Honda in Forza Horizon 6

Country: Japan | Founded: 1948

So frankly, Two cars that shouldn't be in the same brand. The Civic Type R at PI 780 is front-wheel drive, turbocharged, and built for hot hatch practicality. The NSX-R at PI 720 is mid-engine, naturally aspirated, and hand-assembled with input from Ayrton Senna himself. One is a daily driver with a giant wing. One is a 90s supercar that changed the industry. They share a badge and absolutely nothing else.

And yet Honda in FH6 works because both cars represent the same philosophy from opposite directions: lightweight engineering over brute force. Honda doesn't do big displacement. And Honda doesn't do superchargers. Honda does revs, chassis tuning, and the relentless pursuit of making less weight do more work. The Civic and NSX-R are 30 years apart, one is FF and one is MR, but both ask the same question: what if we made it lighter instead of more powerful? I've put serious laps into both and the answer is different for each car, which is exactly what makes this two-car lineup more interesting than brands with twice the roster.

So two cars, A class, front-wheel drive and mid-engine. No overlap. No filler. Just two very different visions of what a Honda sports car can be.

Available Vehicles

A 60 PI gap separates these two, with the Civic sitting higher at 780 and the NSX-R below at 720. The PI numbers don't tell the real story , these cars are closer in actual lap time than the rating suggests.

The current Honda lineup gives you A class representation from two completely different engineering eras and drivetrain layouts. Playground Games could expand this through seasonal content , an S2000 or an Integra Type R would fit perfectly , but even as a two-car brand Honda delivers genuine variety that bigger rosters sometimes lack.

Driving Characteristics

So the Civic Type R is the best front-wheel-drive car in FH6 and it's not that close. The secret is the dual-axis front suspension that Honda engineered specifically to kill torque steer. In the real car this system separates the steering knuckle from the damper so steering forces and suspension forces don't fight each other. FH6 models the effect through reduced understeer under power , the front end pulls straighter on corner exit than any other FF car in the game. You can in reality put power down with the wheel turned and the car goes where you point it instead of washing wide. This is not normal for front-wheel drive and once you experience it, every other FF car feels broken.

But it's still front-wheel drive. The rear end goes wherever the front end drags it and there's no amount of tuning that can give you rotation from the rear axle. The Civic turns by gripping, not by sliding. Corner entry requires trail braking to get the nose pointed at the apex and if you miss your braking point by more than a few meters the understeer punishes you instantly. The car rewards precision and line discipline. It's a momentum car in the purest sense , carry speed through the corner because you won't make it up on exit with 315 horsepower in a 1,400-kilo chassis. The power-to-weight ratio is good for A class but not dominant. What makes the Civic fast is how much speed it carries through corners, not how hard it accelerates out of them.

And the NSX-R is the opposite in every way that matters. Mid-engine. Rear-wheel drive. Naturally aspirated V6 that revs to 8,000 RPM and makes about 280 horsepower in a car that weighs just 1,230 kilograms. That's less than a modern Toyota Corolla. The power figures look weak on paper and truly they kind of are , 720 PI is low for A class and you'll get walked on straights by cars with 100 more horsepower. But the NSX-R doesn't win on power. It wins on cornering speed and chassis communication. The aluminum monocoque is so stiff that every surface change comes through the steering wheel like a conversation. You know exactly how much grip is left at every moment and that information lets you push closer to the limit than most drivers in most cars are willing to go.

So the mid-engine layout gives the NSX-R rotation that the Civic can only dream about. Lift off mid-corner and the rear comes around naturally. Trail brake into a hairpin and the car rotates to the apex without any steering input beyond the initial turn. It's intuitive in a way that front-wheel drive never is. But the low power means you pay for every mistake. Lose 5 mph through a corner and you're not getting it back on the next straight. The NSX-R demands consistency and rewards it. One clean lap in this car feels better than five clean laps in anything else at this PI because the car talks to you the whole time and you in reality listen.

But the power band difference is everything. The Civic's turbo K20 builds torque from 2,500 RPM and pulls hard through the mid-range. Short-shifting at 6,500 RPM is in reality faster than revving to redline because the turbo runs out of breath up top. The NSX-R's C30A is the opposite , torque below 5,000 RPM is modest and the real work happens between 6,000 and 8,000 RPM where the VTEC cam profile kicks in and the engine note changes from humming to screaming. You need to rev the NSX-R. Every gear, every corner exit, keep it above 6,000 RPM or you're leaving lap time on the table. The Civic rewards mid-range discipline. The NSX-R rewards commitment to the redline. Completely different engines, completely different driving techniques.

And tire compound on both cars: soft for technical circuits, medium for mixed tracks, hard for highway runs. The Civic gains about 0.3 seconds on soft tires around Guanajuato. The NSX-R gains about 0.5 seconds because its light weight makes the compound difference more dramatic , less mass means the tires have less work to do and the grip improvement is proportionally larger. On both cars the compound choice matters more than most people realize. Pick the compound for the track, not the car.

Best Events

And the Civic Type R belongs on technical circuits, or something, and all that. Road racing with tight corners, elevation changes, and sections that punish big heavy cars. Guanajuato is the Civic's playground , the constant direction changes and short straights hide the car's straight-line weakness and showcase its cornering advantage. Mountain Pass works well too because the elevation changes reward the Civic's chassis composure. Coastal Highway is the Civic's worst track. Long straights expose the power deficit and no amount of cornering speed can close the gap that cars with 100 more horsepower open on the highway section.

So the NSX-R is a circuit specialist. Any track with medium to high-speed corners where you can carry momentum. The Guanajuato circuit, Mountain Pass technical sections, and the tight backroads of the map all favor the NSX-R's lightweight chassis and mid-engine rotation. Street scene events are viable for both cars because traffic checks create exactly the kind of start-stop rhythm where Honda's cornering advantage matters. The Civic gains more from street scene because its turbo torque helps with the stop-start nature of weaving through AI traffic.

But both cars can handle light dirt sections but neither is an off-road vehicle. The Civic's FWD means dirt just produces understeer in every corner. And the NSX-R's low ride height means you'll bottom out on anything rougher than a gravel road. If you want to set up a Honda for dirt, the Civic with rally suspension is the better choice , at least the front-wheel drive is predictable on loose surfaces , but truly neither car was designed for this and the results reflect that.

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Tuning Guide

And honda tuning splits into two fundamentally different approaches because the cars are fundamentally different machines. The Civic needs help with rotation and corner exit grip. The NSX-R needs help with power delivery and straight-line speed. Here's what works for each.

Tire Pressure

And civic Type R: drop 2 PSI all around for technical circuits. The front tires in particular need the extra contact patch because they're doing all the work , steering, braking, and power delivery go through the same two contact patches. Bump up 1 PSI for highway circuits. NSX-R: drop 2 PSI front, drop 3 PSI rear. The rear tires need slightly more pressure drop because the mid-engine weight distribution already gives the rear good traction and a bit more sidewall flex helps the car rotate under trail braking. Counter-intuitive but confirmed by back-to-back lap testing on Guanajuato.

Suspension

And civic: soften front springs by 10 percent, leave rear springs at stock. The front needs compliance for turn-in bite and bump absorption in braking zones. Stiffen the rear anti-roll bar by two clicks. This is the Civic's most important suspension change , it shifts the balance toward oversteer and gives the rear end just enough rotation to help the front tires through corners. Without this change the Civic understeers relentlessly. With it, the car in reality feels like it wants to turn. NSX-R: soften all springs by 10 percent. The stock setup is too stiff for FH6 roads and the car skips over bumps instead of absorbing them. Leave anti-roll bars at stock. The NSX-R's chassis balance is nearly perfect from the factory and messing with bar settings usually makes it worse, not better.

Differential

And civic: front differential acceleration lock at 65 percent, deceleration at 15 percent. The acceleration lock helps the front tires distribute power without spinning the inside wheel on corner exit. And the low decel lock preserves turn-in response because too much front decel lock creates understeer on entry and the Civic already has enough of that. NSX-R: RWD, 100 percent rear, acceleration lock at 50 percent, deceleration at 30 percent. The lower accel lock than most RWD cars because the NSX-R's light weight means it doesn't need as much lock to put power down effectively. The higher decel lock helps stabilize the rear under braking without killing the rotation that makes the car special.

Gearing

And civic: shorten final drive by 8 percent. And the stock ratios are reasonable for FH6 tracks but the Civic's relatively low power means you need every bit of acceleration you can get out of slow corners. NSX-R: shorten final drive by 12 percent. This is the single most important tuning change on the NSX-R. The stock ratios are absurdly long for a car with 280 horsepower , Honda geared it for 170 mph top speed when 150 is more realistic on FH6 tracks. Shortening the final drive transforms corner exit acceleration and the car stops feeling underpowered. On Guanajuato this change alone is worth over half a second per lap. Trust me on this. I've tested it. The stopwatch confirms it.

Brakes

And race brakes on both cars. The Civic carries more speed through corners than most A-class cars and needs the stopping power to match. And the NSX-R is light enough that stock brakes are adequate but race brakes let you brake deeper into corners and the NSX-R's entire advantage is cornering speed. Every meter of later braking translates directly to lap time. Handling mods first, weight reduction second, power third. Brakes in the handling category. Standard build order, standard results.

Rival Comparison

And the Civic Type R's natural rival is any A-class hot hatch. Compared to the VW Golf R the Civic has better front-end grip and carries more speed through corners. The Golf has AWD and better corner exit traction. Which one is faster depends on the track. Technical circuits favor the Civic. Circuits with slow hairpins leading onto long straights favor the Golf because AWD launch out of slow corners wins races. Neither car is clearly superior , they represent different philosophies and your driving style picks the winner.

So the NSX-R competes with mid-engine A-class cars like the Porsche Cayman variants and older Lotus models. The NSX-R has better chassis communication than anything in its bracket. You feel more through the wheel and that information translates to confidence. But the power deficit is real. A Cayman with similar PI will pull away on straights and the NSX-R driver has to make up that gap in the corners every single lap. The NSX-R is the driver's choice. It's not the fastest choice. Some tracks reward the cornering. Some tracks punish the power. Run both on the same circuit and let the stopwatch decide. PI ratings and forum opinions are noise.

Collection Guide

So two cars, both likely available through straightforward methods. Autoshow models are credits-only and simple. If either is wheelspin-exclusive, that's the bottleneck. No guaranteed pull method for wheelspin vehicles and chasing a specific car through random pulls is a great way to burn credits with nothing to show for it.

But the auction house is the smarter path for wheelspin-exclusive Hondas. Check on weekends when more players are active and listings spike. Prices usually dip when supply increases. Seasonal reward Hondas rotate on Playground Games' festival playlist schedule. When a Civic Type R or NSX-R appears as a reward, complete that week's challenges and secure the car immediately. Missing a rotation can mean months of waiting and I've seen rare Honda models disappear from the auction house for weeks at a time after a playlist rotation ends. Set a reminder. Don't skip the week. Two cars is an achievable collection. Just don't wait for the perfect moment because the perfect moment already passed while you were reading this.

Common Tuning Mistakes

But power mods on the NSX-R before gearing. This is the most common Honda tuning mistake and it's devastating because it wastes PI on mods that don't help. The NSX-R's problem isn't horsepower. It's that the stock gearing puts the power band in the wrong place for FH6 tracks. Shorten the final drive first. Then consider power. Adding 50 horsepower to a car that can't access its existing power band is just spending PI to make a problem worse. Gearing first on the NSX-R. Every time.

And tuning the Civic like a RWD car. The Civic is front-wheel drive and FF tuning has fundamentally different rules. Stiffening the rear suspension helps rotation on a RWD car but on the Civic it just makes the rear skip over bumps without improving turn-in. Front differential settings matter more on FF cars than on anything else because the front wheels do everything. Spend your tuning time on the front diff and the rear anti-roll bar. Those two settings control 90 percent of the Civic's handling behavior.

So weight reduction. The thing everyone skips and on Honda it's criminal because Honda's entire engineering philosophy is about weight reduction. The NSX-R already weighs 1,230 kilos. Cutting another 80 kilos makes it feel like a different car , the steering gets lighter, the braking distances shrink, and the corner entry response sharpens. The Civic gains less because it starts heavier but the principle holds. Dropping weight improves braking, cornering, and acceleration simultaneously. Adding power improves one of those three. The math isn't complicated. Handling mods first, weight reduction second, power dead last. Honda would approve.