Playground Games is resetting Forza Horizon 6 Rivals leaderboards after exploit fixes, with PR Stunts next and earnable Italian Exotics cars arriving alongside the disruption.
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Store links: Forza Horizon 6 on Steam, Forza Horizon 6: Welcome Pack on Steam, Forza Horizon 6: Treasure Map on Steam
Playground is wiping Rivals first, with PR Stunts already on notice
Playground Games has begun wiping affected Forza Horizon 6 leaderboards after finding what it called “unrealistic entries” created through glitches and older Drag Tires behavior, according to the studio’s Series 3 update post as reported by VGC and IGN. The immediate casualty is Rivals: all Rivals leaderboards were reset after the July 13 update, which Playground said included fixes for glitches that could “pollute the Leaderboards with unrealistic times.”
That creates the central tension of this Forza Horizon 6 leaderboard wipe. Competitive boards need trust, especially in a mode built around clean laps, class limits, tuning, and repeatable conditions. But a full reset also erases legitimate lap times from players who did the work under the rules available at the time. Playground acknowledged that directly, saying it understood the wipe would disappoint players with valid times, but chose a “clean sheet” so everyone competes from the same baseline going forward.
The reset is not finished. VGC and IGN both report that PR Stunt leaderboards are also set to be wiped once Playground patches the remaining exploit glitches behind unrealistic scores. The studio has not given a timeline for that second reset. That matters for players grinding danger signs, speed traps, drift zones, and other stunt-based rankings, because any current personal push for long-term placement may be temporary until the relevant fixes land.
For now, the confirmed action is narrower: Rivals has been reset, PR Stunts are planned for a future reset, and Playground is tying each wipe to exploit fixes rather than wiping every board at once.
The exploit patch is about restoring comparable conditions
The July 13 Forza Horizon 6 exploit patch is version 398.92.0 on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC through the Xbox app, and Steam, according to the official Forza Support release notes. The notes describe a broad bug-fix update, but the competitive thread is clear: Playground is closing loopholes that let players produce results outside the intended performance envelope.
The clearest listed example is a PR Stunt exploit where removing a locked tune during a stunt allowed players to keep their speed and post unrealistic scores in a lower Car Class. In racing terms, that breaks the class contract. A lower class is supposed to reflect a constrained performance build. If a player can carry speed from a configuration that no longer matches the displayed class, the leaderboard stops comparing like with like.
Playground’s broader Series 3 statement, quoted by VGC and IGN, also points to lap and leaderboard entries achieved through glitches or obtained by using Drag Tires before physics balance changes introduced on June 15. That detail is important because it separates two categories of bad data. Some entries appear to have come from outright glitch exploitation. Others may have been set before a physics rebalance changed how a particular tire setup behaved. Both can leave old times sitting above what is realistically reproducible after the patch.
For competitive players, the practical effect is a metagame reset. Old Rivals benchmarks can no longer be treated as the target, and top drivers will need to re-establish class pace under current tire physics and patched exploit conditions. That is painful if you had a clean lap near the top, but it is also the only way to make the next leaderboard cycle meaningful.
Legitimate Rivals rewards survive, but rankings do not
The most useful reassurance from Playground is that the wipe does not remove every trace of prior Rivals progress. The studio said that clean times already posted to earn associated Collection Journal items for Rivals “will not be lost and will remain unlocked,” according to the Series 3 update wording reported by VGC and IGN.
That distinction should guide how players react. If you ran Rivals primarily to unlock Collection Journal items, Playground says those rewards remain. If you ran Rivals to hold a leaderboard position, your ranking is gone and needs to be rebuilt. The sources provided do not say that all personal ghosts, historical comparison data, or non-leaderboard records are preserved, so players should assume only the stated Collection Journal unlock protection is confirmed.
The fairness question is harder. A full wipe treats every entry as disposable, including clean laps set without exploits. A targeted removal would be less disruptive in theory, but Playground’s wording suggests the studio sees the affected boards as contaminated enough that individual sorting is not the chosen route. That is a blunt tool, but leaderboards are fragile systems. Once players believe the top sector times are unreachable because of old physics or hidden exploit states, even legitimate competition becomes a chase car with no tow.
For serious Rivals drivers, the reset also changes the best use of time. It is now worth revalidating builds, especially anything that leaned on Drag Tires before the June 15 balance pass. A car that was fast in a straight line before the adjustment may now pay too much in braking stability, rotation, or corner-exit traction. The new boards will reward setups that survive a full lap under the current model, not memories of pre-patch pace.
Free earnable cars make the reset easier to swallow for regular drivers
Playground is pairing the leaderboard disruption with Series 3 content under the Italian Exotics theme, and that is where the Forza Horizon 6 free cars angle comes in. IGN reports that Series 3 includes 10 reward cars available through Horizon Playlist points over the next four weeks, with three described as new-to-Horizon. These are earnable seasonal rewards, not the separate paid car pack.
The listed rewards include the 1984 De Tomaso Pantera GT5, 2004 Maserati MC12, 2017 Abarth 124 Spider, 2020 Lamborghini Huracán EVO, 1982 Lancia 037 Stradale, 2020 Ferrari Roma, 2022 Lamborghini Huracán EVO Spyder, and 2022 Pagani Huayra R as seasonal point rewards. IGN also lists the 2024 Lamborghini Temerario at 80 points across the wider series and the 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB at 160 points. For players who do not care about Rivals percentile placement, that gives the update a more familiar Horizon loop: log in, clear playlist objectives, and add desirable metal to the garage.
There is also a limited-time Italian Exotics takeover of the Aftermarket dealership near Horizon Stadium, according to IGN, featuring rare Italian cars that are otherwise currently available through Wheelspin prizes. The reported lineup includes the Ferrari 288 GTO, Ferrari 599XX Evolution, Ferrari F8 Tributo, Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, Lamborghini Sesto Elemento, and Lamborghini Diablo GTR.
This does not erase the competitive frustration, but it does soften the patch for the broader player base. Regular drivers get new goals while the hardest leaderboard players rebuild from zero. That split is very Horizon: a serious timing system inside a festival economy built to keep casual garage growth moving.
The Italian Passion pack is separate from the free rewards
Players should not confuse the earnable Series 3 reward cars with the new Italian Passion Car Pack. VGC reports that the pack adds four cars: the 2025 Ferrari F80, 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB4 Spider, 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAm, and 1990 Alfa Romeo SE 048SP. According to VGC, Premium Edition owners get the pack at no extra cost, while Standard Edition owners can purchase it separately.
That separation matters because “Forza Horizon 6 free cars” can mean several different things in practice. The Playlist cars are tied to in-game seasonal progression. The Aftermarket dealership takeover improves access to rare cars that would otherwise depend on Wheelspins. The Italian Passion cars are DLC unless your edition already includes the entitlement.
For buyers, the decision is straightforward from the information available. If you own Premium Edition, check your garage and car pack access before spending anything. If you own Standard Edition, the sources provided confirm separate purchase availability but do not include a price, so there is no source-backed value judgment to make on cost. The stronger free value is the seasonal route, especially if you can reliably hit the listed point thresholds over the four-week window.
There is one timing wrinkle in the source material. IGN states that Series 3, Italian Exotics, runs from June 16 to August 13, while VGC describes the new season as starting on Thursday in the context of its report. The provided sources do not resolve that discrepancy. What is firmly dated by Forza Support is the July 13 patch availability, and what is consistently reported by VGC and IGN is the presence of the Italian Exotics reward structure alongside the leaderboard action.
The update also addresses race feel, economy friction, and save recovery
The Playground Games update is not only a leaderboard operation. Forza Support’s July 13 release notes list performance and stability fixes, audio improvements, and several handling-adjacent fixes that affect everyday driving. The biggest race-behavior change is an AI update intended to reduce excessive collisions on corner entry. In Horizon terms, that should mean fewer Drivatars arriving at the apex with no workable braking plan, although the patch notes do not quantify the improvement.
Vehicle-specific fixes also matter. Forza Support says the 1995 Toyota MR2 GT no longer suffers an issue where kerbs could cause a dead stop. That kind of bug can destroy trust in a car because it punishes normal racing line usage. Kerbs should unsettle a chassis if attacked too aggressively, but they should not behave like a wall. The patch also fixes a Treasure Cars issue where those cars could be removed from My Cars, with Forza Support advising affected players to submit a ticket.
Economy and mode fixes are part of the same cleanup. The release notes say Playground corrected an Auction House credit cap issue for non-Autoshow cars, fixed an EventLab exploit that allowed duplication of other players’ creations, and resolved a setting interaction where disabling Head-to-Head Requests in a session also disabled them in The Eliminator. Neowin also reports that Xbox pushed fixes for an ongoing lost-save issue on Series X|S and PC, with affected players seeing a conflict dialog that can restore the most recent cloud save on next load.
The practical guidance is simple. Rivals players should start rebuilding times now under version 398.92.0. PR Stunt specialists should expect a later wipe and avoid treating current rankings as permanent. Everyone else should claim the seasonal cars they want while the reset dust settles.