7 Reasons Why Hot Version Deserves Your Attention

Not that after all these years, that I finally know that the man in green suit, is called Keiichi Tsuchiya, and the car is an Amuse S2000, which got an award namely the ‘Maou’, which means monster in Japanese.

When I was about 4, which of course I knew absolutely nothing back then, one day my Dad bought me a DVD, which unintentionally brought me into the world of cars.

The DVD featured a man wearing a green suit, driving an orange car with a big wing on the back and going on a road very fast.

And because I was only 4, that’s all I remembered. But the engine note was unmistakable, it was high-pitched, and quite dry sounding. The car was sliding around all over the place, it looked very cool. And the driver seemed to be repeating the same action every now and then, both of his hands would turn the wheel in front of him to steer the car, the middle pedal and the pedal on the right would be pressed together with his right foot, and the left pedal would be pressed with his left foot, all while he moves the lever on the left from one place to another. It was all fascinating, so fascinating that I would repeat his motion while I was driving the toy car. It all seemed very fun that I would watch that DVD over and over again, until of course one day, it broke.

But all that, made me a car guy.

Not that after all these years, that I finally know that the man in green suit, is called Keiichi Tsuchiya, and the car is an Amuse S2000, which got an award namely the ‘Maou’, which means monster in Japanese. Also, not that after all those years, would I realise that I was repeating a procedure called ‘heel-and-toe’, which turned out to be incredibly useful when driving a car.

It all made me wowed, you know. How can a DVD with a language I couldn’t possibly understand, bring me into the world of cars?

So after the first DVD broke, instead of begging my Dad to buy me another one, because I was only 7, I turned to my computer, searched ‘Hot Version’ on YouTube and I watched nearly all the videos on there.

After all these years, I would like to share with you, what makes Hot Version great, and why you should subscribe and support them before it’s too late.

The very car that made me a car guy.

#1. The drivers

. Manabu Orido, Nobuteru Taniguchi, Akira Ida, to name a few. They all race in the Super GT series in Japan and some of them even race in professional drifting series.

From left to right: Nobuteru Taniguchi, Manabu Orido, Keiichi Tsuchiya and the maid for the day, because Hot Version.

If you didn’t already know, Hot Version is actually a sub-series of Best Motoring, which reviews mostly new cars only, and unfortunately after the big tsunami in Japan back in 2011, and the giant financial breakdown afterwards, the company would soon close.

But before all that, Hot Version was set up specifically as a series led by Keiichi Tsuchiya, which would soon become a well-known video series in Japan as it uses aftermarket cars as their main characters.

And despite it’s parent company closing down, Hot Version relived as a series in order to broadcast the highlights of the drift competition ‘Drift Muscle’, which of course is set up by Keiichi Tsuchiya.

That swiftly brings on to my point, because this series is set up by Keiichi Tsuchiya, that is why all of the casters are all professional racing drivers related to him. Manabu Orido, Nobuteru Taniguchi, Akira Ida, to name a few. They all race in the Super GT series in Japan and some of them even race in professional drifting series. That is why you would always see good quality driving and racing.

#2. The style

The style of Hot Version is unique.

The style of car shows that we are used to are all like Top Gear, the camera would always face the driver/ presenter, and he would tell you how the car drives and so on, with some glamour shots of the car on the way.

The style of Hot Version is unique. They would put the camera above the shoulder of the driver, meaning that instead of looking at the driver all the time, they would let you see what the driver is doing, whether he made a cool drift, hit the apex perfectly, or made a right old mess of it. You can see all.

Not only that, they would sometimes put a pedal cam, that means you can see how professional drivers do heel-and-toe and clutch work. You can even learn from them by repeating they do, better than some YouTubers teaching you how to do those kind of things, that’s for sure.

#3. The cars

We are talking about Hot Version, which means most of the cars are modified, normally they are shop cars, which means they are modified to showcase what the shop has to offer, and that means they are well-done.

And they say Japan don't make great cars...

It’s not Best Motoring we are talking about. We are talking about Hot Version, which means most of the cars are modified, normally they are shop cars, which means they are modified to showcase what the shop has to offer, and that means they are well-done. No ricer mods, no unnecessary aero, all of them are functional and all of them are there for a reason.

Sometimes you would even grow up with the cars. What I mean is, sometimes they would document how a car is built, which bonds you and the car you see on your screen. Drift King’s personal AE86 for example, there is a whole series dedicated to it, telling people how the car is set-up, where the car has used proper carbon fibre parts, and they would even tell you where the car has been spot-welded, so that you would know which part of the car has been strengthened. How cool is that?

The cars are not just garage queens as well, cars like the Hakosuka GT-R (as shown in the picture), RX-3s, Mine’s GTR, all of the cars are thrashed and raced on tracks as if they are stolen!

#4. The Tracks

Tsukuba, Suzuka, Fuji Speedway, Ebisu

Tsukuba, Suzuka, Fuji Speedway, Ebisu (admittedly not used as much nowadays), these are just a few examples of where the videos are being shot at. Hell there is even a ‘Mini Nurburgring’, as Tsuchiya says, the Gunsai Touge, where the cars are taken round there to be appraised by the three main casters, Tsuchiya, Orido and Taniguchi.

Shown in the video up there is a look of Gunsai Touge, with Tsuchiya at the wheel of his personal then-TRD AE86.

#5. The chemistry between the casters

All of the drivers are close friends of Drift King’s, and he likes to troll them once in a while.

All of the drivers are close friends of Drift King’s, and he likes to troll them once in a while. I remember once where he would drive his AE86 to intentionally try and hit Orido and Taniguchi. Orido even calls Tsuchiya’s AE86 ‘Super MAME’(Super ‘bean’ as in it’s only so tiny in the rear view mirror)! Not only that, nearly all of the casters in this series are taught by Tsuchiya himself to be racing drivers. Taniguchi for example, worked in the logistics industry 30 years ago, and he was found by Tsuchiya who taught him how to drift and how to master weight transfer.

Their bond don’t just end there, because nearly all of the drivers have worked with one another in the same racing team, their view on a setting or a car in general is very similar as well, this just improves the whole atmosphere of the show as if the chemistry isn’t there, the show wouldn’t be so long-lived, and Taniguchi and Orido wouldn’t be hired back after a short change of caster in mid 2000s.

#6. The skills that you can learn

How to heel-and-toe, how to use the handbrake to make a understeering FWD car turn into the apex, how to initiate a drift not having to rely on the handbrake.

How to heel-and-toe, how to use the handbrake to make a understeering FWD car turn into the apex, how to initiate a drift not having to rely on the handbrake, these are just a handful of examples of what you can learn from their DVDs, taught by Keiichi Tsuchiya himself and other casters while demonstrating to you in front of the TV screen. How cool is that!

#7. The format

The Japanese, however, do things very differently. In Hot Version, there is one particular segment called Touge Showdown.

In normal car shows, there would always be a presenter talking to you about how a car drives, or if they would show you how fast the car goes round a corner, they would go to a track like Willow Springs, where there are miles of sand to keep you away from the wall.

The Japanese, however, do things very differently. In Hot Version, there is one particular segment called Touge Showdown. In this segment, different tuner shops would bring their cars there and hunt for the fastest time on a track called Gunsai, where it is not even an official racetrack. No run-offs, no escape zones, no nothing. If you are off, you are off. If you crash, you crash. The racing drivers would go for a time attack, and the fastest cars would go into a battle, where in Initial D format, they would go tail-to-nose, if the car in front runs away, it wins, if it can’t, it loses. As simple as that.

Yet what’s not simple, is how I feel when watching it. I feel like I’m watching Initial D in real life, which really, is what it is considering their format of doing things.

Founded in 1991, while approaching it’s 150th volume, the Hot Version franchise is growing fast in Japan, and it should get your interest as well. With awesome racing, interesting cars and professional racing drivers, this is not something that you would want to miss, especially when you can learn car-related Japanese while watching, it’s definitely a win-win! Go and subscribe to them, and buy their DVDs off of Amazon if you would like to support them even more!

Some useful links:
How to buy the Hot Version DVDs on Amazon?

https://www.amazon.co.jp/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=HV%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B8%E3%82%A7%E3%82%AF%E3%83%88&search-alias=books-jp&field-author=HV%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B8%E3%82%A7%E3%82%AF%E3%83%88&sort=relevancerank

Where to watch the official Hot Version and Best Motoring videos for free?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrmsruqPgCIs4PImiZs0t9w