Lords of the Night Highways. Tokyo Xtreme Racer game review

This year we have already seen a game dedicated to Japanese street racing – JDM: Japanese Drift Master from the Polish studio Gaming Factory. Now it’s time for another game about racing in Japan – Tokyo Xtreme Racer from the legendary Japanese studio Genki. If JDM was exclusively about drifting, then Tokyo Xtreme Racer is exclusively about racing on the night highways of Tokyo.

Tokyo Xtreme Racer takes place exclusively on the Shuto Expressway. The Shuto Expressway, also known as the Metropolitan Expressway, is a network of limited-access expressways (Japanese expressways are the equivalent of American highways) built on overpasses, bridges, and tunnels that spans the entirety of Greater Tokyo. No intersections, no crosswalks, no sharp turns, the Shuto Expressway is designed specifically for night racing, and Japanese street racers take advantage of this.

Tokyo Xtreme Racer is one of the oldest racing game series. It is even older than Need for Speed. The first The Need for Speed was released on the 3DO platform on December 2, 1994, and the first Tokyo Xtreme Racer, better known as Shutokō Battle '94 Keiichi Tsuchiya Drift King, appeared on the Super Famicom on May 27, 1994. But exclusively in Japan. The first English-language release occurred on the first PlayStation in May 1996, this game received the western name Tokyo Highway Battle.

In total, the Shutokō Battle series (English titles Tokyo Highway Battle, Tokyo Xtreme Racer, Street Supremacy, Import Tuner Challenge, etc.) has over a dozen games, not counting re-releases and releases on other platforms. But the last major game in the series, Shutokō Battle X / Import Tuner Challenge, was released on the Xbox 360 in July 2007 and received rather negative reviews. It was followed by a spin-off of the manga of the same name, Wangan Midnight, for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable, which was supposedly warmly received in Japan, but after that, Genki studio unexpectedly announced the termination of development of the Shutokō Battle series.

Genki came out of hibernation in 2024 and in early 2025 unexpectedly released the new Tokyo Xtreme Racer on Steam in Early Access, collecting a bunch of positive comments and showing the starting online to 15 thousand players. At the same time, Genki didn't really bother with the promo, releasing trailers exclusively in Japanese (the game doesn't even have a normal release trailer), and the studio's website simply doesn't work at all. And now, just nine months after its appearance in Early Access, a full-fledged release took place. Hurry up. Well, let's take a look at this Japanese miracle.

At first it seems that Tokyo Xtreme Racer is a very simple race. The expressway is almost always a straight line or a smooth curve, know how to step on the gas and dodge the traffic cars. A kind of drag racing on public highways, whoever has the most powerful engine wins. In some ways it even reminds me of the very first car arcades of the 1980s, in which you only had to change lanes in time.

But it's worth giving Tokyo Xtreme Racer time to reveal itself. With the advent of more powerful cars and tuning, it's becoming increasingly difficult to hold the car even on a straight line, and it's very, very difficult to pass even smooth curves cleanly when you've accelerated to 230–250 km/h and hit the nitro. Especially when your opponent is sitting in your slipstream and just waiting for a mistake, and any touch of the wall or, God forbid, collision with traffic is a guaranteed loss. But no one forbids you from blocking your opponent, this is not Formula 1, they don't punish you for double shifting while braking.

Indeed, many duels, especially with nameless traffic drivers, end here with a short sprint at full throttle. But when it comes to named racers, or bosses, everything is completely different. In addition to one-on-one races, there are serial and group races, where you are one against two or three cars, the drivers of which help each other. Plus, some racers will accept your challenge only if you are in a specific car, with a specific mileage, without upgrades, without nitro, with visual tuning, etc. You can find out about the requirements of such drivers at the parking lots where you can start the game, or from time to time stop there to change tires and replenish nitro.

An interesting feature of the game is that the competition here is more of a battle of spirit. If you are ahead of your opponent, you cause damage to his spirit, if he is you - vice versa. Any collision or touching the wall is a great damage to your spirit. So yes, here you can lose, even if you are ahead of your opponent by hundreds of meters, but not fitting into the turn.

Despite its arcade-like focus, Tokyo Xtreme Racer is almost a full-fledged simulator. Here you can adjust the ground clearance, torque, brake balance, suspension stiffness, camber/toe-in and many other parameters. You can even transfer the engine from one car to another. And all this really affects the behavior of the car on the highway, which is especially noticeable at high speeds. Of course, there is also the replacement of components that increase engine power, gear shifting speed, etc.

Visual tuning is limited to three components for each part (front and rear bumper, hood, wing, side skirts), plus a bunch of wheels from real manufacturers and lighting. In fact, this is enough to create a car that will satisfy your taste.

And Tokyo Xtreme Racer also has a full-fledged storyline and role-playing system. Points earned in duels with named racers can be used to upgrade access to tuning and new cars (plus you have to defeat some plot enemies), the racer's attack and defense power, special skills that affect attack and defense, bonuses for victories, additional boxes in the garage, and so on. To open everything, you need a lot, a lot of points, and therefore a lot of victories.

Another thing that makes Tokyo Xtreme Racer similar to role-playing games is the bosses. Firstly, there are team bosses that appear when you defeat all the members of a particular team that still need to be found somewhere on the Shuto Expressway. Secondly, there are cool lone racers that appear on the expressway on specific days of the week after specific conditions are met. Both of these duels are the most difficult and can last three to five minutes or more, and do not always end in your favor.

The need to earn points to level up your character and money to buy and tune cars leads to grinding (I'm telling you, this is definitely a car RPG!). So night after night you have to go out on the expressway and race with dozens of opponents. And again. And again in an already more powerful car. And again with upgrades. All races with opponents weaker than you or nameless are very similar, and it can seem monotonous. Well, in the second act it becomes a little easier.

Tokyo Xtreme Racer features exclusively Japanese-made cars, with some models not even being shipped to other countries. Brands include Daihatsu, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, and Suzuki. Honda and Lexus appeared in version 1.0. All cars are from 1990-2022, and as of now there are 63 models in the game.

Despite the seemingly monotonous gameplay and grinding, Tokyo Xtreme Racer is captivating. There's something hypnotic about the way the dimly lit landmarks of Tokyo fly past you, the way the rotoscope flickers the lights in the tunnels, the way the wheels rhythmically tap the markings. In fact, this game is very addictive. Another duel until the tires are worn out to the point of baldness, another night to save up money for a new car, and again, and again.

Tokyo Xtreme Racer is not perfect. There is no cockpit view in the game. You can't change the time of the expressway exit here - it's always a stupid night, there is no dusk or dawn. There are no weather changes, not dynamic, nothing. There is no multiplayer. There is the already mentioned rather brutal grinding. But... it's still a good game that brings the pleasure of victories and speed.

There are not many arcade racing games coming out now, and there are almost none dedicated to street racing. The Need for Speed series seems to have died, and it is not a fact that it will be revived after the sale of Electronic Arts. KT Racing and Nacon brazenly killed the Test Drive Unlimited series. The only thing left is The Crew Motorfest, which has actually been developing quite well recently, and the old Forza Horizon 5. So Tokyo Xtreme Racer has a chance to stay on our PCs (the release on PlayStation 5 will take place a little later) until the release of Forza Horizon 6, which, as it became known, will also move to Japan. Give Tokyo Xtreme Racer a chance, and maybe it will surprise you.