Who would have thought, an open world racing game having a collaboration with the venerated manga and anime series Initial D? And who would thought it was Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown that was doing it?
Nacon and KT Racing is bringing some heat with this mid-season update to the game. The Initial D collab will see Keisuke Takahashi himself of Project D arriving in Hong Kong Island. For the uninitiated on Initial D, that’s the main-rival-turn-teammate of protagonist Takumi Fujiwara, famous for driving the yellow Mazda RX-7 FD.
Speaking of the Mazda, Keisuke’s ride, based on the Mazda ɛ̃fini RX-7 Type R which was added to the game earlier on the current Season 7, will also be available as a limited-time bundle (from November 12 to March 24, 2027) which includes a bunch of Initial D-themed cosmetics. Keisuke’s yellow FD also comes with a “manga style” livery.
The initial D collab introduces Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown to a new game mode: Duel. This is a 1V1 race where you go downhill and uphill a mountain road at night. In other words, touge. You can lose a duel for taking too much damage, and how much the car takes damage negatively impact your final score and reward to encourage clean and precise driving.
The Duel races as part of the Initial D collab are also available in a Manga style rendering, with speed lines and such, if you prefer to really immerse in the collab events like how the manga and anime series is presented.
Speaking of which, one of the cultural touchstones that Initial D represent is the use of Eurobeat, a very specific genre of dance songs made in Europe but found popularity in Japan, and thanks to the influence of the series, becomes a mainstay in certain parts of car culture. A whole new radio station featuring Eurobeat beats is added to Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. And for the Initial D fans, yes, they did get a few of Dave Rogers’ classics tunes. Déjà Vu, Gas Gas Gas and the evergreen Running In The 90’s are specifically name dropped to be included in the new radio station, alongside other Eurobeat songs that are not specifically tied to the anime.
The Initial D limited-time Live Events also includes special Taxi missions, where you’ll be chauffeuring Keisuke, who is a fully rendered 3D model and physically present in the game, around Hong Kong Island. Curiously, along the ride, he’ll be quizzing you on Initial D lore. Understandably but disappointingly, Keisuke won’t be voiced.
Having Initial D in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown might sound odd on first glance (there’s another open world racing game released this year that would be a great fit for this collab), but there is some merit to this. After all, there was a 2005 Hong Kong film adaptation of Initial D, featuring Jay Chou in the leading role of Takumi Fujiwara. Ironically, the film omits the appearance of Keisuike, and his yellow FD entirely.
Initial D previously appeared as a limited-time collab on the mobile racing game Racing Master, which also extended the collab to Initial D’s spiritual successor manga/anime series MF Ghost.
The mid-season 7 update for Test Drive Solar Crown also adds a bunch of other features, including more rim sizes and a customisable camera. More info on that can be found here.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is out now on PS5, PC (Steam) and Xbox Series X|S.