Initial D/YMMV

And the Fandom Rejoiced: The Funimation license excited many fans of the series, especially since they'd be able to introduce it to those who had never heard of it aside from parodies.
Crowning Music of Awesome: A bunch of them. Nearly EVERY SINGLE song on the soundtrack is worthy of this. To the point where you should not play Super Eurobeat while driving.
- Troper experiments have concluded that doing so will cause your gas gauge to drop faster, your highway speed to rise, and your tire tread to wear more rapidly, especially if you drive a model of car that was featured in the series even once.
Die for Our Ship: Predictably, yaoi fangirls loathe Natsuki. Double points for her being an ex-prostitute, which makes her even more loathed due to Double Standard.
First Installment Wins: If a series is going to do a Shout-Out to the series, chances are good it's going to be a parody of the first race in the series between Takumi and Keisuke.
Gateway Series: To drift racing, touge, or even racing in general.
Moral Event Horizon: Shingo almost crosses it when he tries to kill Takumi in mid-race by ramming him off the mountain. It fails, and Shingo ends up with a serious (though non-fatal) accident instead.