【コラム】 Beyond Drift：ユーロビート／EDMと“速度の記憶”の未来形

Column en 80s 90s Car EDM Euro Eurobeat

12 Oct 2025

【コラム】 Beyond Drift：ユーロビート／EDMと“速度の記憶”の未来形

Introduction: To the other side of the mountain pass

Text: mmr｜Theme: Initial D, Eurobeat, and the fate of the “acceleration of sound” that follows.”

“Initial D” and Eurobeat.The era when these connections functioned as a cultural device can no longer be talked about solely through ``nostalgia.’’ From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, the resonance of images of cars driving through mountain passes and high-tempo sounds created an unconscious, shared experience. Speed = music, and music = acceleration of emotions.

But times have moved on, cars have become quieter, and music has become streaming. Still, Eurobeat’s ``memory of speed’’ remains. Rather, it is now transforming into a new kind of “running music” in the context of digital space, AI generation, and real-time sound.

1. From “pass” to “trajectory”: the gradation of the musical space traced by Eurobeat

As mentioned in the previous two works, the Eurobeat in Initial D was inseparable from Toge’s story. However, it was not just an aid to the terrain and visual production, but a device that translated the distortion of time into sound.

Looking back now, we can say that Eurobeat was a genre that acoustically visualized the ``internal time of a running body.’’ Rushing beats, overflowing melodies, and repeating choruses all translated physical speed into emotional speed.

In the 21st century, EDM, Trance, Synthwave, and even Hyperpop have inherited this lineage. It’s not the inheritance of a genre, but the inheritance of a sense of acceleration.

Rhythms with over 150 tempos
extreme brightness of synth leads
Excessive repetition of spatial reverb and claps

These characteristics are exactly the echoes of Eurobeat. And now, its reverberations are once again beginning to pulsate in the internet space.

2. EDM, Synthwave, Hyperpop —— Eurobeat as a bloodline

In the 2020s, there are many young artists who consciously quote Eurobeat-like “sense of acceleration”. For example, if you follow the Eurobeat Remake'' andNightcore Revival’’ tags on YouTube, You can see that countless tracks are being created at the intersection of EDM, anime culture, and game music.

The build-up of EDM, the vocal chop of Hyperpop, the melody lift of Trance. What runs through them is the idea of ``sound that designs upliftment’’. And the origin of that philosophy is none other than the Eurobeat of the 90s.

“Speed is the language of the times.” — anonymous Eurobeat producer, 1998 interview

This word now takes on new meaning in the age of generative music. Speed is not just a tempo, but exists as the speed at which emotions are calculated.

3. Automotive × Music Technology: Autonomous Driving, VR/AR, Soundscape

If Eurobeat was born on the pass'', the next step would beorbit’’. It could be a satellite orbit or a VR driving space. New coordinates are now unfolding for music and speed to intersect again.

● Self-driving car × music parameter linkage

Analyzes vehicle speed, steering wheel angle, tilt sensor, GPS coordinates, etc. in real time, A “reactive BGM engine” that automatically adjusts tempo, reverb, and EQ is in the testing stage. In other words, the era in which the behavior of a car plays music has arrived.

Reproduce the “drift feeling” of Eurobeat with acoustic parameters. This is a technological reenactment of what Initial D used to do with video and music.

● VR/AR driving space

Soundscapes play an important role in virtual driving environments. Wind noise, tire friction, tunnel echoes, engine fluctuations… By synchronizing all of this to a Eurobeat-like tempo, the sense of immersion increases dramatically.

“Touge” is now inside a VR headset. And the sounds made inside are not a reenactment of the past, but are reconstructed as future driving memories.

4. Fusion of sound and space: installation as running music, live experience

An art movement that audibly reproduces the feeling of running has begun in various parts of the world.

Mobile Sound Live A live performance in which a special vehicle is equipped with a sound system, and the sound changes based on acceleration data while driving. The hi-hat is amplified when drifting, and the bass becomes distorted in corners.
Sound tunnel installation A space where the pitch and tempo of the sound changes as the audience walks. Just like “walking drift,” your movements generate sound.
Replay in club space “Virtual Toge Night” is a Eurobeat x EDM set that projects images of Toge behind the DJ booth. The floor is a curve, and the audience is an engine.

What these efforts demonstrate is the fact that Eurobeat is moving from listening music'' toexperiential music.’’

5. Media that shares “memory of speed”: AI remix, generative music, participatory expression

Now that AI music generation has become commonplace, Eurobeat has gone beyond a “reproducible genre”. It is becoming a genre that is driven by users.

● AI Drift Remix

When you input the driving log (speed, route, curve information) into the AI, Automatically generates a Eurobeat-style track that corresponds to that driving style. The era of ``your driving becoming the song’’ is already beginning to become a reality on the test bench.

● Eurobeat revival from SNS

On TikTok and YouTube, the number of posts that combine “Eurobeat x own driving video” has increased explosively. These are not just nostalgia, but function as a new format for sharing the feeling of driving.'' It is, so to speak, aspeed-sharing medium’’.

● NFT/Blockchain and redefining music ownership

Convert driving data and sound generation results into NFT, Owning the one-time experience of ``this curve, this speed, this sound.’’ Eurobeat thus turns into Saved Acceleration.

6. Conclusion: Can Eurobeat transform into “saved acceleration”?

What Initial D'' presented was asensory speed theory’’ in which cars and music became one. That spirit continues to live on, albeit in a different form in the digital age. Eurobeat is being revived not as a nostalgia thing, but as a medium that records, plays, and generates speed.

Acceleration reconstructed by AI. A mountain pass reenacted in VR. Traces of speed that remain as data. The code that binds them all is pulsating within the three letters “Eurobeat.”

Every time you press the play button, that curve is waiting for you. But this time, you will be able to draw that curve as “your own sound.”

Diagram: Eurobeat development timeline

flowchart TD A1990["1990: The turning point from Italo Disco to Eurobeat"] A1995["1995: ``Initial D'' animated, combined with runner culture"] A2000["2000: The SEB series enters its golden age"] A2010["2010: Net Revival (Nightcore, Eurobeat Meme)"] A2020["2020: AI-generated music/inherited to VR driving experience"] A2025["2025: Eurobeat as Interactive Sound Media concept"] A1990 --> A1995 --> A2000 --> A2010 --> A2020 --> A2025