Forza Horizon 6 adds the 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, giving the final sixth-gen Camaro its Horizon debut

Forza Horizon 6 has added one of Chevrolet’s most significant modern muscle cars to the Horizon Festival. The 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is now available as the 20-point Autumn reward in Series 4: Horizon Mascot Party, giving players until August 27 to secure the final-model-year version of Chevrolet’s sixth-generation Camaro. With a supercharged 6.2-liter LT4 V8 producing 650 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque, rear-wheel drive and a stock S1 718 Performance Index, the new-to-Horizon ZL1 arrives as much more than another straight-line American bruiser. Playground Games specifically highlights the sophisticated suspension and responsive steering that turned the real ZL1 into a machine capable of fighting serious sports cars on a circuit while still delivering the acceleration expected from a supercharged Camaro.

That distinction defines the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 | Forza Horizon 6 showcase. Playground Games quotes a 0–60 mph time of approximately 3.5 seconds and points directly to the LT4 engine’s relationship with the C7 Corvette Z06 and Cadillac CTS-V, but the ZL1’s significance is not simply that Chevrolet installed a huge V8 and sent it down a drag strip. Chevrolet itself developed the sixth-generation ZL1 as a track-capable flagship with substantial cooling, Brembo braking hardware and chassis technology intended to make 650 horsepower manageable outside a straight line. The 2024 model also carries additional historical weight because Chevrolet retired the sixth-generation Camaro at the end of that model year, making this version the closing chapter of a generation that had been in production since 2016.

The 2024 Camaro ZL1 is available for 20 Festival Playlist points until August 27

The acquisition route is straightforward. Earn 20 points during the Autumn season of Horizon Mascot Party between August 20 and August 27, and the 2024 Camaro ZL1 is added to the garage. Playground Games lists it as one of three new-to-Horizon cars introduced through Series 4, alongside the 1970 Honda N600 and 2018 Exomotive Exocet Sport V8 XP-5. The other seasonal rewards across the four-week series largely focus on giving newer Forza Horizon 6 players opportunities to recover previously featured cars.

The 20-point requirement also means the Camaro sits at the lower of Autumn’s two main seasonal reward thresholds. The second reward, the 2016 Abarth 695 Biposto, requires 40 points. This week’s surrounding Playlist content includes the Scenic Nights Seasonal Championship, which awards the 2022 Hyundai i20 N, the #DeliciousDango Photo Challenge, and a collectible challenge asking players to smash 15 Shimanoyama Heat mascots around the stadium. The current Autumn Playlist ends on August 27, so anyone interested in owning the ZL1 through its debut reward window should complete the required points before the game rotates into Winter.

Forza’s official car list currently categorizes the 2024 ZL1 as Seasonal, unlike the 2017 Camaro ZL1 and 2018 Camaro ZL1 1LE, which are listed as regular Autoshow and Wheelspin cars. That makes the new model considerably more time-sensitive during its introduction even though the older sixth-generation variants remain easy to obtain.

This is the Camaro Chevrolet used to close the sixth-generation story

The 2024 model year matters because Chevrolet had already announced that the sixth-generation Camaro would retire after 2024. Production of the generation concluded at the Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant in Michigan after nine model years, closing a chapter that Chevrolet itself characterized through the Camaro’s increasing emphasis on agility, composure and track performance. The company was careful not to declare the Camaro name permanently dead — Chevrolet said at the time that it was not announcing an immediate successor but that this was “not the end of Camaro’s story.”

Forza Horizon 6 therefore is not adding a random late-model refresh. It is adding the final regular model-year expression of one of modern Chevrolet’s most recognizable performance cars. The sixth generation had transformed the Camaro from a machine often discussed primarily alongside the Mustang and Challenger into something increasingly credible against dedicated sports coupes. Chevrolet’s own retrospective emphasized the proliferation of 1LE track packages, the availability of Magnetic Ride Control and the ZL1 1LE’s status as the fastest Camaro the company had tested around its Milford Road Course.

The ZL1 sat at the top of that philosophy. A normal sixth-generation Camaro could be a relatively accessible pony car; the ZL1 existed to demonstrate how far the platform could be pushed while remaining road legal.

The LT4 V8 gives it 650 horsepower and 650 lb-ft without abandoning rear-wheel drive

At the center of the car is Chevrolet’s supercharged 6.2-liter LT4 V8, rated at 650 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque. Playground Games specifically highlights that the engine family was also used in the C7-generation Corvette Z06 and Cadillac CTS-V, positioning the Camaro within a wider period of General Motors performance engineering in which one brutally effective supercharged V8 powered several very different flagship machines.

Chevrolet offered the real 2024 ZL1 with a six-speed manual as standard and a ten-speed automatic as an option. That combination demonstrates what made the car unusual by the end of its production run: there was still an old-school rear-wheel-drive, manual-transmission muscle-car core underneath a chassis packed with modern electronic and mechanical performance technology.

Forza Horizon 6 keeps the car rear-wheel drive in stock form and gives it S1 718, placing it immediately inside one of the game’s faster road-car classes without pushing it toward the upper end of S1 before the player has changed anything. Playground Games’ official specifications list exactly the same headline power and torque values as Chevrolet: 650 horsepower and 650 lb-ft.

That combination should be central to how the stock car feels. There is enough power to overwhelm the driven tires under careless throttle application, particularly during low-speed exits, but the ZL1 was engineered around making that power usable rather than simply theatrical. In Horizon Japan, that distinction should matter considerably more on technical Road and Street routes than it does during one isolated drag run.

Calling it a muscle car undersells how serious the ZL1’s chassis became

Playground Games describes the 2024 ZL1 as a car capable of changing how players think about muscle cars, and Chevrolet’s engineering specification supports that framing. The real ZL1 came standard with dedicated track-focused cooling that included 11 heat exchangers, Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar summer tires developed with a track-oriented compound, and Brembo brakes featuring six-piston front calipers and 15.35-inch two-piece front rotors. The even more extreme 1LE package remained available for buyers wanting a more focused circuit configuration.

None of that means the Camaro abandoned its traditional personality. The LT4 still delivers the sound, torque and rear-wheel-drive behavior expected from a top-tier American V8. What changed during the sixth generation was that Chevrolet stopped asking drivers to excuse poor cornering as part of the muscle-car experience.

That is why the ZL1 makes sense in Forza Horizon 6 even in a game world dominated by Japan’s mountain roads, urban expressways and technical circuits. The environment gives players multiple ways to test whether the Camaro really is more than a drag machine. Long sweepers reward its stability, tighter roads expose how effectively the chassis controls its size and power, and the game’s Time Attack systems provide a natural place to compare it directly with lighter or more obviously circuit-oriented machinery.

The 3.5-second 0–60 figure only explains part of the performance

Playground Games states that the 650-horsepower ZL1 can reach 60 mph in approximately 3.5 seconds. For an internal-combustion, front-engine, rear-wheel-drive car developed before the current generation of ultra-high-output hybrids and EVs, that remains a serious launch figure.

Yet straight-line acceleration is almost the least surprising part of a supercharged Camaro producing 650 lb-ft.

The engineering challenge was making the car behave after the launch. Chevrolet’s sixth-generation Camaro architecture was lighter and more sophisticated than the generation it replaced, and the ZL1 layered performance suspension, extensive thermal management and large brakes onto that platform. Chevrolet itself described the ZL1 as challenging advanced sports coupes rather than limiting its comparison group to American muscle.

Forza Horizon 6 has therefore brought in a particularly appropriate version of the Camaro for players who enjoy tuning road cars rather than simply maximizing horsepower. The standard engine already produces enough output that extracting more speed does not necessarily require an immediate engine swap. Tire behavior, gearing, suspension setup and maintaining traction through S1-class builds may be more interesting ways to exploit what the platform already offers.

Its S1 718 rating is actually lower than the older ZL1s already in Forza Horizon 6

One of the more interesting details in the official car list is the relationship between the three modern ZL1 variants. Forza Horizon 6 already includes the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at S1 727 and the 2018 Camaro ZL1 1LE at S1 728. The newly added 2024 ZL1 enters at S1 718, despite being the final production-year version.

That should not be interpreted as Playground Games declaring the 2024 car universally inferior. Performance Index is a game-balancing representation of the complete vehicle package, not a chronological hierarchy where every newer car must receive a larger number. The 2018 ZL1 1LE is explicitly categorized as a Track Toy, whereas both the 2017 and 2024 standard ZL1s sit within Modern Muscle.

The lower starting PI may actually make the new car interesting for tuners because it leaves more room within S1 before hitting the 900-point class ceiling. Whether it ultimately becomes a competitive meta choice depends on the upgrade model, tire options, weight, aero and the way its chassis responds to tuning. Those conclusions require actual in-game testing rather than being inferred from the real-world specification alone.

For collectors, however, the distinction is simpler: this is the only 2024 ZL1 and the car that represents the final sixth-generation production year.

It joins an unusually complete modern Chevrolet performance garage

Forza Horizon 6 already contains a substantial Chevrolet performance lineup. Alongside the older ZL1s are the 2015 Camaro Z/28, 2015 Corvette Z06, 2019 Corvette ZR1, 2020 Corvette Stingray, 2023 Corvette Z06 and 2024 Corvette E-Ray. The new Camaro therefore lets players compare several different answers Chevrolet has produced to the same basic question: how should an American performance car deploy serious power?

The Camaro and Corvette increasingly diverged during the sixth-generation Camaro era. The ZL1 remained front-engined and rear-wheel drive with an available manual, while the C8 Corvette moved its engine behind the driver and eventually expanded into hybrid all-wheel-drive territory with the E-Ray. The 2024 ZL1 consequently feels almost like the closing statement from Chevrolet’s previous performance formula — huge front-mounted V8, rear-driven chassis and enough engineering sophistication to make the package work on a road course.

That contrast should be particularly enjoyable in Horizon because players are not constrained by real ownership costs or production rarity. A garage can contain the ZL1 beside a Corvette E-Ray and allow direct back-to-back driving on the same Japanese road, highlighting how differently two 2024 Chevrolets interpret high performance.

The final model year also produced two extremely rare real-world ZL1 specials

Although Forza’s new reward is identified simply as the 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, the real 2024 model year contained two noteworthy limited variants that underline how significant Chevrolet considered the final year.

The first was the Camaro Collector’s Edition. Chevrolet produced only 350 ZL1 Collector’s Editions, finished in Panther Black Matte — the first matte factory paint offered on the Camaro — and equipped with visual and aerodynamic details including the ZL1 1LE front splitter and, on coupes, its rear wing. The Panther theme referenced the internal code name originally used during development of the first-generation Camaro in the 1960s.

Chevrolet also built just 56 Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Editions, inspired by the extraordinary NASCAR/Hendrick Motorsports Garage 56 Camaro that participated at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The road car used Riptide Blue paint, race-inspired graphics, revised aero and the same 650-horsepower LT4 beneath the hood.

Playground Games has not identified its Series 4 reward as either of those limited packages, so they should not be conflated with the in-game car. Their existence does, however, reinforce why 2024 was such a meaningful year for the ZL1: Chevrolet was consciously creating a farewell programme around the end of sixth-generation production.

The Horizon Mascot Party is an amusing place for a 650-horsepower Camaro to arrive

Series 4 itself could hardly have a more different personality from the car. Horizon Mascot Party is focused on the colorful mascots found throughout Forza Horizon 6’s Japanese setting, complete with a temporary Edamame Time Attack Circuit, dozens of new mascot-themed EventLab props, collectible characters and new badges.

Into that deliberately cute celebration, Playground Games has dropped a supercharged 650-horsepower American V8.

The contrast works because Series 4 is not intended to represent one coherent automotive category. Its three new-to-Horizon cars span almost every scale imaginable: the tiny 36-horsepower 1970 Honda N600, the lightweight 525-horsepower Exomotive Exocet Sport V8 XP-5, and the 650-horsepower Camaro ZL1. The reward list is essentially using the Festival Playlist to celebrate variety, which has always been one of Horizon’s strongest qualities.

Players can therefore spend one week threading a classic kei-sized Honda through Japan and another trying to keep a supercharged Camaro’s rear tires under control.

The temporary Edamame Time Attack Circuit is an obvious place to test it

Horizon Mascot Party adds the Edamame Time Attack Circuit as a temporary Evolving World venue available only during Series 4. Time Attack Circuits record the player’s fastest time, display Convoy Leaderboards and compare results at the vehicle’s current PI level before the leaderboard resets with the next season.

That creates a useful environment for the ZL1 because it moves the discussion away from raw horsepower. A 650-horsepower vehicle can always look impressive on a freeway pull; a lap timer asks whether the player can consistently use its braking, traction and chassis balance.

The circuit also gives owners an immediate baseline before modifying the car. Setting a stock S1 718 time first and then returning after suspension, tire or power changes provides a much more useful indication of whether a tune actually improved the package than simply watching the PI number rise.

This is especially relevant to the Camaro because Chevrolet’s entire real-world argument for the ZL1 was that it could combine straight-line acceleration with repeatable track capability. A temporary Time Attack course during the exact Series in which the 2024 ZL1 arrives is therefore almost perfectly timed.

Rear-wheel drive is part of the appeal rather than a problem to solve immediately

Forza Horizon builds often migrate toward all-wheel drive because the conversion can make launches easier and produce extremely forgiving point-to-point performance. The 2024 ZL1 is available in stock RWD, and preserving that layout arguably retains more of what makes the car interesting.

With 650 lb-ft reaching the rear tires, throttle modulation matters. The car should be capable of generating significant oversteer when provoked, but using that performance effectively on a road circuit requires the opposite approach: feeding the power in progressively and allowing the rear axle to convert torque into acceleration instead of smoke.

For players interested in drifting, the same characteristics naturally provide an excellent foundation. For road racing, they create a more demanding machine than an equivalent AWD build but one with clearer feedback about weight transfer and throttle behavior.

That duality is central to the Camaro fantasy. The ZL1 can behave like a sophisticated track coupe when driven cleanly and revert to tire-destroying muscle-car excess whenever the driver decides lap time no longer matters.

Chevrolet’s real ZL1 engineering was built around surviving repeated hard laps

Power figures dominate car marketing, but thermal management is what separates many genuinely track-capable production cars from vehicles that can produce one impressive acceleration run. Chevrolet emphasized that the ZL1 came standard with 11 heat exchangers intended to keep its powertrain operating under sustained load. The car also used dedicated Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires and substantial Brembo hardware rather than relying on a power increase alone.

Those details matter when explaining why Playground Games describes the ZL1 as capable on both drag strips and circuits. The Camaro’s development brief was not simply about achieving a headline 0–60 number. Chevrolet intended owners to take it to real track days, where brake temperatures, oil cooling, engine heat and tire consistency become much more important than the first few seconds of acceleration.

Forza Horizon 6 does not require players to manage the same ownership and thermal consequences as a real track-day driver, but faithfully representing the car still means preserving the basic character those systems created: enormous acceleration attached to a chassis that wants to keep working when the road begins turning.

Camaro may have left production, but Chevrolet has kept the ZL1 identity alive in motorsport

The road-going sixth-generation Camaro ended after model year 2024, but the ZL1 name did not instantly disappear from Chevrolet’s competition programme. Chevrolet continued campaigning Camaro-bodied machinery in motorsport and even revised the Camaro ZL1 NASCAR Cup Series race car for the 2026 season, updating its styling to align with a new Carbon Performance Package developed for sixth-generation road-going ZL1 coupes.

Chevrolet also released that Carbon Performance Package for 2017–2024 Camaro ZL1 coupes through its 2026 performance-parts catalogue. GM engineers said the new aero package was developed to approach the downforce performance of the ZL1 1LE while retaining more of the standard ZL1’s touring character.

That continued engineering interest makes the Forza debut feel less like excavating a dead model from history. The production car may have stopped leaving Lansing more than two years before its arrival in Horizon Japan, but the sixth-generation ZL1 remains active within Chevrolet’s performance and motorsport identity.

The new ZL1 is a reward worth securing even if players already own the 2017 model

At first glance, existing Camaro owners might question why they need another sixth-generation ZL1 when Forza Horizon 6 already contains both the 2017 ZL1 and 2018 ZL1 1LE. The answer depends on whether a player treats the garage purely as a competitive tool or as an automotive collection.

Mechanically, the 2024 version begins in roughly the same S1 territory as its predecessors and shares the fundamental front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, supercharged-V8 formula. It is not introducing an entirely new generation of Camaro engineering. But historically, it represents a very different moment. The 2017 car marked the arrival of the sixth-generation ZL1; the 2018 1LE represents its most track-focused development; the 2024 model represents the end of the production line.

Forza has always been as much an interactive automotive archive as an arcade racer. Having those three cars together allows the garage to tell the complete ZL1 story from introduction through track escalation to final model year.

And unlike the earlier variants, the 2024 car is currently tied to a limited Playlist window. Anyone interested in completing that chronology has a clear reason not to postpone earning the 20 points.

A 650-horsepower farewell is exactly the kind of car Horizon is designed to preserve

The 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is a particularly good fit for Forza Horizon 6 because it sits at the intersection of several things the series handles well. It is fast enough to feel spectacular without being so extreme that normal roads become irrelevant. It has sufficient chassis sophistication for circuit driving but enough supercharged V8 excess for drag racing and drifting. It represents a major piece of American automotive history while being dropped into an open-world interpretation of Japan where players can immediately place that engineering philosophy against completely different traditions.

Most importantly, this specific year carries a finality that the earlier ZL1s do not. Chevrolet formally ended the sixth-generation Camaro after 2024, closing a nine-model-year run and leaving the 650-horsepower ZL1 as one of the clearest demonstrations of how far the platform had evolved from the old stereotype of a muscle car that only worked in a straight line.

Playground Games has translated that car into S1 718 with 650 horsepower, 650 lb-ft and rear-wheel drive, and made it the 20-point Autumn reward in Horizon Mascot Party. It remains available through August 27, 2026.

There are more powerful cars in Forza Horizon 6, lighter cars, faster track cars and vehicles with far more exotic engineering. The ZL1’s appeal comes from combining those worlds without completely abandoning what a Camaro is supposed to feel like.

A supercharged V8 up front. Power sent to the rear. Enough torque to destroy the tires on demand. Enough chassis underneath it to make keeping them hooked up the more rewarding option.

For the final sixth-generation Camaro, Chevrolet chose not to go quietly. Horizon Japan now has the keys.