Toyota USA has launched FasterClass, which is its new marketing campaign for the GR86 that leans heavily into the Initial D franchise. The campaign also sees the involvement of Stephan Papadakis, who is the owner of Papadakis Racing – one of the most successful Formula Drift teams in history – along with big names in the motorsport like Fredric Aasbo, Hunter Taylor, Ryan Tuerck and Ken Gushi.
According to the company, FasterClass, which seriously sounds like a play on MasterClass, is “the place where the masters of the road do master-like things behind the wheel.” In the case of the Initial D tie-up, Takumi Fujiwara meets his match when he encounters a FasterClass mystery recruiter in a GR86 and is anxious to find out who the person is.
In a series of videos, Takumi battles the GR86 in his AE86 Sprinter Trueno GT-Apex AE86, before eventually discovering that it is none other than Keiichi “Drift King” Tsuchiya behind the wheel. Tsuchiya is the inspiration behind the Initial D series and its title character, Takumi, who proved himself worthy to be part of the FasterClass.
This isn’t the first time Toyota has commemorated Initial D and the iconic Panda Trueno, as back in 2016, Toyota UK rolled out the GT86 Initial D Concept that also saw a manga series be released as part of the project.
Outside the Initial D universe in the real world, Papadakis has assembled a team of “professors” to find out “what the GR86 can really do” and that it’s “time to master the drive.” Just like with the GR86 x Initial D collaboration, there’s a number of videos that involve tyre shredding of a high precision well worth watching.
Toyota USA certainly has not held back when it comes to promoting the brand’s GR cars, as “The Pitch” was also another exciting video featuring the GR Supra, which is certainly worth your time as well. We can’t wait to see what they come up with for the upcoming GR Corolla.
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The latest Initial D anime had roped in the previous iteration, the GT86 albeit in the final scene of the story. Too bad that car was unused in the plot, so unless they come out with new story, this current iteration will just be marketing gimmick by Toyota to milk fans with money.
Marketing gimmick? But real answer, Nah!!
There will be no Takumi if it wasn’t for Tsuchiya-san. Tsuchiya-san is the “father” of Takumi.
The commercial brought back the good old memories of the anime series and fans are glad that Toyota brought in the GT86 to fulfill the enthusiasts’ aspiration.
The GR86 is a new chapter for the 86 lineage.
You should credit plumehead studio(creator) and intrend communication(client) on the content. Maybe video won’t be flagged