Characters / Tokyo Xtreme Racer Teams

Character Index

Tokyo Xtreme Racer Character Index

Teams (Introduced in Tokyo Xtreme Racer, Introduced in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2, Introduced in Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero, Introduced in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3, Introduced in Import Tuner Challenge, Introduced in the Drift subseries)

Bosses (Introduced in Tokyo Xtreme Racer, Introduced in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2/Zero, Introduced in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3, Introduced in Import Tuner Challenge, Introduced in the Drift subseries)

Wanderers (Introduced in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2/Zero, Introduced in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3, Introduced in the Drift subseries)

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"☆" is used to indicate team leaders

Rolling Guy

Team Members: "Rolling Guy #1" Satoru Kobayakawa ☆ (until Zero), "Rolling Guy #2" Akira Kobayakawa ☆ (regular member until 3), "Rolling Guy #3" Tsutomu Imai (until Touge Legends), "Rolling Guy #4" Haruhiko Miyake, "Rolling Guy #5" Hiroshi Takanayagi, "Rolling Guy #6" Takahashi Yoshimura, "Rolling Guy #6" Yusaku Kido, (3 to Street Supremacy), "Rolling Guy #7" Mamoru Mitsuike (from Import Tuner Challenge)

Rolling Guy's logo.

The most iconic recurring team of the entire series, Rolling Guy started out as a passionate team of mountain pass racers that, against all logic, decided to make the jump to highway racing. Every member drives a Toyota AE86, relying on their cars' handling capabilities and their own skills over brute acceleration and top speed.

In spite of being perennially at the bottom of the Expressway's hierarchy, Rolling Guy refuse to give up and continue to race undeterred, something that earns them their rivals' respect. They've been present in every game of the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series, to the point that they're near synonymous with it.

As for their appearances in the Drift trilogy, the team utilizes a different sticker and goes under the name of Downhill Guy. Tropes in this folder encompass all of Rolling Guy's incarnations. For tropes regarding Satoru Kobayakawa, see his folder here.

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• A Father to His Men: Whilst Satoru was already very close to his subordinates, Akira arguably outdoes him in this regard upon taking over the team. As Rolling Guy #1, he's far more present than Satoru, actively listening to his teammate's demands and worries: one of the first things he did, in that regard, was lift Satoru's drifting ban. Moreso, his biggest worry, other than living up to Satoru's legacy, is making sure Rolling Guy as a whole can improve and prosper, down to the last member. As such, he puts his all towards this goal, despite his incredibly limited means to do so.
• Allegedly Dateless: Haruhiko will complain a couple of times to the players about his and his teammates' struggles with romance in Import Tuner Challenge. In spite of that, he manages to score not one, but two dates shortly afterwards with fellow female racers. He'll go right back to complaining about it once those dates don't go as well as he had hoped.
• Aloof Leader, Affable Subordinate: This wasn't the case at first, when Rolling Guy was first created: Satoru was heavily involved in day-to-day management, and could always be found by the other members' side. By the time they moved to the Metropolitan Expressway, however, Satoru gradually drifted away from being actively involved, alongside his other responsibilities. His Number Two, younger brother Akira, picked up the slack for him, bouncing all over the place to keep Rolling Guy's banner flying high and helping the other members out. This dynamic became permanent come 2, with Satoru only bothering to show up whenever someone tough enough to defeat the rest of the team rolled by. After Zero, however, Satoru left the team and let Akira become the de jure new leader, bringing this situation to an end.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Rolling Guy #5, Hiroshi Takanayagi, is a graduate student in engineering and the most knowledgeable member of the team when it comes to mechanics and raw theory. This allows him to adapt to any course or condition by falling back on his knowledge, re-elaborating it and re-applying it to the situation as he sees fit. Moreso, it's rumored he apparently found "the perfect racing line" on the C1 Loop, through countless attempts at trial-and-error.
• The Bartender: Bartending is Tsutomu Imai's job away from street racing. Not that anyone would normally know, as it's largely irrelevant to his racing endeavours and only comes up when glancing at his bio in 3.
• Book Smart: Hiroshi Takanayagi, what with being a graduate student in engineering, seems to fit the classical mold of the trope: he's the team's most knowledgeable member, likely its most formally educated one, and is usually given the task on researching set-ups for the entirety of Rolling Guy. However, he proves himself to be not as smart as he boasts to be: one comment of his in Racing Battle: C1GP serves as evidence to his superficiality, as he unashamedly claims that "the more power, the better... the larger the tires, the better!" is a flawless approach to modifying cars for racing, when the issue is far more complex than that. If spoken to after defeating him in Import Tuner Challenge, he'll at least admit his awareness in having notable gaps in his knowledge and racing theory.
• The Consigliere: Tsutomu graduates to this role upon picking up the mantle of Rolling Guy #2 starting in 3. Due to Akira's inexperience and self-doubt, he usually advices him on how to lead the team and what to do in various circumstances. His role isn't merely advisory, however: should Akira find himself in a pinch during battles, expect Tsutomu to come swooping in out of nowhere to try and save the day.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Team members tend to bring the best out of their AE86s on the narrow, twisting mountain passes of Japan, which suit well the cars' nimbleness and light weight, but their performance on the Tokyo Expressway is beyond lackluster for the exact same reasons. This is particularly problematic because Rolling Guy is, first and foremost, an highway racing team.
• David Versus Goliath:
  • Rolling Guy take the role of David by default whenever they race on the Metropolitan Expressway. Compared to anyone else, their cars are underpowered lightweights with great agility as their only saving grace. This makes it all the more impressive whenever a member of the team manages to eke out a win against anyone else.
  • When racing on the mountain passes, however, Rolling Guy play the role of Goliath: their cars are perfectly suited to the tight, twisting roads, especially when going downhill. Daiki Kōnoue, Tōru Zōshigaya, and Touge Legends's player character all play the role of David when going up against them, as unexperienced greenhorns suddenly making big splashes in the world of mountain pass racing. All three unexpectedly manage to come out on top against the Kobayakawas' team.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": One of the team's newest members, Mamoru Mitsuike, is... puzzled by Rolling Guy's naming convention, to say the least. Mitsuike never outwardly expresses it, but he's not particularly a fan of his new street name of Rolling Guy #7. In fact, he wishes for everyone else to refer to him by his original Nagoya street name: Torn Asunder Heartbeat.
• Don't Think, Feel: Contrasting Hiroshi, with whom he joined the team and relies heavily on theory, Rolling Guy #6 Takahashi Yoshimura completely forgoes all theory whenever racing: instead, he drives his AE86 purely from the feedback he got from his senses, alongside his instinct.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Rolling Guy: to Rolling Dude (first game), Rolling Boy (2), Rolling (Zero), Rolling Man (Street Supremacy)
  • Downhill Guy: Downhill Burns (Drift), Downhill Dude (Drift)
  • Satoru Kobayakawa: to Jack Dillon (2), James Altenberg (Zero), Sato Kobayakawa (Drift)
  • Akira Kobayakawa: to James Dillon (2), George Reynold, Akira Osagawa (Drift), Tetsu Kobayakawa (3, Chain Reaction, Street Supremacy, Touge Legends)
  • Tsutomu Imai: to Terry Hall (2), Dixon Jones (Zero), Masaru Imai (Drift)
  • Haruhiko Miyake: to Brian Lowe (2), Ed Louis (Zero), Haruhiko Santaku (Drift)
  • Hiroshi Takanayagi: to Jay Morales (2, Zero), Hiro Takanayagi (Drift),
  • Takahashi Yoshimura: to Rod Paglia (2), Mark Hill (Zero), Takashi Yoshimura (3, Import Tuner Challenge), Takeshi Yoshimura (Street Supremacy'')
  • Mamoru Mitsuike: Yuzuru Mitsuike (Street Supremacy)
• Failure Hero: Rolling Guy as a whole carry this reputation. In spite of having a wide spectrum of competences and skill levels amongst its members, to the point they can potentially take over the entire Expressway in Street Supremacy, they are known by everyone as "the loser team at the bottom of the Expressway". Everything the team's members try to do is bound to fail: Satoru leaving the team to prompt them to improve? Ultimately half-succeeds, as several of the original members leave shortly afterwards. Akira's attempts at living up to his brother's reputations? Greatly hindered by his own self-doubt, to the point he lets another member lead them when away from Tokyo in Touge Legends. Haruhiko trying to get himself and the others girlfriends? ...Yeah, that one's best not brought up again. It's extremely commendable that in spite of all of that, they continue to keep going after all these years, looking none the worse in the process.
• Foil: Serve as an indirect one to MAX Racing, of all teams, come Import Tuner Challenge. Both have been around for countless years, closely follow one specific philosophy, and have gone through a leadership change. However, Rolling Guy regularly manages to recruit new members, even from other cities, whereas MAX Racing struggles heavily in that regard. Rolling Guy are firmly united behind their cars and dedication to "handling above all", whereas MAX Racing have been splintered into two factions due to differing approaches on how to tune their sedans, to the point it's heavily hindered the entire team. Lastly, the leadership change for Rolling Guy had a few hiccups but ultimately went smoothly, with Akira having immediately earned the others' trust and Satoru assisting them from the sidelines. The leadership change for MAX Racing, instead, was a catastrophe, with no one trusting Masaki and Omohiko doing nothing to help him settle in. Which is because he threw the race to determine the new leader, having grown tired of his own team.
• The Goomba: If starting from the Inner C1 Loop, they are the very first opponents player will face in mainline games. As such, they're not particularly difficult to defeat. Even their leader, Rolling Guy #1, does not put up too much of a fight compared to other team leaders, making him the others members' King Goomba.
• Hard Truckin': Haruhiko Miyake became a truck driver because of his extreme love for driving anything: the idea of a workplace where he spent all his time behind the steering wheel was a dream come true. Furthermore, Haruhiko also fits some of the job's stereotypes, particularly the perceived manliness truck drivers carry: he's popular with his fellows for that exact reason, but accidentally turns the women racers away in the process.
• His Own Worst Enemy: Ultimately, Akira's worst opponent isn't someone belonging to another team, nor is it Satoru's shadow, but himself. Although understandably anxious due to suddenly being trust in a leadership role he wasn't prepared for, Akira found himself surrounded with friends who immediately backed him up and helped him get settled in. In spite of that, he constantly doubted himself, and he started to consider quitting highway racing in favour of returning to Omote Rokko in Touge Legends. He finally grew out of this starting with his defeat by the player's hands in that very game.
• Honor Before Reason: As proven by the success of Kyō Takahashi and Utsu Shī upon switching teams and cars, on top of Satoru's impressive rise to professional race car driver, Rolling Guy are generally talented and would be capable of going head-to-head with almost anyone... if it wasn't for their cars and their enormous deficits. Anyone else would've moved to other, more fitting cars, or heavily modified their AE86s in a similar situation, but to team members, straying away from the key ideas behind the car's factory design is unthinkable. After all, those very cars carried them all the way to this day, why should they abandon them? Thus, for their AE86s' sake, Rolling Guy remain hopelessly loyal, condemning themselves to a slow, if impossible crawl towards the top of the Expressway.
• Hopeless Suitor: Poor, poor Haruhiko... he spends the entirety of Import Tuner Challenge setting up dates in a desperate attempt to find a girlfriend: on his first one, he somehow manages to get the green light for a team-wide date between Rolling Guy and the single members of the Cupid Arrows... which, according to the parties, quickly devolved into a back-and-forth over their respective cars and an insult-filled shouting match. On his second one, he gets a one-on-one date with Juicy Heaven's Voluptous Aquamarine, to the envy of a lot of his fellow drivers... which goes even worse, somehow: the two try to take their date to Mount Hakone, only for Aquamarine to gap him on the mountain pass by pure accident. According to Hiroshi, Haruhiko just gave up dejectedly after that one, claiming he only wants to focus on racing for a good while.
• Inadequate Inheritor: After succeeding him as Rolling Guy #1, it's Akira who considers himself this towards Satoru. In spite of the backing from the other members of the team, and being a far better people's person, he always feels like Satoru's long shadow is all over him. The constant praises Satoru receives most likely do not help: once word reaches him that Satoru is back in Tokyo as Rolling Master, one of Akira's goals becomes to defeat his brother to definitely prove his worth, mostly to himself.
• Legacy Character: Rolling Guy's street name system works this way, as whenever a team member leaves, the one hierarchically below him will inherit their number and so on. For example, when Satoru left, Akira inherited the name of Rolling Guy #1 from him, whilst Tsutomu inherited the now-vacant name of Rolling Guy #2 from Akira. For simplicity's sake, this page lists team members by their original street name upon joining the team.
• Long-Runner Cast Turnover: Not as egregious as some other teams, but still present: of the original five members, only three remain, whilst Kido was only around for a cup of coffee in 3 and Street Supremacy's continuity.
• Number Two: This is the role played by whoever carries the street name of Rolling Guy #2. They're the member who is the closest to the leader in terms of relationship and skills, those who normally advertise the leader on team matters, and most important of all, those who back up the leader in battles whenever the need arises.
• Passing the Torch: Depends on the point of view of those involved: when Satoru Kobayakawa left the team abruptly, he did not put too much thought into it. In fact, he thought of it as the best way to pass the title of "Rolling Guy #1", which indicates the team's leader, to his younger brother Akira, deeming him ready. For the other point of view, see You Are in Command Now below.
• Promoted to Playable: They're one of fifteen teams the player can join in Street Supremacy.
• Shared Family Quirks: Both Satoru and his younger brother Akira are racing nuts who adore the AE86 to the point of unreasonableness. Moreso, both express doubt at their capability of successfully leading Rolling Guy, and both considered quitting at one point: the sole difference is that whereas Satoru actually went through with it, Akira ultimately gave that idea up.
• Support Party Member: As mentioned above, this is the role Rolling Guy #2 ends up taking for the leader on rare occasions wherein they need assistance in battles. The most notable case of this is Tsutomu in 3, where he will appear halfway through the player's battle against Akira to refill his SP Bar and assist the latter in any way necessary.
• Technician Versus Performer:
  • There is a minor, but nonetheless present, split in approach and philosophy within the team. One half of the members are more technically-minded drivers, preferring a drier, subtler driving style that doesn't forgo opportunistic measures to win, whereas another half is more performance-oriented, breaking out drifting techniques on the regular as they believe there is no point in winning if they do not look good and have fun whilst doing so.
  • The split is clearly represented by the two Kobayakawa brothers: Satoru is the Technician, far more interested in practical approaches to reach victory, to the point of banning other members of the team from drifting, whereas Akira is the Performer, naturally flashier but compelled to emulate his older brother. After Satoru leaves the duty of leading Rolling Guy to Akira, he gradually goes back to his own style and lifts the drifting ban.
• Took a Level in Badass: Although they might still be at the rock bottom of the Expressway, it cannot be denied that Rolling Guy have come a long way: from poor kids going down Omote Rokko to respect mountain pass carvers, from Expressway greenhorns to one of the longest standing teams in Tokyo's history, they've all become hardened street racing veterans more than capable of holding their own against most opponents. The possible apex of the trope is reached in Street Supremacy's continuity, where with the player's help, they can become the strongest team in all of Tokyo, defeating the likes of Speed Master to reach that goal.
• True Companions: The five founders of the team were all incredibly close to one another for years, having collectively supported their dreams and taken the daring task of conquering the Metropolitan Expressway together, just as they had done with Omote Rokko. Naturally, when Satoru left the team, Tsutomu and Haruhiko immediately stepped up to assist Akira in filling the void left behind: Haruhiko in particular was furious with Satoru for having abandoned them.
• Underestimating Badassery: Punching bag of the Expressway they might be, Rolling Guy are still an incredibly skilled, long-tenured team with near unmatched knowledge of their AE86s and the C1 Loop: underestimating them is, frankly, a very dumb idea. Akira will proudly declare as much to any opposing team upon defeating them in a team battle in ''Street Supremacy''.
• Warm-Up Boss: Rolling Guy #1 serves as a soft introduction to the tougher opponents the player will be facing soon afterwards.
• Weak, but Skilled: Rolling Guy are fiercely loyal to their AE86s in spite of their abysmal-by-comparison engine output. To make up for it, they've sharpened their skills as drivers to their very limits, to the point they tend to outperform their cars. Averted in the Drift series, since their AE86s are not only more at home on mountain passes, but those courses require completely different approaches compared to highway racing: up there, Rolling Guy can fully show off their ability, and often leave opponents bewildered with how quick they are.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Yūsaku Kido, Satoru's previously unmentioned pupil, is part of the team for the duration of a flash in a pan: he joins them in 3, with his defining characterization being his desire to surpass his mentor, and is immediately gone after Street Supremacy.
• You Are Number 6: Members of Rolling Guy use the team's name alongside a number between #1 and #7, depending on team size at the time, as their respective street name. The team leader is "Rolling Guy #1", the second-in-command is "Rolling Guy #2", and so on.
• You Are in Command Now:
  • Depends on the point of view of those involved: due to the original "Rolling Guy #1", Satoru Kobayakawa, abruptly leaving the team sometime after Zero, his younger brother Akira felt accidentally forced to take up the title and team's leadership. The rest of the team took it similarly, not exactly being enthused with Satoru's actions. For the other point of view, see Passing the Torch above.
  • For some reason, it's Hiroshi Takanayagi who takes leadership of the team with Satoru gone in Touge Legends. He apparently volunteered to lead the team back to the mountain pass, citing his past experience as to why, and none of the other members raised any objections.
• You Cannot Kill An Idea: As seen in Street Supremacy, Akira strongly believes in the idea of a "rolling spirit", which appears to be the combination of values, passions, and against-all-odds attitudes of Rolling Guy members through-out the years. Should Rolling Guy be forced to disband upon defeat, he'll defiantly react by claiming that the end of the team is not the end of the "rolling spirit", before encouraging its now-former members to carry that very spirit onwards.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: This is how Akira reacts in Street Supremacy upon being defeated by the player for the team's leadership. After a brief moment, however, he'll get over it and accept his defeat, handing the team's reigns to the player.

Curving Edge

Team Members: "Highway Prince" Kōshō Fujima ☆, "Scorching" Kōji Hibino, "25-Hour Gale" Akiichirō Watari, "Professor Taka" Takaaki Kainai, "Thunder Flare" Noriko Watanabe, "Straight Line Demon" Hidekazu Saitō (from 2 onwards)

Curving Edge's logo.

One of the two first teams faced by players on the C1 Loop Outer, Curving Edge is exclusively made up of Honda drivers financed by their leader, wealthy scion "Highway Prince" Kōshō Fujima.

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• Awesomeness by Analysis: Takaaki Kainai was brought on-board by Kōshō specifically because of his "advanced driving theory", one he developed after much trial-and-error. He later begun videotaping his teammates' races, holding lessons to help them improve by studying their replays. This clinical approach is what earned him the moniker of "Professor Taka" to begin with.
• Cannot Spit It Out: It's not a big secret that Noriko has long developed a crush for Kōshō. Despite that, she seems to be completely unable to confess any of her feelings towards him. The reason behind such hesitation can be found in her past, long before she joined Curving Edge: her former team imploded on itself because of a near-identical relationship, and she fears of losing her friends all over again.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Hinted at by Akiichirō's bio: he apparently comes from an history of particularly troubled family life, a subject he's touchy enough about to refuse to disclose any details about it to anyone. In spite of its vagueness, whatever happened clearly impacted him deeply. hints at a particularly troubled family life he flat-out refuses to talk about. It still has enough of an emotional impact that it's reflected in his driving, particularly his quick judgement calls and "unbelievable" mistakes, as well as his refusal to hang out with his teammates.
• The Determinator: Takaaki has been suffering from a life-threatening illness for a while by the events of the first game. By all accounts, racing at well over a hundred miles an hour down the Expressway is the last thing he should be doing... and yet, he does just that. His illness does nothing to limit his passion or his contribution to Curving Edge.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Kōshō Fujima: to "Prince of the Highways" (first game), "Expressway Prince" Mark Allen II (2), Mark Burns (Zero)
  • Kōji Hibino: to "No Slip" Gill Mathews (2), "Mr. Fire" Alexander Scoob (Zero)
  • Akiichirō Watari: to "Blue Flash" Jamie Perez (2), "Wind of Night" Allen Rentch (Zero)
  • Takaaki Kainai: to Neil "Professor" Getts (2), Rich "Professor" Robledo (Zero)
  • Noriko Watanabe: to "Mad" Mary Black (2), Dara Yem (Zero)
  • Hidekazu Saitō: to "Low" Joe Simon (2), "Road Killer" Rion Rainhart (Zero)
• The Fool: Kōshō is far from the sharpest tool in the shed, what with thinking money grows on trees. He's also enormously lucky, being born into an incredibly wealthy family, as well as so kind-hearted he'll throw away any money if his teammates ask him to. After all, he's the one who financed the entire team to begin with.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: In spite of officially being a member and clearly flying under the team's flag, Akiichirō prefers to almost exclusively run by his lonesome, stopping at various PAs scattered through-out Tokyo to admire the starry night sky. The situation is so bad that out of all members, he is the only one that Professor Taka does not have on video. His behavior, whilst most likely tied to his Dark and Troubled Past, is also particularly jarring given the close relations the rest of the team seems to enjoy.
• Genius Ditz: Kōshō might think money spontaneously grows on trees, and his idea of "car upgrades" appears to be entirely restricted to visual ones, but it cannot be denied he's a legitimately talented street racer more than capable of holding his own against opponents in more powerful cars.
• Interclass Friendship: Compared to Kōshō, the rest of the team is far from being remotely well-off: Kōji is employed at an iron works, Takaaki is a lowly scholar... and yet, everyone respects and adores their leader, in part because he doesn't put on any airs about his status, nor he pretends to be someone he's not.
• Kindhearted Simpleton: One of the reasons why everyone seems to like Kōshō is because he's naturally naive, what with the whole "believes money grows on trees" deal, and somewhat boorish. Seen how he paid out of his own pockets to finance the entire team, and how he doesn't hesitate to continue financing his teammates, he's also extremely kindhearted. The others, to their credit, do not seem to take advantage of him.
• Meaningful Name: The team is named after the "peculiar" slash-like cornering of their cars compared to other vehicles due to their front engine, front-wheel-drive set-ups.
• Money for Nothing: Implied in Highway Prince's bio. Takaaki straight-up lost count of how much money he burned to tune up his Accord SiR, on top of financing Curving Edge. His family is outrageously rich to make up for that... but, on the flipside, they're so rich he thought money grows on trees.
• The Smart Guy: Professor Taka is the brains behind Curving Edge. He's the one developing theory after theory on racecraft, filming his teammates and coaching them on how to improve whilst showing them replays, and constantly collecting data. Apparently, he's known to check the unevenness of the road to be able to pick better racing lines.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Kōshō, natch. He straight-up lost count of how much money he burned to tune up his Accord SiR, alongside his financing of the other members of Curving Edge. This extends to his family: the Fujimas are outrageously rich, which gives him such a massive berth over spending... but they appear to be a bit detached from the "real" world, to the point they accidentally caused Kōshō to think money grows on trees.
• With Friends Like These...: Kōji and Hidekazu, in spite of being on the same team, tend to constantly butt heads due to their differing philosophies — the former putting all his focus on cornering technique, whilst the latter believes races are decided almost exclusively on the straights. Kōji being the second-in-command whilst Hidekazu is the newest recruit might have an hand in this dynamic.
• Working Through the Cold: Per Takaaki's bio, he's been suffering from an unspecified "life-threatening illness" for a while, but that has not stopped him from racing and actively contributing to Curving Edge's improvement through data analysis and collection.

SS Limited

Team Members: "Founder First Star" Kyō Takahashi ☆, "Heaven's 4 Door" Jun'ichi Kimura, "Black Rain" Sanpei Sugiyama, "Shutokou Red Flash" Takahiro Eguchi, "Sports Car Killer" Akira Shimamoto, "Originator First Star" Torakichi Yamada, Akira "Chemical" Itō (from 2 onwards), "Excite Carmine" Hajime Tsurumi (from 2 onwards)

SS Limited's logo.

A long-standing team whose members all drive four-door sedans, constantly working to draw out their "hidden inner potential", SS Limited have survived through many eras of the street racing world and have gone through many phases. Stagnation, change of leadership, growth, stabilization... their most recent challenge is the team's aging members: the clock ticks as they race to find worthy successors and pass the torch of sedan racing to them.

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• Berserk Button: The mere act of driving a sports car in Akira's direction will inevitably cause him to go berserk and try to jump whoever the unfortunate soul behind the wheel is.
• Dub Name Change
  • Kyō Takahashi: to "North Star" (first game), "Speed Freak" Jimmy Richter (2), "Old Star" Jimmy Richter (Zero), "Evening Star" Miyako Takahashi (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Jun'ichi Kimura: to "4-Door" Tony Parcelli (2), "Heaven's Door" Oliver Jackson (Zero)
  • Sanpei Sugiyama: to "Dirty Dude" Russ Harley (2), Ludvig Cho (Zero)
  • Takahiro Eguchi: to "Poor Boy" Harry Cummins (2), "Red Thunder" Bernard Bailey (Zero)
  • Akira Shimamoto: to "Car Killa" Rudy Alcott (2), "Sports Killer" Shilton Hasanuma (Zero)
  • Torakichi Yamada: to "Rising Star" (first game), "Speed Demon" Tom Ruiz (2), "New Star" Buddy Hawkins (Zero), "Morning Star" (3), "The O.G. Star" (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Akira Itō: to "Loco Brain" Paul Davids (2), "Chemistry" Justin Kromly (Zero)
  • Hajime Tsurumi: to "Quick Start" Sam Pulman (2), Mark Burke (Zero)
• Friendly Rival:
  • Torakichi enjoys a very healthy rivalry with Omohiko Asura of MAX Racing. The two first met when both were first leaders of their respective teams, and only seem to hold respect to one another in spite of their frequent battles.
  • Likewise, Hajime Tsurumi and Takaki Wada, also of MAX Racing, openly seek one another to battle, yet trust each other enough to talk behind their respective teams' backs. The two had even planned to form a new team, until Hajime got married and had kid, which made him back out of that plan.
• Foil: SS Limited serve as one to MAX Racing, the other all-sedan team of the first twenty. The game lampshades that both, at their base, share the same concept, both used to be extremely ambitious, both aimed for supremacy on the C1 Loop, both have sports car-hating members, and both are in near-identical situation come Import Tuner Challenge: long-standing shadows of their former glory with an aging line-up and a different leader in charge from their founder. However, whereas SS Limited did manage to recruit new members — Itō and Tsurumi — MAX Racing has retained the exact same line-up across all games they appeared in. SS Limited members get along with one another and have a healthy relationship with their current leader, who was handpicked by the founder; MAX Racing members, instead, are split in two warring factions constantly at each other's throats, and come Import Tuner Challenge tensions are growing within them too, and their new leader, who usurped the position through "combat", isn't nearly as well respected. Lastly, SS Limited's ambition, albeit damaged, is still there, as the team moved to the New Belt Line to be more competitive; MAX Racing have been so crippled by internal conflicts they're still where they begun decades ago, on the C1 Loop.
• Hard Truckin': Delivery truck driver is Torakichi Yamada's day job. He's often given large deliveries, which causes him to use the Metropolitan Expressway far more than usual. Doing so lead to two side effects: one, he learned the ins and outs of the entire network more than anyone else, and two, he grew to love it even more than he did before.
• Mad Scientist: Although still a student — and later nothing more than a bachelor — "Chemical" Itō carries the reputation of a somewhat dangerous chemist obsessed with applying them to everything. The reality is a bit different: whilst definitely eccentric, Akira is not a particularly loud or bombastic personality. Nonetheless, he does adores his field of expertise... maybe a bit too much.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Chemical" Itō earned himself his street name for, what else, being a chemical buff. He loves toying with all sorts of chemical substances, such as oil additives, combustion aids, liquid for wipers, ion coatings, and so on, to the point he's integrated them into his car's tuning.
  • Where does Akira Shimamoto's street name of "Originator First Star" come from? Well, he was the one who founded SS Limited, acting as the team's first leader until meeting Kyō and crowning him the new leader. In other words, he's literally the "originator" of the entire team.
• Mighty Glacier: Like MAX Racing, the team's members all drive large, high-powered sedans. Unlike MAX Racing, their cars tend to be better rounded and grippier, but still suffer from the large amount of weight they have.
• Non-Indicative Name: Team leader Kyō Takahashi's street name is "Founder First Star"... despite being one of the most recent members to have joined the team. The actual founder, and previous leader, is Akira Shimamoto.
• Recruited from the Gutter: Their current leader, "Evening Star" Kyo Takahashi, used to be a member of Rolling Guy, of all teams, until former leader, "Morning Star" Torakichi Yamada, was so impressed by his skill that he decided to recruit him and take him under his wing, before later making him the team's leader.
• Revenge: The driving motivation of "Sports Car Killer" Akira Shimamoto can be best described as this. He was caught up in a traffic accident after being cut off by a reckless sports car driver, and has held a grudge towards sports cars ever since.
• Shout-Out: So, Jun'ichi Kimura's street name is "Heaven's 4 Door"? You think he knocks on any of them much?
• Strong and Skilled: "Evening Star" used to drive an AE86 before switching to high-powered sedans. He retained the knowledge and approach he developed to bring out the best in the small hatchback and successfully re-applied it to his new car, something that is noted to be a near miracle due to the sheer difference between the two vehicles.
• Took a Level in Badass: SS Limited were one of the original twenty teams of the Metropolitan Expressway, but otherwise struggled to truly stand out amongst the crowd, especially as more and more teams started appearing in the years following Purple Meteor's and Jintei's rise. Come Import Tuner Challenge, however, and they finally managed to get their act together and break through the C1 Loop's ceiling, relocating their turf to the New Belt Line where they manage to hold their own against more competitive teams.
• We Used to Be Friends: SS Limited and MAX Racing were extremely close teams, what with being the only ones oriented towards sports sedan cars, and interteam friendships were not uncommon. However, according to some of the people they player can speak to in Import Tuner Challenge, the two teams had an ugly falling out after the events of 3, to the point that one of the reasons why SS Limited moved to the New Belt Line was to steer clear of MAX Racing.

Elegant Wild

Team Members: "300 Mile Red Ruby" Yumiko Matsuyama ☆, "Deep Green" Toshitaka Nishiki, "White Revolution" Toshihiko Kin, "Hostman Hat" Hajime Minatsuki, "Black Cinderella" Miyuki Sato, "Infini Yellow" Kangorō Matsuda

Elegant Wild's logo.

A loose association of racers valuing each member's individuality, Elegant Wild wasn't exactly a team in the most traditional of senses beyond sharing stickers and recognizing a common leader. In spite of their uncoordinated choice of vehicles, individual members were always thought to have a relatively high amount of ability behind the steering wheel.

The team dissolved with no reason or mention after the events of Zero, with a sole member still running on the Tokyo Expressway... and the mountain passes of Japan. For tropes regarding him, see White Revolution's entry here.

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• Action Fashionista: Miyuki's regular job is fashion model. She's also a very active racer, both on the streets and on the circuits.
• Colourful Theme Naming: All members bar one have their cars' colours as part of their street name: 300 Mile Red Ruby, Deep Green, White Revolution, Black Cinderella and Infini Yellow.
• Conspicuous Consumption: 2 and Zero make it clear Hajime is loaded, leading credence to his boasts about his professional success, as he can afford to throw away money and switch from a Supra A80, a decently expensive car, to an NSX NA1, a very expensive car, and still have some to spare for the tune-up.
• Cool Old Guy: Downplayed with "Infini Yellow" Kangoro Matsuda, who's at the very least in his early forties and is merely considered old by comparison with the youthful Expressway racers. He's been racing yellow RX-7s for twenty years, and can still leave most other drivers in the dust. ^note Although his age is never stated, the RX-7 was first released in 1975, a little more than twenty years before the events of the first Tokyo Xtreme Racer. At his youngest, Kangoro should be born in 1957.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Yumiko Matsuyama: to "Red Racer" Cindy Martin (2), Jen Lyte (Zero)
  • Toshitaka Nishiki: to "Tune Freak" Vic Edwards (2), Ernest Lee (Zero)
  • Hajime Minatsuki: to "Ladies Man" Mike Ohara (2), "Hostman Hut" Sato Oshiro (Zero)
  • Miyuki Sato: to "Lisa B-Sky" (first game), "Fashion Queen" Sheena Croft (2), Melody Nosce (Zero)
  • Kangorō Matsuda: to "Infinity Yellow" (first game), "Mellow Yellow" Greg Bergman (2), "Unfinish Yellow" Frank Pedro (Zero)
• Dumb Struck: Team leader "300-Mile Ruby" Yumiko Matsuyama becomes unable to speak for the rest of the night if she loses even once. Played With, in that it's not the trauma stemming from the loss to cause this mutism. Rather, she becomes so absorbed in her own thoughts that she shuts herself off from the outside world.
• Force and Finesse: Miyuki's and Kangorō's styles are compared to one another in the latter's bio: the former is described as a "Western-style sword", always pushing the car to its very limits, whereas the latter is a "Japanese sword", sharper and with more flavour.
• Giftedly Bad: Hajime has some dedication to highway racing, given how he continues to race and spend copious amounts of money over it. Despite that, his own bio describes him as a terrible driver. How bad, you may ask? It takes honest negative skill to switch from the relatively stable, if not sluggish Supra A80, to the easily upset NSX NA1, and somehow manage to improve, even if just barely.
• Host Club: Being a host is Hajime Minatsuki's job, if his street name didn't make that clear enough. He's seemingly very successful, being the self-proclaimed second most popular host at his club and easily manipulating his clients, but his fellow hostesses do not fall for his tricks, something that he finds shameful. Other than giving him a lot of money to throw away, this does not reflect in any way in his driving.
• Odd Name Out: Of the entire group, only Hajime Minatsuki's street name, "Hostman Hat", does not contain a color.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Hajime boasts frequently about being the number two host at his club. In spite of that, no hostess is wooed or impressed by him nor his flirting. He's somewhat aware of it, but all it does is damage his ego, believing that someone of his caliber should be able to pull that off.
• She's a Man in Japan: Yumiko is referred to as a "he" in international releases of the first game: as those cut all drivers' real names and only left the street names, it is the only hint of her gender in those versions.

MAX Racing

Team Members: "Bloody Rose" Omohiko Ashura ☆ (regular member starting from Import Tuner Challenge), "Golden Beast" Masaki Koizumi ☆ (regular member until Import Tuner Challenge), "Crazy Hooligan" Daisuke Iyama, "Blue Shadow" Takaki Wada, "Death Black Panther" Tanaka Sadateru, "High Speed Blue Thunder"

MAX Racing's logo

The other all-sedan, C1 Loop-based team, MAX Racing members nonetheless enjoy a strong friendship with those belonging to SS Limited. In fact, they are more friends with them than with themselves. The team's been split in the middle for years over tuning philosophy, with three of its' members forming a separate unit called the "Three Musketeers of High Speed".

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• The Alleged Boss: In spite of Masaki having bested Omohiko in a race to become the new leader and carrying himself as such, none of the members remotely respect his authority in Import Tuner Challenge. Daisuke openly complains about him being the new leader and claims he could do a better job, Omohiko does not even to bother to act as his right-hand man, and everyone else is too busy bickering amongst themselves or worrying over their personal lives.
• Awful Wedded Life: What Takaki's wedding has seemingly degenerated into by Import Tuner Challenge. Between a lack of communication between him and his wife, a potential affair, and a Private Investigator shadowing him on his wife's behalf, combined with his apathy towards the entire situation and her seeming Woman Scorned attitude, does not paint a pretty picture.
• Broken Ace: There was a moment in time when Masaki used to be a red hot up-and-coming racer on everybody's mouths, constantly pursuing more speed and more power. He was driven to improve himself night after night, all in an attempt to catch up and surpass his team leader, Bloody Rose, and had begun to approach his level. However, between the events of 2 and Zero, he had a very close call, a near-accident that psychologically shattered him: every time a race would drag on for far too long, the fear of a fatal crash would end up overwhelming in, causing his spirit to sizzle out. From then on, the super rookie he used to be became nothing but a memory, and in spite of still being capable of holding his own in shorter races, his growth came to a screeching halt.
• Challenging the Chief: Happened sometime between the events of Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 and Import Tuner Challenge, when "Golden Beast" Masaki Koizumi defeated long-time leader "Bloody Rose" Omohiko Ashura to take his place. Omohiko, instead, became the de facto number two. ...Except, as it turns out, Omohiko pressured, if not forced Masaki to battle him for the leadership, and promptly threw the race to give up all responsibilities tied to MAX Racing without losing face.
• Character Development: Like most members of MAX Racing, Ryūta used to think that power was ll that was necessary to succeed in highway races. Over time, however, he realized just how short-sighted such an idea was, and how the Metropolitan Expressway required more than power. Slowly, he'd start to lighten his car, focus on more the handling, and eventually, join up with the similar-minded Masanori, forming the "Three Musketeers of High Speed" with him and Akihiro. However, by the time of Import Tuner Challenge, Ryūta is now growing tired of the group, disowning his previous change of heart and claiming that only Masanori ever cared about their trio, right as the situation within MAX Racing appears to finally have reached the point of no return.
• Closet Geek: For one reason or another, Omohiko refused to come clean about his love for anime for years. That was in spite of his catchphrase-slash-motto being a very famous Gundam reference only a true fan would know. He was, somehow, forcefully shoved out of the closet sometime before the events of Import Tuner Challenge... upon which he finally owed up to the fact and decided to reconvert his video rental store into a DVD store specializing in anime, to great success.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Japanese sports sedans and luxury sedans such as MAX Racing's tendentially have large engines with plenty of torque, as well as horsepower "on-demand" with how easy and reliable to tune up. However, they also suffer from their massive weight, and all the weaknesses that come with it. This makes them very good at accelerating on straights, and severely limits their competitiveness in everything else. The Three Musketeers' attempt at averting this issue caused a noticeable crack in the team.
• Colourful Theme Naming: A bit less blatant than other examples, but every member bar one has a colour in their street name: Bloody Rose, Golden Beast, Blue Shadow, Death Black Panther, High Speed Blue Thunder, High Speed White Blade and High Speed Blood Rain. The colour in their street names also matches the one of their respective cars.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Omohiko Ashura: to "Speed Demon" Andy Lee (2), Ansorin Cripes (Zero), Ashura Menhiko (3, Street Supremacy)
  • Masaki Koizumi: to "Danger Dave" David Rosen (2), Justin Dornan (Zero)
  • Daisuke Iyama: to "Light Boy" Fred Suzuki (2), Ben Norman (Zero), Daisuke Iiyama (3, Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Takaki Wada: to "Family Man" Thomas Hill (2), Thomas Fox (Zero)
  • Tanaka Sadateru: "Cheetah" Ted Burns (2), "Dark Panther" Jeff Love (Zero)
  • Masanori Takaoka: to "Power Freak" Mike Salezar (2), Aki Kozu (Zero)
  • Ryūta Sugano: to "Big Boy" Vern Williams (2), David Corrillo (Zero), Ryuta Kanno (3), Ryuta Kan-no (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Akihiro Miyashita: to "Race Freak" Oscar Munoz (2), Jaime Bencia (Zero)
• Foil:
  • MAX Racing serve as one to SS Limited, the other all-sedan team of the first twenty. The game lampshades that both, at their base, share the same concept, both used to be extremely ambitious, both aimed for supremacy on the C1 Loop, both have sports car-hating members, and both are in near-identical situation come Import Tuner Challenge: long-standing shadows of their former glory with an aging line-up and a different leader in charge from their founder. The differences quickly come to light under close scrutiny: MAX Racing kept their original line-up across every game, whereas SS Limited, in spite of their issue, has managed to recruit new members in Itō and Tsurumi. MAX Racing members are always at odds, split into two factions and with the leader and second-in-command secretly plotting to replace one another in a never-ending cycle, whereas SS Limited members get along swimmingly. Last, but not least, SS Limited still has their original drive intact, if not somewhat dented, as they finally made the move to the New Belt Line after years on the C1 Loop. MAX Racing, instead, is so paralyzed by their constant, internal squabbling that their ambitions are completely gone, much like their leader's.
  • MAX Racing also ended up as a Foil to Rolling Guy, of all teams, come Import Tuner Challenge. Both have been around for countless years, closely follow one specific philosophy, and have gone through a leadership change. However, MAX Racing has retained the exact same line-up, and struggles to recruit new members due to the constant in-fighting, whereas Rolling Guy regularly replenishes its numbers. MAX Racing have been splintered in separate factions due to their differing opinions and approaches to car tuning, which crippled the team, whereas Rolling Guy are firmly united behind their AE86s. Lastly, the change in leadership has been catastrophic for MAX Racing, as no one trusts or respects Masaki, and Omohiko has done nothing to assist his successor. Rolling Guy, instead, had a few hiccups due to how the leadership changed, but it was ultimately accepted by all members, with Akira earning the others' trust and Satoru giving him and his former team help from behind the scenes.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Takaki is the Responsible Sibling to his brother Yūki's Foolish one: Takaki is a family man, relatively quiet, and always taking into consideration the needs of the others and acting accordingly, whereas Yūki is childish, self-centered, loud, and doesn't think of the consequences his actions carry beyond the immediate future. The situation is later inverted by Import Tuner Challenge: Takaki, keeping secrets from his family and letting his wedding slowly sink over his street racing career, has become the Foolish sibling, whereas Yūki buckled down and started working overtime to repay his debts and make up for his mistakes, making him the more Responsible of the Wada brothers.
• Force and Finesse: One of the key issues behind the team's splintering: the majority of members prefer to win through raw power, whilst the Three Musketeers want to take a different approach, preferring to focus on maneuverability, agility and light weight.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Omohiko is a big anime fan, particularly Gundam, as he decide to buy a red car because "red ones go three times as fast". It became an openly known fact by Import Tuner Challenge, though.
  • Serious, family-oriented Takaki is secretly a big fighting games' fan, with a particular predilection towards ninja-like characters. In hindsight, this also served as [[Foreshadowing]] to Takaki's issues in Import Tuner Challenge, particularly his bad tendency to keep his hobbies hidden from his loved ones.
• Honest Corporate Executive: Almost every member of the team is either a manager or an executive. In spite of their own respective flaws and issues, however, they all seem to run steady ships, proving themselves as competent at their given tasks and with no mention of worker mistreatment.
• Irony: Out of all team members, Masaki is the only to not work in a corporate environment, being a mere employee at a video rental store. By Import Tuner Challenge, however, he is the one leading an entire team of managers and executives.
• Mighty Glacier:
  • Just like SS Limited, MAX Racing employ Japanese sedans. Heavy, far from nimble, but with enough torque and horsepower to make up for it.
  • The Three Musketeers try to avoid this with a different tuning philosophy, focusing on agility. Not only has their success been limited, but clashing ideals have lead to a deep fracture within the team, one that perdures after a decade.
• Mistaken for Cheating: One possible interpretation of Takaki's situation in Import Tuner Challenge, as the game is far from clear about it, is that his wife thinks he's cheating on him and the rumor mill picked up on it, but in reality he's just continuing his career as a street racer, which he hasn't told his family about.
• Nice Mean And In Between: This is the dynamic of the Three Musketeers of High Speed as shown in Import Tuner Challenge: Masanori is the Nice, being the more excitable and cordial to the player of the trio; Akihiro is the Mean, more irritable about the entire deal and wanting it to come to an end; and Ryūta is the In-Between, being worn down and cynical about the entire experience but analyzing it rationally, holding no grudges towards anyone. The English translation switches Akihiro and Ryūta, with the former becoming the In-Between and noting that he never had any strong feelings about the "Three Musketeers" label, whilst the latter becomes the Mean, being more vulgar and disrespectful.
• Now What?: Masaki spent years striving to reach Omohiko's level, constantly working to improve himself and his car in a never-ending pursuit for what started to look like an idealized version of his leader at times. When the occasion arrived, the two battled, and Masaki finally defeated Omohiko, becoming MAX Racing's new leader in the process... and now, he's at a complete and utter on what to do next, with his fellow teammates being apathic to him at best and openly despising him at worst. As Import Tuner Challenge was the final release in the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series to feature MAX Racing, the players are never given an answer.
• Number Two: Acting as second-in-command was the role Masaki had for years, always at Omohiko's side. By Import Tuner Challenge, however, the roles have reversed, with Omohiko now Masaki's second-in-command... one who really doesn't act like one, since he lost any reason to care about MAX Racing and is planning to retire.
• Odd Name Out: Daisuke Iyama's street name, "Crazy Hooligan" is the only one out of the entire team to not contain a colour.
• The Peter Principle: Masaki Koizumi is a competent racer, and worked very well as Omohiko's second-in-command, constantly shadowing him and learning from him in spite of the trauma he picked up between 2 and Zero. He eventually defeated Omohiko to become MAX Racing's new leader before Import Tuner Challenge. However, he's clearly out of his depth in his new role, with no idea on what he's supposed to do as he continues to carry himself as a second-in-command, focusing more on the player than his rebellious teammates. As a result, the team's self-destruction is closer than ever, and Masaki has already burned himself out trying to stop out. Which is exactly what Omohiko intended when he made him the leader by throwing the race against him.
• Pointy-Haired Boss:
  • Masaki means well, but he clearly has no idea on what he's supposed to do as team leader, having no previous experience nor anyone to give him any form of advice. As such, he lets one of his teammates get away with blatant disrespect, whilst the Three Musketeers continue to act independently of MAX Racing. He'll complain about how tiring his entire situation is to the player is spoken to after being defeated.
  • Omohiko, the previous leader, already suffered from an on-off personality and a driving style that made him unpopular, along with having overseen the formation of the Three Musketeers and done nothing to reign the trio in or come to a deal with them. What truly cemented him as this trope, however, were his last actions as leader of MAX Racing: he goaded Masaki into facing him for the leadership, before purposefully throwing the race, all out of general dissatisfaction with the team and everyone related to it. In other words, Omohiko set the very team he founded up for implosion, possibly ruining the standing of his fellow drivers and friends, merely because he was tired of the direction they had taken.
• Proud to Be a Geek: After being a Closet Geek for years, Omohiko has finally owed up to it by Import Tuner Challenge, having reconverted his video rental store into a very successful DVD store specializing in anime.
• Shout-Out: Reportedly, Omohiko is fond of saying "a red car is three times faster", which is why he only buys red ones. His own bio lampshades that he might be watching too much anime.
• Skewed Priorities: Takaki has, reportedly, been having an affair with another female racer by Import Tuner Challenge, which has lead his wife to hire The Rook to look into the situation. How did Takaki react to it upon learning the news? With disappointment towards his wife... because The Rook has been shadowing him on her request, and not because of his achievements as a street racer.
• Sore Loser: Omohiko has a tough time accepting defeats, and will often mumble and complain under his breath about them. This isn't because of any superiority complex, but rather due to his refusal to throw in the towel: to him, being forced to accept defeat is akin to being forced to give up.
• Split Personality: Omohiko is said to normally be very mild-mannered in every day life. The moment he sits behind the wheel, however, he does a complete one-eighty and turns into an extremely vicious and reckless driver. Whilst part of his racing strategy, this has caused his reputation amongst his fellows to sink.
• The Starscream:
  • Despite respecting Omohiko, Masaki never hid his ambitions of eventually overtaking his leader, patiently waiting in his shadow and learning from him in the meantime. He finally got his wish between the events of 3 and Import Tuner Challenge... at a point when he had given up said ambition, trusting him into the leadership of a team on the brink of collapse.
  • By Import Tuner Challenge, it's Masanori who has been hyping up his future plans to take over the team alongside Ryūta and Akihiro to bring their vision to fruition, even inviting the player to join them whenever they'll have overthrown Masaki.
• Throwing the Fight: As revealed by speaking with both after defeating them, Masaki suspects Omohiko of having thrown the race for the leadership he was forced into... and Omohiko confirms this to the player, saying he wanted to pass all responsibilities to Masaki, completely disillusioned with MAX Racing and considering retirement.
• Took a Level in Cynic:
  • Omohiko before Import Tuner Challenge was a secretly passionate man, one who invested a lot of money in his car, used to overwhelm his opponents to defeat them, and appeared to be very ambitious, to the point some looked up to him. Omohiko by the time of Import Tuner Challenge, instead, is a bitter, jaded man who has given up all ambition and plans on retiring, even if it ends up killing the team. The realization that MAX Racing's level was never that good, including his own, seems to have killed any fighting spirit he had left.
  • Ryūta and Akihiro must have believed in the idea behind the Three Musketeers of Speed and been far friendlier to Masanori years ago, as they all ended up with matching street names. Ryūta, in particular, had naturally gravitated towards Masanori thanks to their shared tuning philosophy. In Import Tuner Challenge, however, the two seem to have completely given up on the concept, bitterly noting that they will never gain enough traction to actually do anything.
• We Used to Be Friends: MAX Racing and SS Limited were extremely close teams, what with being the only ones oriented towards sports sedan cars, and interteam friendships were not uncommon. However, according to some of the people they player can speak to in Import Tuner Challenge, the two teams had an ugly falling out after the events of 3, to the point that they drive on separate sections of the Expressway to purposefully avoid running into one another.
• With Friends Like These...:
  • The team used to be a lot more tight-knit in the early days, and even when the Three Musketeers of High Speed first formed in Zero, things weren't overly problematic. By 3, however, the Three Musketeers ended up at odds with the entire team due to irreconcilable differences in personal philosophy, leading to frequent arguments and factionalism. By Import Tuner Challenge, it's become hard to believe MAX Racing is an actual team.
  • Come Import Tuner Challenge, even the Musketeers themselves have been getting into one another's faces even the Musketeers are growing at odds with one another: in spite of supposedly representing a new, different approach to sedan racing and Masanori's plans to take over the team, Akihiro and Ryūta are growing tired of the entire shtick, with either openly insulting him depending on the version.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: This is how Golden Beast reacts upon defeating the player in Import Tuner Challenge: after seeing the rest of MAX Racing defeated by them, he was not expecting this result.
  Golden Beast: Hey, you've gotta take me seriously. Is this really the best you can do?

Diamond Image

Team Members: "Lightning Shift" Takuya Hagiwara ☆, "Lone Wolf" Manabu Ishī, "Spring Roll" Itsuki Ōuchi, "Silver Bullet" Jun'ichi Kadomatsu, "Airblade" Kazuki Nakanishi, "Yellow Angel" Asuka Nakanishi, "Lightning Wisdom" Yūji Minobe

Diamond Image's logo.

Diamond Image consisted entirely of drivers of small, lightweight, well-tuned machines. With only a select few elite members capable of holding their own on the New Belt Line, stand-out amongst them team leader "Lightning Shift" Takuya Hagiwara, the group had strong unity.

In spite of that, Diamond Image dissolved when their leader was noticed by the owner of a professional racing team and recruited for those endeavors. As he waits to make his grand debut, Hagiwara returned to mountain pass racing to keep his skills sharp.

Tropes regarding "Lightning Shift" Takuya Hagiwara in his other appearances can be found here.

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• The Alleged Boss: Takuya is de jure Diamond Image's boss, the one around which every other member gathers. De facto, however, he's almost completely absent from anything involving them, to the point that by 3, he has openly declared he needs to focus on himself after wrecking his AE86. The other members, however, do not seem to mind.
• Aloof Leader, Affable Subordinate: Takuya has been described as distant from the rest of Diamond Image, not really taking care of the team or its members. By contrast, his second-in-command Ishī is unflappably jovial, in spite of swimming in debt, which lead him to take over the day-to-day management of the team. In spite of that, Hagiwara remains vital in his position as leader, as his aura of charisma is what holds Diamond Image together to begin with.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Jun'ichi's silver 180SX is renowned across Tokyo for having hit a top speed of 300 kilometers per hour on the Yokohama Line. To reach that speed, however, the car had to be set up with very long gearing, which puts it at heavy disadvantage against cars that accelerate faster than it. Moreso, because the car's body was exclusively lightened in the pursuit of such speeds, it's incredibly unstable in corners and constantly looks on the verge of losing control.
• Camera Fiend: Asuka started off as a member of her college's camera club before graduating to full-time professional photographer by the time of 3: her being assigned to take photos at a drifting event during her student years is what led her to get interest in the world of racing. Her experience as a photographer gives her excellent peripherical and long-distance vision, which she uses to great effect in races.
• Courier: Again, as a Takumi Expy, Lightning Shift's job is to deliver goods for food-related establishments such as milk farms or noodle restaurants.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Takuya Hagiwara: to "Savage" Steve Carter (2), "Thunder Shift" Gunter Drunter (Zero), "Lightning Shifter" (Drift), "Super-Shifter" (Street Supremacy)
  • Manabu Ishii: to "Charge Man" Sam Shorr (2), Adolf Berger (Zero)
  • Itsuki Ouchi: to "Tornedo" Tim West (2), "Spring Rain" Noah Astbury (Zero), "Egg Roll" (3)
  • Jun'ichi Kadomatsu: to "Rhythm Freak" Brad Eliot (2), Willy Cantos (Zero)
  • Kazuki Nakanishi: to "Radar Racer" Evan Fink (2), "Troubleshooter" Rich Yau (Zero)
  • Asuka Nakanishi: to "Aero Angel" Julie Carmine (2), "Yellow Angel" Julius Vick (Zero)
• The Fellowship Has Ended: The team strongly revolved around "Lightning Shift"'s leadership. It's assumed that when he abandoned the Tokyo Expressway to focus on the touge, the other members went their own way
• Fragile Speedster: The team members' cars are all small and light in weight. Very agile, with some having the necessary tuning and set-up to reach incredible speeds, but also unstable and lacking in immediate power.
• Meaningful Name: Itsuki earned his street name, "Spring Roll Itsuki", through his frequent trips to Yokohama's Chinatown: upon coming back, he'd always carry spring rolls to share with the rest of the team and any other willing racer.
• Non-Indicative Name: You'd think that someone with the street name of "Lone Wolf" would be an extremely reserved loner. Manabu is anything but, being a very social, upbeat person who acts as the de facto leader of the team due to Takuya's own issues.
• Perpetual Poverty: Somehow, Manabu manages to carry through life and continue his university studies alongside his racing endeavours. That is after he, in this order: maxed out a credit card, bought and tuned a car, wrecked it, maxed out another credit card, bought and tuned another car, got a whole bunch of loans, and had a bankruptcy process opened against him. One that's been underdoing for years.
• Pottery Barn Poor: Manabu doesn't have a stable job, if any job to begin with, due to his ongoing university studies. He's also in perennial debt, with two maxed out credit cards to pay off, and an ongoing bankruptcy process. In other words, he's supposed to be as poor as legally possible. That, somehow, did not stop him fro buying a second AE86 after wrecking his first one, and he can still afford an expensive hobby such as racing regularly.
• Same Surname Means Related: Both Kazuki and Asuka share the surname "Nakanishi", something the latter quickly learned upon joining Diamond Image. Although they aren't related, and their shared surname is mere coincidence, this created a one-sided rivalry between the two, with Asuka wishing to battle against Kazuki to establish "the better Nakanishi".
• She's a Man in Japan: In international releases of Zero, Asuka Nakanishi became a man called Julius Vick.
• Technical Euphemism: Kazuki Nakanishi's car is equipped with a "radar". His bio in Zero would elaborate upon that, explaining that said "radar" has "saved his life on several occasions" but has been "malfunctioning" lately. Combined with his second bio, it appears that he's actually referring to his glasses, which helped him out in several situations but have been giving him trouble due to his developing astigmatism... Except, 3 clarifies that no, the latter issue is completely unrelated and he has a legitimate, working, military land radar installed on his car.
• Trademark Favorite Food: For Itsuki Ōuchi, it's spring rolls. He buys them in bulk whenever he's in Yokohama, and not just for his teammates, as he claims he'll eat all of them by himself if no one wants any in Racing Battle: C1GP.
• Weak, but Skilled: Barring Jun'ichi, whose car better fits the idea of "Powerful, but Unstable", all other members' cars are towards the lower end of the scale power-wise. Even if power-to-weight is taken into account, other heavier cars easily surclasse them. Where Diamond Image excels, however, are the drivers behind the cars' wheels: they're all talented enough to be able to extract nothing short of a hundred percent out of them, which allows them to hold their own against other New Belt Line teams.

Fine Drive

Team Members: "Crimson Meteor" Yūichi Iketani ☆, "Silvester" Yōichi Watanabe, "Hell's Drifter" Toshimitsu Suzuki, "Shimokitazawa 2000cc" Satoshi Hoshino, "Drift Baby" Katsunori Uchimura, "Funky Monkey" Teruki Yoshida, "Natural Soldier" Takashi Nishino, "Fire Bird" Toshinobu Kurosawa

Fine Drive's logo.

With a shared love of Nissan's S-Chassis, Fine Drive were one of the oldest teams on the C1 Loop. Prohibiting selfishness and dangerous driving, the team's members stood out for being the first to refuse to block other cars or meander aimlessly, although many decried them as "hypocritical hindrances" due to their love for drifting.

The team dissolved sometime before the events of Import Tuner Challenge, with only one member remaining active. For tropes regarding him, "Shimokitazawa 2000cc" Satoshi Hoshino, see here.

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• Artifact Name: Toshimitsu's street name, "Hell's Drifter", was originally meant as a short-hand way to describe him as a "drifter from hell". Upon getting the chance to witness his proficiency in the art of drifting, however, Tokyo's crowds accidentally concluded it actually meant "one hell of a drifter". Instead of correcting them, Toshimitsu went along with the newfound interpretation, causing the original meaning of the name to go lost to history.
• Because Destiny Says So: Combined with There Are No Coincidences, this seems to be one of the driving philosophies of many team members. Silvester comes close to almost name-dropping the trope in its entirety in Street Supremacy: when defeated by a player who joined Fine Drive, he'll declare it's destiny for him to follow them.
• Boring, but Practical: Their S-cars are only flashy in appearance. Under their bodies, they are well-rounded cars with proficient drivers behind the wheel. Not the rocketships typically associated with the Expressway, but definitely nothing to scoff at.
• Break the Haughty: Teruki, in the first game, used to be an extremely arrogant driver, declaring proudly and loudly that "only rear-wheel-drive cars are true cars", looking down on anyone who drove anything else, and boasting about his year-long winning streak. Between games, however, something happened that caused him to, at the very least, become a lot more quiet and reserved. It's later implied he lost against someone driving one of the front-wheel drive cars he disregarded so much.
• Can't Catch Up: Toshimitsu is, objectively speaking, one of the slowest members of the team due to his tendency to break into extremely flashy, yet extremely pointless drifts that eat up his momentum and tires. He is painfully aware of this, and has been working to improve in every other area to make up for it with little results, but his dedication to his "craft" causes him to refuse the simple solution of driving in a more conservative manner.
• Challenge Seeker: Silvester actively seeks out opponents to face and declare rivals. He only feels happy when he has someone else to challenge and defeat, to the point he started feeling discouraged, if not downright dejected, by having no viable opposition at a point.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Yūichi Iketani: to "Red Comet" (first game), "Mr. Control" Sam Bergman (2), "Red Meteor" Mario Meuller (Zero), "Shooting Star" (3, Street Supremacy)
  • Yōichi Watanabe: to "Sylvester" (first game, Street Supremacy), "Racer V" Vinny Marcos (2), "Sylvester" Jose Arrera (Zero), "Sylvestre" (3)
  • Toshimitsu Suzuki: to "Drift Devil" Ken Nishi (2), Bill Jenkins (Zero), "Drifter in Hell" (3), "Drifter from Hades" (Street Supremacy)
  • Satoshi Hoshino: to "S13" Gary Nelson (2), "King of 2000cc" Philip Tuttle (Zero)
  • Katsunori Uchimura: to "2000cc" Joey Brooks (2), "Drift King" Nathan Belini (Zero),
  • Teruki Yoshida: to "FR Freak" Glen Powell (2), Micky Schneider (Zero), Akinori Yoshida (3), Shoki Yoshida (Street Supremacy)
  • Takashi Nishino: to "Newbie" Ricky Shulman (2), Cary Specht (Zero), "Natural-Born Soldier" (Street Supremacy)
  • Toshinobu Kurosawa: to "My Way" Will Stiller (2), "Fire Bird" Dan Kazi (Zero)
• Fanboy: The entire team is made out of S-chassis fanboys, and it shows, but no one can top Satoshi Hoshino in that regard: he talks almost exclusively about Silvia S13s, leading others to barely interact with him as a result.
• The Fellowship Has Ended: Like many other teams, Fine Drive disbanded sometime before the events of Import Tuner Challenge. "Shimokitaza 2000cc" Satoshi Hoshino, the only member to refuse the team's dissolution, took the team's sticker and modified it into his own Wanderer sticker.
• Friendly Rival: Yuichi has found in one in Toshio Kabaya, a fellow team leader who leads Gesellschaft over on the New Belt Line. When both found out they share the same dream of becoming professional racers, they became friends, but also open rivals.
• Graceful Loser: As shown in Street Supremacy, Yuichi takes his losses surprisingly well, no matter how bad they end up being. Even when defeated by players to take his place as Fine Drive's leader or absorb his team into theirs, he takes the consequences surprisingly instride. The reason why he reacts this way is likely tied to his belief of There Are No Coincidences, meaning there is no reason for him to be upset over defeat.
• Goal in Life: Through-out the entire series, Yuichi's dream is to be able to become a professional racer. To reach this ambitious goal, he decided to use the Metropolitan Expressway as a training ground and eventual springboard to launch himself into greater things. He was eventually noticed and approached by scouts from various professional racing teams, atleast in Street Supremacys continuity.
• It's All My Fault: If a player who joined Fine Drive in Street Supremacy doesn't replace Yuichi as leader and another team defeats them and forces them to disband, Yuichi will tell the player it's not their fault, putting the blame squarely on himself.
• Meaningful Name: The team tends to prefer clean, safe driving. Something that would be regarded, hands down, a fine drive.
• Promoted to Playable: They're one of fifteen teams the player can join in Street Supremacy.
• The Resenter: Katsunori resents Satoshi for a slew of reasons, but chief amongst them is how the latter proclaimed himself "the strongest two-litre engine driver". That "title", so to speak, is something Katsunori had already claimed for himself, atleast from his point view: for a driver whom he deems inferior, those words should have never left his mouth. It only got worse when Satoshi actually beat him in battle when challenged.
• Shout-Out: Their leader's real name is Yuichi Iketani, taking the first name and the last name of, respectively, Yuichi Tachibana and Koichiro Iketani.
• Technician Versus Performer: The trope is often a topic of discussion amongst team members, as Fine Drive is known for their drifting skills, but some members have considered different approaches. Toshinobu is the one who holds this debate the closest to his heart: on one side, he learned to moderate his drifts, eliminating unnecessary counter-steer and speeding up notably... on the other, he fears this will put him at odds with the rest of his team, as his "isn't true drifting". Caught between these two contradictory situations, he will pull out unnecessarily flashy drifts for the others' sake, but they might cost him the win in the process.
• There Are No Coincidences: The idea appears to be a commonly held belief amongst many on the team, judging by their comments in Street Supremacy. The one who represents the trope most, however, is Yuichi: he constantly repeats how coincidences don't exist, to just about anyone he runs into. He'll tell this to a player upon joining Fine Drive, a player who just defeated him to become the team's new leader, or even a player leading another team who defeated him and is about to absorb Fine Drive. After all, even mere meetings are no coincidences to him.

Twister

Team Members: "Scorching Mirage" Kazuo Kasai ☆, "Smile 0 Yen" Yasuyuki Sakainori, "SWEET BLUES" Rina Kawamoto, "Blue Writer" Tadashi Mochida, "Shooting Star" Daisuke Makihara, Chōei "Baron" Kagetsu, "Shutokou Drizzle" Shirou Hosoyama (from 2 onwards)

Twister's logo.

Named afteir the "rythmic twisting" of the members' cars, and with an obsession for the rotary engine at the forefront, Twister has existed since time immemorial. Surviving through mockery after mockery, internal feuds, and other teams' extinction, Twister now faces a concrete, yet horrifying possibility: that they might end up outlasting the very rotary engine that powered them through the decades and that they still love so dearly.

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• Blue Blood: Chōei Kagetsu is the son of a nobleman, and a member of the wealthy and famous Kagetsu clan.
• Character Development: Chōei starts off as absent-minded, superficial, and somewhat moody in the first games, on top of being relatively untalented. By Import Tuner Challenge, however, he's started to become a better driver, as well as realizing that money does not matter as much as passion; if spoken to after being defeated, he'll reflect on how winning or losing depends on the love and confidence one puts behind their car.
• Conspicuous Consumption: "Baron" Kagetsu, as the scion of a famous, wealthy noble family, does not hesitate to throw money around. He first became interested in racing, as revealed in Import Tuner Challenge, upon being gifted a foreign sports car for his eighteenth birthday... only to immediately buy an RX-7 FD and switch to it after riding shotgun in a friend's. Upon acquiring his beloved car, he has invested enormous amounts of in visual and engine tuning, far more than most other runners could ever afford. Moreso, as part of his patronage, he bankrolls Shirou Hosoyama's life until in exchange of his presence on the team.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Kazuo Kasai: to "Shimmering Illusion" (first game), "The Hellion" Timmy Evans (2), "Burning Mirage" Doug Molinari (Zero), "The Incandescent Flame" (3), "Red-Hot Mirage" (Street Supremacy), "Blazing Mirage" (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Yasuyuki Sakainori: to "Easterner" Dale Sanders (2), "Smile" Elmer Futch (Zero), Yasuyuki Sakairi (3), "Smiles Free" Yasuyuki Sakairi (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Rina Kawamoto: to "The Weaver" Rena Sanchez (2), Rena Alexi (Zero), Suzuna Kawamoto (3, Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Tadashi Mochida: to "Blue Rider" (first game, Import Tuner Challenge), "Groucho" Adam Simmons (2), Willy McLean (Zero), "Blue Lighter" (3
  • Daisuke Makihara: to Rob Savoy (2), Brutus Varnes (Zero),
  • Chōei Kagetsu: to "The Duke" (first game), "Rich" Rick Smith III (2), Bluto Romori (Zero), Nagahide Kagetsu (3, Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Shirou Hosoyama: to "Down & Out" Ken Rice (2), "Rainy Day" Edwin Guanako (Zero)
• Fanboy: Twister members are clearly passionate about the Wankel engine, colloquially called the "rotary engine". They all drive second and third generation models of the car most associated with it, the Mazda RX-7.
• The Gift: Rina Kawamoto is considered by many to be a natural racing talent. Her driving looks seamless to outside observers, something that many long-time veterans fails at. However, in spite of her gift, she is still learning the ropes: her lack of experience rears its head in battles, where her racecraft becomes rough and her interactions with her opponents border on dangerous. Esentially, she's also Unskilled, but Strong.
• Hero-Worshipper: Daisuke Makihara holds deep admiration towards Yōichi Sumi of Super Speed Wagon, to the point of near-idolization. He became an highway racer because his senpai was an highway racer, and that appeared to be the best possible way to get closer to him. However, that admiration ran dry by the time of 3: Sumi graduated from university and left the world of street racing altogether, leaving behind a burned out Daisuke with no goal or direction.
• Honest Corporate Executive: Yasuyuki works as a manager for a burger store located in Tokyo, answering directly to a company based out of Kansai Prefecture. Despite being somewhat lower on the corporate ladder than usual examples, he nonetheless retains complete control over his store, and runs a tight ship. His direct superiors, the company's owners, are amazed and extremely appreciative of his work ethic.
• Last of His Kind: With Rotary Revolution's dissolution and the rotary engine having fallen by the wayside, Twister remain the last team to be entirely rotary-powered by Import Tuner Challenge, the last bastion of a by-gone era of street racing.
• Love Cannot Overcome: Ultimately, Kazuo's passion and dedication to racing was unreconcilable with his personal life; by Import Tuner Challenge, his wife abandoned him due to his refusal to quit, leaving him up to his neck in debt.
• Meaningful Name: As mentioned above, the team's name is a two-fold reference: their cars' engine literally twist on themselves, whilst their cars' "twist rhythmically" through the C1 Loop's corners. Rivals and detractors, meanwhile, will sarcastically turn the definition against them, mocking them when they spin out.
• Ship Tease: A long-running tease exists between Rina Kawamoto and Tadashi Mochida, one that first started in Zero and is still ongoing by Import Tuner Challenge. To make a long story short, an apparent rivalry developed into a reciprocal crush by 3, with both sides being unable to come clean about their feelings. Between those events and Import Tuner Challenge, Tadashi finally mustered up enough courage to come clean and confess his feelings... leaving Rina dumbstruck. In reaction, she laid out a challenge: if he could beat her in a race, she would go out on a date with him. This decision set both right back to step one: Tadashi is now trying to find the confidence to pick up the gauntlet and face her, whilst Rina grows frustrated with his perceived lack of commitment.
• Shipping Torpedo: In a case of self-inflicted Shipping Torpedo, Tadashi at first tried to dispel the rumors about himself and Rina by insisting he only saw her as a Friendly Rival. Be it true at the time, or mere self-denial, his attempt to sink that ship obviously failed, as the two have fallen head-over-heels for one another by 3... they just have trouble admitting it.
• Starving Artist: Shirou Hosoyama is a classical case of the trope: a young, aspiring artist who is dead set on breaking through as a singer but continues to struggle in an incredibly cut-throat industry and has no other way to financially support himself. Luckily for him, "Baron" Kagetsu decided to become his patron, financing his life... in exchange of Shirou joining Twister and being around him. He finally got his big break, however, by the time of Import Tuner Challenge, not requiring Kagetsu's patronage anymore but nonetheless remaining a loyal member of Twister.
• Strong and Skilled: "Scorching Mirage" Kazuo Kasai, Twister's leader, is a noticeable racing talent, famous for his cornering skill and adaptability in various circumstances. He combines it with a near-decade of racing experience, being one of longest-standing active racers by the time of Import Tuner Challenge. This is enough to be capable of effortlessly leading the entire team by sheer respect from his performance and capabilities alone.
• Taking Up the Mantle: By the time of Import Tuner Challenge, with Rotary Revolution permanently dissolved, and the rotary engine having been out of production for years, Twister aren't just the sole remaining rotary team in the entire Tokyo Expressway, but the last bastion of the engine's long tradition in street racing.
• Technician Versus Performer: As with other teams, Twister is roughly split amongst two blocks: the "grippers", who prefer simpler, straightforward, grip-oriented set-ups, and the "drifters", who pivot towards a flashier, showman-like style. Kazuo Kasai changes his approach depending on the situation. As team leader, he also worries about the divisions between his teammates, fearing they might cause more trouble than they're worth and ultimately cause the team to split. By Import Tuner Challenge, his worries appear to be unfounded.
• Upper-Class Twit: "Baron" Kagetsu is the rich scion of a world-famous, wealthy noble family. He throws enormous amounts of money at various tuners to work on his car, yet remains one of the least-talented racers amongst the ranks of Twister. In spite of driving a "monster", he lacks the technique to utilize it to its full potential, and if he's not in the "right mood", he will throw the race in favour of his opponents. He's gradually grown out of this trope by Import Tuner Challenge, however: in spite of his performance still being lacking, he takes racing far more seriously, and developed some notable self-awareness about how money, in his circumstances, cannot do everything.
• Workaholic:
  • Yasuyuki is described as incredibly thorough and diligent in his work as a manager, to the point of being duly noticed and appreciated by his direct superiors. This mentality extends to his everyday efforts, from learning to fit in amongst Tokyo's crowds after relocating to the metropolis, to constantly working on improving his racecraft.
  • Shirou is beyond determined to make his singing career take off and make it his living, no matter how long it might take or how many bumps in the road he might hit. He's constantly working towards this goal, going well beyond that the normal call of duty would be for freelance artists like him. He puts a very similar amount of effort into racing, to the point he quickly became one of the fastest-improving rookies of Tokyo and a well-respected member of Twister in an incredibly short amount of time.

R. Gangs

Team Members: "Shiver Drift Dancer" Toshiki Kawakami ☆, "Street Dancer" Shūichi Takizawa (until 3), "Hell's Bartender" Tadashi Kuroi, "Speed Professor" Noritaka Motoue, "Wind Impala" Takeshi Harada, "Black Mirage" Kazuo Nikaidō (until 3), "Rain Drop" Shou Nakanishi

R. Gangs' logo

The other all-AE86 team, atleast sometimes, the R. Gangs have been around for a very long time, enough to have a noticeable edge over all other competitors in know-how and experience. In spite of how long they've been around, and how many times they changed their turf, the team still maintains the very same aspirations they've had since day one: become the strongest team in Tokyo.

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• Amazon Brigade: In international releases until after Zero, all members of the team were women. See She's a Man in Japan below for details.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Noritaka Motoue is well known for his purely theoretical study and approach to racing. Through data collection and logical analysis, he set up various computer simulations to train himself, which is no small feat... but the transition from theory to practice has been rough for him: Noritaka is not as good of a driver as his studies lead one to believe, with his best skill being his launches at the start of races. In spite of that, this has earned him the street name of "Speed Professor".
• Artifact Name: Tadashi's street name, "Hell's Bartender", was born due to his job of, what else, bartending. By Import Tuner Challenge, the name still stuck with him in spite of having changed jobs in the meantime. This is mitigated by how long he's carried the name, as well as how it also refers to his unique driving style of making his car move back-and-forth like a cocktail shaker.
• The Bartender: Tadashi Kuroi's job was bartending on night shifts. As highway racing takes place near exclusively at night, this obviously caused friction between the two endeavours. Ultimately, Kuroi decided to change jobs, becoming a daytime liquor store employee by Import Tuner Challenge in the name of his main passion.
• Berserk Button: As an Osaka native, Shou Nakanishi is very proud of Kansai Prefecture, where he comes from. As such, hearing a non-native speak with a fake Kansai accent drives him up a wall like nothing else. Generally, he strongly dislikes non-Kansai people's cultural posturing towards his home prefecture.
• Big Brother Worship: Shou adores his unseen older brother to incredible degrees: most importantly, he became a street racer almost exclusively to followin his footsteps and imitate him. There is a limit to how far this pseudo-worship can go, however: upon realizing how he could never break out of his shadow as long as he stayed in Osaka, Shou packed up and left for Tokyo to make a name for himself.
• Captain Crash: Takeshi Harada is, somehow for an ambitious street racer, more known for the massive amounts of times he's crashed his car than anything else. This is because he refuses to let off of the gas pedal at any time, even when a corner or an obstacle is approaching.
• Challenge Seeker: Toshiki is on a constant prowl for new challengers to take on, taking on all comers to prove the superiority of his turbocharged AE86. In particular, he prefers to take on cars far more powerful than his, both for how challenging defeating them is and in order to prove some kind of point about power and skill.
• Determinator: It simply doesn't matter how many times they're defeated, how painful the races against stronger opponents get, or how much time passes: the R. Gangs' spirits will not be broken, and they will never give up their aspirations of becoming the Expressway's strongest.
• Drives Like Crazy: Takeshi Harada is a very ambitious street racer with one massive, glaring flaw... that being, his downright refusal to let off of the gas pedal. Even if there is a turn coming up or an obstacle in the way. This caused him to crash his car an unbelievable amount of times, developing a matching reputation in the process. His teammates worry about him constantly as a result... but somehow, his unwavering pursuit of speed earned him a close friend in the form of another notorious loose cannon, Akihiro Fukui of Free Way.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Toshiki Kawakami: to "King" James Beck (2), Sheila Khosla (Zero), "Chilling Drift Dancer" (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Shūichi Takizawa: to "Canyon Racer" Tony Giodano (2), Karen Martin (Zero),
  • Tadashi Kuroi: to "Shake 'n Bake" Hal Whitman (2), Joyce Evans (Zero), "Hellish Bartender" (3)
  • Noritaka Motoue: to "Hot Head" Mark Gruber (2), "Prof. Speedy" Jenni Kim (Zero), Toritaka Honjo (3), Noritaka Motogami (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Takeshi Harada: to "Gazelle" (first game), "Lead Foot" Terry Mills (2), Kazzy Hokulani (Zero), Tsuyoshi Harada (3), Go Harada (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Kazuo Nikaidō: to "Black Illusion" (first game), "Rev Freak" Alberto Luna (2), Kelly Gin (Zero), "Mirage" (3)
  • Shou Nakanishi: to "Osaka Kid" Peter Gills (2), Darleene Barien (Zero), H. Utagawa (3), Sho Utagawa (Import Tuner Challenge)
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The reason behind Tadashi Kuroi's street name being "Hell's Bartender" is... him working as a bartender. That was, until he changed jobs by Import Tuner Challenge.
• Famed In-Story: Shou's brother, per his bio in Import Tuner Challenge, was at one point considered to be Osaka's fastest racer. However, he's never directly mentioned by name.
• Fun with Acronyms: The team's full name is Racing Gangs, but it's always shortened to R. Gangs.
• Friendly Rival:
  • Toshiki, Akira Kobayakawa of Rolling Guy and Manabu Ishī of Diamond Image all work towards the exact same goal — their respective team's supremacy over the Metropolitan Expressway. In spite of that, they're all close friends who share a very strong passion over the AE86.
  • Takeshi Harada and Akihiro Fukui of Free Way consider themselves to be "flying buddies": they're very amicable with one another, but they're also always competing to see who can reach the highest speeds on the Expressway.
• Jack of All Stats: Credit where credit is due, the team has gotten noticeably better by the time of Import Tuner Challenge, having increased their cars' power output whilst retaining their signature agility. Those, combined with their years of experience, make the R. Gangs surprisingly tough opponents to face, which will leave returnees to the Tokyo Expressway very surprised when first taking on them.
• Meaningful Name: Tadashi Kuroi was originally bestowed his street name of "Hell's Bartender" because of his job. Over time, however, the name gained a second meaning, as his driving evolved towards a peculiar style: due to its set up and his approach to attacking, Tadashi's AE86 can be seen constantly shaking back-and-forth, left and right... exactly like the cocktail shakers he used as a bartender. When he changed jobs, one of the reasons why the name stuck was because of that very driving style.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Back when he was a mountain pass racer, Shūichi Takizawa claims to have had a very good a win ratio of eight-to-ten, usually found in the most skilled of drivers. Upon relocating Tokyo and joining the R. Gangs, however, he found himself quickly outmatched, outclassed, and outgunned by almost everyone, causing his win ratio to plummet to a lowly three-to-ten. To try to recoup his losses and, atleast, end up as a "Normal Fish in a Normal Pond", he's been working for a while on the "ultimate upgrade" for his AE86 with a friend.
• Old Friend: As revealed in 3, the usually off-the-cuff Toshiki is a long-time acquaintance of both Kobayakawa brothers, dating back to when they all started driving their AE86s. Whereas he is more of a Friendly Rival with the younger Akira, he has this kind of relationship with the older, straight-laced Satoru, who unexpectedly poppedback into his life as Rolling Master after having left the Expressway a couple of years before, to the point Toshiki is one of the few people with whom Satoru confides himself after having left Rolling Guy
• The Rival: Shūichi and Tadashi are frequently at odds with one another and do not get along well, always competing and trying to one up the other in spite of being teammates who are supposed to be working towards the same goal. The reason behind this mutual dislike and rivalry, however, is completely unknown.
• Speed Demon: Takeshi is obsessed with not just reaching high speeds, but the highest possible speeds on the Metropolitan Expressway, to the point he keeps the throttle pedal firmly planted on the ground no matter what. Unsurprisingly, he's friends with Free Way's own resident Speed Demon, Akihiro Fukui.
• She's a Man in Japan: A word-per-word match of the trope: The R. Gangs' members are all men, but in Crave's translations until, and including, Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero, all members were women. Averted starting with 3.
• Weak, but Skilled: Like their fellow AE86 enthusiasts in Rolling Guy, the team are all Expressway veterans whose weakness is their cars' lack of power. Averted come Import Tuner Challenge, where their skills are combined with far better tuned cars, which puts them far closer to Strong and Skilled.

Tokio Jungle

Team Members: Mitsuru "Io" Iona ☆, "MJ6feet6" Atsushi Baba, "Jet Black Hot Wind" Kyōji Honda, "White Fox" Toshiki Nagaregawa, "Salty Dog" Kachiaki Mizushima, "Slide Freak" Noriaki Azuma, "Running Blue Wave" Kōji Takae

Tokio Jungle's logo.

A long-standing team formed by a close group of friends from the capital, Tokio Jungle members drive a mish-mash cars, from high-powered four-wheel drive vehicles to rear-wheel drive mountain pass carvers. With a long queue of new drivers wanting to join, however, the original seven members currently keep invitations closed.

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• 10-Minute Retirement: According to some of the people the player can speak to in ''Import Tuner Challenge'', Io and Tokio Jungle were on the brink of quitting, largely pushed to do so by Snake Eyes and the PHANTOM NINE. They ultimately came back, inspired by Jintei's own return, although Io is still eyeing the possibility of finding a successor and retiring from street racing for good.
• Children Raise You: There was a time when Io used to constantly change cars, taking enormous risks when racing, blocking opponents in truly dangerous ways from passing him, and so on... all in the name of letting Tokio Jungle grow and prosper into a powerhouse. As soon as he got married and had a child, however, he suddenly grew far more self-conscious about his behaviour, settling down on the Subaru Impreza as his car and vowing to retire as soon as he picked a successor as team leader. Although that hasn't yet come to pass, his driving has gotten far safer in the meantime, whilst Tokio Jungle's ambitions have been reigned in: from the previously domineering team they used to be, they've largely become a group of talented friends who race for fun more than anything.
• Disowned Parent: Toshiki's decision to ignore his parents' demands to return to Osaka and run the family business in their stead, years after he had relocated to Tokyo, eventually devolved into this: they disowed him over his choice, and in relief, Toshiki indirectly disowned them back, cutting communications with them entirely.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Mitsuru Iona: to "Danger Freak" Adam Byrne (2), "Ion" Fred Kiko (Zero), Mitsuru Iyotomo (Street Supremacy)
  • Atsushi Baba: to "Tall Boy" Scott Jones (2), Manny Jacobs (Zero), Hiroshi Baba (3), "B-Baller" Hiroshi Baba (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Kyōji Honda: to "Marathon Man" Luis Aquilar (2), Marcus Leary (Zero), "Jet Black Hot Wind" (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Toshiki Nagaregawa: to "Chocker" Will Berman (2), Tony Keng (Zero), Toshiki Rukawa (3), Toshiki Nagarekawa (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Kachiaki Mizushima: to "On & Off" Leo Berk (2), Daryl Duke (Zero), Katsuaki Mizushima (3, Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Noriaki Azuma: to "Dizzy" Dave Easton (2), "Slide Freek" Cory Baracus (Zero), Noriaki Higashi (3, Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Kōji Takae: to Gordon "Smooth" Smith (2), "Driving Blue Wave" Max Murdock (Zero)
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Several of the team members' bios, most importantly Io's, refer to their drifting skills and to the internal debates within Tokio Jungle on whether they should ban the practice or leave members free to decide on what to do. Some members, however, drive front-wheel drive cars in those games, which cannot drift in the classical sense of the term. Making it all the more weirder is how the team's bio in 3 refers to how they exclusively drive four-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive cars... in spite of previous entries proving the opposite.
• Friendly Rival: Amongst team members, Toshiki and Kachiaki both started racing at roughly the same time. The two, like the rest of the team, are close friends. Nonetheless, they also enjoy competing against one another in order to push themselves to improve and overcome their weak points.
• Hopeless Suitor:
  • Kōji has been desperately trying to find a lover for years, ever since his last love story ended before the events of the series, with zero success due to what many perceive as an uncouth fashion style and obsession over cars and racing. He finally got a lucky break by Import Tuner Challenge, however, as he found a girlfriend who accepts him as he is.
  • Noriaki joined Kōji starting in Zero, with both men going out together to find their other halves and acting as each other's wingmen... to just about the same amount of success Kōji by his lonesome was having. With Kōji finding a girlfriend, however, Noriaki is left chasing fora love story all by his lonesome.
• I Have No Son!: Sometimes around the events of 3, Toshiki was summoned back home to Osaka, his native hometown, by his parents, who wanted him to take over the family business. Toshiki hesitated, spending a long time pondering on what to do. Ultimately, he ignored his parents, which lead them to disowning him. Not that he seems to mind: in fact, he appears to be far happier without the heavy thoughts of leaving his friends and the city he's grown to love over his head.
• Morality Chain: Io gained one in the form his family around the time of 3, when he got married and had a child. Despite an inner voice of his constantly urging him to go faster than before, to take more risks, all it takes is for him to think of them to tune it out and abstain from doing so.
• My Nayme Is: A Tokyo-based team, formed by Tokyo residents, with the kanji for Tokyo in its' logo... and yet, its' name is, officially, Tokio Jungle.
• No Sense of Direction: By virtue of having recently moved to Tokyo by the first game, Noriaki Azuma had an uncanny tendency to get lost and end up on the side of town or off the Expressway entirely by pure accident... sometimes, in the middle of a battle. Even a few years later, after having familiarized himself with the area, he still leaves the C1 Loop and the New Belt Line by accident in 3, going straight and and ending up on the Bayshore Line when he should turn right. He finally grew out of the trope completely by Import Tuner Challenge, now being the one who teaches new drivers their way around the Expressway.
• Shout-Out:
  • Atsushi Baba's street name at first appears to be a random string of letters and numbers... until one realizes that the "MJ" in it are Michael Jordan's, whose height is 6 feet 6. His bio in Zero confirms this without outright referring to Jordan by name, merely describing him as "a famous basketball player who shocked the world" that Baba idolizes.
  • Atsushi Baba is a former professional athlete whose fame is in some way tied to height. His surname, again, is Baba. You could say he might be a Giant.
• Sports Hero Backstory: Atsushi wasn't just any professional basketball player in his youth, he was one of Japan's top players when he was still active. Whilst he largely retired to focus on running a sports apparel store and racing, he joined an amateur basketball team made up by fellow businessman in Import Tuner Challenge. His street name is an indirect reference to this, being a Shout-Out to a very famous basketball player who was active at the same time Baba was.
• Terminally Exclusive Club: By the time of Import Tuner Challenge, Tokio Jungle has a long queue of racers who'd want to join the team. Team leader Mitsuru "Io" Ioyasu, however, has made it abundantly clear that there are no plans to expand the team beyond the original seven members. At least for the time being.
• True Companions: Tokio Jungle grew into an example of the trope fairly quickly, starting out as a group of people from the metropolis who became inseparable over a short amount of time. Come Import Tuner Challenge, the seven original members are all still active and part of the team, and have become so close-knit that the mere idea of letting someone new into the team seems unthinkable. Special mention has to go to Toshiki and Kachiaki: then the former's parents demanded he return to Osaka to take over the family business, the latter constantly attempted to dissuade him. Toshiki, not wanting to abandon his friends, ultimately refused, much to Kachiaki's joy. Not even Snake Eyes was capable of Breaking the Fellowship, as they all immediately returned to the Expressway on Io's orders if the rumors are to be believed.

Top Level

Team Members: Kenji "Tarmac" Suzuki ☆, "Phantom Beautiful Girl" Maki Wakabayashi, "Tragic Crimson Tears" Seiko Motogi, "Legendary Worker" Tomio Makitoshi, "Midnight Through" Tomoko Nakajima, "Strategist Crimson" Makoto Kawamura, "Russian Blue" Akane Yamazaki (from 2 until Zero), "Protocol" Kyōko Īda (3 only)

Top Level's logo.

One of the Expressway's most famous teams, and the Shinkanjo's top team alongside Free Way and Another Star. Top Level is made up of racers with varying backgrounds in rally. All members strictly drive Mitsubishi Lancer Evos.

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• The Alcoholic: Whilst obviously abstaining whenever he has to get behind the wheel, Tarmac Suzuki enjoys getting absolutely plastered whenever Top Level holds team parties.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Kenji is a very open-minded, well-traveled person with his priorities straight. The moment he starts downing drinks, however, that side of him seemingly goes out of the window. As players only get to interact with him on the Expressway, however, they never get to witness it first-hand.
• Badass Driver: In a World of Badass Drivers, Top Level, much like their rivals Another Star, stand out from the crowd thanks in no small part to their collective background in rallying, an incredibly dangerous motorsport discipline with incredibly high skill floor and ceiling. They're overall documented as being one of the most consistent, highly skilled team across all games.
• Blue Blood: Kyōko, according to rumors, belongs to a "good" family, as in "socially well-placed and admired". Her bio in 3 openly confirms this, as she's a member of a respected noble family via her father.
• The Determinator:
  • This is Kenji's personal philosophy, as revealed in Import Tuner Challenge. He clearly believes in the idea, as he will encourage the player to not give up and tell them that every loss is useful experience if he manages to defeat them. Moreso, if challenged again right afterwards, he will openly note how never giving up is, to him, the most important thing a racer can do. Lastly, he also practices what he preaches, as he'll try to hype himself up and declare to the player how they're just getting started if challenged after defeating him.
  • After long growing nostalgic for the world of rallying, Makitoshi grew into this sometime around 3: no matter what happens, he will try time and time again to once again perform in the sport he loves so much. It gets to the point that, come Import Tuner Challenge, he will always reiterate how he will make it back to rallying, no matter if the player loses against him, defeats him, or curbstomps him multiple times.
• Drives Like Crazy: Like all other members of Top Level, Seiko is a genuine racing talent. Despite that, her go-to style of lightning quick, reactive steering makes a public danger on the Expressway. Furthermore, her attempts at blocking opponents is no different from carelessly obstructing the road for everyone, making her closer to a moving chicane and putting anyone in her vicinity whenever she battles at risk. Suzuki has actively chided her for both issues on multiple occasions, but it didn't seem to bring forth any major change.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Kenji Suzuki: to "Rally King" Greg Burns (2), "Car Maniac" Stan Tuchiyama (Zero)
  • Maki Wakabayashi: to "Mystery Girl" (first game), "Joy Rider" Candy Shaw (2), "Mystery Girl" Kyoko Makino (Zero), "Illusive Girl" (3), "Phantom Babe" (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Seiko Motogi: to "Tragic Red Tear" (first game), "Lost Angel" Erika Kwan (2), "Red Tears" Lucy Nakajima (Zero), "Traffic Tear" (3), "Tragic Crimson Tear" (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Tomio Makitoshi: to "Legendary Blue Collar" (first game), "Method Man" Craig Curtis (2), "Legendary Digger" Paul Williams (Zero), "The Legendary Worker" Tomio Minoru (3), Tomio "Constant" Makine (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Tomoko Nakajima: to "Midnight Thru" (first game), "Ice Master" Yoko Moore (2), Peggy Lee (Zero), "Midnight Calm" (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Makoto Kawamura: to "Red General" (first game, Import Tuner Challenge), "Racer" Rick Miller (2), "Sir General" Phil Tavera (Zero), "The Red Tactician" (3)
  • Akane Yamazaki: to "Out of the Blue" Keiko Hayashi (2), Mindy Louise (Zero)
• Fatal Flaw: For Tomoko, it's her fragile personality. This originally caused her trouble because she couldn't see battles through to the end, thus being her greatest hindrance at becoming a better racer. Upon learning to be more gradual in her driving, she improved greatly, but her talent still fails to come through and shine in critical moments.
• Fratbro: Despite being a grown, mature adult with a steady job and his head metaphorically planted on his shoulders, Suzuki has the major elements of one, what with openly enjoying partying, drinking, and his mistrust of women.
• Graceful Loser: Upon being defeated by the player in Import Tuner Challenge, Suzuki will take it with grace, merely demanding that they see their quest of becoming Tokyo's fastest to its very end, no matter what might happen.
• Heartbroken Badass: The reason why Seiko first became a street racer, proving herself to be surprisingly talented and capable of holding her own against former rally winners? Her boyfriend, a street racer himself, lost his life because of an accident on the New Belt Line. She followed in his stead to try and figure out what he found in highway running, but hasn't been able to move past his death by Import Tuner Challenge.
• He-Man Woman Hater: 3 reveals Kenji, surprisingly enough, to be worried over the rising amount of women in his team, disliking the idea of racing alongside them or 'with them to begin with. To further put it into context, Top Level has never had more than three women amongst its ranks. One of which is his second-in-command. Despite that, he'd like to keep the team a "boys club", if only to feel less awkward during parties when he gets the booze flowing.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Makitoshi is an interesting play on the trope: he did manage to become a professional driver in rallying championships, meaning he was a Contender at one point, but his results were so lackluster he either stepped away out of his own free will or was forced out of that world. He became a street racer and helped form Top Level to make up for it, but a decade later, he still thinks he could've done more. As such, he's been trying to claw his way back into professional rallying, but due to his past shortcomings, no sponsors are willing to finance him.
• The Lost Lenore: Seiko Motogi's boyfriend died in a racing crash on the New Belt Line. Losing him lead her to become a NEET for a while, until she decided to figure out what, exactly, pushed him to become a street racer and die on the Expressway. Towards that end, she became a member of Top Level.
• Mirroring Factions: Top Level has one in their sworn rivals, Another Star: both are same make, same model teams with past history in rallying, both have self-deprecating female seconds-in-command, both race for supremacy on the same part of the Metropolitan Expressway, the New Belt Line, both have two members who left the team at various points, and both have "junior" versions of one another in Tri Edge and The Pleiades. As a cherry on top, the two teams were at one point involved in a pseudo-"Romeo-and-Juliet" situation featuring two of their members. The sole difference is that Another Star has one member less than Top Level.
• Mysterious Past: No one really seems to know much, if anything, about Yamazaki: she appeared out nowhere one day and quickly found herself amongst top Level's ranks. There are rumors that she belonged, or atleast used to belong, to another team, but they were always too vague to ever lead anywhere.
• Office Lady: Maki Wakabayashi, per her various bios starting in 3, works as an "O.L.", the Japanese abbreviation for "office lady". Fittingly for the job, she's Suzuki's second-in-command, with her boss generally distrustful of women.
• Old Friend: Suzuki and Makitoshi are long-time friends, having met long before they first entered the world of rallying. When Kenji left that world, believing he had achieved everything he could, Makitoshi was the one who invited him to become an highway racer, leading to the two reuniting and eventually forming Top Level. Of the two, Suzuki is the more unrestrained of the two, especially when it comes to partying, whereas Tomio is more focused and discplined, constantly striving to return to the world of professional rallying. Their racing styles, however, are the exact opposites: Kenji is very straightforward, owing up to his idea that fighting "nature" is useless, whereas Makitoshi excels in slipping around obstacles and thrives in the chaotic situation brought on by a multi-opponent battle.
• Retired Badass: Kenji "Tarmac" Suzuki was formerly a professional rally driver, a recognized one with several wins under his belt. Having won everything he thought he could win, he eventually retired to settle down, becoming an highway racer and home improvement retailer.
• The Rival: The entire team has a strong rivalry with Another Star. There are several reasons behind it: emotional involvement, adverse relationships, competititveness, clashing philosophies... and, of course, the natural rivalry between Lancer Evolution drivers and Impreza drivers.
  • The two team leaders, Suzuki and Obata, tend to be the driving force behind the rivalry, constantly aiming at defeating the other for good. In spite of that, neither man takes things with the seriousness they display to others: Suzuki takes it with amusing ease, believing himself to be faster, whilst Naoto doesn't even believe there to be a rivalrly, thinking of Suzuki as a close friend.
  • The two second-in-commands, Maki Wakabayashi and Yōko Uehara, are also direct rivals, albeit on fairer terms than their respective leaders. Both believe the other to be the more skilled driver, but, on the other hand, believe themselves to be the prettiest woman of both groups.
  • Seiko Motogi and Kōji Miura's rivalry exploded when the latter insulted the former's motivation for street racing, her boyfriend's tragic passing, and told her she was getting "drunk on tragedy". Seiko, in return, called Kōji's self-described "cool and nihilistic" personality "nothing but posturing worth of a scumbag".
  • Tomio Makitoshi and Gou Fujike are seen as rivals by crowds, what with their similar positions within their respective teams and constant battles. Tomio, however, doesn't think much of it, believing he's on a different technical level than Gou and having defeated him time and time again. In spite of that, Gou continues to return and challenge Tomio, always ready and willing to win one back for himself.
  • The main exception to this rivalry, for Top Level, is Makoto Kawamura. He's completely ambivalent towards the Another Star, and merely considers the rivalry between the two teams to be worthwhile as long as it can lead Top Level to improve.
• Shipper on Deck: Tomoko, being one of the only people to have noticed the blossoming relationship between her teammate Akane Yamazaki and Another Star's Ryou Ikegami, openly and actively supports them despite their relationship being caught between the two team's vicious rivalry.
• Sports Hero Backstory: Both Kenji and Tomio were professional rally drivers in their youth before going on to create Top Level. Of the two, the former was by leaps and bounds the most successful, winning several races and becoming recognized by his fellow, whereas the latter left the discipline due to his lack of results.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Akane and Ryou Ikegami of Another Star are in love and trying to get a relationship off of the ground. However, due to their respective teams' feud, the two cannot be together in public, putting a massive obstacle in front of their love story.
• Took a Level in Badass: Maki started off her racing career as a mere junior student in college. Not having a vehicle of her own, she'd borrow her boyfriend's Lancer Evo to go racing behind his back, with her talent doing the rest. Already Suzuki's second-in-command by the first game, she constantly improves appearance after appearance, with her peak reached in 3: as soon as she can afford to buy her own car and freely tune it to better suit herself, she becomes a far more formidable driver than ever before.
• We Can Rule Together: After the player has defeated every other member of Top Level in Import Tuner Challenge, they'll find themselves face-to-face with Kenji Suzuki. He'll briefly muse on how, if the circumstances were any different, he'd immediately invite the player to join his team, ultimately being aware that they're looking for something completely different.
• What Is This Feeling?: As part of Seiko's Character Development arc, she begins to awaken to the allure and emotion brought on by racing down the Metropolitan Expresway game after game, something she begins to consciously notice around 3. Despite feeling quite conflicted about it, as those feelings likely played a role in her boyfriend's death, she's wholly accepted them by the time of Import Tuner Challenge.

Free Way

Team Members: "Blue Comet" Haruhiko Oyama ☆, "Accel Junkie" Akihiro Fukui, "Highway Bomber" Yūki Wada, "Crystal Knights" Takatsugu Migimoto, "Ultimate Killer" Ichirō Tobiyama, "Silent Reviver" Tetsurō Kibayashi, "Nightmare" Kunihiro Harada (until Zero), "Silver Fox" Akira Yamada, "Orange Head" Utsu Shī

Free Way's logo.

Spontaneously born long ago by the will of several Skyline GT-R drivers, Free Way are a tight-knit unit who believe they are driving the very representation of Japan: as such, they do not take any mockery against their cars lightly. They're treated with hostility by most other teams due to their rough driving and arrogant, "exclusivist" behaviour.

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• 10-Minute Retirement:
  • Tetsurō tried to quit the world of highway racing repeatedly, only to end up drawn back in by his experiences and emotions. He tends to go a semi-regular 10-Minute Retirement, reappearing so quickly no one even noticed he left to begin with. It's very likely this is how he earned himself the street name of "Silent Reviver". tried time and time to quit highway racing, only to be unable to forget what he went through and what he felt as a racer. As such, his retirement never sticks, and that's how he earned the moniker of "Silent Reviver".
  • Kunihiro Harada had successfully abandoned highway racing for the circuits sometime before the series' events. Prolonged absence, however, reignited his passion for the Expressway, prompting him to return as a member of Free Way in the first game. He disappeared without mention sometime after the events of Zero, however.
• Artifact Name: As mentioned below, Akira Yamada's street name, "Silver Fox", once made sense, as it referred to his car's colour and his signature driving style. However, after he accidentally startled an opponent and caushed them to crash whilst both were in a turn, Akira stopped driving that way. By that point, however, he had already become known as "Silver Fox" and the name firmly stuck with him since.
• Big Brother Mentor: Yūki was the one who slowly awakened his brother's Wakaki passion towards the world of cars. He even mentored him for a while and introduced him to the races taking place on the Metropolitan Expressway each night, until Wakaki found somewhere he felt like he belonged and joined MAX Racing. In a partial inversion, Yūki is the younger one of the two Wada siblings.
• Character Development: Ichirō started out as a reckless, selfish driver who refused to listen to those criticizing his style, putting several drivers at risks for years. In Street Supremacy's continuity, atleast, racing was merely a way for him to release the frustrations born from an unfulfilling job. However, come Import Tuner Challenge, he had a sudden awakening to what he was doing, and did a one-eighty degree turn on his behaviour.
• The Determinator: It doesn't matter how far back Akira might be in a race compared to his opponent: he never gives up, always trying to close the gap, to catch up and make an audacious move to take the lead for the win.
• Drives Like Crazy:
  • The most infamous member of Free Way is definitely Akihiro Fukui, the team's second-in-command. Where to begin? He breaks hard without rhyme or reason only to accelerate away just as fast, he constantly tries to reach new top speeds regardless of how dangerous it is, and he does all this because he's "addicted" to the sensation of lateral Gs. Despite all that, he is still an incredibly talented racer.
  • Ichirō Tobiyama is considered by many to be far too "intense" whenever he races, what with how he makes his car do large swings back and forth to pressure opponents, how he almost presses them into the Highway's walls, or how forceful he is when blocking or defending his position, which takes an ugly turn into cutting them off at times. Takatsugu criticized him for years about this, but Ichirō hardly listened to him. He finally realized how important safe driving is and grew out of the trope by Import Tuner Challenge, to everyone's amazement.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Haruhiko Oyama: to "Master Racer" Nick Richards (2), "Blue Meteor" Vitalino Mendez (Zero), The Blue Star (3), Haruhiko Koyama (Street Supremacy), "Pale Comet" Haruhiko Koyama (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Akihiro Fukui: to "Accel Junky" (first game), "Accelerator" Al Gomez (2), "Speed Junky" Caleb Marshal (Zero), "Accelerator Junkie" (3), "G-Force Junkie" (Street Supremacy), "Acceleration Junkie" (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Yūki Wada: to "Max Credit" Eric Hill (2), Eric Fox (Zero), "Bombardier" Yuki Uda (Street Supremacy)
  • Takatsugu Migimoto: to "Crystal Nights" (first game), "Rocky" Doug Pike (2), "Crystal Knight" Tom Frankies (Zero), "Crystal Nights" Koji Mikimoto (3), "Night Knight" Koji Mikimoto (Street Supremacy), "Crystal Knight" Koji Mikimoto (Street Supremacy)
  • Ichirō Tobiyama: to "Dirty" Dennis Perkins (2), Hannibal Smith (Zero), Ichiro Hiyama (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Tetsurō Kibayashi: to "Roadrunner" Dean Wong (2), Joseph Adams (Zero), "Old School" (Street Supremacy)
  • Kunihiro Harada: to "Circuit Devil" Keith Page (2), Saul Gaona (Zero)
  • Akira Yamada: to "Stealth Rider" Dave Frakin (2), Allan Shinmoto (Zero)
  • Utsu Shī: to "Speedster" Jim Myers (2), Gabino Encarnaci (Zero), Tadashi Utsui (3, Street Supremacy, Import Tuner Challenge)
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Should Free Way succesfully conquer territory off of the player's team in Street Supremacy, Haruhiko will invoke the trope, demanding his team be treated with the respect they deserve and that they not be confused with other, "lousier" teams.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Yūki Wada is the Foolish Sibling to his brother's Takaki's Responsible one: Yūki felt "free" to pick any car of his liking because Takaki, putting his family's needs first, bought a four door: this lead him to get into massive amounts of loans and pushed his parents to kick him out of the household. The situation is suddenly reversed in Import Tuner Challenge, however: Yūki buckled down and started working overtime at the furniture factory to pay back all the loans he accumulated over the years, becoming the more Responsible one, whereas Takaki started acting more selfishly and is openly letting his family fall apart over his whims, ending up as the Foolish one.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Despite almost every member driving a Skyline GT-R in the first game, and all games from the second onwards establishing the team as being made up exclusively of GT-R drivers, there is one Free Way member who doesn't drive the car in the first game — that being Utsu Shī and his Nissan Fairlady Z32.
• Fastest Thing Alive: There was a moment, around the time of the first game, where Haruhiko's R34 was considered the fastest car through-out Tokyo, as in "the car with the highest possible top speed". When his competition were monsters like the Four Devas and Z.E.R.O., that is an impressive feat. From 2 onwards, the car became "merely" one of the five fastest car of the entire area.
• Feeling Their Age: Tetsurō's begun feeling the effects of aging on his body by Import Tuner Challenge: he can't quite hold up as well as he used to against younger competitors, he's lost some of his endurance and strength, and his reflexes aren't as sharp as they used to be. To compensate for all this, he relies on his decade-plus of racing experience.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • Why is Akihiro a Speed Demon with such a dangerous driving style? He used to be in a relationship with a girl who loved speed coasters, particularly how they started and stopped, when both were teens. Through highway racing, he found a way to try to come as close as possible to emulating those feelings from his youth, although he and his girlfriend have long split up.
  • What causes Ichirō Tobiyama to be so aggressive and domineering when racing? Outside of the Expressway, his daily job is to drive locomotives for a private company. He'd love to drive Japan's world-renowned bullet trains, but finds himself stuck driving the slow-moving locals, something that causes him no small amount of frustration. Thus, he takes it all out on the Metropolitan Expressway.
• Friendly Rival: Akihiro Fukui and Takeshi Harada of the R. Gangs are always competing to see who can reach a new highest speed on the Metropolitan Expressway, but their desire to always go faster made them become close friends. They even have an endearing nickname for their relationship, calling themselves "flying buddies".
• Friendship Favoritism: Haruhiko has this towards Akihiro on pure accident. The two are extremely close, which is why Akihiro became the team's second-in-command, but as a side effect no Free Way member dares levy any complaints towards him, feeling like they'd only anger their leader.
• Graceful Loser: Upon being defeated by a player who joined Free Way in Street Supremacy, Haruhiko will be thoroughly impressed by their progress and proclaim his certainty that they're slanted for big things before making them the team's new leader.
• Heroic B So D: Should the player join Free Way in Street Supremacy, only for an opponent team to force them to disband whilst Haruhiko is still leading the team, he will promptly fall into despair at the turn of events, barely managing to get some words out.
• Jerkass Realization: Ichirō was unrepentant in how dangerous his driving style was, in spite of the likes of Takatsugu constantly criticizing him. Sometime before the events of Import Tuner Challenge, he suddenly realized how important driving safely was, and how reckless and hated he had been. From that moment onwards, he immediately turned a new leaf, reneging his former actions.
• Let's Fight Like Gentlemen:
  • Yūki prefers to battle in a clean, fair way, which is reflected in how his R32 is tuned: with a stoic, solid drive in mind, averse to overexerting the car.
  • Takatsugu Migimoto has been described as "chivalrous" and prefers calm, fair battling against any opponent. He has the bad tendency of overdoing it, however, cutting his rivals far too much slack and inevitably losing, but that doesn't seem to discourage him. It's how he earned the street name of "Crystal Knights" to begin with. He also used to be a vocal critic of Ichirō, the team's most intense driver, until the latter turned a new leaf.
• Loved by All: It doesn't matter in what context, be it as Free Way's leader or his daily job as weatherman, everyone seems to adore Haruhiko. His employers, his fellow workers, his rivals in the broadcasting business, his team member's... no one has a bad thing to say about him, to the point the latter are willing to let Akihiro's shenanigans slide to not upset him.
• Magnetic Hero: Haruhiko tends to have people flock to him, be it through his likeable personality, his raw speed, his ability, or his perception as a winner. This was how Free Way was born to begin with: other GT-R drivers quickly found themselves drawn to and looking up to him, which laid the foundations for the team's birth. Judging by the extremely low turn-over rate, those who join him seem to be extremely willing to stick by his side.
• Meaningful Name: Akira Yamada's street name, "Silver Fox", originated from two characteristics of his — the silver paint of his GT-R and the peculiar driving style he used — by hiding behind other cars, or in his opponent's blind spot, to then reappear and go on the offense, he'd resemble "a dancing fox". It became an Artifact Name when he renounced to the latter over concerns of his opponents' safety.
• Promoted to Playable: They're one of fifteen teams the player can join in Street Supremacy.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Evoked by Akihiro without even intending to: due to being very close friends with Haruhiko, to the point he was made Free Way's second-in-command, none of the other members dare complain about his driving hijinks, in spite of no one truly tolerating them.
• Sore Loser:
  • Should Free Way lose a team battle to the player's team in Street Supremacy, Haruhiko will claim that it didn't count, as they were "merely gathering data". He'll also promise that the next time the two teams cross roads again, things will go differently.
  • Despite generally wanting clean, fair battling against his opponents, Yūki cannot stand losing against anyone.
• Speed Demon: Akihiro is constantly chasing the thrill of higher speeds and aiming to set the new high speed record of the Metropolitan Expressway. What makes him particularly dangerous, however, is that he seeks the feeling of Gs alongside it, leading him to adapt an erratic, dangerous driving style not dissimilar from a speed coaster.
• Weather Report: When not leading Free Way, Haruhiko is a weather reporter. He started out by following in his father's footsteps as an actor and TV personality, before settling on his current occupation. Apparently, his predictions have a lower percentage of accuracy than his win rate, which sits at eighty percent. It's portrayed as a bad percentage, even though real seven-day forecasts were even less accurate at the time.
• We Used to Be Friends: A very long time ago, Utsu used to be a member of Rolling Guy, sharing the team's passion for the AE86. Over time, however, he started to resent his car's low ceiling, which lead him to study other cars... and fall in love with the Skyline R34. Realizing he was at risk of becoming an outlier, he quit his team and joined Free Way, with the other members accusing him of being a traitor. The relation between the two parties has since hit rock bottom, with Rolling Guy members refusing to bring him up... although Utsu seems to regret how things ended up: the mere sight of his old AE86, the one he used as part of his previous team, sitting abandoned in his garage and falling apart before his very eyes is apparently painful to him.
• Work Off the Debt: Ever since he first decided to begin racing on the Expressway, Yūki has been accumulating countless loans, to the point that, atleast in Street Supremacy's continuity, he got kicked out of his parents' home and turned to loan sharks to keep going. The amount of money he owes has gotten so big that, by the time of Import Tuner Challenge, he's begun working overtime to pay off everything, leaving him with little time to dedicate to the team.

Another Star

Team Members: "Blue Speed" Naoto Obata ☆, "Silver Speed" Yōko Uehara, Kōji "Razor" Miura, "Red Shout" Mitsue Takahashi, "Battle Scratch" Gou Fujiike, "Thunder" Hitomi Tsujiki (from 2 until Zero), "Electromagnetic Trip" Ryou Ikegami (from 2 until Zero)

Another Star's logo.

The Yang to the Yin, the tiger to the dragon, the opposite to Top Level: just like them, all members of Another Star have varying backgrounds in rally, and just like them, this team aims for the top of the New Belt Line. The key difference is the car at the center of this team, the Subaru Impreza. As the years pass, Another Star continue to polish their technique and reach new levels of speed, all in a bid to finally overcome their rivals for good.

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• Badass Driver: In a World of Badass Drivers, Top Level, much like their rivals Another Star, stand out from the crowd thanks in no small part to their collective background in rallying, an incredibly dangerous motorsport discipline with incredibly high skill floor and ceiling. They're overall documented as being one of the most consistent, highly skilled team across all games.
• Chess Motifs: When explaining how the Metropolitan Expressway works from his point of view to the player in Street Supremacy, Naoto utilizes them as comparison and metaphor. In his own words, Tokyo is best seen as a giant chessboard, where the player is nothing but a mere pawn. On "normal" chessboards, they'd end almost immediately discarded, but Tokyo gives its "pawns" as many opportunities as they want to prove their worth, until they eventually graduate to knights, or even knights. His metaphor also doubles as Foreshadowing, as this is how a player's average playthrough of the game goes: join a team, defeat their fellow "pieces", the other team members, and graduate to "knight", the second-in-command, before overcoming the "king", the team's leader, taking their spot, and leading the pieces they defeated towards the other side of the checkboard until they reach "checkmate" — no other team remains to oppose them.
• Dare to Be Badass: Upon being defeated by the player in Import Tuner Challenge, Naoto will congratulate them on the win, but dare them to never settle down for what they've achieved so far and always strive to improve. He also warns them that doing so will be their downfall. Once again, his is Foreshadowing, as that is how Snake Eyes ultimately ends up defeated, too busy with his delusions of grooming the player into an image of Jintei to prepare himself for their inevitable battle.
• The Determinator: Gou has an incredibly strong fighting spirit: no matter how many times he ends up losing, he never, ever fails to get back up and race again. Most representative of this is his rivalry with Top Level's Makitoshi: he got trashed badly against him, multiple times, yet Gou's always come back to challenge him.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Naoto Obata: to "The Natural" Billy Sims (2), Billy Boulder (Zero), Naoto Kohata (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Yōko Uehara: to "Drift Bunny" Lisa Gordon (2), Vickey Yeoh (Zero), "Quicksilver" (Street Supremacy)
  • Kōji Miura: to "Master Burke" (first game), "Razorblade" Gil Downs (2), "Lightning Bird" Ryo Ikegami (Zero), "The Razor" Hiroharu Miura (3)
  • Mitsue Takahashi: to "Banshee" Lena Roth (2), "Red Shut" Dianna Bella (Zero), "Red Roar" (Street Supremacy)
  • Gou Fujiike: to "Herr Schneider" (first game), "Dr. Speed" Arron Ortiz (2), Mark Utaranart (Zero), "Drivin' DJ" (Street Supremacy), Takeshi Fujiike (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Hitomi Tsujiki: to "Gemini" Kimi Yamamoto (2), "Lightning Eyes" Lisa Mani (Zero)
  • Ryou Ikegami: to "Hot 'n Cold" Kenny Black (2), "U Violet" Rancisco Juno (Zero)
• Famed In-Story: At one point, likely around the events of 3, Naoto went on some solo expeditions to Osaka. Although no specific details are given, his feats and escapades over there became the stuff of legend, to the point his entire "saga" became widely known amongst Expressway drivers and has been passed down from generation to generation.
• Friendly Rival: Despite the fierce rivalry between Another Star and Top Level, Naoto ultimately considers Kenji Suzuki a good friend of his. This appears to be one-sided, however, as Suzuki ultimately writes off Obata, deeming himself the best driver.
• Graceful Loser: Naoto takes all of his losses with grace, never begrudging nor mocking those who defeat him. Instead, he uses defeats as opportunities to learn something new and prepare himself for future rematches. A particularly striking case is found in Street Supremacy: even if another team forcefully disbands Another Star on playthrough where the player joined the team but didn't replace Obata as leader yet, Naoto will not hold it against anyone: his greatest regret, in that event, is seeing a team he built and nurtured for so many years end up lost to history.
• Kiai: Mitsue Takahashi, for some odd reasons, practices the technique and takes it to the world of highway racing: in the middle of battles, she shouts loudly whenever going on the offensive or being forced on the defensive to hype herself up for the upcoming attack or counter-attack.
• Ludicrous Mêlée Accuracy: In a particularly rare Car Fu case of the trope, one of Naoto's signature tricks is setting up a row of empty cans on the road before striking them all down, in rapid-fire succession, by drifting his Impreza. Fitting the "Ludicrous" adjective, he apparently never practiced the trick once in his entire life, and first did it as a spur-of-the-moment thing to show off.
• Might Makes Right: Part of Naoto's personal philosophy, as he expounds in Street Supremacy, is that only the fastest are worthy of leading: those who have the necessary tools, the required skills, to be in such positions ought to prove it to others and claim their rightful spot, whereas those who lack them are better off at the bottom of the racing world's hierarchy.
• Mirroring Factions: Another Star has one in their sworn rivals, Top Level: both are same make, same model teams with past history in rallying, both have self-deprecating female seconds-in-command, both race for supremacy on the same part of the Metropolitan Expressway, the New Belt Line, both have two members who left the team at various points, and both have "junior" versions of one another in The Pleiades and Tri Edge. As a cherry on top, the two teams were at one point involved in a pseudo-"Romeo-and-Juliet" situation featuring two of their members. The sole difference is that Top Level has one more member than Another Star.
• Promoted to Playable: They're one of fifteen teams the player can join in Street Supremacy.
• The Rival: The entire team has a strong rivalry with Top Level. There are several reasons behind it: emotional involvement, adverse relationships, competitiveness, clashing philosophies... and, of course, the natural rivalry between Impreza drivers and Lancer Evolution drivers.
  • The two team leaders, Obata and Suzuki, tend to be the driving force behind the rivalry, constantly aiming at defeating the other for good. In spite of that, neither man takes things with the seriousness they display to others: Naoto doesn't even believe there exists a rivalry between their teams, and thinks of Kenji as a close friend, whilst Suzuki takes it with ease due to his belief of being the better driver of the two.
  • The two second-in-commands, Yōko Uehara and Maki Wakabayashi, are also direct rivals, albeit on better terms than their respective leaders. Both believe the other to be the more skilled driver, but, on the other hand, believe themselves to be the prettiest woman of both groups.
  • Kōji Miura and Seiko Motogi did not have reasons to be rivals originally, until Kōji insulted the reason behind Seiko's decision to race, finding it "irrelevant" and accusing her of "getting drunk on tragedy". She insulted Kōji back, and the two have been at each other's throats since.
  • Gou Fujike and Tomio Makitoshi are seen as rivals by crowds, what with their similar positions within their respective teams and frequent battling. Gou relinquishes in the idea, constantly challenging Tomio to finally manage to defeat him, atleast once. Tomio, on the other hand, blows it off, believing himself to be technically superior to Gou thanks to having curb-stomped him multiple times.
  • Of all Another Star members, however, Mitsue is perhaps the only one to have no hostility towards Top Level for no particular reason. She's flat-out uninterested in these kind of rivalries, and reacts coldly to the mere idea of hostility between teams.
• She's a Man in Japan: As a result of Crave's Cultural Translation, Hitomi Tsujiki became a man, called Kimi Yamamoto, in international releases of 2.
• Ship Tease: Some relatively minor, one-sided tease exists between Yōko Uehara and Naoto Obata. Yōko originally joined Another Star after witnessing Naoto's drifting skill and quickly growing to admire him. That admiration morphed into attempts at imitating Obata, before outright trying to reach his overall racing level. If the player speaks to her in Import Tuner Challenge, Yōko will reiterate how much she looks up to Naoto, and how she's determined to always help him out, even if he refuses... yeah, she can easily come across as more than just a fierce follower.
• Shipping Torpedo: From teammate to teammate, Hitomi Tsujiki cannot even stand the mere idea that Ryou Ikegami fell in love with Akane Yamazaki of Top Level. It's not clear if she's opposed to him falling in love with an enemy, or opposed to him falling in love with someone other than her, but she's dead set on making sure their relationship sinks. To do so, she puts on a nice woman façade in front of Ryou to dissuade him, whilst showing her true face and acting far more aggressive whenever she's trying to drive Akane away.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Ryou is madly in love with Akane Yamazaki... who belongs to Top Level. Despite their mutual love for one another, their relationship is constantly hindered by their teams' rivalry, to the point they struggle to be open about it. On Ryou's side, he also has Hitomi constantly trying to make sure their love story goes absolutely nowhere whilst keeping him in the dark about her true intentions.
• Straw Nihilist: Kōji Miura describes himself as "cool and nihilistic". He definitely acts like the stereotype, being an arrogant, apathic jerk who believes the grief of Top Level's Seiko Motogi over her lost lover to be meaningless, and that dwelling on it is a mere excuse for her to "get drunk on tragedy". Despite trying to pass himself off as a ladies' man, women find him to be an unbearable creep exactly due to his personality.
• Übermensch: Kōji Miura, despite not having an outwardly expressed code, is definitely uncaring of societal expectations and beliefs, what with his cold attitude towards others' emotions. He also beliefs that being unpredictable and misleading people through their own superficial judgement calls by presenting an "exterior" different from the "interior" — be it of a car or of a person — to be amusing.
• Undertaker: Kōji Miura was established to work as an undertaker starting in 3. His job is not something that can be easily deducted through his driving style... but his behaviour, particularly his uncaring behaviour towards others' griefs and attitude towards death, is easily explained once one is made aware of this.

Speed Box

Team Members: "Time Nebula" Tokio Aoshima ☆, "Flashing Drift Liner" Makoto Ito, "Burning Rider" Masuo Takeda, Daiki "Max" Araki, "Killing Machine" Shuhei Kitakata, "Street Fighter Plane" Takeshi Nagano

Speed Box's logo.

To be frank, nothing much is known about Speed Box. They were one of the original twenty teams of the Tokyo Expressway, and all members drove Honda NS Xs. What they're most famous for, though, is for being the first team to violently break apart: from its ashes, one of Speed Box's members would go on to create his own team on the Wangan Line.
For tropes regarding Shuhei Kitakata upon becoming leader of Unlimited, see the team's folder here. For tropes regarding SPEED BOX, the Wanderer, see here.

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• Addled Addict: In a rare case of behavioural addiction, Makoto became compelled to continue racing, no matter what. In spite of his vehement desire to quit, the lure of speed continues to be impossible for him to resist to. As a result, he's fallen into a depressed slump.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: The all-Honda NSX team has the Honda logo as the centerpiece of their logo.
• David Versus Goliath: Speed Box, being a team whose members all drove the Honda NSX, "the first, real Japanese supercar", were expected to be the Goliath against the vast majority of opponent. Their general lack of skill behind the wheel, however, meant they lost far more to any David than it was expected. This is why Shuhei ultimately quit the team in frustration after the first game.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Tokio Aoshima: to "Time's Cloud"
  • Makoto Ito: to "Blazing Drift Liner"
  • Takeshi Nagano: to "Street Tank"
• Flat Character
• Hyper-Awareness: Tokio Aoshima, Speed Box's leader, was noted to be capable of noticing even the smallest of detail on his car through feeling alone, something that'd end up lost on most other drivers. It makes a lot of sense when one takes into consideration his daily job of engineer at a car company, meaning he knows exactly what every little bolt on his NSX does.
• Paper Tiger: They were an all-NSX team, at the time where the NSX was thought to be the peak of Japanese car engineering. In spite of that, they were regularly beaten, to the point that the team's own members were embarrassed of such a low level. Deconstructing the trope, this eventually lead to members leaving and Speed Box dissolving, as explained above.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Out of the twenty original teams, Speed Box were the only ones to appear exclusively in the first game before unceremoniously breaking up. As such, they don't undergo much characterization, nor are players shown any Hidden Depths they might've had outside Kitakata and Nagano.

TR Racing

Team Members: "Unstoppable Black Dragon's Dream" Ryūtarō Furuki ☆, "Lovely" Rina Kawahara, "180 Master" Jun'ichi Kubota, "Breaker" Shinji Ōtake, "Street Queen" Yumi Kuribayashi (first game only), "Dancing Chaser" Taku Ishī, "Dawn Shaker" Hidenori Sekiya (from 2 onwards), Takayuki "Night Worker" Horī (from 2 onwards)

TR Racing's logo.

TR Racing, otherwise known as TRUST Racing, was formed by a group of friends who already raced together, albeit unofficially. The entire team is built on the idea of "trust" between its' members.

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• Confusion Fu: As a result of his car's incredibly wobbly steering, Shinji moves in an somewhat "eerie" way during battles, which unsettles most opponents due to how random and unstable it looks for a race car.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Shinji has an unrequited crush on his teammate Rina, dating back to before TR Racing first broke up. As such, when Rina returned and brought Taku back with her from the mountain pass, he immediately found himself completely at odds with him, thinking he could've stolen her away from him. On one side, Taku does have a crush on Rina. On the other, Rina is completely unaware either man is crushing on her, and has eyes only for Ryūtarō.
• Crippling Overspecialization: When TR Racing first dissolved, Rina moved to mountain pass racing, and changed her car's set-up accordingly. Upon returning to Tokyo when the team reunited, she retained the same set-up: as a result, her Nissan clears the corners near Daiba and Fukugawa very well, but struggles everywhere else on the New Belt Line.
• Drives Like Crazy:
  • Takayuki Horī used to drive a lighter, far less powerful car than his current S14. To be able to battle evenly with more powerful opponents back then, he developed the habit of barely letting off of the throttle when cornering... something that turned him into a driving hazard at extreme risk of crashing the Silvia due to the differences between the two cars.
  • In a more restrained example, Shinji modified his Skyline to better handle its massive power boost, leaning heavily on aerodynamic modifications. Despite that, the suspension and steering cannot handle the new engine, leading to things such as a wobbly, "eerie" steering that unnerves everyone. Somehow, Shinji weaponizes it to gain the edge in battles.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Ryūtarō Furuki: to "Unstoppable Black Dragon" (first game), "Dark Racer" Brett Stevens (2), "Unstoppable Dream" Mike Knight (Zero)
  • Rina Kawahara: to "Sweetie Pie" Rina Schwartz (2), "Lovely Girl" Astrid Makowitz (Zero)
  • Jun'ichi Kubota: to "The Geezer" Frank Purdue (2), Steven Early (Zero)
  • Shinji Ōtake: to "Redline Cindy" (first game), "Drag Racer" Kevin Richman (2), "Rule Breaker" David Quartey (Zero)
  • Taku Ishī: to "Tokyo Kid" Brian Larson (2), Carl Matz (Zero)
  • Hidenori Sekiya: to "Pit Master" Ricky Chen (2), Tariel Makinotz (Zero)
  • Takayuki Horī: to Mark "Wipeout" Williams (2), Sam Koskela (Zero)
• Hopeless Suitor: Shinji and Taku both have crushes on Rina that the other isn't aware of, leading to them accidentally competing for her attention. Despite that, Rina completely fails to notice either, as she only has eyes for TR Racing's leader, Ryūtarō.
• Love Triangle: There exists one between Rina, Shinji, and Taku, with the former two having crushes on her that none of the other parties are aware of. Shinji's had his eyes on Rina dating back to before TR Racing temporarily dissolved, and, as such, he reacted very poorly when Rina introduced Taku to the team upon their reunion. Taku, meanwhile, fell for Rina when they first met on the mountain passes, and juggles that with trying to fit in his new team and environment. This, naturally, causes a lot of friction amongst teammates, which causes the likes of Jun'ichi to worry about TR Racing imploding.
• Madden Into Misanthropy: Ryūtarō, originally, was not the bitter racer introduced to players in the first game. Something happened, before the series' events, that caused him to believe those like him had no place within society. He immediately resumed street racing, which became his sole source of happiness.
• New Meat: Taku Ishī, brought over by Rina Kawahara from mountain pass racing, fits the trope to a T, being the newest member of the team and the one the most distrusted by other members.
• No Place for a Warrior: Years before the series begun, Ryūtarō Furuki ordered TR Racing to be dissolved and his teammates to return to their normal lives. Whereas they handled the change in different ways, Ryūtarō immediately struggled, finding himself out of place in a society he deemed short-sighted and self-centered. With no place he felt at home in, he started racing solo almost as soon as he had retired, with the rest of the team flocking back to their leader and friend in short order.
• Putting the Band Back Together: This is TR Racing's Backstory: Furuki ordered the group to dissolve years before the events of the series, only for all members to gradually return to the Metropolitan Expressway. Ryūtarō was the first, after having gone into despair from what he saw of society, and he was quickly joined by Rina, who never really stopped racing and merely moved to mountain passes, where she left a noticeable mark. The others fell into line quickly afterwards.
• Super-Persistent Predator: Ever since he switched to his Silvia, Takayuki changed his strategy to this, constantly pursuing and pressuring other cars until he finds an opening to attack. Granted, due to his bad habit of never letting off of the throttle, it's not impossible for some close calls where he almost ran into his opponents to have occured.
• Übermensch: Ryūtarō Furuki was left despairing at what he saw of society after first retiring from street racing, to the point he immediately resumed racing and found a place he belonged on the New Belt Line. To him, the world of racing and its rules are all someone needs to live.

Cupid Arrows

Team Members: "Sonic Runner" Mayumi Mori ☆ (until 3), "Dazzling White Fairy" Shōko Koizumi ☆ (regular member until Import Tuner Challenge), "Moonlight Child" Kimiko Fujisaki, "Cowboy Girl" Rena Kitayama (until 3), "Silver Impact" Aki Azuma, "246 Heartbreaker" Takako Mutō

The Cupid Arrows' logo.

Another one of the original twenty teams of the Tokyo Expressway, the Cupid Arrows are an all-female, if not the original all-female racing team. When first formed, most of its members were not intrinsically familiar with the ins and outs of racing, but over time, their level has risen to admirable levels alongside their seriousness. For the few members that still lack that high level of knowledge, yet brazenly race down the Expressway each night... well, they say they're far braver than any men around.

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• Action Fashionista: Shōko Koizumi is a very talented racer, good enough to become the Cupid Arrows' leader by the time of Import Tuner Challenge. She's also very bold in how she presents herself and image-conscious, constantly swapping out maid outfits, frilly dresses, and other fancy, attention-grabbing attires every night she goes out to race.
• Action Mom
  • Mayumi Mori, sometime between the events of 2 and Zero, got married and had a child. This did not cause her to become any slower as a racer: matter of fact, it caused the exact opposite effect, as her husband reigned in her rowdier side and helped her focus better. She even drives her race-tuned car to drop off and pick up her kid at the kindergarten.
  • Kimiko Fujisaki has been married with two kids long before Mayumi. Despite that, she's still a surprisingly competent racer with a bit of a naughty streak, enough to become Shōko's second-in-command by Import Tuner Challenge.
• Amazon Brigade: The first-ever all-female team on Japanese expressways, and one of, if not the first all-female team in racing games.
• Authoritative in Public, Docile in Private: After getting married, Mayumi didn't stop racing. In fact, she still had her strong personality and ambition, capable of leading her team with little issue. Others begun to look up to her and call her "Miss" out of respect. In private, however, she's often begging her husband to authorize her to do anything, such as buying stuff. She's heavily reliant on him, and often goes with his decisions... barring his request for her to stop racing.
• Backhanded Apology: Should Kimiko defeated the player in Import Tuner Challenge, she will apologize to him... apologize for winning, that is. With how childish and mocking her tone is, even through text, it quickly doubles as a Bait-and-Switch Comment.
• Confirmed Bachelor: Aki Azuma, considered one of the most stunning and beautiful women amongst all Expressway racers, is not remotely interested in any romantic pursuit.
• The Determinator: Despite being relatively low skilled compared to her teammates, Rena is incredibly tenacious and persistent whenever battling. This determination has allowed her to develop a shockingly high win ratio. What makes it all the more impressive is that she manages to juggle two part-time jobs with her racing hobbies.
• Differing Priorities Breakup: Even a few years after her marriage and the birth of her child, Mayuri just could not call it quits on highway racing, despite her husband's pleas to do so, focus on their family, and stop throwing away money on cars. Mayuri's constant refusal leads, in Street Supremacy's continuity, to the two divorcing.
• Drives Like Crazy: In spite of being skilled, Takako usually rolls up to the Metropolitan Expressway whenever she gets her heart broken by someone else. As such, her emotions tend to drive her judgement, leading her driving to become... "desperate", as some have put it. She sometimes tends to lose her concentration and accidentally bump into the back of braking opponents when approaching turns, which doesn't require being expert racers to know is an incredibly dangerous behaviour.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Mayumi Mori: to "Cool Cat" Cyndy Bates (2), Beth James (Zero), Mayumi Yoshida (3), Mayumi Yoshizawa (Street Supremacy)
  • Shōko Koizumi: to "Alluring Fairy" (first game), "White Rider" Regina Lopez (2), "Mysterious Nymph" Star Sawyer (Zero), Sachiko "Shoko" Koizumi (3), Yoko Koizumi (Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Kimiko Fujisaki: to "Moonlight Kid" Ellen Mahoney (2), Pamela Dumand (Zero)
  • Rena Kitayama: to "Marathon" Mary Owens (2), Jonel Wilkins (Zero), Reina Kitayama (3)
  • Aki Azuma: to "Tokyo" Tami Fujita (2), Shella Corigan (Zero), Aki Higashi (3, Import Tuner Challenge)
  • Takako Mutō: to "Heartbreak Kid" Yoko Rich (2), Gloria Valdez (Zero)
• Eccentric Artist: Shōko's main line of work is painting, and she's extremely eccentric in her behaviour, what with her being a notorious street racing, dressing in Meido outfits and frilly dresses, and turning her artistic output towards her car's interior to make it match her own aesthetics.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Rena, by virtuer of her "refreshing" personality, is incredibly popular with both men and women racers on the Metropolitan Expressway.
• Foolish Husband, Responsible Wife: Reversed into Responsible Husband, Foolish Wife with the Mori family. Mayumi is a hotheaded street racer who tends to make rash decisions, is always drawing all kinds of attention to herself — be they positive or negative — and refuses to call it quits even when her actions take a toll on her entire family. Her husband, by contrast, is far more level-headed, supporting his wife in her quest but always drawing lines to how far she should go, wanting her to stay safe for everybody's sake, and ultimately growing tired with her foolish risk-taking. To further highlight this, the two divorce in Street Supremacy's continuity, and Mayumi, being a part-timer, gets a big alimony check... which she spends almost entirely on yet another car.
• Graceful Loser: Shōko invokes the trope in Street Supremacy, believing the player should act his way and accept defeat, taking it stride, if defeated by her. Should the player defeated her, on the other hand, she'll act complete opposite of the trope, immediately demanding a rematch.
• The Ghost:
  • Mayumi Mori's husband, a centurion, is always mentioned in her bios starting in Zero and plays a major role in her subsequent characterization arc. Despite that, and having the necessary skillset to hang around the Metropolitan Expressway, he never appears in the flesh.
  • Shōko biography in Import Tuner Challenge mentions how she carries the Cupid Arrows' long legacy on her shoulders by being the team's third leader. However, players were only introduced to her predecessor, Mayumi Mori. The identity of the Arrows' other leader is completely unknown, and they receive no mention beyond that one phrase.
• Happily Married
  • Mayumi married sometime after the events of the first game, having a kid in the process. Despite her clashes with her husband over their differing priorities, the two clearly love each other, to the point Mayumi changed her car's color to pink at her husband's suggestion.
  • Although it barely comes up, Kimiko has been happily married for years, longer than Mayumi, and has two kids. By sheer contrast with the Moris, there doesn't seem to be any tensions between the Fujisakis over Kimiko's street racing pursuit.
• Housewife: Kimiko has consistently been described as a wife and mother in charge of the household in all of her bios. 3 confirmed it properly by listing it as her job.
• Hopeless Suitor: Takako has gone through countless of boyfriends, with every relationship ending in heartbreak for her. Just as she thought she had finally found the one, however, the two broke up by Import Tuner Challenge, putting her back on square one.
• Hypocrite: Shōko believes the player should act like a Graceful Loser should she manage to defeat him in Import Tuner Challenge. Upon being defeated herself, however, she will react with bitterness.
• Lunacy: Bizarrely enough, the full moon seems to have strange effects on Kimiko Fujisaki. For starters, it seems to draw out her childish behaviour, making her appear even more youthful than she normally looks. Reportedly, she is also undefeated and undefeatable whenever the full moon comes out. Kimiko might be consciously using these rumors to build up her image amongst Expressway racers.
• Married to the Job: Mayumi's job — not her "proper" job, as part-time worker, but street racer and leader of the Cupid Arrows — often takes precedence over her husband and child, to the point she drives the latter to kindergarten in her race-tuned car. Her husband, already begging her to change by 3, quickly grows tired of this behaviour, leading the two to divorce in Street Supremacy's continuity.
• Meido: Shōko Koizumi has been spotted dressing this way on countless occasions, even behind the wheel. Hers is a purely aesthetic choice, however, since she is a painter.
• Older Than They Look: Kimiko has been described, year after year, game after game, as looking incredibly young. Whenever the full moon's out, she looks downright child-like according to many observers. As such, it can come across as surprising to learn that she's long been married and a mother of two.
• Prone to Tears: Takako tends to be emotionally tender, especially in matters of love. Given that she tends to head to the Expressway whenever one of her love stories inevitably goes badly, she is often driving through her tears.
• Shed the Family Name: Mayumi's maiden family name, used in the first game, is Yoshizawa. She took her husband's surname, Mori, upon marrying him between games, and retained it in all of her appearances. Even in Street Supremacy's continuity, where she divorced her husband, she still retained Mori as her surname.
• Split Personality: Like a few other drivers, Kimiko is normally a very quiet, reserved housewife who isn't very open to being challenged to battles... that is, unless the full moon is out. Whenever that happens, she becomes very gleeful and childlike, seemingly appearing out of the dark night to challenge anyone in her way.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Shōko acts very warmly with the other members of the Cupid Arrows, especially upon becoming the team's new leader in Import Tuner Challenge. By contrast, she acts like a refined lady, cold and emotionally detached, towards outsiders. Should she lose to the player, however, she will drop the act and take it poorly. This can be seen through her speech: it is a lot more formal and refined at first, before becoming straightforward and informal upon being defeated.
• Japanese Delinquents: Mayumi's behaviour fits the stereotypical delinquent, behaving wildly, leading her own crew with utmost dedication, and drawing admiration from other women who call her "Miss". She even has ambiguously brown hair, which the games never clarify upon it being natural or dyed. Despite all this, she will constantly insist on not being a "Yanki".
• Wet Blanket Wife: In a gender-inverted example, Mayumi's husband serves as this trope to his wife, constantly begging her to quit street racing altogether and focus on him and their child.
• Workaholic: Aki is seriously dedicated to whatever work she takes on. Although most easily seen when she's working as an accountant, she's also heavily involved in organizing and holding together the Cupid Arrows at all times, helping every team member out with their individual issues as best as she can.

Wind Stars

Team Members: "Wolf's Requiem" Kiyoshi Onizuka ☆, "R Magic" Isamu Tamagawa, "Black Magician" Akihisa Tōyama (first game only), "Diamond Dust" Toshiki Aikawa, "Runaway Locomotive" Akira Nagase, "Yellow Flare" Ippei Sadaoka, "Swift-Footed Valkyrie" Natsumi Uemura, "Moody Queen" Nao Haruka, "Blue Giant Star" Tetsurō Nakata

The Wind Stars' logo.

A team made up of racers with dark pasts, the Wind Stars named themselves after a common wish: to be "as fresh as the wind" when running down the New Belt Line, their home turf on the Tokyo Expressway.

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• Dark and Troubled Past: Every member of the team has one, bar "Black Magician" Akihisa Toyama, who, incidentally, ended up leaving immediately after the events of the first game.
  • "Blue Giant Star" Tetsuro Nakata was ridiculed until high school for not being able to ride a bicycle, until he eventually got his driver's license and bought a moped. He also developed arthritis in his left hand at a young age, which severely hinders his ability in shifting gears ^note Japanese cars are rear-hand drive, which means the steering wheel is on the right front seat; as a result, you'd use the left hand to shift gears in a manual.
  • "Moody Queen" Nao Haruka used to be one of the top idols of her company, but was pushed to the brink of retirement by sexual harassment from her boss. This resulted in her developing burn-out, and picking up highway racing as an unhealty way to release stress.
  • "Swift-Footed Valkyrie" Natsumi Uemura's rather reserved, careful character led her to gradually being shunned by her friends and acquaintances, until she decided to leave them behind, further isolating herself in the process.
  • "Yellow Flare" Ippei Sadaoka used to be a renowed psychic across multiple media, until he was called out as a phony and had his reputation destroyed. He now has to resort to humiliate himself on comedy shows to make ends meet, despite having a genuine talent as a mentalist.
  • "Runaway Locomotive" Akira Nagase had a brother he was very close to, only to suddenly lose him to an incurable disease.
  • "Diamond Dust" Toshiki Aikawa tried multiple times to become a rock musician, and failed each and every single time. The experience left him so broken that he seems to be looking to "blow away" his past through his reckless driving.
  • "R Magic" Isamu Tamagawa's last relationship ended twenty-five years ago, and he has failed to find love ever since. In an attempt to impress girls, he started racing on the Tokyo Expressway... only to end up pulled in by battling to the point he half-considers his car to be his girlfriend.
  • Finally, team leader "Wolf Requiem" Kiyoshi Onizuka lost a dear friend in an highway accident. The team both men belonged to disbanded as a result, and Onizuka was the only one to continue racing, in part to carry on for his friend. He created the Wind Stars when he met similarly traumatized racers, realizing that racing together could've been the first step to heal.
• Not Afraid to Die: With how reckless some members of the team are when battling, it's strongly implied they are not afraid after all they've gone through. Wolf Requiem's bio outright confirms he has nothing left to lose, and as such, he recklessly pushes his car to the point of breakdown in every race.

Rotary Revolution

Team Members: "Silvery Nobleman" Toshihiko Kūonji ☆, "Cornering Artist" Toshitsugu Kūonji, "Asphalt's Sorrow" Yasuhiko Fujisaki (until Zero), Hiroshi Kimura, "Dark Memorial" Sakito Ōgami, "Risky Cat" Namie Aikawa, "Ominous Bird" Akira Nagase, "High Speed Star" Ryūichi Uemura, "Blasting Manager" Tokihiro Haneba (3 only)

Rotary Revolution's logo.

Known colloquially as R.R., Rotary Revolution are a team financed by the financial might of a corporate conglomerate, whose entire line-up consists of rotary-powered cars.

They were one of the top teams through-out the entire Expressway, all the way until their disbanding.

For tropes concerning "Silvery Nobleman" Toshihiko Kūonji, see here. For tropes concering "Asphalt's Sorrow" Yasuhiko Fujisaki before and after joining Rotary Revolution, see Emperor's and Unlimited's folders here and here. For Akira Nagase's folder upon joining A.S.F., see here.

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• The Fellowship Has Ended: The team was already on the brink of collapse due to the tolls Toshitsugu's death and Toshihiko's divorce was taking on them. Snake Eyes and his PHANTOM NINE then put the last nail in their coffin, with a complete and utter defeat so humiliating, the name "Rotary Revolution" disappeared overnight.
• Meaningful Name: As implied by their name, they used to be an exclusively rotary-powered team.
• Killed Offscreen: "Cornering Artist" Toshitsugu Kūonji, the second-in-command of the team and brother to the team's leader, died in a racing accident sometime before the events of Import Tuner Challenge.
• Promoted to Playable: They're one of fifteen teams the player can join in Street Supremacy.
• Shout-Out: A rotary-powered team, lead by two rich brothers, one driving a yellow RX-7 FD3S and the other a white RX-7 FC? Where have we seen that before?

RINGS

Team Members: "Solitary Jackal" Takeshi Miyazawa ☆, "Vivid Slide Tail" Gorō Kishi, "Meteor" Yōsuke Arai, Satoshi "Tune Shop" Hamada, "Silver Angel" Yōko Murakami, "Sonic White Devil" Takabumi Ījima, "Carnage" Akihiro Gotō (from 2 onwards), "Hill Myna" Hitoshi Mitamura (from 2 onwards), "Rainbow Colored Domino" Ryūkō Murakami (from Import Tuner Challenge onwards)

RINGS' logo.

Incredibly long-lived, now being on its sixth generation of members, RINGS are a business-minded team, leaving small space for small talk and playfulness. They're considered amongst the top teams of the Tokyo Expressway, and for good reason: any prospective applicant to join the team needs to defeat every other member before they're handed the stickers.

This approach to recruiting is also reflected in a team-wide philosophy, if not de facto policy: for a RINGS member, winning through raw power is nothing short of insulting. To prove one's superiority, members tend to detune their cars' engine down to a mere eighty percent of their full power, confident that their skills will have them see every battle through.

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• Caps Lock: The team's name is supposed to be spelled this way. On the rare occasion, Crave's translation accidentally spells it "Rings".
• Trial by Combat: Potential new members need to defeat every single member of RINGS before they can join. By the time of Import Tuner Challenge, that'd mean beating nine of the most talented drivers of the Tokyo Expressway.
• Willfully Weak: RINGS' entire philosophy revolves around winning through the driver's own skill, not the car's performance. In order to do that, they willingly detune their engines to only run at 80% of their full power.

Speed Master

Team Members: "Ice Man" Shinji Takiguchi ☆ (until Zero), "Full Moon Insanity" Daisuke Ōkawara ☆ (regular member until 3), "Sunset Liner" Ryō Shibusawa (until Zero), "White Witch" Yūka Yamamura (until Zero), "Visual Tail" Tetsuya Kobayashi (until Zero), "Pearl White Kiss" Rena Oyama, "Maniac Player" Hidenori Inoue (until Zero), "Black Angel" Ayako Iwasaki, "First Beat" Tetsurō Akiyama, "Nameless Hero Gechena" Atsushi Kameyama (from Zero onwards), "Angry Princess" Junko Yamaguchi (from 3 onwards), "Midnight Hawks" Shin'ichirō Takayama (from 3 onwards), "Humiliation Contractor" Susumu Yagishita (from 3 onwards), "Lady White" Ryōko Honma (from 3 onwards), "Colorful Alley" Akinori Miyabe (from 3 onwards)

Speed Master's logo.

The "Dream Team" of the Tokyo Expressway, admired, envied, loved, hated, Speed Master are the strongest and most famous team of the entire Tokyo Metropolis. Their history dates back years, if not decades. It was widely believed, at one point, that only the best in the world could hang in there with "Ice Man" Shinji Takiguchi's team.

Alas, all myths fade to legend, and Speed Master was no exception. After the entire team suffered crushing defeat after crushing defeat, Takiguchi-san decided it was the right time for him and the older members to retire, paving the way for the new generation to take over. Second-in-command "Full Moon Insanity" Daisuke Ōkawara took over, but with the team reduced to a bare bones line-up, he was forced to come to compromise and recruit the most promising members from rival teams. Although a mere shadow of their former, awe-inducing selves, Speed Master still remains as one of the strongest teams in Tokyo.

For tropes regarding Junko Yamaguchi when she was a member of Gesellschaft, as well as tropes regarding Shin'ichirō Takayama and Susumu Yagishita when they belonged to Dry Cruise, see their teams' respective folders here.

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• Dream Team: Speed Master were considered, at one point, the strongest team of the entire Tokyo Expressway, with each member held in incredibly high esteem by their fellows. However, with the old guard lead by Ice Man retiring after Zero, the ensuing void and generational gap weakened the team to the point they "merely" became the Wangan Line's fastest.
• Passing the Torch: Team leader Shinji Takiguchi decided it was time for him and the other veteran members to finally step back. In the process, he nominated Daisuke Okawara, then his second-in-command, the new leader of Speed Master.
• Promoted to Playable: They're one of fifteen teams the player can join in Street Supremacy. However, they can only be joined once the player begins New Game Plus.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • In spite of having been Tokyo's strongest team, no mention is made of what happened to Speed Master in Import Tuner Challenge, nor do any of its' former members appear in any capacity. Making it more jarring is that the team was, at one point, as plot important as the Thirteen Devils and the Zodiac, whose dissolutions were major plot points.
  • Further egregious is the presence of "Dark Angel" Ayako Iwasaki in the team's line-up, as she's the sister of Jintei, the most important non-playable character of the entire series. Ayako's entire plot line revolved around the search for her brother after he left home years prior, not knowing of his identity. In spite of all of that, she is never even mentioned again following Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3.