Forza Motorsport’s Greatest Track Is Finally Returning After Nearly 15 Years

It could barely be described as a circuit. Over 140 turns packed into more than 10 miles of treacherous mountain roads; high-speed passes with staggering elevation changes; blind crests and infamous hairpins. Many thought they were brave enough to tame it, only to be caught out by the relentless speed of its tunneled decline. I’m talking, of course, about Forza Motorsport’s Fujimi Kaido. What else?

It was a mainstay of the franchise’s earlier games, and it’s returning after nearly 15 years away in an update for the latest entry, coming this May.

If you’re a Forza fan, I don’t need to tell you how big a deal this is. If you aren’t, well, there’s really nothing to compare it to. Gran Turismo never had an original track of Nürburgring Nordschleife proportions, while Forza had a couple. (Who remembers FM4’s Rally di Positano?) Fujimi Kaido was the most beloved, though, because it’s where drifters loved to play. The track debuted in the very first Motorsport for the original Xbox, back in 2005, skipped FM2, and then returned for FM3 and FM4. In other words, it hasn’t been seen since the Xbox 360 days, which is wild to think about.

Something else that’s wild to think about? This May will mark the Forza brand’s 20th birthday, which may partially explain why Turn 10 Studios waited until now to unveil the one fictional circuit fans have been begging for more than any other. I won’t disagree with the majority, though I would like to say that Alpine Ring from the original Motorsport is very underrated. I’d take it over Maple Valley and no, I’m not kidding.

Anyway, this is a very fitting celebration to mark two decades of Microsoft’s homegrown sim racing series, one that anyone who has been playing these games for any significant length of time should appreciate. Fujimi Kaido isn’t just fun to drift; it’s a blast in anything, with postcard-esque vistas, corners of all speeds, and, at least in the older games, shorter, point-to-point segments for players who’d prefer attacking the mountain in segments. Hopefully we’ll get some actual gameplay capture soon; for now, all we have is the still at the top of this page.

Turn 10 says Fujimi Kaido’s return isn’t all it has planned for the anniversary. Some “highly requested cars” should be appearing in the game, as well as themed events. I’d love for one of them to involve whipping a garishly modified Integra Type-R around Pacific Shipyards to a Junkie XL cover of Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein,” but I doubt that core memory will get quite the same love.

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