A-B (Aston Martin) | C-G (Chevrolet | Dodge | Ferrari | Ford) | H-L (Honda | Lamborghini | Lotus)
M-N (Mazda | Nissan) | O-R (Pontiac | Porsche) | S-Z (Toyota)
Joint Ventures
Mazda is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Hiroshima, Japan. Founded in 1920 as a cork-making factory by Jujiro Matsuda, it started producing vehicles in 1931. The name Mazda was derived from Ahura Mazda, the god of harmony, intelligence and wisdom in Zoroastrianism, as well as a tweaking of the last name of it founder.
Mazda is known for its innovative technologies, most notably the Wankel rotary engine, and due to its sports cars it has been a popular brand for import tuning. It has a long history of motorsport involvement, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991 with the rotary-powered Mazda 787B.
In fiction, the brand is highly regarded and widely popularized in Japanese media, usually depicted in tokusatsu shows, typically as the hero car driven by the protagonists.
Just like the Honda Beat and the Suzuki Cappuccino, the Autozam AZ-1 was once an iconic cute kei car made by Autozam, a sub-brand of Mazda that specializes small and kei cars, which some of them were rebadged under Suzuki's moniker. Speaking of that, the Autozam AZ-1 was sold as the Suzuki Cara.
Like the Honda Beat, this 2-seater has its engine placed amidship, which is a DOHC 12-valve turbocharged inline-3 provided by Suzuki, and like how every kei car is regulated, it only produces 63 hp. Unique that stood out amongst other kei cars featured gullwing doors!
Despite being iconic, the Autozam AZ-1's production was short-lived, being manufactured for less than two years from 1992 to 1994, with less than 5,000 units produced, roughly 15% of the Cappuccino's and Beat's quantity. Nonetheless, it made quite and impact on auto enthusiasts. Nearly twenty years later, it is arguably as popular today as it was back when it was introduced.
Anime and Manga
- That lil' white AZ-1 was driven by the T.A.C.'s stereotypical tech geek Salaryman Yoshiki Yaegashi during the OVA of Blue Seed.
- The CV-01 Striker is the Blue SWAT's armored patrol car driven by Shou, using the Autozam AZ-1 as the base. After the car got wrecked, it was eventually repaired and renamed the Blue Striker, which is... also an Autozam AZ-1.
- This cute 'lil gullwing kei sports car has been there since Gran Turismo 2 up until 6. In such a rare sight, the Mazdaspeed-tuned AZ-1 also in 2, available via Mazda's used car dealership by chance. Also, it has its own dedicated "AZ-1 Challenge'' one-make race.
- For some odd reason, the Enduring Spirit update of Grid Legends as The Alleged Car; the Mazda Autozam AZ-1 Mazdaspeed kei car. If you thought the Mini Miglia Challenge was gutless, wait until you see how pokey the AZ-1 is. In return, its lightweight body makes it quite nimble and agile in even the sharpest turns. This was highlighted during the "Healthy Competition" chapter
where Lara Carvalho uses the Autozam to beat her teammate Yume Tanaka around London. - RATT, a team who drives nothing but kei cars of Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero, with some members driving Autozams as their choice.
The Mazda Cosmo Sport, otherwise known as the 110S in the United States is a Japanese sports car manufactured from 1967 to 1972. It was the "halo" car of the brand and the Trope Codifier behind Mazda's trademark rotary Wankel engine. The name "cosmo"'' refers to the trend of The Space Race since Mazda wanted to showcase their advanced technology.
A prototype of the Cosmo Sport was presented at the 1964 Tokyo Motor Show with 80 pre-production Cosmos produced. 20 of those pre-production models went to Mazda test department with the rest headed for dealership testing between 1965 and 1966. Full production followed up in May 1967 lasting through 1972 with a total of 1,176 Cosmos hand-built in the timeframe, with only six of the Series II models were imported into the United States.
Mazda would race the Cosmo in 1968 which saw it participate in the 84-hour Marathon de la Route at Nürburgring in Germany. With two Cosmos entered, one of them would finish in fourth overall with the other being retired from the event due to axle damage in the 82nd hour. That would be the only race event the model would participate in.
The Series I Cosmo (L10A) is fitted with a 0810 two-rotor engine with 982 cc of displacement and produces approximately 110 horsepower, where as the Series II Cosmo (L10B) has a more-powerful 128 hp 0813 engine. The Cosmo was only offered in one color which would be its signature Swan White finish.
Anime and Manga
- Misato Katsuragi's car from Rebuild of Evangelion is modeled after the white Mazda Cosmo Sport 110, as a clear Shout-Out of the iconic MAT-1.
- Perhaps the well known icon ever is the famous MAT-1 patrol car from Return of Ultraman. It uses a Swan White 1971 Mazda Cosmo Sport 110 with its signature red stripes as the basis. It was due that Mazda was one of the sponsors of the show.
- The July 2023 update of The Crew 2 adds this beautiful Mazda classic. Can be a Lethal Joke Car when fully tuned, making it the top-performing Mazda ever offered.
- There are at least two different Cosmos in Gran Turismo 4, both the Series I and the powerful Series II are included (which also has its NTSC-U/PAL regional counterpart as the 110S). Said Series I Cosmo would be the prize car for winning Club "RE".
- A Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4 update adds the snow white Mazda 110S Cosmo. It's a small cute sports car that's can slip through the narrowest gaps of traffic with ease. And thanks to its superb handling, the Cosmo would be an extremely popular car for technical tracks like Hakone or Mt. Taikan.
- Surprisingly, this beautiful Japanese imported sports car would ultimately end up in a popular American CGI cartoon. And that would be this cartoonish-looking Mazda Cosmo, painted in red, owned and driven by Jon Arbuckle (even the license plate says JON-731) from The Garfield Show.
Sports convertibles at that time were proven to have an very high price tag, to the point many of them would discontinue such production as this kind of trend almost disappeared in the market...
...that is until Mazda stepped in and pulled the Deus ex Machina by introducing their new sports roadster.
The MX-5... or the Miata ...or even the Roadster is Mazda's small, lightweight, modernized and cost-effective roadster, considered to be the Spiritual Successor to European roadsters in The '50s and The '60s. First introduced in 1989 following the twilight of sports convertibles, sees the public regain interest in the trend again, with the first generation MX-5 selling about a quarter-million units in the US between 1989 and 1997.
Each of the generations of the MX-5 were designated with the two-letter code, begining with the first-gen NA, then the second-gen NB, and so on.
Anime and Manga
- The Gyrozetter Roadster is a "robotification" of the NC Mazda Roadster in Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter. The car is usually seen in the hands of Saki Kouno.
- A classic red Eunos Roadster with a hardtop is owned by Toru Suetsugu from Initial D. In his battle against Takumi Fujiwara, Toru tried to copy his gutter technique, only for the car to flip, due to Toru failing to transfer weight properly.
- The Leader of Team 246 Satoshi Omiya uses an orange NB Roadster RS for his race against Project D, acting as the "first wall of defense" for Team Sidewinder. The car is fully modded with Garage Vary body parts, and yes, comes with a high mounted Rice Burner too.
- Ghiaccio drives one in the animated adaptation of Jojos Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind.
- In the pilot opening of Wangan Midnight's animated adaptation, two random Racing Wannabes are seen driving a red NA Roadster when they're overtaken by the Devil Z, shouting in surprise. The Roadsters also are one of the traffic cars in the anime.
Film—Animation
- Mia and Tia in Cars are a pair of twin Mazda Miatas who are Fan Girls of Lightning. Assuming that the twins' name are name after the Miata itself.
- Nina A. Thunder and her co-driver Rei Kazama during the opening prologue of éX-Driver: The Movie operate a white Pimped Out Mazda NA Roadster. It bodywork was inspired by the 1997 Nopro JGTC GT300 #17 racecar.
Film—Live Action
- In The Benchwarmers, at Karl's game, Cloudcuckoolander Clark Reedy, who is known for accidentally tossing the baseball bat as part of a Running Gag, has him yeeting his bat and it smashes through a coach's car windshield:Karl: THAT'S MY MIATA! KILL HIM! [beatdown ensues on Clark]
- Looper has Joe driving an MX-5, an early 2000's car from a 2044 setting.
Video Games
- This is Mazda's Class-C car in all of the Battle Gear games.
- Forza and Gran Turismo has the Miata that appeared very commonly. For the latter's case, there's an absurd amount of palette swaps that come with different trim levels for each generation.
- Exclusive to Forza... has the MX-5 Super20 and the Superlight barchetta, both of which are rare one-offs.
- Forza Motorsport (2023) also has the "MX-5 Challenge" series as part of one of the tours in career mode, in which all racers use the 1990 and 94' MX-5 Miatas for all races in the series.
- Gran Turismo also had dedicated "Roadster Challenges", especially the "Roadster Endurance" in 3 where it's strictly MX-5 Miatas around Apricot Hill Raceway. Did we mention that the event forbids any upgrades?
- The track day MX-5 GT4 in Grid Legends is considered to be a Tuner car for the one-make MX-5 Cup.
- Starting with Need for Speed: Underground, the 1999 MX-5, in hardtop form is one of the starter cars.
- The Miata wouldn't return until Shift, now in its NC generation. This carries over in its 2011 games.
- The first-gen Miata, alongside the fourth-gen appeared in the reboot. For the former, this is Manu's drift car. And if you get the first-gen Miata, you can fit a hard top roof and replace its pop-up headlights for fixed ones.
- The only Mazda car in Project CARS is "Mad" Mike Whiddet's MX-5 Radbul, tuned for drifting. The livery? It's nothing but Red Bull since it's justified that it's Mad Mike's sponsor.
- The NC MX-5 Roadster note is one of the cars in Sega Race TV. This is typically Jane Kisaragi's car by default.
- There's loads and loads of Roadsters in Tokyo Xtreme Racer, and perhaps the only few to have a coupe body.
- The Roadster debuted in Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 DX using the NC platform, which Yuji Kishida drives instead of the S2000 since the game didn't allow Hondas to be added at that time. The NA and ND would soon follow up in 5. and 5DX respectively, where as the targa top ND RS is added in 6 via Navi scratch-off. The latter two however cannot be visually modified. In chapter 46 of 6, you can spot RGO Yamamoto driving one.
Western Animation
- Ladies and gentlemen... meet the Miata Masher... the lean, mean green machine from American Dad!
- China, IL has Miata Mike, a car thief who specialized in stolen Miata models. And this would show how much Miatas are the spotlight of this show. It's a Miata, indeed.
The iconic Japanese sports that perhaps the majority best knows so much of.
Unlike many sports cars which use inline, flat or V-engines, the RX-7 instead uses Mazda's trademark Wankel rotary engine, developed by Felix Wankel in The '50s. Though it's not the first ever to do so since it was also used in models before the RX-7 was ever produced such as the Cosmo Sport and the Grand Familia.
From 1978 up to its end in 2002, the RX-7 came across three generations. Its first generation (SA22C) succeeded the Savanna RX-3, transitioning the Savanna name to a lightweight compact sports car, fitted with its signature engine in its front axle to help balance weight distribution. The second-generation (FC) comes with a restyled body design and took inspirations from the Nissan 300ZX and the Porsche 928. There was also a limited convertible variant produced exclusively to the United States.
Last, the third-generation (FD) was introduced in 1992, and is considered to be one of the most recognisably of the series. While the RX-7 discontinued in the US in 1995, the RX-7 continues production exclusively to Japan until 2002, with its powerful limited farewell model, the RX-7 Spirit R Type A, made exclusively to the country. The RX-7 was then succeeded by the RX-8 in 2003.
The RX-7's popularity became highly-known to the tuner community and in various motorsports such as the IMSA GTP, World Rally Championship and Super GT for the GT300 class. With its lightweight and power made it a popular choice for drifting, which saw prominence in D1 Grand Prix, where Youichi Imamura won the 2003 title with the RX-7.
One more thing... you would notice that the RX-7 will buzz if you go past the rev limiter.
Anime and Manga
- This is Rei Furaya's personal Cool Car in Detective Conan: Zero's Tea Time: a white colored Mazda FD RX-7. His RX-7 is a reference to the white Gundam that the Mobile Suit Gundam character Amuro Ray piloted, the RX-78-2. His license plate number is 新宿 330, と 73-10.
- Another Detective Conan character who also drives a Mazda RX-7 is Miwako Sato, painted in red so its visible in the fog. ...and she's sometimes drives reckless, as she pulls a Takumi Fujiwara around mountain roads.
- Like Takumi's Trueno, the Mazda RX-7 is what is to be an iconic car in Initial D driven by some of the legendary drivers of Gunma Prefecture:
- The Takahashi brothers of Akagi RedSuns, and later Project D, are well-known examples of rotary-engine specialists, to the point they are nicknamed "The Rotary Brothers"
- The Hot-Blooded uphill ace Keisuke Takahashi rolls in his yellow Mazda RX-7 FD, an iconic car decked with a Mazdaspeed body kit, which had a rich history of battles back when he was still a RedSuns driver. As a Project D driver, his car was badly damaged after running through an Oil Slick in Tsuchisaka, prompting to borrow Kyoko's single-turbo RX-7. His car was finally upgraded with a new RE Amemiya body kit in time for his upcoming battles.
- His older brother, The White Comet of Akagi and The Leader of Project D, Ryosuke Takahashi on the other hand drives an earlier model of this rotary-powered car, a Crystal White RX-7 FC. As a RedSuns driver, the car looks near-bone stock with various stickers places on the door. When Ryosuke came out of retirement from racing, his RX-7 gets a full Mid-Season Upgrade with RE Amemiya parts, in time for his death battle against Rin Hojo.
- Kyoko Iwase, one of the few female drivers of the franchise owns the same FD model as Keisuke's, albeit in Brilliant Black. Unlike Keisuke however, her car has a single-turbo. She lent Keisuke her car for his battle against Aikawa after his was wrecked and despite its lack of power, Keisuke managed to beat him in a race.
- The Takahashi brothers of Akagi RedSuns, and later Project D, are well-known examples of rotary-engine specialists, to the point they are nicknamed "The Rotary Brothers"
- At least one-third of the Wangan Midnight characters drive RX-7s on the expressways of Tokyo:
- The King of Speed Masaki glorifies his yellow ęfini RX-7 Type R during the Asakasa Straight arc since he's an Extremity Extremist in rotary engines.Masaki: The RX-7 is the only car I worship.
- Speed Factory RGO's Kazuo Ohta drives this one, whose color depends on the medium. In the manga, it was silver; in Genki-era games, it was red; in anime and Maximum Tune, it's pink.
- The Savanna FC RX-7 plays a major role in "The Legendary FC" arc, driven by car enthusiast Koichi Kijima. Tuned by ZERO's Hayashi, it was intended to beat the Devil Z and Blackbird on the Wangan straights, but failed to do so.
- ...and with that said regarding the FC, Ko-chan in the early stages drives one.
- The Ace of Hakone, Oki drives this rotary-powered car, notable for its huge exhaust in the center. The car may have some Adaptation Dye-Job depending on the media. Maximum Tune games has his car green, while the Genki-era games had his car sprayed in a white paint job.
- The "FD Master" Shinji Ogishima as his Red Baron title states, is the driver behind the third-generation RX-7 FD. Its modifications is enough to go toe-to-toe with the Devil Z and the Blackbird without any malfunctions or drawbacks. In C1 Runner sequel, he's joined by...
- ...Nobu Setoguchi, who owns a white FD RX-7 with carbon hood, fixed headlamps and rear spoiler, when he's working with Shinji at GT Cars editorial group. He later received Tatsuya Shima's "Black Bird" Porsche 911 Turbo after the latter's retirement.
- The King of Speed Masaki glorifies his yellow ęfini RX-7 Type R during the Asakasa Straight arc since he's an Extremity Extremist in rotary engines.
Film — Live Action
- An FB RX-7 is the car seen in the hands of Sally Field's character from Absence of Malice.
- Ever since the tuner era rose to prominence during the Turn of the Millennium, The Fast and the Furious wastes no time of adding this rotary revolution to its import tuning streets:
- As part of the first film's Early-Installment Weirdness, Dominic Toretto uses import tuners before ditching it for American muscle in future films. One of his first cars he ever drove was a red Veilside CII RX-7, used for his battle against Brian O'Connor in his green Eclipse.
- A similar RX-7 was also driven by Orange Julius in 2 Fast 2 Furious for his battle against Suki's pink S2000.
- This one is something everybody and their fanbase who absolutely know of. ...and that is the famously iconic orange and black Veilside Fortune Mazda RX-7, driven by Han Seoul-Oh Note (Spoilers!) from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. The car was T-boned by some Mercedes driver note , seemingly "killing" Han.
- Who knows the Horror Comedy franchise The Howling revolves in a rotary car, that it got its own Downer Ending?
Live-Action TV
- The SA22C RX-7 was often used by many tokusatsu productions as hero cars during Showa-era. Notable of them:
- Battle Fever J: The Battle Fever Car is basically a normal-looking green RX-7 with highly-modified jet-powered engine run by the Battle Fever team.
- Ultraman 80 has a modified cream-colored RX-7 as a patrol car codenamed "Scouter S7".
- Choudenshi Bioman: the team's car, Bio-Turbo, is a modified red RX-7 in the style of beach buggy.
- Kamen Rider BLACK RX: The Ridoron, Kotaro Minami/Black RX's personal car, used an RX-7 as a basis.
- Annie from Space Sheriff Shaider uses a yellow RX-7 as her patrol car.
- Kyojuu Tokusou Juspion: Juspion's main car is a silver RX-7.
- Some of The Fall Guy episodes would generally have the FB RX-7 somewhere everytime. Once or twice, a bad guy would drive one in the first season.
- Two shows in Metal Heroes' Rescue Mission trilogy used red FC3S RX-7 twice:
- Junko's undercover car from Tokkei Winspector is a red FC3S RX-7.
- Ryoma Kagawa/KnightFire from Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain owns a red FC3S RX-7 codenamed "Knight Custom".
Music
- RX-7s are just... everywhere in "Baby Got Brap" by T-Pain & Hert.
- The Weeknd'' in "Party Monster" revolves around that pink FC as you watch all the seizures come in... ...and behind the scenes, the car itself is a built owned by SoCal's Buddha Concept Designs.
- The cover art for Travis Scott's compilation album called "JACKBOYS" features a yellow Mazda RX-7 as seen on the front cover.
Video Games
- While is common to see this in every Battle Gear game, you also get the Takahashi brothers' bonus FC3S and FD3S tuned versions of that car. 3 also adds Kyoko's single-turbo tuned car and 4 adds one special car: an APEXi-spec RX-7 that was driven by D1GP driver Youichi Imamura in 2006.
- The Tuned Sports and Sports DX in Burnout 3: Takedown is intended to represent the Mazda RX-7.
- Forza. No words to best describe how common this car appears in every single game. ...plus that Hoonigan Twerkstallion in Horizon 3.
- The RX-7, regardless of what generation is something you'd never miss in every subsequent Gran Turismo game. And feast your eyes with all the various trim levels and palette swaps. Not only that, you get also the RE Amemiya tuned-variant and its JGTC/Super GT GT300 Asparadrink-sponsored car◊. Talk about The Passion of Dr. Wankel and its entire family...
- The ZR350 in both Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto Online is a clear representation of the RX-7. The former game became the mainstay car for Carl Johnson to drive in the race mission in "Farewell, My Love..."
- The RX-7 is your quintessential drift car in Race Driver: GRID, fitted with an RE Expy kit. Later installments include the vanilla RX-7 and the Panspeed tuned-variant.
- As expected, Initial D Arcade Stage isn't the Initial D without the RX-7. Aside from the users mentioned in the Anime and Manga section, there is also the kouki FD RX-7 Spirit R Type A (AS 1-3) and the Type RS (5-onwards). Plus a Complete Pimped-Out Car from RE Amemiya dubbed the "Genki-7".
- Juiced has this rotary tuner in the lineup. In its sequel, you can make Han Seoul-Oh proud since one of the widebodies has the famous Veilside Fortune kit. And it's a great drifting car, too.
- The Need for Speed features this as one of the 8 cars in the lineup...
- ...and it wouldn't return until Underground where on of Eddie's Mooks drives one.
- In Carbon, this mean-green machine is Kenji's car as the boss of Bushido.
- ProStreet has this Battle Machine RX-7 that was only seen in the intro. That's basically it. The other one is driven by the Drift King, Aki Kimura, since RX-7 are considered to be the best drift cars ever offered.
- If you like to see this Battle Machine RX-7 fully playable, then you can surely get it in Undercover via the Challenge Series Expansion.
- The FC made its mark in Shift 2: Unleashed with its Works-tuned variant driven by "Mad" Mike Whidett.
- While the RX-7 Spirit R appeared in the reboot, Payback considers this as an Abandoned Car. In Heat, this is Wayne's car, used to educate the Player Character in drifting.
- The Seven-RX in Racing Lagoon, driven by the Nanba brothers. The older Nenji drives an SA/FB RX-7, where his younger brother Kyoji drives this said Seven-RX (based on FC RX-7). And that Diablo-tuned car is the one that took his life from a crash in the Yokohama GP.
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer:
- Far, far too many noteworthy examples to count, from Midnight Cinderella until Import Tuner Challenge to Platinum Prince starting from Import Tuner Challenge, from Pursuit Tail Gunner to Betrayal Jack Knife in Touge Legends. The one that stand outs the most and is worthier of mention, however, remains White Charisma's, one of the three fastest cars in the history of the Metropolitan Expressway. The car, alongside Wataru, reappears in Import Tuner Challenge upon defeating Snake Eyes.
- "Dirty Fox" Kazumi Amachi of the PHANTOM NINE from Import Tuner Challenge owns a Type RS: with it, and her ludicruosly dangerous approach to driving, she's become the fastest driver on Shibuya Route 4.
- Since the first Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune game, RX-7s were the only cars in the Mazda lineup before its expansions in future installments. By 4 the FB Savanna RX-7 Turbo was also added, completing the three generations. Oh, and a vast majority of players due to its bandwagoning stats.
The Mazda RX-8 sports car was produced from 2002 to 2011 as the direct successor to the RX-7. Like its predecessors of the RX range, it is powered by a rotary Wankel engine.
Unique to this 4-doored coupe design is its two "freestyle" rear suicide doors position near the backseats. Unlike the RX-7, the RX-8 uses a naturally aspirated 1.3 L RENESIS twin-rotor engine, capable of producing 238 horsepower, and usually offered with a four, five or six-speed manual transmission (later models use a 6-speed automatic paddle-shift instead).
The mid-cycle refresh in 2008 sees a major overhaul to the body, and with added structural reinforcements, with the now named RX-8 R3, first introduced in Japan. The RX-8 ended production in 2012 due to emission standards, which ended the Wankel-powered cars for good. Mazda commemorated its farewell with a limited edition RX-8 Spirit R, sold exclusively in Japan.
Anime and Manga
- Miles Edgeworth in episode 2 of Ace Attorney (2016) shows him driving to the crime scene in what appears to be an RX-8 lookalike. And it somewhat got its memetic status thanks to him driving with some "muffled rap music playing in the distance".
- Darker than Black shows November bidding farewell to Misaki and walks over to where his red RX-8 is.
- The then-new Mazda RX-8 also shows up a few times in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
- Ben Tennyson gets a sick new ride in Ben 10: Alien Swarm. It's the "Mark 10", a black and green car based on the Mazda RX-8.
- Neela in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is perhaps one of the more renown examples of featuring this rotary legend, a her Cool Car is a light-blue Mazda RX-8 with shades of dark blue and black, plus decked with a VeilSide bodykit, where she takes that Pimped-Out Car for drifting around the mountains.
- An Improbably Cool Car for the mutants of X2: X-Men United has the "X-MEN Car", a limited edition Mazda RX-8. Available in "Mutant Blue" with an X-shaped grille and an enlarged X on the nameplate.
- The street race scene in Basshunter's "Angel In The Night" is where there is Car Porn all over. But the spotlight mostly goes to that orange and black RX-8 that emerged victorious.
- There had been various RX-8s throughout the Forza series, from the factory-tuned RX-8 Mazdaspeed of the first 4 Motorsport games, to the facelifted R3 from Motorsport 4 onwards. Plus one of the Formula D cars seen in Horizon 5.
- It all started with the RX-8 Concept from Gran Turismo 3 with its LM racing variant in Concept later on. The full production version shows up in 4, in vanilla form, Type S and Type E. Then you have the R3 SPIRIT R in 7.
- The quad-door rotary car shows up in both Juiced games, with the distinction of the green RX-8 showing up in the game's cover.
- Midnight Club: Los Angeles has this RX-8 "Shinka".note While it can be purchased normally, you can get this car for free by winning a pink slip against Lester.
- Like the RX-7, the RX-8 is also another popular rotary tuner that showed up in Need for Speed since its debut in Underground 2.
- There are no less than two Ms. Fanservice racers who drive RX-8s in Most Wanted: Your Exposition Fairy Mia Townsend, who drives a red RX-8 (the cutscene where she's introduced shows her being a Hood Ornament Hottie, with her sitting sexily on the hood of her car); and #12 of the Blacklist, Isabel "Izzy" Diaz, a Spicy Latina whose Cool Car is a silver RX-8 with black and red tribal patterns.
- This is your Starter Mon if you choose a Tuner career in Carbon. Your crew mates Sal and Yumi drives this Tier 1 tuner, plus you get not one, but two different bonus RX-8s.
- One of "Mad" Mike Whiddett's creations in Shift 2: Unleashed is the Team Need For Speed Mazda RX-8. Possibly a Disc-One Nuke since you just need to simply reach Level 5 to unlock this godly Works monster.
- In Hot Pursuit (2010), it switches to the facelifted R3, considered as a Fragile Speedster, which the car is the fastest in its category, but sucks at taking hits.
- After Shift 2: Unleashed, the RX-8 was never seen again until Unbound eleven years later. This time its the Spirit R, which also has a bonus custom variant.
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Upon fully returning to boss status in Import Tuner Challenge, Midnight Cinderella switched from her usual RX-7 FD3S to an RX-8 SE3P. Like her previous car, this one's also an automatic.
- It was widely a popular car among players in Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune since 2, as an alternative to the FD RX-7. This was prominent in 4's very first chapter of the story where Ko-chan (and Maa) drives one. 6 replaced it with a Toyota 86.
