Ridge Racer

When Ridge Racer showed up at the arcade, people just stood in front of the screen in disbelief. Textured 3D cars, roads along the ocean, a tunnel, a city and a sense of speed nobody had seen before. And above all, the drift: hitting a corner sideways and rocketing out the other end felt brand new.

It was the cabinet everybody wanted to try at least once.

History

Namco released it in 1993 on its System 22 board, one of the first to push texture-mapped polygons in an arcade racer. It was one of the games that marked the arcade's leap into 3D.

Soon after, it came to the original PlayStation as one of its Japanese launch titles and kicked off a long-running series.

How to play

Pick a car and a manual or automatic transmission and race against a pack on a course that mixes coastline, tunnels and city streets. There are several course variations depending on the difficulty you choose, with longer sections and more rivals.

The key technique is the drift: lift off the gas and punch it again as you turn in, and the car swings sideways and slides through the corner without losing much speed. Mastering it is the difference between finishing first and running out of time before the next checkpoint.

Fun facts

• There was a deluxe version that used a real car as the cabinet, parked in front of a big projection screen.
• The electronic soundtrack became one of the series' signatures.
• Its arcade follow-up, Ridge Racer 2, added the option to link cabinets so friends could race each other.

In the arcade

Ridge Racer is on the UsuArcade wishlist, coming soon to the lounge. Vote with the 'I want to play it' button to move it up.

In the meantime you can take the convertible out in Out Run, lean into the corners in Hang-On or zip through the mazes of Rally-X in the lounge, with chat, live spectators and arcade high scores.

FAQ