Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift

Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift (known as Kaidō Battle: Nikko, Haruna, Rokko, Hakone in Japan) is the third racing game published by Crave Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It is the fourth main installment in Shutokō Battle series. The game allows racing at both day and night. Daytime offers the opportunity to enter competitions and gain money, while night time is where the player can race against rivals to gain respect.

Sammy Corporation was originally going to publish the US version of the game as Drift Racer: Kaido Battle, but it was delayed until Crave Entertainment released it in 2006.

Story
The player controls Hiroki Koukami, a Wanderer driver. He is able to defeat every rival and challenges every leader, called a "Slasher", from Hakone, Haruna, Nikko, Omote Rokko and Irohazaka. After he beats "Speed King", Iroha's Uphill's Slasher, he challenges Hamagaki, aka Kaido President, who drives a yellow Pantera GTS (a black Acura NSX-R in the US Version) and holds the title of "Drift King". After Koukami defeats him, he takes his title, becoming the new Drift King, while Hamagaki loses it and is demoted to Trickster.

The game is set between Zero and 3, according to the Japanese series timeline.

Cars
The game includes Japanese and imported foreign cars. The foreign cars included are Alfa Romeo, Mini, Lotus, DeTomaso, and Volkswagen, depending on the version. Honda was licensed in this game but was not available in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 due to licensing issues. Ford, Lotus, and DeTomaso were removed in the 2006 US release, and Alfa Romeo and Audi from Kaido Battle 2: Chain Reaction were added in, even though Kaido Battle 2 never had a North American release.

Development
The game was originally conceived as "Touge Battle" and was planned to be released on the GameCube.

Reception
The game was met with mixed reception upon release. Its GameRankings score was 62%, while its Metacritic score is 59 out of 100.