JDM: Japanese Drift Master is bringing its online multiplayer mode to consoles next week, according to Traxion.

The Gaming Factory’s drift-focused title launched with a single-player campaign set in a fictionalised slice of Japan, and online play has been the obvious missing piece for anyone who bought it hoping to tandem with friends. Console players will get that option in the coming days. Alongside the multiplayer rollout, a surprise new car is joining the roster. The only clue Traxion offers is that Jeremy Clarkson once described it as the worst car in the world to actually drive, which narrows the field without settling it. We will leave the guessing to you rather than pretend we know which model it is.

Details beyond that are thin. There is no word in the source on lobby sizes, whether crossplay between console and PC is part of the package, or how tandem drift scoring will be handled online. Those are the questions that decide whether a multiplayer mode is worth your evening or just a checkbox on a feature list, so it is worth waiting for hands-on impressions before assuming the best.

Why it matters: drifting is one of the few disciplines where online play changes the whole character of the game. Solo runs against a ghost or a score target only go so far. Tandem battles against a real person, where you have to read their line and match their angle, are the point of the discipline, and consoles have had few serious options for it. If JDM’s netcode holds up under the demands of close-proximity drifting, this could give console players something PC drift communities have enjoyed for years. If it does not, it will be a quick reminder that multiplayer is only as good as its latency handling. Either way, next week’s update is the first real test.

Originally reported by Traxion.