JDM: Japanese Drift Master Xbox Series X Review 6.5/10 *Don’t let me drift away, babe* 🏯🚗💨 @GamingFactorySA #IndieGame #GameDev

Firstly, I have to say that whilst I didn’t fully click with JDM: Japanese Drift Master due to several issues that I’ll elaborate on below, this is clearly a game that’s been crafted with love, and has some real high points in the visual departments and world design. That said, there were too many issues to ignore and it all resulted in JDM feeling like a game that needed a bit longer in the oven to really make an impact.

The narrative of the game is told through Manga style comic imagery, a really cool touch that adds to the Japanese vibe of the game and bookends the chapters that make up the story in a fun way. The look and layout of the map is surprisingly varied as well, with some lovely touches and flourishes in the landscapes and environments that you’ll be whizzing through. 

From gritty urban areas through cities, villages, bucolic rural areas and forest paths – there is certainly a huge amount of variety in your surroundings. Considering the budget – this isn’t a AAA title, after all – I was also pleasantly surprised at the fact that there a nice number of tunes on the in-game radio stations, and whilst some genres aren’t my cup of tea (Eurobeat, EDM) I did find myself settling on the synthwave stuff, which is absolutely fine!

Naturally, I recommend that you switch from the default ‘quality’ mode (read – a ropey 30fps) to the ‘performance’ mode (a much smoother 60fps) in order to get the best out of the game, as the areas and aural side of things are all groovy. Unfortunately it’s the driving that didn’t feel as good as it could have, and really detracted from my enjoyment of JDM: Japanese Drift Master. There’s something about the handling and physics that just felt...off. 

A surprising amount of the roads you’ll be drifting around are narrow and leave little room for error, I found that it felt random if I drifted well in a location or not, and the vast majority of the scenery either brings you to a dead stop if you collide, or results in some bizarre air-flipping physics that feel floaty and out of place. 

There’s a huge amount of unlockables and car customisation under the bonnet, so to speak, so I can imagine if you enjoy the controls and nail the drifting, there’s a lot to dig your teeth into, but for me, I just felt like I was constantly battling against the controls, and losing. 

It also doesn’t help that the sign-posting in the game means that corners and forking roads leave you scant time to react, meaning you’ll slam into a barrier or miss an extremely tight turn quite often, and the stop-start nature of the driving means that the flow comes out of the run.

SUMMARY
JDM: Japanese Drift Master is a game that some will hold dear, but if like me you don’t connect with the driving mechanics, it makes it a hard sell, and all of the extras and depth get pushed to one side because of the fundamentals.

6.5/10

💧🧊MELTING🧊💧

(Also available on PC)