Tokyo Xtreme Racer’s New Update Turns Up The Heat
For months, I’ve been saying I’ve needed to cover Tokyo Xtreme Racer since its Early Access release in January. Here we are at the end of August. Part of the reason for taking so long was Genki’s frequent additions and changes to the game. The latest patch released today, Version 0.14.0, is arguably its biggest overhaul and attempts to fix many of the nuances I have with the game. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve invested over a hundred hours into it and already defeated Cinderella Past Midnight in my initial playthrough. While I enjoyed what was offered in the base release, the quality of life changes are breathing new life into the game.
Previously, Genki added an “Expert” mode of sorts, reminiscent of Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 and Import Tuner Challenge. Exclusive to those titles was the inclusion of oil and water temperature, in which the engine health deteriorates as it burns hot. Naturally, pushing your car over the limit will cause your engine to overheat, thus severely limiting its top speed capabilities. As the engine cooled, its performance would slowly return to optimal levels. Entering Parking Areas and returning to the garage to end the day were the only ways to restore the engine to its original form.
In Tokyo Xtreme Racer, Parking Areas don’t fully cool off the engine anymore (preferably to nerf how PAs worked in Import Tuner Challenge. Instead, aside from sitting on the side of the road parked in neutral, throttle control is a requirement across the board. The higher the RPMs, the more the engine has to work. The more the engine has to work, the hotter it gets. You know the rest at this point. It offered a unique way of racing aside from “Beat Rival #65 and move on to the next.” If you beat #65 with #66 being a Team Leader coming at you with a full deck of perks, and your engine is hot, you can only blame yourself for pushing your machine to the limit before the main course.
This was what I quickly realized upon booting up Version 0.14.0. With the latest patch, Genki overhauled the entire Perk tree, which was initially polarizing. Half of the skill tree was useless, as “bonus attack and defense” meant nothing if I didn’t have the CP to purchase a new whip/parts. There was a limited number of Battle Points available, as you only earned them once per battle versus rivals. Now, players can farm BP by racing the same rivals, albeit only earning a single point following the first win. A point is better than none.
Aside from welcome inclusions such as Battle Reward multipliers, there are new skills added to the game that affects the flow of battle. A large issue in coming back from behind was maintaining your line to ensure you didn’t hit a wall to end the race despite taking the lead and fighting for your life. There’s a perk that restores your SP (health) proportional to the damage you deal to your opponent. Not only can players fight back, but they can now heal themselves while doing so, just for coverage’s sake.
Rivals are now equipped with skills themselves, with bosses and team leaders having perks that make them feel more like bosses now. Black Cat from Cat x Cat, for example, has two skills. One decreases the damage dealt by a rival (you), and the other increases the distance required for her to take damage by a rival (also you).
The result was a race that took three minutes longer than her usual bout of a few seconds. The damage dealt to her was so minuscule that I couldn’t afford to “play with my food,” as I could in previous patches. Not only that, the AI for the drivers was improved across the board. During races, rivals will actively try to block and ram you for taking an inside line in an overtake attempt. Of course, once you break away, depending on the rival, their skills activate.
This makes the Attack and Defense upgrades considerable investments, which were once useless perks
That, coupled with the increase in CP earned through Clean Cornering and Near Misses, rewards drivers who show skill while offering a formidable challenge. I prefer this direction in how Genki is handling the inconsistent difficulty compared to previous attempts made by modders outside of cranking the Rubberband AI up to eleven.
Upon starting the game, you’ll retain all previously unlocked Perks, like cars and tunes. However, with the overhaul comes a reset and a refund of BP proportional to the amount earned in the playthrough. From a UI perspective, the tree is cleaner and easier to follow, opting for a “horizontal” approach ratherthan the previous cluttered “vertical” trees
Alongside this major update, Genki has also been hard at work in revealing cars leading up to the full release. Here are the confirmed cars that were announced, beginning with the announcement of the Lexus manufacturer.
- Lexus RC-F USC10
- Nissan Fairlady Z RZ34
- Toyota GR Yaris GXPA16
- Nissan “Hakosuka” Skyline 2000GT KPGC10
BMW Z4 G29Toyota GR Supra DB06- Lexus LC LC500 URZ100
- Toyota Celsior UCF3# (Teased at the end of the LC500 trailer, but unsure if it’s a 30 or a 31 yet)
Stay tuned for more features from this wonderful game. I have a lot to catch up on, but don’t expect a full-blown review until the launch version releases. Until then, stay shinin’ Stars!
