Last Night I Played Ridge Racer

[Ikaruga]

Getting home from the girlfriends last night, I ran the bath and turned my PS2 on, needed a quick 10 minute blast on an arcade gem. I looked through both my ps2 and psone library and something caught my eye.

The 60fps version of Ridge Racer, bundled with R4.

I stopped the bath running, had a scarper in the loft for my old psone steering wheel and pedals (the top drive one with the leather wheel) and fired her up.

Oh my god.

The graphics have aged so very badly, it was like I was stepping into some disgusting jagged, pixelated mess of a world. The gorgeous girl with the board walked across the track, and the light turned green. The 60fps wasn't really too noticable (what with todays racing games being almost near that all the time anyway) but what was noticable was the intense sense of speed. And playability. And oh!!!! Joy! Drifting like it's 1995!

The playability hasn't aged at all, it's a coding wonder, a true racing gem. Sliding around that cliffy bend into the sunny beach with the plane flying over the horizon brought a tear to my eye. Playing it on a huge screen with a wheel just brought the arcade into my front room.

I did get a bath in the end, but only after i'd thrashed that yellow bastard about three times.

[DJ Sack]

It is great and the graphics still have duno, theres something about them thats so nice, like the way the sun sets and rises over the course of a race, the beach, everything about it is just really nice.

[Ikaruga]

*cough*

Are you saying i've got some sort of cock-rot?

[Juria]

You said it, not me

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

I've been playing some original arcade Virtua Racer lately, and it runs fast and smooth even though every object in the world is made of about 4 polygons...

[Jim Miles]

Ridge Racer does indeed still play excellently. I love the simplicity of these old racing games. A few tracks a few cars and just you trying to better yourself.

[hughes]

The OTT techno soundtrack is hilariously awesome as well.

[dam_aks]

Ridge Racer is the god of racing games.

The handling model is just so stunning - its not real, its not trying to be, its just fun.

Love it.

[Droo]

I think we (well I anyway) still love ridge racer is because it was my first glimpse at a true 3d racer in my home. I didnt have enough money to buy a PS1 at launch, but i did rent one. i rented it with air combat, battle arena toshinden and demo 1. The two full games were ok, but on demo 1 was the pearl, RR.

I still remember playing that lap demo today, it was sheer magic.

[Uxorious]

Funny, I played this recently too. Loved it. Can't believe I once thought the graphics were amazing. I'm sure I probably used the word photorealistic. Oh, but it is so much fun.

Actually I played some Tekken too. That's wonderful too. It feels so much more solid than Dead or Alive 3. I think me and my sister played it for almost an hour.

[Mike1812]

Try playing the 30fps orignal version after the 60fps one. Awful.

[Landshead]

Play RR type 4 instead, its much better.

Can't believe its running on the same machine.

[zxcvbnm]

have you tried the emulated Rage Racer running on vivanonno? Its bloody amazing, i tell thee. Pure arcade goodness, before all this realism came along and poked its nose in.

[tonecapone]

ridge racer was the first game i got for my playstation. and it was still my most favorite game for it. resident evil pushed it a close second despite its niggles.

i never did beat that bloody el dialblo car though!! ( i came so close many times, right up till the last corner on the last lap and managed to slide out of position, buggar!)

[Kryptonian]

How does the N64 Ridge Racer compare to the arcade / psx versions?

[Bada Bing!]

It's fucking terrible.

Nothing compared to the original PSX or Arcade ones. Too close to RR4 for my liking.

[dismembo]

I thought N64 Ridge Racer was great. It has the original track, the one from Revolution (I think) and an all new one. You also get a sort of bonus track which allows you to race on the flyover sections of the original track. It also has different collision options based on different RR games. Oh and multiplayer.

[Uxorious]

I thought N64 Ridge Racer was great. It has the original track, the one from Revolution (I think) and an all new one. You also get a sort of bonus track which allows you to race on the flyover sections of the original track. It also has different collision options based on different RR games. Oh and multiplayer.

Can you play 4 player?

[dismembo]

Yes.

[Uxorious]

I need it.

[Kryptonian]

I got it, just haven't played the PS version. Only played N64 version about 3 times too.

[jeff mills gran]

rr1 is still in my local arcade @ 30p per go - i just wish they'd sort the wheel out, its been veering to the left for at least 4 years now and its starting to get on my nerves.

[Bada Bing!]

I'm going to buy a sit-down Ridge Racer machine once I get a bigger house. That or Sega Rally fo' sho'.

[Ikaruga]

I'm going to buy a sit-down Ridge Racer machine once I get a bigger house. That or Sega Rally fo' sho'.

Remind me to come round for the meet that WILL be organised at your place then.

[jeff mills gran]

you could pick up a decent rr1 sitdown cab for ~£300 about 3(?) years ago. one place had one for sale for AGES.. bit big you see..

the stand up machines are crap and should be avoided at all costs..

[DJ Sack]

Nah what you REALLY want is the one they had in the troccodero which was a huge screen with a car in front of you you sat in.

[meanface]

I've been playing some original arcade Virtua Racer lately, and it runs fast and smooth even though every object in the world is made of about 4 polygons...

I see there's a PS2 remake on its way soon, but is it properly p[layable on MAME yet?

[U2031]

I see there's a PS2 remake on its way soon, but is it properly playable on MAME yet?

Fire up ePSXe and play it on there. I was playing the 60fps R4 version the other night, and it runs like a dream, even on my ageing system

BTW, if you put the disc into your computer, you can rip the audio tracks, but for some bizarre reason media player thinks that it's The slim shady lp

[super_quincy]

I wanted to move to Ridge City, but would have to talk to the mayor about the polygon count

[U2031]

I wanted to move to Ridge City, but would have to talk to the mayor about the polygon count

All the radio stations in ridge city play barmy high speed techno. It's nice to visit once in a while though