As a racing game enthusiast, there are two aspects I’ve been yearning for in today’s racing titles: a deep drifting experience and a focus on Japanese settings. While games like Forza Horizon have showcased breathtaking landscapes across the globe, from down under to Mexico, they seem to overlook the vibrant streets of Tokyo or the picturesque countryside of Kyoto. Moreover, these series haven’t delved into the street-racing culture that games such as Need for Speed or films like the original Fast and Furious movies have made iconic, instead opting for stock configurations of popular cars.
It’s clear that JDM: Japanese Drift Master is aiming to bridge this gap, offering a unique experience with its drifting-centric driving model and an authentic slice of Japan as a backdrop. It’s a pity, however, that the game doesn’t manage to combine all these appealing elements into a seamless whole.
The Japanese Drift Master game primarily revolves around mastering drifts, which is its standout feature. Sliding a rear-wheel-drive car with high torque might seem simple at first, but keeping a good angle and maintaining speed makes it challenging and fun. A balance meter, similar to the one in Tony Hawk Pro Skater, allows you to monitor your drift angle and maintain balance by steering towards the back of your car while gradually accelerating to power through the slide. It’s rewarding to learn how to expertly control drifts, and even more satisfying when you can use the handbrake to adjust angles quickly or the clutch to add extra torque during turns.
Drift competitions allow you to demonstrate your expertise in mastering the Japanese Drift game’s driving style exceptionally well, and they are among the most accessible events in the game. Scoring high enough to pass usually wasn’t a challenge for me in most events, but I found that some luck played a part, which could be quite frustrating at times. The longer and more intensely you drift, the greater your score multiplier grows, but it resets if you spin out or collide with something. My complaint isn’t about the fact that this happens, but rather the inconsistency in how it occurs. Japanese Drift Master can seem excessively harsh in its interpretation of a spin, sometimes unfairly resetting your score when you start drifting at an angle it doesn’t expect. Additionally, it’s unclear which collisions cause your multiplier to reset and which do not. I’ve had instances where I hit road barriers hard without losing points, and others where the slightest touch from traffic would end a long drift. Since I couldn’t rely on knowing the boundaries of what I could get away with during a drift, it became frustrating trying to find the maximum limit I could push myself without wasting time in the process.
Japanese Drift Master remains an arcade-style racer at its foundation, but requires more endurance for drifting compared to similar games. It presents two modes: simcade and arcade, intended to adjust the difficulty level. In actual play, I found it hard to discern much difference between the modes, with a noticeable change occurring only when activating a specific aid to correct spins. This aid made drifting more difficult because the car would actively resist spinning, which is why it’s disabled by default in both modes. Essentially, Japanese Drift Master offers limited options for customizing its racing style, which might leave you dissatisfied if you find it either overly forgiving or excessively challenging to get accustomed to.
The challenge faced by the Japanese Drift Master and their driving style is not limited to drifting; it extends to situations where drifting and traditional racing are combined. In these instances, your goal is to complete a race within a certain time frame while also achieving a high drift score. These objectives can conflict, leading to awkward drifting maneuvers as you swing the rear end of your car side-to-side during straightaways to meet both requirements. Races focused on traditional racing are even more problematic, with only front-wheel-drive cars being suitable for such events. Any vehicles tailored for drifting will struggle against competitors who either pull away or, frustratingly, intentionally collide, leading to numerous race restarts.
The inconvenience lies in the misleading event labels and multi-stage races that transition between different racing principles without allowing you to switch cars in between. It’s convenient to change vehicles at the nearest garage, but it’s irritating to spend time on events that don’t accurately describe their nature or allow for car swaps during transitions.
Experiencing Japanese Drift Master fully isn’t just about the racing; participating in less enjoyable events is crucial as well. The game offers a narrative that’s only moderately engaging, and the story unfolds between manga-style panels surrounding major events. However, the storyline is forgettable and its tone fluctuates significantly within a few pages, from amusing to awkward. Essentially, it serves as a means of transitioning you from one event to another. It offers context for tasks such as entertaining a passenger while driving or delivering sushi to finance your racing, but outside the campaign, there’s not much else to explore. Side quests resemble events you’ve already experienced in the story, and underground drifting competitions allow you to wager on your performance. After approximately 12 hours spent completing the storyline, there’s little incentive to continue playing.
The open-world environment should offer some level of self-contained amusement and it certainly can, especially if you seek a way to immerse yourself in the most visually striking aspects of the nation’s culture. The blend of suburban and urban landscapes, showcased by neon lights bathed streets at night or winding mountain roads adorned with soft pink cherry blossom trees, presents an appealing sight to behold. Exploring the diverse corners of this open world is a delight, offering more variety than you might expect considering its smaller map size compared to games like Forza Horizon or The Crew. However, despite its aesthetic appeal, Japanese Drift Master’s world seems rather empty.
In the narrow streets of small towns, traffic is so thick it feels like a constant obstacle for an enjoyable drifting experience. Strangely enough, traffic is virtually non-existent on the wider highways of the main city, leaving these busy areas feeling eerily quiet. The physics in this game are also unpredictable, making it hard to distinguish between destructible and non-destructible objects. You can’t help but be captivated by the idea of racing through this interpretation of Japan, but the reality is that the map isn’t engaging enough for an enjoyable driving experience most of the time.
In simpler terms, Japanese Drift Master offers extensive customization for both performance and appearance in street racing. This includes adjusting wheel angles for drift flexibility, increasing engine horsepower for better slides, and a multitude of visual upgrades such as body kits, rims, spoilers, paint jobs, underglows, and gear-shift heads. However, some advanced performance options may seem excessive since the game doesn’t fully simulate racing experiences. On the other hand, visual customization can be quite engaging, with a wide variety of ways to style the 22 cars available in the game, including Mazdas, Subarus, and Nissans. Acquiring the necessary funds for these upgrades can feel like a challenge, especially when certain parts are tied to specific car levels, but earning and attaching each new part to your favorite ride makes it feel rewarding.
In many ways, Japanese Drift Master seemed like a racing game I really wanted to appreciate, considering how rare it is for games to emphasize drifting these days. However, the game’s excessive focus on perfecting drifts has come at the expense of other elements. Its ambition is evident, but its attempt to accommodate various event types actually weakens its strongest point – the drifting mechanic. It frequently fails to deliver the thrill of speeding through city streets in a high-performance vehicle, instead falling short of the fantasy it presents with tracks that don’t suit this experience. Overall, Japanese Drift Master has potential, but unfortunately, it doesn’t live up to its promise as a comprehensive racing experience.
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2025-06-10 20:39