Mazda in Forza Horizon 6

Country: Japan | Founded: 1920 you get the idea.

Honestly, Tbh, Two MX-5 Miatas, you get the idea. Trust me on this. The lowest PI cars on a brand page you'll find on this entire wiki. A 2023 model at PI 650 in B class and a 2024 model at PI 490 in C class. And I'm going to say something that sounds insane: these might be the most fun cars in the entire game. Not the fastest. Not the most competitive. The most fun. There's a concept in car culture called "slow car fast," driving a low-powered car at its absolute limit, wringing every last bit of performance out of a chassis that's working as hard as it possibly can at speeds that won't put you in jail. The MX-5 is the definitive slow car fast experience and FH6's two Miatas might be the best realization of that concept in any racing game I've played.

The 2023 MX-5 at PI 650 is the fourth generation ND, 181 horsepower from a naturally aspirated 2.0-liter four-cylinder, rear-wheel drive, six-speed manual, weighing about 2,400 pounds. And the 2024 model at PI 490 is slightly updated with a new differential and steering calibration, rated at a mysteriously low PI for what is fundamentally the same car. And the PI difference between them is 160 points but the actual driving experience is much closer than that number suggests. Both cars share the same wheelbase, the same weight distribution, the same suspension philosophy. They reward the same driving style. Both teach you more about car control than any 1,000-horsepower hypercar ever will.

Here's the thing about the MX-5 that FH6 players who skip low-PI cars never learn: when you're not managing 800 horsepower and fighting aero wash and dealing with tires that cycle between hot and cold every three corners, you can actually focus on driving. Line choice. Brake point. Throttle application. Weight transfer. All the fundamentals that get buried under horsepower management in faster cars are front and center in the MX-5. Drive an MX-5 for a week and then hop into any S1 or S2 car. You will be faster. Not because the MX-5 made your car faster. Because the MX-5 made you a better driver.

Available Vehicles

Two generations of the same car, 160 PI apart, same philosophy. The 2024 model at PI 490 is one of the lowest-rated cars with a dedicated brand page on this site, and it's genuinely one of the best driving experiences in FH6.

Two MX-5s covering B and C class, both rear-wheel drive, both naturally aspirated, both weighing under 2,400 pounds. The 2024 model at PI 490 is one of the purest driving experiences in FH6, period. If Playground Games adds an RX-7 or RX-8 through seasonal content, the brand gets rotary options across higher classes. For now, the MX-5 twins teach you more about driving than any other two-car lineup in the game.

Driving Characteristics

The MX-5's chassis balance is the best in FH6. I'm not exaggerating. Front-mid engine with the motor behind the front axle, rear-wheel drive, 50/50 weight distribution, double-wishbone front suspension, multi-link rear. These are supercar suspension geometries on a car that costs less than a set of options on a Porsche. The result is a chassis that communicates more clearly than anything in the game. The front tires loading up on turn-in, you feel that. You feel the rear end settling under power. You feel the exact moment the tires are about to let go, and that moment arrives progressively, not suddenly. In most cars you're reacting to grip loss. In the MX-5 you're anticipating it because the car tells you it's coming two tenths before it happens.

Power is the obvious limitation and it's also the car's greatest strength. 181 horsepower in the 2023 model means you're flat-out everywhere. There's no corner in FH6 where the MX-5 needs brake modulation. You brake, you turn, you go back to full throttle, and you stay there until the next braking zone. This sounds boring on paper. In practice it's liberating. You never have to manage wheelspin. No need to short-shift to keep the tires hooked up. You never have to feather the throttle through a corner because the car physically cannot break traction in third gear and above. Every corner exit is a binary operation: point the car where you want it to go and floor it. The chassis does the rest. It's the most honest driving experience in FH6 because the car never lies to you about your inputs. If you're slow in an MX-5, it's your fault. Not the car's setup, not the tires, not the power curve. You.

The 2023 model at PI 650 versus the 2024 at PI 490 is a fascinating comparison because the cars feel nearly identical at legal speeds and diverge at the limit. The 2024 has a revised limited-slip differential and updated electric power steering calibration. In FH6 this translates to slightly sharper turn-in and more predictable breakaway at the rear. The 2023 feels marginally heavier in the steering and looser on corner exit. The differences are small, like half a tenth per corner small, but they exist and you feel them after enough seat time. And the PI gap of 160 points doesn't reflect any real-world performance difference. It's almost certainly a class-balancing decision by Playground Games. Don't let the PI number fool you. The 2024 MX-5 at PI 490 is not 160 PI worse than the 2023. It's maybe 20 PI worse. The rest is just class placement.

And the manual transmission deserves its own paragraph because it's one of the best in FH6. The shift action is short and mechanical. And the clutch engages progressively. But the revs drop quickly between gears. Downshifting with a heel-toe motion actually works the way it should, the throttle blip rev-matches smoothly and the car settles into the lower gear without drama. In a game where most people drive automatics or paddle-shift DCTs, the MX-5's manual gearbox is a reminder of why three pedals matter. It's not faster than an automatic. It's more involving. Every corner entry becomes a small ballet of brake pressure, clutch engagement, throttle blip, and gear selection. You're busier in an MX-5 than in any hypercar and that's exactly why it's more fun. More inputs, more engagement, more satisfaction when you string it all together perfectly.

Tire choice on the MX-5 follows different logic than on high-power cars. The stock tire compound is the right choice for 90 percent of driving scenarios because the car doesn't have enough power to overwhelm even the standard rubber. Upgrading to sport compound adds grip but changes the car's character in a way that isn't strictly better. The stock tires let the car move around, slide slightly, communicate through the steering wheel. Sport tires make the car faster but quieter, more clinical, less playful. For lap times, sport compound wins. For the pure MX-5 experience, stock tires are the play. The car was designed around this level of grip and it shows. Same logic applies to tire width. Wider tires add grip and PI. The car doesn't need either. Keep the tires narrow and enjoy the car the way Mazda's engineers intended.

Best Events

Road racing on tight, technical circuits is where the MX-5 shines brightest. Guanajuato is the obvious pick. The narrow streets and constant direction changes play perfectly to the MX-5's strengths: instant turn-in, mid-corner adjustability, and the ability to carry momentum through corners that heavier cars have to brake for. In B-class lobbies on Guanajuato, a well-driven MX-5 can beat cars with 50 more horsepower purely through corner speed. Not corner exit speed. Mid-corner speed. The car carries so much momentum that the power deficit doesn't matter because you're entering the straight 5-10 mph faster than everyone else. Coastal Highway is surprisingly good for the MX-5 and not in the way you'd expect. The long straights punish the power deficit but the flowing corners between the straights let the car maintain momentum in ways that heavier competitors can't match. A B-class Mustang will gap you on the straight and then you'll reel it back in through the next three corners. Over a full lap the MX-5 is competitive on Coastal Highway against cars with 80-100 more horsepower because the corner speed advantage compounds. It's the only track where you can visibly see the physics of momentum conservation working in real time.

Drift zones are a mixed bag. The MX-5 can drift, the chassis is balanced enough for it, but the low power means you need a dedicated drift tune with locked diff and drift tires to hold slides through long corners. Stock power isn't enough to keep the rear tires spinning once the car gains speed. For casual drift zone fun, stock tune works fine on tight zones. For leaderboard grinding, you'll need power upgrades and proper drift setup. The car is capable but it's not a natural drift machine like the Nissan Silvia or Toyota Supra.

Off-road is a comedy option. The MX-5 has about 5 inches of ground clearance and suspension travel measured in millimeters. You can technically put rally tires on it and enter dirt races and the result is exactly as ridiculous as it sounds. It's fun in a "this shouldn't work" way but it's not competitive. Keep the MX-5 on pavement where it can do the one thing it does better than any car in FH6: make low-speed cornering feel like high art.

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Tuning Guide

MX-5 tuning is about preservation, not transformation. The car is brilliant from the factory and most "upgrades" make it worse by adding weight, raising the PI, or changing the handling balance that makes it special. Small adjustments, surgical precision, leave the good stuff alone.

Suspension

Springs: soften by 3 percent front and 5 percent rear. The stock spring rates are good, these tiny adjustments just help the car settle over FH6's bumpier surfaces without changing the handling balance. Anti-roll bars: leave them alone. I'm serious. The MX-5's stock bar settings are the result of 30 years of continuous refinement by Mazda engineers and changing them introduces problems that take hours to tune out. The car already rotates beautifully and already has predictable breakaway. Don't fix what isn't broken. Ride height: drop 2 clicks for center of gravity improvement without bottoming out. Damping: increase rebound by 1 click front and rear. This tiny change helps the car take a set faster on corner entry without affecting mid-corner behavior.

Differential

RWD only, both cars come with limited-slip differentials from factory. Acceleration lock at 55 percent for the 2023, 50 percent for the 2024. The 2024's revised diff needs slightly less lock because it's more efficient at transferring torque from factory. Deceleration lock at 8 percent for both. The MX-5 rotates so willingly on corner entry that decel lock just fights the car's natural behavior. Keep it low and let the chassis do the work. If you're building a drift tune, bump accel lock to 85 percent and decel to 15 percent, but for lap times the low settings are faster.

Tire Pressure

28 PSI all around for both cars. The MX-5's light weight means tire pressures have less impact than on heavier cars, so precision matters less. The 28 PSI setting gives a good balance of contact patch and responsiveness without making the car feel numb. For the 2024 model specifically, you can drop to 27 PSI rear for slightly more rear grip on corner exit, but the difference is marginal. For drift builds: 32 PSI rear to reduce the contact patch and make the car easier to slide. The difference between 28 and 32 PSI on an MX-5 is noticeable even with 181 horsepower because the car is light enough that small pressure changes meaningfully affect the tire's behavior.

Gearing

Final drive: shorten by 8 percent on the 2023, 10 percent on the 2024. Both MX-5s have six-speed gearboxes with relatively tall gearing for highway fuel economy. Shortening the final drive puts second and third gear right where you want them for FH6's corner speeds. Individual gears: first gear stretch by 2 clicks on both cars to make it usable beyond 25 mph. Second through fourth shorten progressively, with fourth being 3 clicks shorter than stock. Fifth and sixth leave as overdrives for highway sections. The 2024 model benefits more from gearing changes because its stock ratios are even taller than the 2023's. A properly geared 2024 MX-5 feels like it gained 20 horsepower for free.

Power Upgrades

This is where MX-5 tuning gets controversial. The car's magic is the combination of low power and brilliant chassis. Adding horsepower changes the car fundamentally. That said, a mild power bump of 20-30 horsepower through intake and exhaust mods wakes the car up without overwhelming the chassis. The 2023 model at roughly 210 horsepower is the sweet spot. Enough extra grunt to make straights less painful, not enough to break the chassis balance. Full engine builds that push these cars past 300 horsepower are missing the point. You're turning a scalpel into a mediocre straight-line car that loses to everything with a V8. If you want horsepower, buy a Mustang. If you want an MX-5, keep the power reasonable and let the chassis do the work.

Rival Comparison

In B class the 2023 MX-5 competes against the Toyota GR86, the Subaru BRZ, and the Honda S2000. The GR86 and BRZ have more power but weigh more and don't rotate as willingly. The S2000 has the legendary F20C engine that revs to 9,000 RPM and makes the MX-5 feel slow in a straight line. But the MX-5 has the best chassis of the group. Better turn-in, sharper mid-corner adjustability, better communication through the steering wheel. On a tight circuit the MX-5 matches or beats all three despite the power deficit. On faster circuits the S2000 and GR86 walk away on the straights. Same story as every MX-5 comparison ever: the car is faster than its spec sheet in the corners and slower on the straights. Whether the corner speed advantage outweighs the straight-line deficit depends entirely on the track.

In C class the 2024 MX-5 at PI 490 is in a weird position. There aren't many dedicated sports cars at this PI level. Most of the competition is hot hatches and economy cars with sport trims. The MX-5's RWD chassis and 50/50 weight distribution give it a fundamental advantage over front-wheel drive competitors in cornering. A well-driven 2024 MX-5 can beat anything in C class on a handling circuit. On circuits with long straights, the low PI means the power deficit is too large to overcome with corner speed alone. The car is a specialist tool at PI 490, dominant on some tracks and hopeless on others. Pick your events carefully and the MX-5 will punch far above its PI rating.

Collection Guide

Both MX-5s should be Autoshow purchases, which makes them among the easiest cars to acquire in FH6. The 2023 model should be in the 30,000-40,000 credit range. The 2024 model should be similar or slightly cheaper since it's in a lower PI class. Buy both. They're cheap enough that owning both isn't a financial decision, and having the 2024 model for C-class events and the 2023 for B-class gives you coverage across two classes with cars that drive similarly enough that your skills transfer between them.

If you want multiple copies for different tunes, the auction house is a non-factor. These cars are so cheap from the Autoshow that auction house savings are negligible. Just buy extras from the Autoshow. A dedicated B-class grip tune, a C-class stock-ish build, and a drift tune covers all the MX-5 use cases. Three garage slots, about 100,000 credits total. Best value in FH6.

Common Tuning Mistakes

Engine swaps are the #1 MX-5 tuning mistake and they completely ruin the car. Putting an LS V8 or a rotary engine into an MX-5 adds 300+ pounds of weight over the front axle, destroys the 50/50 weight distribution, and turns a precision instrument into a drag car that can't corner. The resulting car is faster in a straight line and slower everywhere else, which defeats the entire purpose of driving an MX-5. If you want a V8 sports car, FH6 has dozens of them from factory. Don't butcher an MX-5 to get something that already exists.

Wide tires and heavy wheels. The MX-5's steering feel comes from light unsprung mass and narrow tires that communicate road texture. Putting 265-section tires on heavy aftermarket wheels adds unsprung weight, blunts the steering response, and raises the PI without adding meaningful performance because the car doesn't have enough power to need the extra grip. The stock wheel and tire package is the right one for this car's power level. If you must upgrade wheels, find the lightest set available and keep the tire width within 10mm of stock. Every pound of unsprung weight you add makes the steering worse. The MX-5's steering is the best part of the car. Don't ruin it.

Stiffening the suspension. The MX-5's stock suspension is already on the firm side for a road car and stiffening it further turns the car into a skateboard that skips over bumps and loses grip on anything but perfectly smooth pavement. FH6's roads are not perfectly smooth. A stiffened MX-5 is slower on 90 percent of circuits than a stock-suspended one because the tires spend more time airborne than in contact with the road. If anything, soften the suspension slightly. The car's chassis control comes from damping quality and geometry, not spring rate. Stiff springs make the car feel faster because the ride is harsher but the stopwatch will tell you the truth. Softer is faster.