Matsuda began his karting career in 1993, and achieved a notable result by winning the 1996 CIK/FIA Asia-Pacific Championship ICA Class race at his home track, Suzuka Circuit.

[1] He enrolled in the Suzuka Circuit Racing School Formula (SRS-F) in 1997 and graduated alongside classmates Toshihiro Kaneishi and future two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato.

During his rookie season in All-Japan F3, Matsuda was called on to drive for Nakajima Racing in the fifth round of the Formula Nippon Championship at Suzuka, replacing Koji Yamanishi.

His first full-time ride in Formula Nippon came two years later when he joined Nakajima Racing alongside the returning Toranosuke Takagi.

Matsuda was crowned the champion shortly after the final round at Suzuka after Takashi Kogure, who provisionally won the race and was champion-elect, was later disqualified when his car failed post-race technical inspection instead.

A lack of sponsorship forced him to miss the 2011 season, but at the non-championship JAF Grand Prix round at Fuji Speedway, Matsuda returned to drive for KCMG in place of an absent Alexandre Imperatori.

He continued in this role through 2023, then became a team ambassador In the same year that Matsuda made his full-time Formula Nippon debut, he made his All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship GT500 class debut on 10 September at TI Circuit Aida, driving the number 30 McLaren F1 GTR for privateer Team Take One.

They won three races that season, but Matsuda and Firman lost the Drivers' Championship by one point to Toyota Team LeMans' Akira Iida and Juichi Wakisaka.

Matsuda and Oliveira entered the seventh round of the 2013 season tied for the championship lead with two races remaining, but after a crash at Autopolis and a non-scoring finish at Motegi, they dropped to ninth in the final standings.

Matsuda rejoined NISMO for the 2014 season, reuniting with Quintarelli aboard the number 23 Motul Autech Nissan GT-R and driving with Michelin tyres for the first time in his career.

NISMO had not won a race in GT500 since 2011, but Matsuda and Quintarelli ended the team's winless drought and led a Nissan 1-2-3 finish at Autopolis.

Matsuda and Quintarelli's championship defence kicked off with a win at the Fuji 500km race on Golden Week, and the duo remained consistent throughout the season.

Despite winning back-to-back races to open the season, Matsuda and Quintarelli fell short of an unprecedented triple championship,and finished third in the final standings.

While the Nissan GT-R languished behind its rivals from Toyota and Honda over the ensuing years, Matsuda and Quintarelli continued to fight for wins and championships.

At the third round of the 2023 season in Suzuka, Matsuda was involved in a multi-car accident that saw his car spin off at 130R, get airborne, and crash into the protective catch fence.

After ten years at NISMO alongside Quintarelli, Matsuda was moved to Kondo Racing for the 2024 season, where he is set to join GT500 rookie Teppei Natori.

As a reward for winning the GT500 championship in Super GT the previous year, Matsuda earned a drive in the new Nissan GT-R LM Nismo LMP1 car at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans.

[5] Sharing the car with GT Academy graduates Lucas Ordoñez and Mark Shulzhitskiy, Matsuda's race ended after 115 laps due to a terminal suspension failure.