Way back when I was a sophomore in high school, I was addicted to Gran Turismo 3 in the grand tradition of blossoming wrenches everywhere. One of my best friends went to a private school a few towns over and had a Japanese exchange student, Toshi, as a roommate. When winter break rolled around, the three of us spent hours behind the PS2 controller duking it out in Polyphony’s universe. While I was damn fond of my Cobra R, Toshi opted for what I thought was nothing more than a lowly Toyota Corolla. I was wrong. Toshi-san chose an AE-86 as his weapon of choice – a light weight, low power, phenomenally handling piece of Japanese artistry – and spanked my Blue Oval around Special Stage Rte 11 in the biggest way possible. Thus began my fascination with all things JDM. Toyota neutered its wicked rear-wheel drive missile in 1987 by switching to a front-wheel drive layout, but Toyota has just previewed a new FT-86 built in the same tradition of the original Corolla. Details are scarce, but expect a price tag of less than $20,000, a front engine, RWD layout and sales beginning in 2011. Is this the Subaru/Toyota collaboration we’ve been waiting on? We’ll find out when the car takes the stage in Tokyo. [Source: Autoblog]