Shinji is essentially a mirror-match of Takumi's initial appearance: a young boy (either 15 or 16), in an underpowered Toyota Sprinter Trueno, who has been driving from a very early age (in this case, to relieve his overworked mother) and has an almost-unnatural feel for his home course, the Tsubaki Line, enabling him to drive extremely fast for somewhat childish reasons (Takumi's high speed runs came as a result of him wanting to be done with tofu deliveries faster, whereas Shinji has an odd fixation with braking as little as possible and has experience on both sides of the road due to going to school on the passenger side while his mother drove him there and returning home behind the wheel).
Due to his very young age, Shinji is prone to somewhat childish outbursts (such as being too nervous to show up on time for his race against Takumi, or intentionally allowing a rival to pass so he could show off an overtake) and sometimes daydreams of "wings" on Takumi's car.
