JDM: Ph4ntom Driver announced as a demon-ramming racing spin-off

Gaming Factory, the studio behind JDM: Japanese Drift Master, has announced a standalone spin-off called JDM: Ph4ntom Driver. The October 14 announcement on Steam pitches it as an arcade racer built around brawling, drawing on JDM street culture and Japanese folklore.

From expansion to standalone game

The project started life as an expansion for JDM: Japanese Drift Master, the studio says. Once work began, the team wanted to change so much of the formula that it split Ph4ntom Driver off into its own game, and the scope has grown since then.

Gaming Factory says players don’t need to know the earlier game. Fans will spot easter eggs and the odd direct reference, but nothing that should confuse newcomers.

Your car is the weapon

Ph4ntom Driver leans firmly into fantasy-style arcade racing. Cars are meant to feel agile and sharp, and a move called Nitro-Drift lets players drift and boost at once.

Combat happens with the car alone. There are no swords, guns or ranged attacks bolted on; players slam their vehicle into demons at speed. The garage is filled with JDM-inspired cars that are unlicensed and styled to fit the setting. The Steam store page adds that cars can be customized and upgraded, and that players wield a supernatural destruction power called Hakai, building a Hakai score by pushing their nitro.

A Spirit World version of Guntama

The game is open world. It is set in a reworked, alternate take on Guntama, the fictional Japanese prefecture from Japanese Drift Master. After the player accidentally sets off a demonic invasion, they end up trapped in the Spirit World, a once-green land now dark and corrupted. The goal is to keep moving, find allies and face the demon king Shouten Douji.

The world is populated by Youkai from Japanese folklore. Gaming Factory names Kodama tree spirits, Oni and Omukade giant centipedes, and says there are more it is keeping under wraps.

Modes and platforms

The main mode is a lengthy solo story, presented in hand-drawn manga panels alongside a dialogue system. Multiplayer is planned too: the post promises more details later, and the store page says multiplayer modes are planned for launch.

The Steam page lists 64-bit Windows 10/11 requirements and shows the planned release date as “To be announced.” The minimum specs call for an Intel Core i7-11700K or Ryzen 5 7600, 16 GB of RAM, 18 GB of storage and a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, Radeon RX 6700 or Intel Arc B580, and Gaming Factory notes they may change before release. The announcement does not mention a price.