Drive it in the sim, then drive it for real
Most of the Japanese circuits that drifters know from Assetto Corsa exist because someone rebuilt them as a mod: Ebisu, Meihan’s C course, Nikko, Bihoku, Mobara, Minami Chiba, Okuibuki, Gunsai. The official games have only the big GP circuits, and none of them models the pad or the side course where the drifting actually happens. This page lists what we could verify on the mod sites and the official track lists, and beside each one, what the real venue costs, whether you need a licence, and this month’s open days.
Assetto Corsa: the real venues you can already drive
Community mods, free unless marked. Authors and pit counts are as credited on the download page. We link the page we read; other mod sites mirror most of them.
| Circuit | In Assetto Corsa | The real thing |
|---|---|---|
| Ebisu Circuit | Ebisu North Course Ebisu Circuit (Touge course) | FREE-RUN Buy a day pass and drift. Official English entry documents, three matsuri a year, and rental drift cars from independent operators on site. Closed Wednesdays. |
| Suzuka Twin Circuit | Suzuka Twin Drift SuzukaTwinCircuit2023paidlisted | FREE-RUN BY THE HOUR An 820 m drift-only D course that the circuit sells to individuals by the hour, no licence needed — among the cheapest real drift access in Kansai. Runs clockwise or reversed; a sub-driver can share the car. Formula Drift Japan has raced here. Book by 16:00 the day before. |
| Bihoku Highland Circuit | Bihoku Highland | FREE-RUN No licence of any kind needed and open every day but New Year’s Day; two English-speaking operators rent drift cars here. The circuit itself takes bookings by phone or FAX only. |
| YZ Circuit East | YZ West Drift Circuit | FREE-RUN (MIXED SLOTS) Free-run in 50-minute slots, with drift allowed only in the mixed slots (2G, 4G, 6G–8G). Email booking in Japanese and no rental cars, but the circuit confirmed to us that a visitor needs no Japanese licence or IDP. Closed Tuesdays. |
| Gransnow Okuibuki / Okuibuki Motorpark | Okuibuki Motor Park (Formula Drift Japan layout) | FREE-RUN (WEEKDAYS) · HIRE Four ski-resort car parks that Formula Drift Japan races on. A visitor can buy a weekday individual run (¥15,000, from three days out, capped near ten people) or hire a whole lot. Japanese web booking. |
| Motorland Mikawa | Motorland Mikawalisted | FREE-RUN (FIXED SLOTS) Sells drift running by the hour — but only in the 10:00, 12:00 and 14:00 slots; every other slot is grip. Phone booking in Japanese, up to three days ahead. |
| Tsukuruma Circuit Nasu | Sunrise Circuit (Tsukuruma Circuit + Drivin’ Palette Nasu)listed | FREE-RUN (DRIFT DAYS) No reservation for sport running: check the calendar shows a drift day rather than a grip day, sit the first-timer briefing, run. Fees are published only in the regulations document. |
| Nikko Circuit | Nikko Circuit 2024 | LICENCE · ORGANISER DAYS Sport runs need the circuit’s own licence: a 30-minute briefing, a photo and a hanko stamp, all in Japanese. Most drift days are organiser events; overseas crews have run here. |
| Minami Chiba Circuit | Minami Chiba Circuit | COACHED INTRO · MEMBER FREE-RUN Where most “Tokyo drift experiences” actually happen: a coached intro hour, then school rental, then member free-run in your own car. The circuit and its booking are Japanese-only. |
| Meihan Sportsland | Meihan Sportsland C Course | ORGANISER DAYS No walk-up car sessions at all: every car on track is here through an organiser’s day or a private hire. Rental drift cars come via overseas-friendly operators. Closed Thursdays. |
| Mobara Twin Circuit | Mobara Twin Circuit 2021 | ORGANISER DAYS No free-run: drift only on the circuit’s published track days and organiser events. The easiest proper drift venue to reach from Tokyo without a car, but it rents no drift cars. |
| Gunma Cycle Sports Center | Gunma Cycle Sports Center aka Gunsai Touge (New scratch made) | HIRE ONLY Japan’s closest thing to a legal touge: a 6 km one-way mountain road — but hire-only, so drift days are shop events and never open running. |
Gran Turismo 7 and iRacing: what is official, and what it leaves out
The official games have the GP circuits. At every one of them the drifting happens somewhere the game does not model.
| Circuit | In the game | Where the drifting really is |
|---|---|---|
| Fuji Speedway Drift Park | Gran Turismo 7iRacing | LICENCE + FREE-RUN The closest drift pad to Tokyo, open to individuals since June 2026 — but only with Fuji’s own licence (¥25,000, same-day course, Japanese-only). Some organiser days waive it. |
| Autopolis | Gran Turismo 7 | ORGANISER DAYS Not the drift venue visitors expect: the circuit sells grip laps, and drift happens on shop-hired Lakeside days entered through Japanese paperwork. D1GP Rd.7–8 spectator venue. |
| Okayama International Circuit | iRacing | SPECTATE Full-scale GP circuit that hosts Formula Drift Japan Rd.6 2026 as a spectator event. Its own four-wheel product is grip running; there is nothing to drift. |
| Tsukuba Circuit | Gran Turismo 7iRacing | Tsukuba’s drift days run on its gymkhana course through organisers such as Hokkoringo, which also lends a Roadster; the main course in the games is grip only. |
Forza Horizon 6’s Shimanoyama Circuit, the Drift Attack arena, is a fictional track on a fictional map. If it made you want the real thing, start with the Assetto Corsa table above: those are places you can stand in.
What the sim gets wrong about the real day
- The gate. Ebisu charges everyone in your car ¥1,700 on a normal day; Mobara ¥500 at weekends; Bihoku and Meihan ¥500 on Sundays and holidays. Nobody pays to load a mod.
- The licence. Nikko and Fuji Speedway Drift Park sell running only to holders of their own circuit licence, issued after a Japanese briefing. Bihoku states no licence of any kind is required. Ebisu’s drift pass needs none.
- The calendar. Meihan has no walk-up car running at all: every car on the C course is there through an organiser’s day. Mobara drifts only on published drift days. The mod runs whenever you like; the real ones run on the days on our calendar and each venue’s monthly schedule.
- The tyres. A day at Ebisu costs ¥8,500 in track fees and around ¥47,600 in four new drift rears, which you take home in bits. What a drift day really costs.
- The car. You cannot take a hire car on track in Japan. If you are not shipping your own, the options with a published price are on our drift car rental page: from a ¥10,000 coached hour to a ¥130,000 all-in day at Ebisu.
Want to drive the real one?
Tell us which track you have been driving in the sim and your dates. We book the day, sort a car if you need one, do the paperwork in Japanese, and send someone who has driven it. Send us your dates.
Questions sim drivers ask
Is Ebisu Circuit in Assetto Corsa?
As community mods, yes. The Kita (North) course by perma369 and the Touge course by the 90’s Golden Drift Spot Project are on the usual mod sites, and Minami, Higashi and the School course circulate separately. No official game has Ebisu: it is not in Gran Turismo 7 or iRacing. The real circuit sells a drift day pass at ¥8,500 (winter ¥5,500), is closed on Wednesdays, and publishes English entry documents.
Which Japanese circuits are in Gran Turismo 7?
The real ones are Suzuka Circuit (full and East), Fuji International Speedway (full and Short), Tsukuba Circuit and Autopolis (full and Short Course), plus the fictional Kyoto Driving Park and Tokyo Expressway. None of the grassroots drift venues (Ebisu, Meihan, Nikko, Mobara, Bihoku, YZ) are in the game, and at Fuji, Tsukuba and Autopolis the drifting happens on pads and side courses that GT7 does not model.
Is Meihan Sportsland in any game?
Only as an Assetto Corsa mod: the C course, credited to Okami with Soyo, rstRmods, Joker, Leonardo Ratafia and Project Touge, 800 m with the famous wall-ride entry, 36 pits, free. In real life there is no walk-up car running at Meihan at all; you drive it on an organiser’s day (SEIMI STYLE DRIFT, HitomiGO and others) or on a private hire, and the circuit is closed on Thursdays.
Can I drive the Assetto Corsa track for real without my own car?
At some of them. Ebisu has on-site rental operators and a drift-taxi ride; Minami Chiba sells a coached hour in its own Roadster; Bihoku, Suzuka Twin and YZ have an English-speaking operator bringing prepped cars on weekdays; Mobara and Nikko have no rental cars, so those need your own car or a ride-along seat. Every option with a published price is on our drift car rental page.
Mod pages read 29 Sept 2026; mods change hands and versions, so check the page before you install. Real-venue facts are from our track directory, each checked against the venue’s official page on the date shown there. Related: drifting by prefecture · the event calendar · drift tyres in Japan