Since the 1970s, drifting has created a subculture within the automotive culture. There’s a ton of media featuring the technique, like Initial D and Tokyo Drift. And that’s not stopping anytime soon, as JDM: Japanese Drift Master is the newest drifting game. In JDM, you’ll be stepping into the shoes of Touma, a foreigner from Poland, who wants to mark his spot on the drifting map. Throughout the game, you’ll take on challenges and even try your hand at delivering sushi. Just make sure that the fish roe doesn’t fly off when you crash. Do you have what it takes to become the drift king? Or will JDM crash and burn into a cylinder pipe?

JDM: Japanese Drift Master is set in the fictional prefecture of Guntama, Japan. You play as Touma, a new expat from Poland, who, after losing his dad and a big race, moved to Japan for a fresh start. The game starts with a little tutorial. While in the car of the man who picked us up, Hideo, we learn the mechanics of driving and, more importantly, drifting. There are some helpful moments where you’ll need to repeat the technique a few times. There is a bit of a learning curve if you’re either a rookie or rusty. But once you get it down, it feels so good driving these cars.

Most of the game has licensed cars, from brands like Mazda, Nissan and Subaru. You can acquire them from a dealership with all the Yen you’ve won from missions and races. These cars are upgradeable through points you receive from drifting. You can change the cosmetics of the car too, including gamer lights underneath. There’s an area where you can learn how to drift, grip and drag, and you can make some extra money to buy a car or an upgrade you’ve been eyeing by participating in illegal races and sushi delivery.

The driving itself is fun and fluid, even while using a controller. But the drifting mechanic is the main reason we’re here. Again, there is a learning curve to it, but it’s explained well. Some cars are pretty easy to handle, while others might need some fine-tuning. Luckily, JDM does allow players to tune every little thing, from the angle of the tires to the suspension of the car. While it does explain in a pop-up what each thing does, it doesn’t go into full detail. Thus, it feels like you’re expected to know what you’re doing, and this is where it can fall flat for new players of the genre.

Throughout the game, your missions may include races like drifting, grip and time attacks. Drift races might include needing to have the most points to win, while grip races are mostly where you’ll need to finish first. But, there are times when these races will need you to not only come first, but also obtain the most points. Time attacks’ objective includes finishing the race within a certain timeframe. These races pepper the mission list, but are also events outside the main missions. Sometimes the NPCs can be quite challenging, or the difficulty comes from the chosen track for the race. The difficulty can also depend on situations out of your control, like rain making handling difficult, or tight bends contributing to a loss of speed.

When first loading up JDM: Japanese Drift Master, you’re given an accessibility configuration. Which does include languages, and if you use kilometres or miles. Other forms of accessibility include colour blindness correction, and its level of intensity, too. You’re also able to remap the keys, with JDM even including the choice to use a steering wheel controller. Another option in the accessibility configuration is a reading assistant. This will help folks who don’t read manga to understand that you read it from right to left, instead of left to right like a Western comic. This puts numbers on what order to read the panel in. It’s great to see these small details thought about.

There’s no real penalty for hitting cars or objects. Of course, if you’re drifting and the car drifts more than 90° from where you started, you’ll lose a multiplier. Other than that, there’s no need to worry about fixing your car after a major wreck or outrunning the police. Which, admittedly, is appreciated, due to no added stress. But others might want a bit more difficulty in their game. Though in saying that, some of the missions were either too easy or too difficult, and there’s no way to skip the missions if you find a mission challenging.