As street tōge racing became increasingly common, one of the first drifting contests was hosted by the Japanese Carboy magazine in 1986 and then in 1989, the year after the first introduction of the Video Option series Daijiro Inada (稲田大二郎) decided on introducing a rival drifting event which was judged by Keiichi Tsuchiya known as the Ikaten.

In 2000, a new series called All Japan Professional Drift Championship (全日本プロドリフト選手権, Zen Nihon Puro Dorifuto Sensyuken) consisting of Keiichi Tsuchiya (土屋圭市) and Manabu Orido (織戸 学) as judges, and Manabu Suzuki (鈴木 学) as commentator.

Aftermarket parts manufacturers BLITZ, HKS and A'PEXi soon began to get involved by sponsoring drivers entering the competition.

The series remained domestic until 2003 when an exhibition round was hostedin Southern California at Irwindale Speedway, produced by American marketing company, Slipstream Global.

The California round saw the introduction of the English speaking commentator Toshi Hayama, who also dealt with the organisation of the non-Japanese events.

The other regular staff for the 2005 season were D1 girls Kazumi Kondo (近藤和美) and Hatsuno Sugaya (菅谷はつ乃) who previously had careers as JGTC race queens.

That year saw the introduction of the D1 Street Legal category which was unveiled at the Odaiba round, for cars which are built to be driven on the road.

At the non-championship D1 USA vs Japan Allstar Exhibition at Irwindale Speedway in December 2005, the series had its first non-Japanese winner for both car and driver: Vaughn Gittin with his Ford Mustang GT.

At the following season opener in March 2006, Samuel Hübinette with his Dodge Viper SRT/10 took things further by making it into the best 8 by beating Gittin in a sudden death tsuiso battle, Hubinette made it to the semi-final when he defeated Takahiro Ueno, only to be beaten by Nobushige Kumakubo in his Subaru Impreza GDB.

McNamara, the only of the three drivers to qualify in the points-scoring final round and to enter with his own car, finished in the last 8 in both events, only to lose to Nomura in both through a sudden death match.

[2] The D1 Gals of 2006 was replaced by the "D1 Sisters" who were audition winners and representative of the agency D-Sign, consisting of Hiromi Goto, Yuria Tachiki, Asami Kikuchi and Ayaka Tashiro.

[5] In December 2010, Keiichi Tsuchiya and Daijiro Inada both decided to resign from D1GP due to consistent irresponsible management.

[6] The following year saw the first time D1GP will continue without Tsuchiya nor Inada Hisashi Kamimoto who was part of the judge is promoted to chief judge and assisted by Akira Iida, Shinichi Yamaji, Eiji Yamada and Ryusuke Kawasaki, the Tanso Champions is awarded for the driver with the best Solo run driver and Tanso Winner is awarded for the best qualifier for each round.

The Tansou rounds always starts with the series leader and then goes through to the last driver with the highest number, which usually indicates that he is a qualifier.

Between this and the following tsuiou round, there is a pit walk session at the paddock area for spectators, usually off-limits to them, where they can get close to the D1 personnel, drivers and cars.

Normally, the leading car usually produces a maximum angle drift, but still closes off the inside line to prevent passing.

In fact, in some cases, if a car that was left behind on the straight manages produces a beautiful drift, it could win that round.

Should there be no sudden death rounds being called up, the finalists would return in front of the judging area with the losing drivers, who would return from the starting line; where the winner's name will be called up be the lead judge, which a large trophy and bottle of champagne will be presented to them by the D1 Gals.

After the name is announced, in some event, the driver would be given a toss-up by competitors, a common tradition in some sports and usually the spectators will be invited onto the track.

Considering the fact that the D1GP is a series geared towards production cars only, there are a number of different race regulations that the vehicle must undergo in order to be eligible to compete.

Although the series is geared towards novice drifters, it also attracts D1GP star drivers including the Suenaga brothers, Masao and Naoto, many of its former D1GP regulars, and fan-favourites like Ken Nomura.

The safety of the series is also increased after a spotter was fatally struck by a wheel that came loose during a practice session in the final round of 2016 D1 Street Legal.

The club held a championship in 2002 called D1UK (the previous moniker), though not related to the magazine, for the 2004 season, the business was forced to drop the Option and D1 name for legal reasons.

The New Zealand series are currently run as a drivers' search rounds, which awards a D1 License to the winners and allow the top four to compete in the world exhibition event in the US in December.

At the end of the season, the series went through a major technical hitch as the D1 organisation refused to foot the fee to import the top 5 cars to Irwindale as promised, therefore the organizers of the D1GB dissolved its association with the D1 organisation[11] and formed the European Drift Championship (EDC) which uses the same rule as the series itself.

As a compromise, the D1 organisation instead gave the top three drivers a chance to compete in US based cars for both the point scoring and World All-Star round.

Free livestream is also available in English with Japan-based Australian YouTuber Alexi Smith aka Noriyaro and American D1 Divisional driver Kyle Cooney as commentary, voicing over the Japanese stream on same channel.