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Initial D: Perfect Shift Online is getting ever closer to launch. As previously reported, this is a free-to-play for the Nintendo 3DS by Sega, where players will only able to control the up and down shifting of gears at the right time to help speed their car along. This week, Sega showed off more of the characters that players will be able to pick up in the form of cards within the game itself.
These character cards really do revive the old-school era of putting money into a gachapon machine and turning the knob for something to come out. Rarely, you’d also get a “super rare” card, which was often holographic. In the same way, characters such as Ryosuke Takahashi will have multiple versions of his card ranging from Rare to Ultra and even Super Rares that seem to have the nostalgic glittery holographic effect on them.
These cards get slotted into the cars you have—though we still don’t have a clue what having a better character, or if slotting the right driver into their preferred car, will actually do beyond the assumption that it will make your auto-driven car better.
Ryosuke Takahashi is the leader of the Project D team, which main character Takumi Fujiwara joins up with to fulfill the dream of beating every race course time in Japan. He drives a Savanna RX-7 Infinity III FC3S.
His younger brother Keisuke Takahashi is known to be able to drive without having to think too hard and relying instead on emotions and feeling, making things easier when he’s winning but a problem while he’s losing. He drives a yellow RX-7 Type R FD3S.
Two of Takumi’s pals are also around for the ride, the first being Koichiro Iketani. He worked at a gas station and was the head of the Akina SpeedStars. He drives a Silvia K’s S13.
Finally, there’s Itsuki Takeuchi, a bit of comic relief. He once accidentally bought the wrong model of car and ends up with a Corolla Levin SR AE85.
Initial D: Perfect Shift Online is still listed as coming out for a “winter” release on the Nintendo 3DS.
