D1GP Arcade

Gameplay

The player controls the car using the steering wheel, gear shifts and pedals. A hard steering maneuver combined with the handbrake puts the car into a drift. When the player is in a drift, the game prompts the player to apply opposite lock. Depending on the game mode, the player scores points during a drift, and earns more if he manages to follow the line and clip the points on the line.

The game is split into four modes:

1. Tutorial mode. It features a simple tutorial on driving a D1 tuned car and its particular handling. The usage of the handbrake is introduced as well. The player practices drifting on several circuits and sections of them, ending with a solo run on a 3-lap course.
2. Solo mode. This puts the player through a course he has selected, shooting for the maximum score. The player may also play through a short tutorial before the run.
3. Twin-run mode. Similar to the actual D1 main event, the player is teamed up with an AI rival chosen at random. The player starts behind the AI rival and needs to stay close to his opponent while performing a drift to score points. Getting a high score puts the player in front on the next run. Getting left behind, crashing, bumping into the rival car or being overtaken (when leading) will incur a penalty of points. The player gets to choose the course in this mode.
4. Drift championship mode is the final mode available in game. This part is essentially the top-8 shootout of a race. A player takes part in a single elimination tournament with 7 other AI drivers, with each run comprises a chase and lead run on the selected venue. The player advances if he outscores the opponent, and gets knocked out otherwise.

The link-up multiplayer is available if two players joins into the game, and could be played for a point shootout or a speed shooting. The first one is a match against each other by drift points, while the latter one is a simple speed shootout.

Courses and Cars

The game features 5 courses as of September 2008. These include 3 street circuits and 2 race circuits. Featured actual locations include the Irwindale Speedway, Ebisu circuit south course and the Odaiba course, a venue used for the all-star event. Reverse directions of the tracks are offered as unlockables for a card-bearing player

There are 8 drivers and cars featured in the game, all being well-known D1 drivers in 2006. Examples include Youichi Imamura's Nissan 350Z (2006 spec), Nobushige Kumakubo's Team Orange Subaru Impreza WRX, Ken Nomura's Blitz Nissan Skyline ER34, Tetsuya Hibino's Toyota AE86, among others.

Magnetic Card System

A player may choose to play with a magnetic card that stores the name, car and progressed completed. When inserting a new card, the player will be prompted to enter his name and choose a preferred car. The progress is saved for every game completed.

A card lasts for 50 plays, and needs to be renewed when it expires.