The autumn week of Forza Horizon 6‘s Series 5 Festival Playlist puts a quiet village in the spotlight instead of a racetrack. The photo challenge for the season running September 17 – September 24, 2026, is tagged #RuralLotus, and it asks players to do exactly one thing: take a photo of any Lotus at Shirakawa-Go. The catch is finding the place, because the village is not the most obvious stop on the game’s map of Japan.
Where Shirakawa-go is
Open the map and head to the northern section of the Minamino region. There, look for a round blue-and-white marker labelled “Shirakawa-go” with an arrow pointing to the right. That’s the spot. Drive in, stop, switch to photo mode and frame your car against the village, and the challenge is done.
What you need to bring
The challenge only counts if the car in the picture is a Lotus, so a random favourite from your garage won’t do. If your collection has no Lotus in it, the Autoshow fixes that. According to Game Rant, the cheapest option there is the 1999 Elise Series 1 Sport 190 at 44,000 Credits, which is a small price for a light, nimble roadster that is fun on narrow village roads anyway.
What you get
- Two Season Points toward the weekly and series reward tracks
- A Legendary Sea of Thieves Theme car horn, a nod to another Xbox Game Studios title
The bigger picture: Series 5
The #RuralLotus challenge is part of Series 5, themed British Automotive, which makes a Lotus a natural pick for the photo task. Each season in the Festival Playlist runs for one week, and four seasons make up a series. The autumn season also offers its own car rewards: a 2015 Jaguar XKR-S GT for 20 points and a 2021 MINI John Cooper Works GP for 40 points. Players who keep collecting points over the whole series can go for the 2025 Bentley Continental GT Speed at 80 points and the 2019 Aston Martin Valhalla Concept Car at 160 points.
Photo challenges are among the easiest points in the playlist: no lap times, no rivals, just the right car in the right place. Doing this one now is a good call, since the playlist rotates every week and the challenge goes away when the season ends.
About the game
Forza Horizon 6 is developed by Playground Games, with help from Turn 10 Studios, and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is set in Japan. The game launched on May 19, 2026, for Windows and Xbox Series X/S, and Premium Edition owners got early access from May 15, 2026. A PlayStation 5 version is also planned for 2026.
