Cue Teriyaki Boyz’s “Tokyo Drift.” I’ve previously spoken a little about Polish studio Gaming Factory’s JDM: Japanese Drift Master, an upcoming release that is strange. It is a heavily licensed car game with decent graphical fidelity from the screenshots and no notable pedigree behind it, but it isn’t backed by hundreds of millions from a major publisher. Just the other day, we got the release date for Lucas Black Simulator 2025, otherwise known as JDM: Japanese Drift Master.
The press release notes: “JDM: Japanese Drift Master takes the players to an open-world, fictional Japanese prefecture – Guntama. It spans over 250 km in main roads and features the most famous tourist landmarks, as well as legendary car enthusiast spots, mixed together to create one cohesive and stunning world. From the recreation of the Himeji Castle to our Guntama’s own Daikoku parking area, whether you’re a racing fan or just want to drive through Japanese roads – you’ll always find something exciting to do!
You will follow the story of Touma, a Polish driver who dreams of making a name for himself on the local street racing scene. With some help from his Japanese friends, he dives deep into the competition but quickly learns that fierce rivals are standing in his way. Will he manage to reach the top? Drama, action, and even love await the players.
The story in JDM: Japanese Drift Master is told through in-game events and a manga, meticulously drawn by our internal art team. Each time the player takes part in an event, pages of the comic book will lead them in or build up the narrative for what’s next to come.”
Speaking of the licenses, it has been mentioned that Nissan, Mazda, and Subaru are all being included, with a tease for more information yet to come. There is also a note of mechanically and visually upgrading cars to improve performance and make yourself stand out in the drift scene. Is anyone else getting a desire to turn on the PS2 and play Need for Speed: Carbon? I’ll stand on business and say that was the last great Need for Speed title.
What practically solidifies that suggestion is the next part of the press release: “JDM: Japanese Drift Master is a simcade racer, with a solid simulation backbone and arcade layers added on top for a fun and enjoyable experience. Expect each car to behave differently on the street, to feel the weight of it when going into a corner or trying to break at a high speed. Driving physics were very important for us from the beginning and we believe we found a perfect balance between fun and challenge coming from driving a car in real life.
We also have good news for [sim racers] and car enthusiasts – we’re constantly adding presets for driving wheels and the plethora of [sim driving] hardware available on the market to the game. We’re also building a robust key binding feature, where you will be able to set up basically anything you have hooked up to your PC, for any hardware that we just didn’t have the man-capacity to create a [plug-and-play] preset to. It will be available at player’s disposal on the day of the game’s launch. If you’re a controller or a keyboard player, don’t fret, the game will be as enjoyable on them as playing on a steering wheel!“
JDM: Japanese Drift Master is set to release on Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store, with no word of console releases thus far. Making its full release on all three platforms this spring, JDM: Japanese Drift Master will release on March 26th, 2025. There is currently a demo version available now on Steam, titled JDM: Rise of the Scorpion, which lets you play and “try out the first elements of our game before the full release,” as the press release notes. I’m excited to see the full release and probably bin a Nissan at high speeds into Japanese architecture.
Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.
Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!