Get that one tyre in the gutter and make that pass over the tight turn stick, as Racing Master has launched a collaboration event with none other than Initial D.
Initial D is an instrumental IP in the popularisation of touge racing, Japanese sports cars and car culture into popular culture. Many a racing game, from Gran Turismo to Forza, straight-up name drops the manga-turned-anime series (with at least one live-action adaptation). Racing Master isn’t just doing a name-drop, as this official collaboration brings new cars and limited-time events to the mobile racing game by NetEase Games in collaboration with Codemasters.
Racing Master X Initial D New Cars
The biggest appeal to the collab is of course, the cars. And there’s four Initial D cars added to Racing Master. NetEase proclaims in the press release that the collaboration “goes beyond visual replication” as these Initial D cars, which their stock versions are already in the game, have been “re-engineered within Racing Master’s proprietary driving system, faithfully reflecting the characteristics, historical context, and unique handling of the anime.”
In other words, they should be a whole lot driftier than their stock counterparts.
All of the cars represent their peak form as depicted in the Initial D Fifth Stage anime. Takumi’s Hachiroku (AE86) has that carbon fiber hood, so is Keisuke’s RX-7 FD with the pop-up headlights replaced with a conventional one (albeit the in-game model just uses the 2001 RX-7 FD rather than the 90’s ɛ̃fini RX-7, which coincidentally was added recently in Gran Turismo 7). Go Hojo’s red NSX and Takeshi Nakazato’s R32 completes the list.
All cars feature their respective license plates, accurate to the latest anime representation (Initial D Legends, MF Ghost).
The new cars are the following:
- Toyota (AE86) Sprinter Trueno GT-Apex Initial D Ver. ’85
- Honda NSX-R Initial D Ver. ’92
- Mazda RX-7 Type RS Initial D Ver. (FD3S) ’01
- Nissan Skyline GT-R Initial D Ver. (R32) ’89 (Free car)
For a limited time, Racing Master has two new gameplay modes as an homage to Initial D. One is the obvious “Tofu Delivery” runs and the other is “Gum Tape Deathmatches.”
Racing Master is also celebrating its 1st anniversary alongside this collab, so there’s a lot of freebies on offer including free pulls (this is a gacha game).
Racing Master is out now in Southeast Asia on iOS and Android, and playable on PC via the official PC Emulator.