Forza Horizon 6 shipped with two separate naming layers — an editable in-game driver name, and a locked Xbox Gamertag that still carries Microsoft's numeric suffix. Here's exactly which is which, and where that lines up with the rules we already track.
Forza Horizon 6's own naming guide lays out how identity works in the game, and it splits cleanly into the same pattern we already track across other games: a cosmetic in-game name, and a locked account handle underneath it.
The driver name is set from the garage menu — Character > My Name — and can be switched freely if you picked the wrong persona name early on. It's cosmetic, in-game, and not tied to any account setting.
The Xbox Gamertag is a different thing entirely. When a chosen gamertag isn't unique, Xbox appends a numeric suffix (the familiar "PlayerName123" pattern) at the account level — and Forza Horizon 6 has no in-game setting to hide or remove it. The only way to lose the number is to change the underlying Xbox gamertag to something unique enough that Xbox doesn't need to disambiguate it.
There's a third wrinkle for PC players: changing your Steam profile name does nothing for your name in Forza Horizon 6's multiplayer, because the game authenticates online identity through your Microsoft account, not Steam.
Three name-shaped settings, three different owners and rule sets:
| Field | What it is | Styled Unicode? | Where you change it | Shows in FH6 multiplayer? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driver name | Cosmetic in-game persona name — picked from a preset list, not typed | ✗ No — not a text field at all, so there's no charset to test | Garage → Character → My Name | Yes |
| Xbox Gamertag | Locked Microsoft account handle | ✗ Never — plain text, Xbox-assigned #suffix | Xbox account settings (outside the game) | Yes — suffix included, no in-game hide option |
| Steam persona name | Cosmetic Steam profile label | N/A — Steam-side only | Steam profile settings | ✗ No — Microsoft account identity is used instead |
The Xbox Gamertag row matches what our Game-Name Rules Matrix already lists for Xbox — this launch confirms that policy carries over into Forza Horizon 6 unchanged, rather than the game adding its own gamertag rules.
Our Game-Name Rules Matrix already carries a row for the Xbox Gamertag: roughly 12 characters plus an Xbox-assigned #suffix, plain text only, changed in Xbox account settings — never styled Unicode. Forza Horizon 6's launch naming guide confirms that exact row still holds: the suffix can't be hidden in-game, and the gamertag stays locked to plain text no matter what the driver name field allows.
The driver name field turns out not to be a text field at all — see the correction below. For the general handle-vs-display-name split this game still follows on the Gamertag side, see where do fancy fonts work: username vs. display name.
Update, Jul 24, 2026: we originally flagged the driver name as an open item — a free-form field with no published limit or charset, worth watching for a future rule to track. That framing was wrong. A Playground Games developer confirmed on Steam Community that the driver name isn't typed text: ANNA, the in-car assistant, addresses you by whatever name you select, and "because all of ANNA's lines are recorded by a voice actor, it's only possible to select from the names that have been pre-recorded." You're choosing from a fixed list bound to actual voice-line recordings, not entering arbitrary characters — so there's no limit or charset to publish, and none will surface later. There's nothing here to add to the Game-Name Rules Matrix. The one confirmed hard rule in this game remains the Xbox Gamertag row above, which this launch didn't change.
See the full handle-vs-display-name breakdown for Roblox, Fortnite, PSN, Xbox, Valorant, COD and Steam side by side.
Open the Game-Name Rules Matrix →Naming mechanics and platform details per racinggames.gg's guide to changing your name and gamertag in Forza Horizon 6. Driver-name mechanism per a Playground Games developer's reply on Steam Community.