Speed Skills in Forza Horizon 6 reward you for holding a high velocity for a brief stretch of road. The mechanic sounds simple, but the in-game description only says you need to drive "above 100mph for a short distance," which leaves the higher tiers undefined. Each tier has a fixed mph threshold, and hitting the right one matters when a Festival Playlist challenge asks for a specific level of Speed Skill.
Speed Skill tiers and point payouts
There are four tiers, and the points scale aggressively at the top. Crossing 200 mph rewards four times the points of the 175 mph tier, which makes the Ultimate Speed Skill the most valuable target once you have a car capable of hitting it.
| Tier | Speed required | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | 100 mph / 161 kmph | 100 |
| Great Speed | 150 mph / 241 kmph | 150 |
| Awesome Speed | 175 mph / 282 kmph | 250 |
| Ultimate Speed | 200 mph / 322 kmph | 1,000 |
The duration requirement plays out as a few seconds of sustained driving at or above the threshold. Faster cars cover that "short distance" in less time, so they bank the skill quicker and can chain multiple Speed Skills back to back on a long straight.
How to earn each tier
Step 1: Pick a car that can comfortably exceed the tier you need. For the base Speed Skill, almost anything in A-class or above will do. For Great Speed and Awesome Speed, an S1 or S2 car with a tune that prioritises top speed is reliable. For Ultimate Speed, you need a hypercar or a drag-tuned build that clears 200 mph without strain.
Step 2: Head to a long, uninterrupted stretch of road. Japan's highway network is the cleanest option, with extended straights where you can build velocity without braking for corners. The northern mountain expressways also work for the lower tiers.
Step 3: Clear traffic ahead of you, then hold full throttle until the speedometer crosses the threshold. Keep the car steady at that speed for two to three seconds. The Speed Skill notification will appear on the right side of the screen with the tier name and points awarded.
Cars that clear Ultimate Speed easily
Hitting 200 mph reliably is the difference between a 250-point Awesome Speed Skill and a 1,000-point Ultimate Speed Skill. The Hennessey Venom F5 is the standout, with a stock top speed past 300 mph that leaves enormous headroom over the threshold. The Koenigsegg Jesko sits in similar territory and is equally easy to push into the Ultimate tier on any reasonable straight.
Drag-tuned S2 builds also work well because they are optimised for straight-line acceleration. They reach 200 mph faster, which means more time spent in the Ultimate Speed window per attempt and a higher chance of chaining several in a single run.
Cars below S2 generally cannot sustain 200 mph even on the longest stretch of highway, regardless of how clean the run is. Check the top speed stat in the car menu before committing to an Ultimate Speed attempt.
Festival Playlist tier matching
Playlist challenges name the exact tier they want. A challenge asking for "Great Speed Skills" only counts hits at 150 mph or above, not basic Speed Skills triggered at 105 mph. If the wording mentions "Awesome" or "Ultimate," you have to clear that specific threshold for it to register against the objective.
You can also earn Speed Skills during the pre-race warm-up phase, before the lights go green. That makes certain car-specific Playlist challenges easier to clear, because you can rack up the required count on the warm-up road and then quit out without finishing the race.
Verification
The skill registers correctly when the named tier appears in the skill banner on the right side of the screen, along with its point value. If the banner shows "Speed" with 100 points when you were aiming for "Great Speed," your sustained velocity did not clear 150 mph for long enough. Push the car harder, or switch to one with a higher top speed.
For Playlist progress, the challenge counter in the pause menu updates as soon as a qualifying skill is banked into your chain. If the counter does not move, the tier was below the one the challenge requires.