What car to choose?
That is a good question, but also a bad question at the same time up to some degree. Why? Pretty simple, not all cars handle the same way, and while its a good idea to try to avoid the worst cars, simply because using cars that barely accelerate and handle properly can really hamper your experience overall, but at the same time picking the most overpowered cars just because they're the best even though your driving skills are bad, you are not really going to get any good time splits any time soon, so our personal opinion on the matter is to simply pick a car you feel comfortable with. Although it is a good idea to pick a car and grind points with just that one car, changing the car you're using is a good way to break with the eventual monotony of using the same car over and over again.
Regardless of what we said above, if you would still like to know an overall grasp of how the cars perform in this game, read the text that follows and then try to decide for yourself what car would you like to choose.
Drivetrains
The game has 4 possible drivetrains to use, and all of them make the car's behaviour in every aspect very different in comparison to other cars with different drivetrains.
Even though this game does not feature realistic handling, it's important to understand these points that we're going to showcase here since those are the ones that matter the most just for playing this game:
Front engine/Rear wheel drive (FR)
- Key points:
- Control over top speed
- Advantatges:
- Manageable maneuverability in corners
- Disadvantatges:
- Prone to sliding outwards while cornering in wet conditions
- Prone to sliding outwards while cornering in wet conditions
Front engine/Front wheel drive (FF)
- Key points:
- Great stability
- Great stability
- Advantatges:
- Great acceleration after exiting corners
- Great acceleration after exiting corners
- Disadvantatges:
- Noticeable understeer
- Noticeable understeer
Mid engine/Rear wheel drive (MR)
- Key points:
- Countersteering is mandatory for the usage of these cars
- Countersteering is mandatory for the usage of these cars
- Advantatges:
- Lightweight cars, so their overall manuevaribility is very good
- Lightweight cars, so their overall manuevaribility is very good
- Disadvantatges:
- Most oversteer-y cars in the entire game
- Most oversteer-y cars in the entire game
4 wheel drive/All wheel drive (4WD/AWD)
- Key points:
- Ideal for wet condition races
- Ideal for wet condition races
- Advantatges:
- Most stable cars in the game
- Best acceleration stats
- Most stable cars in the game
- Disadvantatges:
- Most understeer-y cars in the entire game
- Most understeer-y cars in the entire game
Car ratings
Toyota
Sprinter Trueno 3door GT-APEX (AE86)
The king of Akina DH, the Trueno has two different faces. One (before new engine) relies on strong cornering ability and controllable
oversteer, but lacks in any true power. The other (after the new
engine) also has great cornering power, but offers amazing
acceleration as long as shift points are timed properly. Shift at the
right point and the Trueno becomes the strongest high-end accelerator
in the entire game. Shift poorly and the Trueno will stall badly. It's
a car not intended for beginners.
With the racing engine, the Trueno is one of the most balanced cars in
the game. But, when turbo tuned (course D) what it gains it top speed
it loses in cornering and handling. On a minor note, this car's top
speed will suffer HEAVILY if you rub or hit a wall when traveling at
high speeds (more so than any other car in the game). On a side note
(from ViperMask), the B-tune body stylings pay homage to the Initial
D anime's technical advisor's Trueno. For those of you who don't know
who that is, it's none other than Keichii Tsuchiya, the 'Drift King'.
Technical information
Recommended shift points (in rpm):
- Normal engine: 5000 - 5000 - 6000
- TRD racing engine (only with the A-Tune path): 8000 - 9000 - 10500
Characteristics of each tune course:
- Tune course A (driven by Takumi Fujiwara):
-
- Wheels: RS Watanabe
- Exhaust: Initial D
- Front aero: CIBIE
- Hood: Initial D
- Sticker: Initial D
- Complete basic tune: TRD racing engine upgrade
-
- Tune course B:
-
- Wheels: Volk Racing
- Exhaust: Techno Pro Spirit
- Front aero: TRD
- Hood: TRD
- Complete basic tune: Racing engine upgrade
-
- Tune course C:
- Wheels: RS Watanabe
- Exhaust: Techno Pro Spirit
- Front aero: Techno Pro Spirit
- Hood: Techno Pro Spirit
- Complete basic tune: Racing engine upgrade
- Tune course D:
- Wheels: RS Watanabe
- Exhaust: Ukiya Shoukai
- Front aero: Ukiya Shoukai
- Side skirts: Ukiya Shoukai
- Hood: Ukiya Shoukai
- Complete basic tune: Turbo kit upgrade