It is promoted as a young driver development project jointly by Honda, Toyota and Nissan and is positioned as an intermediate level of the domestic motorsport in Japan, lower than the All-Japan Formula Three Championship, but above F4.

[1] Being backed by the three major automobile manufacturers in Japan, the driver of the series generally consists of the drivers graduating from the racing schools managed by those three, plus a number of privateers meeting the prerequisites.

To participate in the FCJ series,[2] a driver needs to be younger than 26 years old and possess a National A racing license, but not having raced in Formula Three or above to participate, with a year's subscription fee of around 7.5 million yen.

To ensure parity of the cars, the engine and gearbox are both sealed prior to being delivered to the competitors so that no private tuning could be carried out in between.

As of 2009 the series is run on the same weekends as the Formula Nippon race weekend, and visits the major circuits in Japan like Fuji Speedway, Suzuka Circuit, Twin Ring Motegi and Sportsland Sugo.