Is the Premium Upgrade worth it for you?

It depends on what you already own, and one case catches people out. Steam lists a single Premium Upgrade at a single price, with no cheaper version for Deluxe owners, so anyone on Deluxe pays again for a Welcome Pack and Car Pass they already have.

How does the Car Pass work, and is it still worth buying?

According to the Car Pass listing, it delivers 30 cars, one each week from 19 May 2026, and any Car Pass cars already released are added to your garage the moment you buy it. Playground has not published an end date; at one car a week with no gaps, the 30th would arrive in early December. Buying late therefore costs you nothing in cars.

The pass works out at about $1 a car. Steam also sells 23 single-car add-ons at $2.99 each, released weekly between 18 May and 22 October (the latest is the 1990 Eunos Cosmo). Their store pages do not say whether they are Car Pass cars, so do not assume the pass covers a specific car you have seen sold on its own.

What do we know about the Forza Horizon 6 expansions?

Very little beyond the date. Playground's 8 October post confirms the first Premium Expansion for 21 January 2027 on all platforms, included with Premium, the Premium Upgrade and the Expansions Bundle, and sold separately too. A free content update for every player is due alongside it, with details promised closer to release.

The Steam listings promise that each expansion adds a new location, new vehicles and new gameplay, and warn that the release dates shown there are placeholders. Expansion 2 is only "available at a later date". No location, theme or standalone price has been revealed, a silence Rock Paper Shotgun pointed out when the date was announced.

Does DLC carry over between Steam, Xbox and PS5?

Your progress does, your purchases do not. The PS5 version supports cross-play and cross-save with Xbox and Steam, and community creations such as EventLab races and liveries are shared from day one. But Playground's PS5 FAQ treats it as a separate purchase, and DLC has to be bought on each platform; our PS5 release date story covers the account-linking and PlayStation Plus requirements in full.

If you play on both PC and PS5, buy the add-ons on the platform you will use most. Every PS5 pre-order, whatever the edition, also adds a pre-tuned Ferrari J50 once you finish the prologue.

What isn't included in any edition?

The Treasure Map ($2.99) is absent from every edition list on forza.net. It reveals Bonus Boards, Barn Finds, Regional Mascots, Treasure Chests and Treasure Cars in the base game and in the expansions once they arrive, but not the seasonal collectables of the Festival Playlist. The 23 single cars at $2.99 are outside the editions too.

Worth remembering before you spend anything: the Festival Playlist keeps handing out free cars every week. From 22 to 29 October, 20 points unlock a 2004 Saleen S7, and 80 points earn the 2025 BMW M4 CS until 5 November, according to Playground's weekly Steam announcements.

So which should you buy?

Buying from scratch and planning to stick around for the expansions: Premium. Already on Standard or Game Pass: the Premium Upgrade, and there is no rush before January because the Car Pass back-fills everything released. On Deluxe: the upgrade is still the cheapest route, even though you pay twice for two items. Happy with Japan as it is: Standard, and let the Festival Playlist supply the cars.

For everything else on the game, including the PS5 launch and reviews, see our Forza Horizon 6 hub.