The Midnight Club series was inspired by the real life Japanese street racing group (hashiriya), known as the Mid Night Club, that hosted illegal street races on the Bayshore Route (known natively as the Wangan) of the Shuto Expressway in the Greater Tokyo Area. Two kanji characters (湾岸, or "wangan") appear in each of the series' logos; the Japanese manga series Wangan Midnight — also inspired by the club — includes the same two characters in its logos. The kanji is removed from the titles in the Japanese versions of Midnight Club: Street Racing and Midnight Club: Los Angeles as to avoid legal conflict with Wangan Midnight rights owners Kodansha.[citation needed]
In each game, the player begins with a relatively unmodified and slow vehicle. Higher-performance vehicles can be won or purchased by the player after competing in races against other club members. The goal is to defeat each of the other opponents (which include "city champion" and "world champion" racers) en route to becoming the new champion of the Midnight Club. Later installments of the series include real vehicle brands with sophisticated customization options for each, and "club" races, which consist of racers using vehicles of the same class.