Japanese Drift Master Demo (PC) Review

Japanese Drift Master, or just “JDM” to its friends, is an ambitious car simulator game, laying focus especially onto one of the coolest factors of the world of a petrol head – drifting. Lovingly crafted by Electrician Simulator developers, Gaming Factory, this upcoming title is packed full of high-octane action and laced generously with a keen attention to detail.

Japanese Drift Master and its Commendable Visuals

Despite Gaming Factory being an independent publisher, the graphical beauty on display in Japanese Drift Master is a true testament to what these guys are capable of. Being based in the Land of the Rising Sun, there’s ample opportunity to offer stunning scenery to backdrop your experience and it seems like the independent studio have taken the bull by the horns and seized each and every presented opportunity.

Moving on to the car’s interior, the attention to detail seen in the outside environment extends to the inside of your car. The rev counter and speedometer behave realistically, while the little details (those that really matter) are still to be found. Furthermore, Japanese Drift Masters has gone the extra step and offers an interior view without the stearing wheel, which is absolutely ideal to those that like to play racing games using peripherals.

Japanese Drift Masters – Gameplay

As I mentioned at the start, Japanese Drift Master is chock-full of high-octane fun. Let loose on the mountains in and around the fictional Haikama Lake, there’s a magnitude of different roads, routes and areas to discover. Admittedly, the demo is quite restrictive and only offers up a small portion of the vast map we will see in the full game, but it was more that enough to whet my appetite for the full version and see just how much more would be on offer.

The demo is also extremely limited in the cars that are available to you. Starting with just an Ichiban Silvanna 15 and a Tayoni Hachichi (both fictional cars), I couldn’t really get a varied range to test. However, the two cars on offer handle noticeably differently, so I did notice a little variety in that sense. It does seem that there will be far more cars on offer in the finished version, but sadly these were hidden discretely under tarps in the vehicle select screen.

Moving on to the handling, the cars feel surprisingly weighty, offering more in the ways of handling. I thought that with it being primarily a drifting game, the cars would feel unrealistic and I’m so happy that I was wrong. Sadly, the same doesn’t go for the AI traffic that littered my race track. These invariably feel far too light when it comes to traffic collisions, it just doesn’t feel overly realistic when your drift car slams an SUV 100 yards down the road. A minor irritation, but an irritation nonetheless.

Japanese Drift Master – Customization

Another area in which Japanese Drift Master excels is when it comes down to pimping your ride. All of the usual performance upgrades are there with engine, suspension, steering, drive train, brakes and tire upgrades but the real fun comes when you decide to alter your whip’s appearance.

This part of the game reminded me heavily of the iconic racer, Need For Speed: Underground 2. There are so many different upgrades that will give your car that extra wow factor. Full body kits can be added and partial ones too (like side skirts and rear/front bumpers) but more notably, new exhausts and even wing mirrors can be added to give your motor that personal touch.

Japanese Drift Masters – Summary

With its commendable visuals, intricate customization options and adrenaline-pumping gameplay, Japanese Drift Masters is a must buy for any seasoned or aspiring petrol head. The price is yet to be disclosed but I’ll hazard a guess by saying it won’t be a bank-breaking price tag. Gaming Factory games usually fall in at between $5 and $20 and even at the higher end of this scale, the game more than pays for itself in fun and quality.