Hayato was introduced to the world of Cyber Formula when he accidentally became the registered driver of an Asurada car designed by his father while recovering it from mercenaries. The Cyber System registers a unique user for each vehicle upon activation and requires one week to reformat the vehicle for another driver. Since the race was happening sooner, this wasn't an option. This led the Sugo Grand Prix team to choose Hayato as their driver for the license race instead of their original driver, Akira Hiyoshi. After earning his license, Hayato became the youngest driver ever to compete in the Cyber Grand Prix at that time.