The biggest car news and reviews, no BS
Our free daily newsletter sends the stories that really matter directly to you, every weekday.
These days, gamers who are also car enthusiasts are pretty spoiled in terms of licensed vehicles. Two decades ago, you couldn’t necessarily count on, say, an E30 BMW M3 being featured in a game’s car roster, not to mention countless classic Ferrari and Porsche models, which were often locked to certain publishers due to exclusivity deals. But today, there’s certain enthusiast royalty you just expect in everything. That’s not to say some very special cars haven’t been left behind over the years, though, and one cult favorite has finally re-emerged in Forza Horizon 6: the Renault Sport Spider.
The Spider will be joining FH6 alongside the McLaren W1 as part of the next Car Pass update for September. Some of you will be more excited about the W1, and I get it—it’s at the top of the modern hypercar food chain, and it’ll be the perfect counterpart to the Ferrari F80, which is also in the latest Horizon.
But the Spider is a vehicle that games simply forgot about over the years. Scanning Internet Game Car Database, it was most popular around the turn of the century, notably appearing in Roadsters, Metropolis Street Racer, Project Gotham Racing 2, and Racing Evoluzione/Apex. That would’ve been within 10 years of its 1996 debut, and all four of those titles are at least 23 years old. Consider that this car has never featured in any Forza—Motorsport or Horizon—nor any Gran Turismo. The medium just left it in the past, whether due to indifference or some kind of licensing issue.
Xbox Game Studios
That’s a shame, because the Spider is a very strange and special machine. Renault built it both as a road-going sports car as well as the star of its own spec series. Weighing well under 2,200 pounds and paired with the 150-horsepower four-cylinder out of the Clio Williams—mounted behind the driver in this case—the Spider was almost like a more exotic Miata or final-gen MR2 with its focus on agility and simplicity, but with far more dramatic styling.
It’s like a concept you can’t figure how they homologated for public roads, with its wide and low stance, coupled with its two-tone finish and an interior that’s elegantly spartan. Did we mention that Renault never offered a roof, not even a detachable hardtop?
I can’t remember the last time I saw an interior with less in it. Renault
Ultimately, the company built more than 1,700 cars total, with 80 of them specifically intended for motorsport, and those made closer to 200 horsepower. When new, the Spider started at £19,000; that equates to about £46,000 today, which is about $62,000 in 2026 dollars, so the thing was never exactly cheap. Given that, the Lotus Elise would probably be a better analog for the Spider, and, wouldn’t you know it, one of those is in FH6, too. You’ll be able to drive Renault’s slick open-top sports car in the game starting September 24.
Got a news tip? Reach out to tips@thedrive.com
Backed by a decade of covering cars and consumer tech, Adam Ismail is a Senior Editor at The Drive, focused on curating and producing the site’s slate of daily stories.
