Forza Horizon 6 has begun pre-loading, but its massive installation size has quickly sparked heated discussions among players. According to official information, the game requires approximately 135GB of storage space on the Xbox Series X platform, approximately 130GB on the Series S version, and a whopping 160GB on the PC version. The official specifications also explicitly require the use of a solid-state drive (SSD) for operation.
Meanwhile, a player on Reddit revealed more specific file size data through the Xbox mobile app: the Xbox Series X|S version is approximately 144.84GB, and the PC version is approximately 156.65GB, which is basically consistent with the official data.
Tech Free Press noted that besides the capacity itself, the official SSD requirements have also become a point of contention. The Forza official blog points out that running games on traditional hard drives may result in performance degradation. This means that many players still using hard drives to store games may have to upgrade their storage devices.
In related discussion forums, many players have expressed concern about the continuous expansion of game file sizes in recent years. Some players bluntly stated that when building a gaming PC nowadays, “hard drives under 2TB are no longer enough.” Other players said that even with a 2TB NVMe SSD, it’s only “barely enough” given the ever-increasing size of games. Some even claimed to have 8TB of storage space and still felt it was insufficient.
However, for the average gamer, the price of large-capacity SSDs remains high. Currently, 4TB or even 8TB SSDs are still considered expensive, forcing many gamers to continue relying on cheaper, higher-capacity mechanical hard drives.
What’s even more frustrating for players is that game sizes often continue to grow with subsequent updates. Forza Horizon 5 launched at approximately 103GB, but it’s now approaching 150GB. Similar trends are appearing in an increasing number of AAA games; for example, Red Desert is projected to be 120GB to 130GB, WWE 2K26 may take up around 150GB, and nobody knows how much space GTA 6 will ultimately occupy upon release.
Under this trend, a 1TB SSD is likely to be quickly filled up after installing only two or three large games. Meanwhile, some gamers are concerned about download pressure, believing that with game files exceeding 150GB, a complete download could take several days under limited network conditions.
