Tokyo Xtreme Racer Has Hit A Peak Of Nearly 15k Players Already

After an 18-year hiatus, the Tokyo Xtreme Racer franchise is back. The rebooted version of Genki’s cult classic arcade series, which pits you in high-speed, one-on-one street races along Tokyo’s urban expressways, was released yesterday in Early Access to a positive reception.

We’re big fans, despite a few small downsides. Some of these, like the rather unchallenging AI opponents and lack of multiplayer, can be excused since the game's still being in Early Access, while others, like the lack of Honda among the otherwise all-encompassing roster of Japanese manufacturers, are a bit more concerning.

At any rate, though, the franchise has come back very strong, and we’re not the only ones who think so. The title’s put in some impressive numbers on Steam since it launched yesterday.

The platform’s native database shows us that, as we write this at around 11am on Friday morning UK time, TXR has nearly 10,000 active players. More impressively, it hit a peak in the last 24 hours of 14,778 players at once.

That’s some way down on January’s other big Early Access racing game release, Assetto Corsa Evo, which peaked at 25,752 players on its release day. Consider, though, that TXR is effectively an indie title, being self-published by Genki, and is the first European release since 2006’s Import Tuner Challenge in a franchise that was always a niche player outside of Japan, and it’s a hugely impressive achievement.

For another point of comparison, take a look at the last major arcade racer to be released on Steam, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. That troubled title only ever hit a peak of 5,305 players on Steam following its release four months ago, and as we write this, has an active player base hovering around 100. In fairness, though, TDUSC is also available on consoles, while TXR is currently PC-only.

It all points to there being a real appetite for the simple, nostalgia-drenched gameplay of TXR, and hopefully, it’s more impetus for the console version we’re so desperately hoping for.