Maverick Games has confirmed that the open-world racing game CLUTCH is not intended to directly compete with Forza Horizon 6. The development team hopes the two titles will complement each other, providing distinct experiences through their characters and storylines.
CLUTCH was announced earlier this year and is planned for release in the first quarter of 2027. The game is being developed by Maverick Games, a studio founded by former Forza Horizon creative director Mike Brown.
Given CLUTCH's similar open-world design and Mike Brown's previous ties to Playground Games and the Forza Horizon series, the new title could easily be seen as a direct competitor to Forza Horizon 6. However, the development team has explicitly denied this positioning.
Developers noted that attempting to replace a market leader in a genre carries high risk. From its inception, CLUTCH was positioned as a complement to the Forza Horizon series, rather than aiming to defeat or replace it.
Both games feature vehicle-based exploration, but Maverick Games believes character development and storytelling will be the key differentiators for CLUTCH. The team aims to incorporate more prominent narrative elements into the open-world racing framework, offering players a familiar driving experience with a different content focus.
The development team stated that even players already engaged with Forza Horizon 6 can find a different set of content in CLUTCH. CLUTCH is currently scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2027.