Quick Facts on the Yaiba Semimaru
How to get the Yaiba ARV-Q340 Semimaru
What it is: The Yaiba ARV-Q340 Semimaru. A red ex-NCPD street racer with a white interior, and a shady past.
Where to get it: “Motorbreath”, a patch 2.3 gig from River Ward.
Unlocks after: The Hunt and The Beast In Me. Yes, even if you failed The Hunt.
Top speed: 210 mph (about 338 km/h), hit downhill in a shot-up car. Could go faster clean.
The catch: Two cyberpsychos inside. One with Mantis Blades, one heavy gunner.
Pro tip: Bring a fast car with guns, the Semimaru rolls quick on the Watson highway. When the psychos get out, take down the heavy gunner first. The Mantis Blades one is easier to wipe.
How to Unlock the Motorbreath Gig
You don’t need Phantom Liberty for this one. The Semimaru jets down the Watson highway in Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 2.3, so as long as you have it installed you are good.
To unlock it you need to complete 2 missions first:
- The Hunt (success or fail doesn’t matter see below)
- The Beast In Me (you need to have completed the finals)
Now, I failed The Hunt. Refused to spend the night in Randy’s rat hole, and creepy River spat the dummy, so I figured that was the end of any further comms from disgraced ex-NCPD detective River Ward.
But, nope. River still texts, enthusiastic as ever, and Motorbreath unlocks.
How to Find the Red Semimaru on the Watson Highway
You’re given a yellow search rectangle, and depending on which side you’re coming at it, the car is scripted. It will drop in at the same spot each time, and start rolling FAST back towards Night City Centre.
This car is fast, with a top speed of 210mph, so you’re going to need an equally fast car to keep pace with it, but you also have to stop the car, and this is tricky as well
For the how to find it… it’s pretty simple because it’s a yellow search area, and after you spin around a few times it appears. If it doesn’t appear within 2-3 laps of the yellow rectangle search area, you might be bugged. I had to do this part of the missions about half-a-dozen times and it always appears within 2-3 laps.
Now – you think the difficult part is over but it is not…
You have to keep up with this thing and the Semimaru is a seriously fast little car! Normally, I’d recommend you use a Rayfield Caliburn if you have one, the mighty Jen Rowley, a Quadra Type-66 640 TS or Quadra Turbo R-740.
But – keeping up isn’t the difficult part…
You have to stop this car, and you have to stop it quickly. Here’s why. With you flying down the highway in hot pursuit, the Semimaru driver blows up a bunch of cars creating a blockade, and even if you are right behind them you will still hit that blockade, and then it’s a [mission failed] and you’ll have to text Creepy River again to tell him you fucked up… again… So trying to keep up, and get your shots on target might be trickier in these vehicles.
Instead use a weaponised vehicle, and there might only be two that can get the job done. The best car in the game – Yorinobu’s Mordred – makes this an absolute cakewalk, but you can probably also use the Quadra Type-66 “Hoon” (the weaponised vehicle you found in an abandoned warehouse in the Northside district of Watson) to execute a successful car immobilisation. I doubt you’d have the Herrera Outlaw “Weiler” yet because it comes after you do a tonne of El Capitan’s car theft gigs.
It takes a decent amount of well-placed shots from the on-board guns to the back of the Semimaru, but once you’ve hit it enough times the car WILL stop.
But – stopping the car isn’t the difficult part…
This next phase is, and it’s where the weaponised vehicle earns its keep.
How to Beat the Cyberpsycho’s Nova MacCaster & Jax Forgrave (Mantis Blades, Heavy Gunner)
Two cyberpsychos exit the Semimaru, and if you also exit your vehicle, get ready to be sliced into sushi before you are shredded like Swiss Cheese.
The female, Nova MacCaster, cyberpsycho wields Mantis Blades, and she is about to wreck your shizzle, she is going to be instantly up in your face as she fast-dashes towards you unleashing deadly blade combos. If that isn’t bad enough…
The male cyberpsycho, Jax Forgrave, is a heavy gunner armed with a 2067 Defender and he isn’t afraid to use it, unloading round after deadly round right at you.
Here’s how I beat them… I stayed in the Mordred, and used the on-bard guns to take out the lady cyberpsycho; with her out of the way and the car under heavy damage now, I used it for as long as I could on the heavy gunner, getting his health down to about 50-60% before exiting and having a very very tough fight.
The poor Mordred exploded in the action as I used it for cover.
You need a good machine gun or sub machine gun here and LOADS of ammo. I recommend Firestarter, as it also has burn damage, but I ran out of ammo and was forced to use The Mox shotgun to get him down further before using the Wild Dog heavy machine gun to finish him off. (NB: I found the Guillotine x-MOD2 behind a tech check door in the Longshore Stacks today; it’d be great for this mission).
I also had a Second Heart cyberware, and also Blood Pump and Biomonitor – same setup as beating Razor Hughes in the Beat on the Brat Final Fight; and I used Ozob’s Nose when I needed space to reload (you might be able to use the anti-personnel grenade’s here also).
How would I do this differently? I might try to take out the gunner first because he absolutely wrecks the car. Getting rid of him with car guns first, might also give you the opportunity to use the car guns to waste the mantis blades psycho, without ever leaving the car.
Still Finding It Too Difficult? You Can Cheese It!
(I may have gotten lucky with this as I was trying to see if the “Hoon” can be used for the mission)
If you know where the car is going to appear, you can basically roll up on it before it takes off and sit behind it. If you have the machine guns active you can fire a full burst and the car will never actually start. The cyberpsychos will exit and the fight is on. The guns on the Hoon are either better calibrated or more powerful than the Mordred because you can basically wipe both cyberpsychos with ease – though I stand by picking off the gunner first.
However, if you can avoid it, don’t cheese … this was a wholly unsatisfying way to get the car and if I’d done that first go instead of what I roleplayed with the Mordred, I wouldn’t have written such an extensive piece.
The Semimaru’s Rap Sheet: Every Owner Before V
Here’s where it gets good. Once the psychos are down, loot everything, read every shard, and download the car’s data. Read all of it. The Semimaru’s got more history than most of Night City.
NB: This also might explain why I actually failed the Motorbreath Mission despite completing it. I believe on my first successful run through, I either didn’t read everything before starting the car OR didn’t text River before starting the car. One of those two events triggered the mission to fail as I was driving the car off.
Owner #1: Mint. A street racer and the car’s original owner. She was souping it up like a true torque junkie. Remember that name, there’s more to come…
Owner #2: Ortiz and Jones, NCPD. Two cops lift the Semimaru, supposedly for a job. Then Ortiz decides, nah, let’s keep it. Officer Ortiz, badge #7782, takes ownership, wipes the data, switches on blackout mode and suspends the location tracker.
Then you get their archived convo. Jones asks how long they’re keeping it. Ortiz’s plan: they pose as Mint, take hits on the city’s scumbags, collect payment at dead drops, and let Mint take the heat while they “do the city a favour.” Method? Every “collision event: pedestrian” is these two running chooms over.
Owner #3: Nova MacCaster and Jax Forgrave. Two cyberassholes steal it from the NCPD. Nova wipes the data, switches on blackout mode and suspends the location tracker. Same routine as the cops. Make of that what you will.
Owner #4: V. You know how that went.
Text River and COMPLETE the Conversation BEFORE You Start The Car and Drive Off
Climb in the car and jack-in to access the data logs. This is the investigation information that River needs. Once you’ve read it begin the text conversation and send them to River and FINISH the text conversation BEFORE you drive off.
You have a long back and forth with River where you can mention Mint and the Cops or Mint and the Cyberpsychos, he goes on a righteous ramble and then the car is… yours.
I think I failed the mission initially because despite starting the text conversation with River, I didn’t finish it before driving off. So make sure you complete that. Also, remember that I failed the hunt. Joss did message me at some point to say River and Randy had passed because I chose not to help them – So that could be a contributing factor.
I believe this is the solution because on my second run through of testing the mission with “The Hoon”, I completed the text conversation and drove off and the mission completed successfully.
Joss Is Wrong: River Had It Coming
If you Fail the Hunt … and soon after the Motorbreath mission finishing, Joss sends you a text titled Get the fuck out of my life. Stating:
“They told me they found River and Randy’s bodies on a farm somewhere. You promised to help them, but no – you left them to die. Well guess what? You’re dead to me too. I’ll never forgive you for this.”
As V, I never promised to do anything for River OR Randy. I chose to help as a favour, and when it no longer suited me I openly told both Joss and River, I’m out.
And here’s why:
River is largely hated as a creepy as fuck romance option… I decided NOT to stay in Randy’s rat hole cos it’s creepy and sick, and bro… I’ve already handed you the investigation on a silver platter just turn it into the NCPD investigators and wrap it up.
River throws a tantrum and goes to the farm alone, like a total rookie, and gets killed and now it’s my fault? Bro. you got kicked off the force for crossing IA… WTF.. stay in your lane!
Days later when Joss’s message hits your inbox it lacks impact, because for V there were no eddies on the line and no investment. There was an ASSUMED attachment from River (both romantically and into the investigation). He was wrong on both counts, and it got the idiot killed. Total gonk move!
Joss was a bitch and River was a pussy.
Get the fuck out of your life? Awww Hell No bitch. Get tha fuck outta mine!
How to Fix the Semimaru’s CrystalCoat
When you try to connect to the Yaiba Semimaru’s CrystalCoat you get an error, and are prompted to contact Claire Russell your fellow Torque Junkie and chief Engine Whisperer.
Once you send her the data log from the car, Claire goes investigating and finds out about the street racer named Mint who she doesn’t personally know, and says there isn’t a lot of information (perhaps the NCPD scrubbed most of it?).
The following is the exchange:
V: Yo, need the advice of a bonafide engine whisperer. You’re talkin to the proud new owner of a Semimaru
V: Rides like a dream, but CrystalCoat system’s offline – any idea what might be wrong?
Claire: Damn V, life of a torque junkie’s treating you well! A Semimaru’s a helluva rare catch! Wicked fast, that one
Claire: Send me all the data you have on that rig. I’ll see what I can do
V: Data’s on the way now. Pulled everything from the system when I found it
V: <<>>
Claire: Good lord… This baby’s tuned tighter than hell. Whoever did work on this sure knew their stuff. Torque must kick harder than shot of high rye
Claire: Dug up some info on the previous owner – some street racer called “Mint”. Honestly can’t find much on her tho, which is weird considering the impression this ride must’ve left on the competition
Claire: Good news is I uncovered a little nugget that might solve your CrystalCoat problem
Claire: Your preem new ride has “custom build” written all over it – meaning it doesn’t have all the industry-standard guts of inside it to support CrystalCoat tech. Long story short, it’s got the hardware, but the software wasn’t uploaded right
Claire: I pinged a place where the car was updated a bunch of times. Might be able to find the data you need to unlock those features there
V: What’s this place?
Claire: Private setup from what I can tell. Old garage maybe? Secret hideout? Hell, could be a repurposed dumpster in a back alley. Who knows. The racing crowd’s a resourceful bunch, V
Claire: In any case, with a race-tuned monster like this might wanna lay low. This rig’s gonna draw attention, and not the kind you want
Claire: Sending you the coords of the place now in case you wanna check it out — Good luck!
Long story short, she sends you co-ords to a garage where the car was tuned, and you can go download the CrystalCoat firmware properly.
Semimaru vs Caliburn: Which Is Faster?
From driving both cars extensively the top speeds are almost identical sitting at around 210 mph (about 338 km/h). I was able to get Yorinobu’s Mordred Caliburn to 211 mph but that was going downhill at the time after already sitting on 210.
The Semimaru is almost as good as the Mordred Caliburn with the same speed, and same handling, but with the latter sporting on-board machine guns and bulletproof tyres.
Yaiba Semimaru FAQs
How do I get the Yaiba ARV-Q340 Semimaru?
Complete The Hunt and the full Beast In Me series, then wait for River to text you. That kicks off Motorbreath: find the red Semimaru on the Watson highway, stop it, beat the two cyberpsychos inside, read the car’s data, then text River and finish the convo.
Do I need Phantom Liberty to get the Semimaru?
No. The Semimaru came in with patch 2.3, so you just need the game updated.
Can I get the Semimaru if I failed The Hunt?
Yes. I failed it and River still called. Completing The Hunt counts, whether you nailed it or not.
Where do I find the red Semimaru?
Drive laps of the yellow search area on the Watson highway. It always showed up for me within 2 to 3 laps. If it doesn’t, you might be bugged.
What car should I use for Motorbreath?
Something weaponised. The Mordred makes it a cakewalk. The Hoon works too, and you’ll find it in an abandoned warehouse in Watson.
How do I stop the Semimaru?
Get behind it and hammer the back with your vehicle’s guns until it stops. Do it fast, because the driver blows up cars to make a blockade, and if you hit it, the mission fails.
Who are the cyberpsychos in the Semimaru?
Nova MacCaster, who’s got Mantis Blades, and Jax Forgrave, a heavy gunner with a 2067 Defender. Take out Jax first. He wrecks your car.
Why did Motorbreath fail?
Most likely you drove off before finishing the text convo with River. Read everything, text River, finish the whole conversation, then drive.
What happens if Motorbreath fails?
Not much. You keep the Semimaru, and you can still do Claire’s CrystalCoat job.
Why can’t I connect to the Yaiba Semimaru’s CrystalCoat?
It’s a custom build. The hardware’s there, but the software was never uploaded properly. Text Claire, send her the car’s data, and she’ll send you co-ords to fix it.
Does River die in Cyberpunk 2077?
He can. If you fail The Hunt, River goes to the farm alone and gets himself and Randy killed. Then Joss blames you.
Who is Mint?
The Semimaru’s original owner, a street racer. Two NCPD cops later stole the car and posed as her to take paid hits, letting Mint take the heat.
Is the Semimaru faster than the Caliburn?
Same speed and same handling. The Mordred version of the Caliburn wins on weapons and bulletproof tyres.
What’s the top speed of the Semimaru?
210 mph (about 338 km/h). I hit it downhill in a shot-up car, so it might go faster clean.
Dan
Latest posts by Dan (see all)
- Cyberpunk 2077 Yaiba Semimaru: River Dies, You Keep His Dream Car - September 29, 2026
- Cyberpunk 2077 Caliburn Mordred: How to Steal Yorinobu’s Car - September 26, 2026
- Cyberpunk 2077 Mission: Moving Heat Bug – Missing Car - September 23, 2026