It’s been in development for a few years, with a free Scorpion Rising demo available since early 2024, and now JDM: Japanese Drift Master has a March 2025 release date.
The narrative-driven single-player simcade racing game is developed by Polish studio Gaming Factory, and will be launched for the PC on March 26th, 2025 via Steam, GoG and the Epic Store. Running on Unreal Engine 5, you discover the story of Polish driver Touma, who wants to be a top Japanese street racer, with the in-game events accompanied by illustrated manga pages to progress the story, along with open-world exploration to discover the next racing event.
More than 250km of roads of the fictional Japanese prefecture Guntama will include real landmarks and car enthusiast spots like Himeji Castle and a version of the Daikoko Parking Area. Cars are licensed from manufactuters including Nissan, Mazda and Subaru, with more to come before the release date, and you can install parts including new ECUs and bosozuku exhausts, or fine tune the more advanced parts to get the performance you want. And it should be playable using a wheel and pedals or controller, depending on your preference.
It’s an interesting time for JDM: Japanese Drift Master to arrive, given it’s spent a long time in development, and will now launch just a couple of months after the arrival of Xtreme Tokyo Racer, a Japan-focused single player racing game with a lengthy history. Will a new title from Garage Factory get more attention from the initial popularity of the Genki game? Or are those obsessed with Japanese auto culture already being catered for? We’ll find out from the end of March when the two JDM games can be compared side-by-side.
You can find JDM: Japanese Drift Master for the PC via Steam, the Epic Game Store, and GoG.com. Keep up with all the latest JDM: Japanese Drift Master news, updates, DLC and more, here.
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