Immersive, affordable, and easy to live with. These are three qualities that define the 2022 Toyota GR86, but, in today’s social media-dominated world, a sportscar might need even more assets to lure customers in. No problem, all the coupe has to do is tap into its pedigree and Toyota itself has achieved this by bringing the newcomer and its AE86 ancestor together via a fresh set of Initial D anime scenes. And this independent rendering picks up where that effort left off.
Whether you’re a fan of Initial D or you’ve simply checked out some scenes of the iconic Japanese animated series over the years, there are serious chances you’ll enjoy the new cuts—you’ll find them in the pair of videos at the bottom of the story.
That’s because these see the 80s RWD classic that is the Hachi-Roku (the name means “86” in Japanese) hero car of the series being manhandled by the Drift King, Keiichi Tsuchiya, while the 2022 front-engined, rear-whevel-drive coupe follows this into a drift courtesy of fictional driver Takumi Fujiwara, the main character of the anime series.
As mentioned in the intro, the 3D work sitting before us mixes the two, gifting the GR86 with the legendary Initial D black and white livery (more on the sportscar’s transformation below). Then there’s the background, with the machine even being portrayed in front of the Fujinoya Tofu Shop (this is the name of the real business that served as inspiration for the shop that Takumi’s family runs in the anime).
The virtual GR86 follows the Initial D AE86 into customization land, featuring multiple elements of the original, from exterior pieces such as the Watanabe eight-spoke wheels to cabin bits such as the roll cage.
However, since this is 2022, the machine seriously ups the ante on the aero front, sporting the kind of widebody and swan neck wing that would allow it to dominate the track.
Spicy details (soybeans pun intended) include front-wheel air extractors and super-sized carbon aero parts adorning the front and rear aprons, along with racing-grade mirrors. So yes, this fictional piece is the wildest kit we’ve seen to date.
Speaking of which, the RPM (real project in the making) Potential of this pixel build sits at 7/10—for one, Jon Sibal, the artist behind the work, has previously joined forces with Toyota for multiple SEMA projects.
