Forza Horizon 6 just dropped to #2 on Steam's paid sales chart for the week of May 5-12, riding pure pre-order hype straight past actual gameplay feedback. The open-world racer sits ahead of Subnautica 2 and Diablo IV despite zero review scores live on the platform yet, proving once again that Xbox Game Pass momentum and the Forza brand name move copies faster than any critic can type. SteamDB data confirms it outpaced everything except the free-to-play king Counter-Strike 2, with players locking in copies weeks before the May 19 full launch.

The review drought hasn't slowed the cash register one bit, and community chatter on X is split between die-hards calling it the best entry yet and skeptics yelling it's the same formula on repeat. One post summed it up clean: fans are pre-ordering hard even while admitting the series has recycled Japan and Mexico vibes for years. Reddit threads in r/forza and r/xbox are already lighting up with early access screenshots and launch map hype, showing the fanbase isn't waiting for Metacritic to decide their weekend plans.

This isn't about whether it slaps on day one, it's about how a AAA racer can top charts on name recognition alone while the rest of us sit here refreshing Steam for the first honest player score. If the wheels stay attached at launch, this thing could run the table. If not, those pre-order numbers are going to look real awkward real fast.