Forza Horizon 6: Gamertag and Driver Name Split

Forza Horizon 6 shows you two names. The driver name is chosen from a preset list in your garage. The Xbox Gamertag is your Microsoft account handle, and the number Xbox puts on the end of it cannot be removed from inside the game. Neither field takes a styled font.

Forza Horizon 6 Driver name: preset list, not typed Gamertag suffix: no in-game removal Published 23 Jul 2026 · Verified 2 Sep 2026
Which is which

Your Two Names in Forza Horizon 6

The driver name is cosmetic and lives in your garage. The Gamertag is your account, and it is the name other racers see. A third name, your Steam profile name, never appears in the game at all.

NameWhat it isCan you type your own?Where you change itSeen by other racers?
Driver nameCosmetic nickname in your garage profileNo, you pick one from a preset listGarage → Character → My NameYes
Xbox GamertagYour Microsoft account handle. This is what other racers see.Plain text only, never a styled fontXbox account settings, outside the gameYes, numeric suffix included
Steam profile nameA Steam-side labelYesSteam profile settings✗ No

On PC the game signs you in through your Microsoft account, not Steam, so renaming yourself on Steam changes nothing in a Forza lobby.

The number on the end

Why Your Gamertag Has Digits, and How to Lose Them

Xbox adds those digits when the gamertag you asked for is already taken. It is a setting on your Microsoft account, not on the game, and Forza Horizon 6 has no option to hide it.

One fix works: change the Xbox gamertag itself to something nobody else has. Do that in Xbox account settings, and the suffix goes away everywhere Xbox shows your name. Your first gamertag change is free; Microsoft charges for the ones after it, so it is worth checking a candidate is actually unique before you spend the change.

Picking a unique name buys you room as well. Since Microsoft's July 2026 console update, a unique Latin-character gamertag can run to 15 characters; one that still needs a numeric suffix stops at 12 characters. Details in Xbox Gamertags Grow From 12 to 15 Characters.

Styled fonts

Can You Use a Fancy Name in Forza Horizon 6?

No, in either field, and for two different reasons.

The driver name is not a text box, so there is nothing to paste into.

The Gamertag is a text box, but it has never accepted anything beyond plain characters. Our Game-Name Rules Matrix lists it at 12–15 characters plus an Xbox-assigned #suffix, plain text only, with spaces and apostrophes allowed and nothing decorative. That is the same locked-handle pattern behind almost every game and app, set out in where fancy fonts work: username vs. display name.

Correction

What We Got Wrong About the Driver Name

Corrected July 24, 2026. This page first described the driver name as a free-form field with no published length or character rules, and said we would watch for one. There is no such rule coming.

A Playground Games developer answered the question on Steam Community: ANNA, the in-car assistant, says your name out loud, 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 are picking from a fixed list tied to real voice recordings. No length limit and no character set will ever be published for it, because there is no field to limit.

The Gamertag row above is the only hard naming rule Forza Horizon 6 inherits, and the game's launch did not change it.

Racing on another platform tonight?

Check what a PSN ID, a Steam name or a Roblox username will accept before you pay for a change.

Open the Game-Name Rules Matrix →
Sources

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.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

No. Xbox appends that numeric suffix when your chosen gamertag isn't unique, and it is a Microsoft account setting rather than a game one. Forza Horizon 6 has no option to hide or remove it. The only fix is changing your Xbox gamertag to something unique enough not to need a suffix.
Open your garage and go to Character > My Name, then pick a different name. You can switch as often as you like, and it costs nothing. It is not a text box, so you choose from the preset list rather than typing your own.
No. They are two separate fields. Your driver name is a cosmetic nickname set inside the game, at Garage > Character > My Name, and you can switch it at will. Your Xbox Gamertag is your locked Microsoft account handle, changed outside the game in Xbox account settings, and it is what other players see as your online identity.
No. Forza Horizon 6 uses your Microsoft account for online identity, even on PC, so a Steam profile name change never appears in multiplayer. Your Xbox Gamertag is still the name other racers see.
No. The driver name isn't a typed field at all. Playground Games confirmed you pick from a preset list, because ANNA, the in-car assistant, addresses you with pre-recorded voice lines and can only say names that were recorded. The Xbox Gamertag underneath it is a typed field, and it stays plain text only with no styled Unicode, per our Game-Name Rules Matrix.
Our Game-Name Rules Matrix covers the account-handle-vs-display-name split for Roblox, Fortnite, PSN, Xbox, Valorant, COD and Steam side by side, including which fields accept styled Unicode and which don't.