It’s been a pretty great year so far for racing games. Assetto Evo Corsa has launched in Early Access to a decent reception, while Tokyo Xtreme Racer has been absolutely showered with praise.
There’s a game coming soon that we think could make it a trifecta of quite brilliant early-access titles. That’s JDM: Japanese Drift Master, which is set to launch pretty soon. Here’s everything we know so far.
What exactly is JDM: Japanese Drift Master?
JDM: Japanese Drift Master, Eunos Roadster
Inspired by Touge racing and the manga series Initial D, JDM: Japanese Drift Master is pretty much what you’d expect from a game of that name.
It’s focused entirely on mountain racing, with a mix of drifting and grip-focused events. It’s set in an open-world based on Japan’s mountain roads, unsurprisingly, with around 155 miles to drive on.
The physics are described as ‘simcade’, balancing somewhere between a hardcore sim title and an arcadey racer. For a bit of context of what to expect, you could throw Forza Horizon into that same category.
As for gameplay, expect a story mode with ‘40+ narrative-driven events’. Other features include traffic, dynamic weather and a day/night cycle.
When is JDM: Japanese Drift Master releasing?
JDM: Japanese Drift Master will be released through Steam Early Access on 26 March 2025. No word yet on pricing, or when a full release is planned.
Will JDM: Japanese Drift Master come to consoles?
JDM: Japanese Drift Master, FD Mazda RX-7
For the time being, JDM: Japanese Drift Master will be on PC only but console releases are planned when the game has reached v1.0.
Speaking with Traxion.gg, Wojciech Babiński, Lead Game Designer at developer Gaming Factory, said: “Consoles are a big part of our publishing plans… Once the PC version is out, we’ll shift our focus to porting.”
JDM: Japanese Drift Master confirmed car list
Japanese Drift Master is set to feature licensed cars. At launch, those will include offerings from Nissan, Mazda and Subaru. We’d expect more to follow down the line.
A full car list has yet to be confirmed, so this list isn’t a catch-all at this stage, so stay tuned for more as we get them.
Mazda
FD RX-7
NA Eunos Roadster (MX-5)
Nissan
370Z
KGC10 Skyline GT-R
Subaru
GD Impreza WRX STI
ZD8 BRZ
JDM: Japanese Drift Master, ZD8 Subaru BRZ
JDM: Japanese Drift Master PC requirements
Minimum
OS: 64-bit Windows 10
Processor: Intel i5-7400 or Ryzen 5 2600
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Intel Arc A580 or GeForce GTX1660 or Radeon RX580 8GB
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 16 GB available space
Recommended
OS: 64-bit Windows 10
Processor: Intel i5 10400f or Ryzen 5 3600
Memory: 32 GB RAM
Graphics: Intel Arc A770 or GeForce RTX3060Ti or AMD Radeon RX6700
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 16 GB available space
