Forza Horizon 6 Guide: How to Level Up Fast and Earn All Wristbands

Quick Answer: To unlock every Wristband tier quickly, lower your Drivatar difficulty to secure race win bonuses, snap Horizon Promo photos at the starting line of every event, and manually drive between races to rack up Stunt and Link Skill points along the way.

Forget the chaotic, do-whatever-you-want progression of the last few games. Forza Horizon 6 completely changes how you advance through the festival. Playground Games has brought back a heavily structured Wristband system.

Instead of just earning fans or completing arbitrary map icons, you now have to hit strict point milestones. Hitting those thresholds unlocks a new Wristband, which then opens up high-stakes Rush and Showcase events. Win those, and you bump up to the next tier. Here is the absolute fastest way to manipulate that loop and speedrun your way to the top.

How to Rack Up Wristband Points Fast

The secret to leveling up in Japan isn’t grinding one specific race for hours. The game rewards you for stacking points from multiple different sources simultaneously.

Swallow Your Pride and Drop the Difficulty

Finishing a race gives you a decent chunk of XP, but taking first place hands you a massive win bonus. Do not make this harder than it needs to be. Lower your Drivatar difficulty to a setting where you are comfortably winning every single event.

If you mess up and lose a race, do not hit the restart button. Time spent replaying an event is time wasted. Take the standard completion points and drive to the next starting line.

Exploit the Horizon Promo Starting Grid

There are over 600 cars scattered across the game, and taking a picture of each one nets you 10 Wristband points. That is over 6,000 potential points just sitting there.

Do not try to pull every car out of your garage one by one. Instead, open your camera mode the second you load onto the starting grid of a new race. You have a captive audience of different cars perfectly lined up. Snap a wide shot to capture the whole grid, collect your points, and start the race.

While you are dominating the local street scene and bagging points, you will want a steady stream of rare cars dropping into your lap. Be sure to check out our Forza Horizon 6 guide on how to get Wheelspins and Super Wheelspins fast to maximize your garage upgrades between events.

Ditch Fast Travel and Drive Manually

Fast travel is completely free this time around, and there is even an auto-drive feature. Ignore both of them. Using fast travel means you are leaving thousands of points on the asphalt.

Driving yourself to the next map icon forces you to pass through various Stunt zones. Every Speed Trap, Drift Zone, and Danger Sign you trigger feeds directly into your Wristband progression. Plus, exploring the map manually levels up your Explore Japan rank, which eventually unlocks new player houses and Barn Finds.

Smash Every XP Board You See

They might seem insignificant on their own, but XP boards are literal free points. Treat them like roadside cash. Whenever you spot one on your mini-map, detour and smash it.

Here is exactly what each board adds to your progression:

Chain Link Skills with Randoms

Link Skills are a brand new mechanic. If you execute a skill near another player, you both get a payout. You do not even need to be in a Convoy; any random player in your session works perfectly.

The trick here is farming the first-time completion bonuses. The very first time you pull off a specific Link Skill combo, you get a quick 10 points. Find another driver on the highway and rattle off the easy ones back-to-back. Do a burnout, catch some air, and drift near them to instantly cash in those bonuses.

Use the Collection Book to Mop Up

When you feel your progress slowing down, open your Collection Book. This menu tracks every single point available on the map. It shows you exactly which Stunt stars you are missing and which events you have not touched.

The biggest hidden goldmine in the Collection Book relates to Drag Meets and Time Attacks. The game awards a first-time completion bonus for these events based on the car class you use.

• Run a Drag Meet in an A-Class car to get the bonus.
• Run that exact same Drag Meet in an S1-Class car to get a completely separate bonus.

If you cycle through your garage and hit the drag strip with different vehicle classes, your Wristband progression will absolutely skyrocket.

Browse more walkthroughs and tips on our guides page.