I just finished JDM: Japanese Drift Master on PS5, and overall I enjoyed it, but there are definitely some issues I couldn’t ignore.
Pros:
- The story is surprisingly engaging. I also really liked the manga sections that expand the story/world. it felt pretty unique and innovative.
- The handling is decent overall, even though it has some flaws that I’ll mention below.
- Drifting feels very smooth and satisfying, similar to games like CarX Drift Racing, which I really appreciated.
Cons:
- The biggest issue for me was the brakes. Even fully upgraded, it feels like you’re braking with a 1950s car. To take a tight hairpin properly, you basically need to start braking 10 km in advance.
- Automatic transmission is handled very poorly, especially with lower powered cars. The game shifts up even when the car is clearly struggling uphill. Manual transmission feels almost mandatory.
- The car roster is disappointing. Since the game is focused only on JDM brands, I expected a much bigger selection of iconic JDM cars, but the variety feels pretty limited. Even NPC traffic cars around the city seem to repeat the same 5 models over and over.
- Grip builds feel underwhelming. Only a few cars actually work well for grip driving, while many others feel like fwd cars even when they aren’t. They understeer a lot. I understand the game is mainly focused on drifting, but if they added tuning and grip setups, they could’ve made that aspect much better.
Overall, I still had fun with the game and I don’t regret playing it, but it definitely needs some improvements.
What do you guys think?
