Forza Horizon 6 Event Lab Checkpoints
by Khi
Event Lab in Forza Horizon 6 is easy to open and easy to mess up. Checkpoints are how you tell racers where the course actually goes.
The basic goal is simple: make the route obvious, prevent stupid cuts, and give racers enough information to drive the course at speed.
Put checkpoints on apexes.
This is the default.
If there’s a corner, put the checkpoint at the apex. Double apex? Two checkpoints. That forces racers to actually negotiate the corner instead of tagging a checkpoint before it and cutting straight toward the next one.
Size the checkpoint appropriately, too. If a full-width checkpoint allows a ridiculous cut, shrink it.
You don’t need to force one exact racing line, but the fastest route shouldn’t involve ignoring the corner you built.
If the apex is blind, place a checkpoint earlier.
Racers need enough warning to react.
If the apex checkpoint isn’t visible on approach, place one before the corner to communicate the turn.
Something that looks obvious while you’re building the route at 30 MPH may not be obvious to somebody arriving at 150 MPH.
Put checkpoints immediately after intersections.
When the course turns at an intersection, put the checkpoint just down the road the racer is supposed to take.
The racer should be able to look ahead and immediately understand which way the course goes.
Put checkpoints at the beginning of exit ramps.
Same principle.
If the course leaves a highway, put the checkpoint where the exit begins, not halfway down the ramp after the racer has already missed it.
Give people enough time to see the checkpoint, position the car, and make the exit.
Use setup checkpoints.
Not every checkpoint exists because you care whether the racer drives through that exact spot.
Sometimes you’re setting them up for what comes next.
If racers need to exit a four-lane highway, for example, I’ll sometimes shrink the preceding checkpoint to half the width of the highway and place it on the exit side, creating a bit of a checkpoint funnel.
Now the checkpoint is quietly moving racers into the correct lane before they reach the exit.
Setup checkpoints are useful before ramps, tight corners, chicanes, narrow bridges, jumps, forks, or anything else where the racer’s approach matters.
Use checkpoints on long straights when they provide useful confirmation.
Don’t spam them at arbitrary intervals.
If there’s only one possible road and it’s completely obvious where the racer is going, you probably don’t need another checkpoint.
But if they’ve been flat-out for a while and could reasonably start wondering whether they missed something, give them one.
Think in time, not distance. A quarter-mile is a long way at 50 MPH and basically nothing at 180. Every 5-10 seconds or so, drop a checkpoint.
Test for cuts.
This is the big one.
After placing your checkpoints, stop driving the route the way you intended it to be driven.
Try to break it.
Cut across the grass. Skip the road. Approach checkpoints from stupid angles. Look for places where two checkpoints accidentally create a straight line through terrain instead of following the course.
If you find a cut that ruins the section, move a checkpoint, add one, or shrink one.
Shortcuts aren’t inherently bad. Finding a cheeky line can be part of the fun.
But there should be a difference between finding a faster line and skipping the track.
Every checkpoint should have a reason to exist.
Generally, I’m using a checkpoint to do at least one of four things:
- Prevent a cut
- Communicate a turn or route choice
- Set the racer up for what’s coming next
- Confirm they’re still going the right way
If a checkpoint isn’t doing any of those things, you probably don’t need it.
That’s basically it.
Make the course readable at racing speed. Put checkpoints where racers actually need to go. Use their width to control how much freedom you’re giving them. Then drive the course like an asshole and see what you can get away with.
When the route is tight, share the Event Lab code on Tracks so people can actually run it.