YMMV / Future GPX Cyber Formula

• Aluminum Christmas Trees: As much as they make the cars look futuristic, there have been six-wheeled F1 racers before: Tyrrell had experimented with such a model in the mid-70s, but it didn't catch on.
  • Asuarda's effect fans gives the car more downforce for better cornering, which doubles as cooling fans for the engines. Does this remind you of anything?
• Awesome Music:
  • Several, including Hironobu Kageyama's "Pray" (by his old band LAZY with him singing the vocals), "Power of Love", and "Soul of Rebirth -Jidai no Kodou ni Nare-", all from Sin.
  • Wind is High (from Zero) is another good one. And the fun part? The music in the TV series and the first 2 OVAS are composed by Kow Otani. Yes, that Kow Ohtani.
• Cargo Ship: Some fans seem to like to ship Hayato with Asurada.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Bleed Kaga was so popular with Japanese fans that he was made the protagonist in the last OVA, despite initially making a few appearances in the TV series. The same can be said (to an extent) with Gudelhian, Heinel, and Shoemach, who had drama CD's of their own.
• Game-Breaker: Hayato's Lifting Turn skill, in which Asurada's effect fans hover over the cars as a method of cornering, and as a result, makes him almost impossible to be defeated.
  • Lampshaded also in the videogames, where the Asurada is usually the best vehicle available for the player alongside the Ogre AN-21.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Cyber Formula is well-remembered in Italy because it is based on Formula One, a sport which is huge there thanks to their legendary team Ferrari.
  • The series also has gained huge popularity in Asia, and when it first aired in Taiwan, its popularity there led to some viewers watch F1 races.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In episode 1 of Zero (the episode was released in April 1994), Hayato and Randoll nearly get killed when Hayato first discovers the Zero Zone, their cars collide and Hayato's car goes off the track banking in the 5th race in England. A month later, the San Marino Grand Prix happened. It got the point where even the staff have heavy feelings for the scenes.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: A handful Cyber Formula vehicles such as the Asurada and the Ogre can morph their aerodynamics to go faster in straightways. Now you have the drag reduction system (or DRS) in modern Formula One that does just the same.
  • Hayato and Kaga are best friends outside the track, but fierce enemies while racing — and race for longtime-rivaling teams. Does this remind you of anything?
  • In SIN, Kaga retires moments after the final race of the season after claiming the drivers' title. In 2016, Nico Rosberg did the exact same thing, announcing his retirement after claiming the World Drivers' Championship in the Abu Dhabi GP.
  • As much as the cars' outlandish looks feel unrealistic and only driven by Rule of Cool, when an actual F1 team was asked to design a "ruleless" car many years later (the Red Bull X series cars featured in the Gran Turismo series) the result ended up looking like straight out of the OVA. Bonus points for Red Bull designing said cars between 2010 and 2014 - close to the timeframe of the series' 20 Minutes in the Future setting.
• Ho Yay:
  • The series has full of them, especially the moments between Hayato and Kaga. Gudelhian/Heinel and Osamu/Bootsvorz also have their moments of these.
  • A notable example of this comes from the final episode of ZERO, when Hayato and Kaga communicate each other via the Zero Realm during the final race in Japan. It also takes a glimpse of a bit of Kaga's past and the reason why he stayed away from the Zero Realm (his friend was killed in a crash).
  Kaga: "Hayato, you are me. You are very much like me."
• It Was His Sled: Everyone who's seen the show know that Knight Shoemach is Osamu and he is Asuka's brother.
• Moe: Asuka, even moreso in the TV series and first 2 OVAs. Mind you, this was before the term was invented.
• Moment of Awesome: Has its own page.
• Never Live It Down: Leon DNFs at races in his first year in every race. His racing skills improves in SIN (albeit slightly), but the retirements in races is what fans will remember most about him.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Many of the serious crashes but especially in ZERO involving Hayato and Randoll, and Hayato's car crashes through the banking, goes airborne and crashes down to the ground. The aforementioned Harsher in Hindsight event in real life makes it even worse.
  • In Kaga's background story, Eiji dies in a horrific car crash involving the two and his failed attempts to save him from the burning car, which gives Kaga his trademark scar. This is one of the main reasons why he stopped using the Zero Zone up until ZERO.
• Periphery Demographic: For the first 3 series, the main fanbase for the series were largely female fans, possibly due to the Estrogen Brigade of the male cast of the series.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: Among Japanese fans of the series, there's HayaAsu for Hayato/Asuka and GuHa for Gudelhian/Heinel.
• The Problem with Licensed Games/No Problem with Licensed Games: There are several official games released for the Game Boy, SNES, PS1, Gamecube, PS2 and PSP and doujin PC releases as well, with the games raging from great (at best) to mediocre (at worst). Almost all of them never made it to the overseas although the SNES version was released under a different title called Cyber Spin. The latest doujin game, SIN Vier, has even received the approval of Sunrise themselves and got an official release outside of Japan thanks to Steam.