Kaido Genkai is an anime-styled racing game coming to Steam
Remember the old game video game, Auto Modellista? It launched on the PS2 in 2003, along with the Gamecube and XBox over the following months.
I absolutely loved how it looked, being a big anime nerd at the time (anime is Japanese cartoons) and a bit obsessed with the series Initial D – but, as anybody who played Auto Modellista will agree... it was pretty shit.
The video below offers a pretty good wrap on what made the game "a beautiful disaster".
Is Auto Modellista the reason there haven't been any (or many?) or anime-styled, cel-shaded car racing games?
We may never know, but an upcoming new game called Kaido Genkai suggests the problem was never a lack of interest in the visual style.
So far, it's only confirmed for a launch on Steam, and there's no official timing – but the video below shows it's in a fairly advanced stage of development.
As the video tells us, the game is set "in a fictional '90s Japanese countryside", again pointing to some obvious inspiration from the likes of Initial D.
You'll tear and squeal around in some pretty iconic JDM cars, including heroes like the Lancer Evo V and SW20 MR2 and the quirky quick Honda City Turbo, and more than a few slowroll and kei faves like the now stupidly expensive EG Civic, the brilliant little Autozam AZ-1, Suzuki Jimny, and a Daihatsu Midget – pictured in the video thumbnail above.
There are 19 cars confirmed so far, and as far as I've been told, none of them are officially licensed – hence the fake names on the car selection screen.
Unlike, say, Grand Theft Auto, these cars are almost identical to their real-world inspirations, so, uh, let's see how that works out...
Maybe don't go driving off any cliffs when you get rejected by the pretty girl, okay?
It's only a single-player game, which I'd say is a bit of a shame, but it's at least going to be a decent late-night relaxo session for more than a few fellas.
There's an RPG story element to the game, too, so we'll hopefully get a sense of completion from it. Maybe don't go driving off any cliffs when you get rejected by the pretty girl though, okay?
As for the rest, there's a really good FAQ on what we can expect, right here.
Will we see Kaido Genkai on any other platform?
It could be possible, but haven't looked into it yet. I think the Switch (or Switch 2) would be a really cool platform to have the game on. But PC will be first, and then we'll see about the rest...
— Kaido Genkai (@KaidoGenkai) February 10, 2025
If none of this is your thing, or you want Japan vibes with more realistic visuals, the new Tokyo Xtreme Racer on Steam looks pretty damn good.
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