AMD Radeon GPUs get faster Forza Horizon 6 loading with Microsoft shader tech

Microsoft’s Advanced Shader Delivery technology is now available on more AMD Radeon GPUs, and Forza Horizon 6 is one of the first major games showing how big the improvement can be. In one test system, the game loaded in 4 seconds instead of almost 90 seconds after the feature was enabled.

Advanced Shader Delivery is designed to reduce one of the most annoying problems in PC gaming: shader compilation delays. Normally, some games need to compile shaders during launch or while playing, which can cause long waits, stutter, or uneven performance. Microsoft’s system helps by delivering precompiled shaders when supported games are downloaded.

The technology was developed by Xbox and AMD, but it is not limited to AMD hardware. Microsoft says it is supported across AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel GPUs. The latest expansion, however, focuses on more AMD Radeon hardware through AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.5.2.

The new preview support covers RDNA 3, RDNA 3.5, and RDNA 4 GPUs. That includes Radeon RX 7000, Radeon 700M, Radeon RX 8000, Radeon 800M, and Radeon RX 9000 graphics.

Forza Horizon 6 is the showcase example right now. Microsoft says a PC with a Radeon RX 7600 GPU and Ryzen 7 5800 processor loaded the game in 4 seconds with Advanced Shader Delivery, compared with nearly 1.5 minutes before. That is a 95 percent reduction in loading time.

The benefit is not only about getting into the game faster. By avoiding just in time shader compilation during gameplay, Advanced Shader Delivery can also reduce shader related stutter. That should make games feel smoother, especially during first runs or after driver changes, where shader compilation problems are often more noticeable.

This could become more important as PC games continue to grow in size and complexity. Big open world games often rely on many shaders, and poor shader handling can make even powerful PCs feel inconsistent. If Advanced Shader Delivery becomes common, it could make PC game launches feel closer to console style smoothness.

Microsoft is also giving developers support to add the feature through the Agility SDK. The company says Advanced Shader Delivery will reach more Windows devices and other hardware in the coming months.

For AMD Radeon owners, the main takeaway is simple. If you have a supported RDNA 3 or newer GPU and want to play Forza Horizon 6 through the Xbox PC app, updating to Adrenalin 26.5.2 and joining the PC Gaming Preview could bring much faster loading and smoother gameplay.