First Look – JDM: Rise of the Scorpion is a tantalising prospect

To many Westerners, Japanese culture can seem like an alien concept. Obsessions with karaoke, martial arts, diminutive kei cars and bemusing vending machines – things are done differently

That is why it appeals. We long to catch a bullet train, sit in the back of an embroidery-adorned cab or traverse crowded intersections.

Perhaps this is why combining two passions, Japan and open-world driving games, seems so right.

Loading into JDM: Rise of the Scorpion’s fictional Haikama Lake environment, it feels as if you’ve been transported around the globe in the blink of an eye.

Unreal Engine-powered graphics are put to good use with detailed buildings, torii gates and narrow village streets. The area is replete with moveable objects, from bicycles to on-coming Nissan Marchs (known as Micras in Europe) plus the aforementioned roadside vending machines.

The ethos to mix the evocative car sub-culture of drifting – clips of cars slewing sideways have always turned grown adults into mouth-open excited children – with the Land of the Rising Sun’s allure.

Results are spectacular. A heady mix of driving nirvana and tourism, the subtle nods in the details belie this game’s Polish origins.

On the road, using a gamepad, the sensations are almost as equally satisfying as the visuals. Our Nissan 350Z-like car (minus licencing) bounces off the rev limiter and slides more readily than a Tenerife water park visitor.

Weight transfer is satisfyingly hefty, and the Gaming Factory creation team has perfected the arm-over-arm animation when in the cockpit viewing angle – something that rival Forza Horizon 5 sorely lacks.

In between exploration and events, there is an appropriately exaggerated plotline told through a manga. Your character Hasahi Hatori is fresh out of school and gifted a sports car by his generous parents for his birthday.

Feeding off the graphic novel style, some of the storylines and missions you’ll participate in are outlandish.

“There’s no better way to impress a girl by driving around town sideways,” says one scene.

Apparently, in this drift-themed alternative universe, Tinder has not been invented yet. So, off you go, power sliding on the exit of tight turns, with a woman (Aoi) in the passenger seat and an excitement level meter to hit.

There are only 19 chapters presently, as Rise of the Scorpion is far from a finished project. This is a free vertical slice of work-in-progress content. Acting as a prologue, or an early beta, a full ‘JDM: Japanese Drift Master’ game will arrive at a later date.

Releasing such a demo is a brave call. Fellow expansive driving game Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown recently pulled a similar move, with a mixed response.

The areas for improvement are obvious. The visuals not being one, your AI-powered opponents are definitely in need of a brain transplant. They are timid in race events, the tight confines perhaps contributing to their trepidation.

But worse, when you are in a 1v1 drift event, the difference in physics employed by rivals is stark – jerking from one transition to the next, with wheel movements that do not align. Damage to your vehicle is completely absent. There is drag racing, but it seems wayward.

Key features are omitted at this stage, such as split-screen and online multiplayer. Perhaps the biggest shame is the lack of a picture mode (for now), as this game is incredibly photogenic thanks to tuned cars and cherry blossoms.

Definitive verdicts on elements such as story progression and car tuning cannot be concluded at this stage. Yen is used to purchase more cars, which at this stage includes a mix of ‘fictional’ fascimilies alongside licenced Mazdas and Subarus, while upgrades are unlocked over time.

While detailed, the environment can be a little repetitive, although, again, this is an early stage where the full scope has not been revealed. A greater variety of traffic vehicle types wouldn’t go amiss, and like similar contemporary games in this arena, the streets are devoid of humans.

Yet, these critiques are mostly trivial, and that’s why this has more potential than any other early access game released so far this year, perhaps aside from Le Mans Ultimate.

That’s high praise. JDM, we’ll be watching to see if you can deliver…