I'm surprised by how well the original Ridge Racer holds up

[Shogun]

The setup I've got with the emulator on the htpc makes old games look great on the hdtv. It has made PS1 games playable (I thought they were too ugly on an HDTV) but I've been playing the original Ridge Racer and I'm surprised at how well it holds up.
It was pretty much one of the first of its kind. It had a lot of firsts - 3D graphics, AT/MT selection, drifting. I beat all the regular tracks but after that its impossible. You have to race at night and you just can't see anything. You almost have to race on memory. Then there are time trials where you race 1-2 cars and after the first one they introduce the 'devil cars' which just blaze past me plus its a night course. I'm basically like I've gone as far as I can here ill try the next game.

As someone who plays primarily simulation racing games I can't resist this period of racing games for some reason. It was before game makers got too serious when the concept was still a bit new. For some reason the newer non-simulation type racing games like Need For Speed don't really appeal to me but the older games in the franchise do. Maybe I'll warm up to them more later.

[flojocabron]

If it plays a little too slow for you, or you want to see another version tweaked a little bit....

There's another version of Ridge Racer packed in with Ridge Racer R4.

Try that one out too.

[Shogun]

Nice I looked it up and it looks like its even 60fps. Thanks, I'll check it out.

[Ghegs]

A shameless plug, but if you want to keep at Ridge Racer Turbo for a while longer, you can challenge the Time Attack records we have up at Rolling Start.

[Exhuminator]

If you haven't played it yet, R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 on the PS1 is totally awesome. A few years ago I was just messing around with PS1 ISOs just trying random things out to see what was worth buying. I eventually tried R4 out and was straight addicted to it for three days (and I'm not even much of a racer guy). It plays like a dream and has a great campaign mode. Blew me away all things considered.

[Shogun]

A shameless plug, but if you want to keep at Ridge Racer Turbo for a while longer, you can challenge the Time Attack records we have up at Rolling Start.

I just tried it out today and I'm quite a ways off. I'll post if I can get some decent times.

[arcadifvid]

i hate how the original RR handled when you bumped into something. like it bounces off.

any opinions about R racing evolution? how fun /dull is it?

[Tanooki]

R4 is the definitive Ridge Racer in my book on the Sony systems, nothing tops it. The quality, selection, attention to detail learning from past games just clinches it. With the free re-release disc of the original in there is just nice icing on the cake as you get an amazing two pack there.

Both have aged nicely, not sure they were the first on drifting and AT/MT transmission by any means, but the game really set a name for itself in how it was designed in the bigger picture as it did it so well.

[fastbilly1]

It had a lot of firsts - 3D graphics, AT/MT selection, drifting.

If I am not mistaken:
3d Graphics - Winning Run - 1988:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G01FZUtIMX0

AT/MT selection - Hard Drivin' - 1989

Drifting:
2d - Sega Rally - 1994
2.5d - 1000 Mile Rally - 1994
3d - I honestly do not know

Keep me legal here Ghegs.


That's not to say Ridge Racer is great, it was one of the reasons I kept a PSX around as long as I did.

[Ghegs]

Winning Run is indeed the first racer with 3D polygon graphics and Hard Drivin' is very likely the first with AT/MT, I haven't look too closely into that.

But drifting, man, that's difficult.

You probably didn't mean Sega Rally as the first 2D game to feature drifting. For 3D, both Ridge Racer and Daytona USA came before...and Virtua Racing beats both, being released in the arcades in 1992. See here for an example. And then there's Driver's Eyes (also from Namco) in 1990. That could be the one for games with a real 3D engine.

It's a matter of definition as well, would you consider Driver's Eyes sideslips as drifting?

I'd lump top-down and isometric racers into the same group for this. The first in those could be something as early as Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off-Road from 1989. Even though it's very slight, the cars can go sideways briefly. Again, it depends on how you want to define drifting here.

So the post doesn't go completely off-topic, I personally think Ridge Racer V is the best of the series. Good selection of cars (most of the vehicles in R4 are pointless) and damn if it doesn't control buttery-smooth with the neGcon. One or two more tracks would be nice, but I think the ones there are very good already.