PokeEarn Interview SCARZ | PokeEarn Official Site | PokeEarn

Goto, TakuAn, and Souki Nabetani are Japan's top Pro e-racers, delivering results at home and abroad and blazing a trail at the forefront of the scene. How did each of them come to join SCARZ?

TakuAn: "Goto and I originally knew each other as pro RC-car racers. When events were canceled during the COVID pandemic, we started playing 'Gran Turismo^*' together."
＊The main game titles used in e-motorsport competitions. Currently the 2022 release Gran Turismo 7 is mainly used.

The two of them, finding common ground with radio-controlled car handling, quickly improved their records. As they posted strong results one after another at high-profile events, an offer arrived from the prestigious eSports team SCARZ.

Goto: "When I was told they wanted to seize the top of the growing world of e-motorsports and that they wanted me to come for that, it fired me up."

TakuAn: "I jumped at it as a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I also connected with the vision of building a team that leads and energizes the whole scene and creates huge excitement."

SCARZ, with two racers, established an e-motorsports division in 2023, among the earliest in Japan. It created the trend of pro eSports teams entering e-motorsports in earnest. Nabetani then joined the team a year later, following an enthusiastic recruitment from Goto.

Nabetani: "Becoming a pro eSports player has been my goal since childhood, and on top of that it was an invitation from SCARZ. It was an instant yes."

How have daily life and mindset changed since turning pro? This year, XENOZ^*Goto, who became an employee and handles team management alongside his pro racing, has a growing awareness of how the team presents itself.
＊Xenoth Inc. The company that operates the pro esports team SCARZ.

Goto: "I'm always thinking about what our strengths are and how to communicate them so fans feel convinced."

Goto, who devotes time and effort to things beyond competing, is seeing his mindset toward the sport change.

Goto: "I've come to think that holding a minimum baseline is just as important as aiming for the top. My sense of responsibility for steadily building up a real track record has grown."

TakuAn, who is also a streamer with over 50,000 followers, says he changed "the purpose of his YouTube."

TakuAn: "I think reaching new fans is essential to energizing the whole scene, so rather than niche videos I'm making more that are easy for beginners to understand. To give people something to dream about as a pro, I also post things like our overseas trips."

Nabetani, who competes as a pro while working as a company employee, has become conscious of how he is perceived.

Nabetani: "I'm in a position where my behavior and words draw attention, so I've become more careful about what I put out there. I study the posts of well-known figures who are good at running social media and work on how I communicate."

Here we asked each of them for their impressions of the other two. First, their impressions of Goto.

Nabetani: "He works incredibly hard. He handles management and more while putting in a huge amount of driving, and he's genuinely fast. He's the backbone of the team."

TakuAn: "Just as Goto himself said 'the minimum,' his stability is head and shoulders above the rest."

What about their impressions of TakuAn?

Nabetani: "He has star quality and is a rare presence who can capture many people's hearts."

Goto: "His consistency in final races against rivals is extremely high. He adjusts for external factors superbly, and even in the chaos he can reproduce his best performance as if he were running alone. It's a special talent."

Finally, their impressions of Nabetani.

Goto: "On the flip side, Nabetani is incredibly fast in qualifying time attacks. And when there's only one chance in the real event, that single lap is fast."

TakuAn: "I'm always amazed that he can deliver even better than in practice when it counts. His focus is unreal."

Truly three distinct styles, each with different strengths. e-motorsports has a strong individual-competition flavor, but they aim higher by leveraging their team strength.

Goto: "Every week we work on translating each racer's individual strengths into the team as a whole. Right now I think that's an advantage unique to this team."

The team currently competes throughout the year around three main competitions: the domestic league "JEGT GRAND PRIX," the world championship "Gran Turismo World Series," and the "National Prefectural eSports Championship." All three agree that whether they can deliver a high level of performance at these events comes down to preparation.

TakuAn: "I especially value the mental side, so I don't want to leave even 1 percent of doubt. Every time, I'm desperate to secure the amount of practice I can be satisfied with and to prepare my strategy."

What kind of play would they like people to watch for at the events?

TakuAn: "I stream my practice on YouTube regularly, so a lot of people get to see me putting in the work even when I'm not the most naturally gifted. If they watch me fight all the way to the end without giving up when the real event comes after all that effort, and feel something from it, that would make me happy."

Goto: "I turn 29 this year, so I'm a veteran in this world. Even in races where the tension reaches its peak, I want to bring my own style of driving, drawing on that experience, and help energize the scene."

Nabetani: "I try to avoid battles like overtaking as much as I can. I build strategies that don't require battling, keep running at 80 or 90 percent of my capacity, and aim for races where, before I know it, I'm near the top. Please keep an eye on that."