Microsoft’s new tech cuts Forza Horizon 6 load times to 4 seconds on PC

Microsoft is touting a big quality-of-life win for PC racing. The company says its Advanced Shader Delivery pipeline slashes Forza Horizon 6’s startup wait to roughly four seconds and eliminates shader compilation hitches, with a preview build now rolling out on PC via the Xbox Insider program.

What Microsoft changed

Advanced Shader Delivery precompiles and distributes a per-title shader database alongside the game download, so your first boot no longer spends a minute or more building shaders. Microsoft describes it as shipping a ready-to-run shader package pulled from developer data and hardware vendor compilers, rather than asking your PC to do it all at launch.

In Microsoft’s own test case for Forza Horizon 6, the company reports startup falling from close to a minute to about four seconds, alongside fewer in-race hitches. The demo machine wasn’t exotic either: an RX 7600 paired with a Ryzen 7 5800, which suggests the benefit isn’t limited to high-end rigs.

How to try it

The feature is currently labeled preview on PC and is being enabled first for AMD RDNA 3 GPUs through the Xbox Insider Hub’s PC Gaming Preview. Wider PC ecosystem support is planned as Microsoft works with additional vendors. If you’re opted in, the shader package downloads with the game and should be active as soon as you launch.

Why it matters for big open worlds

Shader prebuilds aren’t new, but making them a first-party pipeline that rides with the game download is a big step. Open-world racers like Forza are notorious for first-boot shader queues and mid-race stutter after driver or game updates. If Advanced Shader Delivery holds up across more hardware, it could become table stakes for smooth day-one PC play, not just in Forza but in other sprawling titles.

Microsoft previously introduced Advanced Shader Delivery on handheld Windows devices and outlined the benefits publicly, positioning it as a way to make games launch up to ten times faster by moving shader work upfront. The PC preview is the next logical step toward standardizing that experience across the Xbox ecosystem and Windows. You can read Microsoft’s earlier overview of the tech in an Xbox Wire update.

The fine print

This is still a preview and, for now, limited to specific GPUs. Expect edge cases and iterative updates as Microsoft tunes the database and expands support. Also note that the four-second figure comes from Microsoft’s internal testing; your mileage will vary based on storage, CPU, and background tasks. Still, if it consistently removes shader queues and stutter on first boot, it’s a meaningful upgrade for PC players who just want to get in and drive.