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How flippin good is Ridge Racer, right?

ShaggyLobo

ShaggyLobo

Member
Jan 25, 2021
254
Specifically Ridge Racer Type-4, the only one I've played.

R4_Ridge_Racer_Type_4_capa.png



Holy shit, right?

So I'm playing this absolute gem of a game for the first time in my life, and I'm floored. It just feels so effortlessly incredible to play and control, with a wonderful, engrossing sense of speed and tight, delicious drifting action. The UI design is luxurious and slick, and the soundtrack - you know how good it is.



It's so good my body tenses up and I cannot even register anything outside of the game when I'm playing. And this is coming from someone with a dangerously low attention span and who doesn't like cars - hell, I can't even drive.

Is there any racing game out there nowadays that is at all similar to this? I'd love to know. I enjoyed this game so much I just wanted to share the love!
 

Yharnham Blood Donor

Member
Dec 20, 2017
175
I was just playing this over the holiday weekend. Still oozes styles, the soundtrack is 100 percent bangers and the driving is still fun. Such a great game.
 
Dreamboum

Dreamboum

Member
Oct 28, 2017
22,883
Ridge Racer is amazing beyond belief. The only other racing game I've played with similar vibes was OutRun 2. You won't go wrong with any other Ridge Racer too, particularly Ridge Racers 2 on the PSP being a great one
 
jett

jett

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,671
Never played a racing game with more satisfying and exciting driving and drifting than RRV.





 
Doskoi Panda

Doskoi Panda

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,013
it's the gold standard.

It's like WipEout and F-Zero to me in the sense that I will play and enjoy the shit out of a mid spiritual successor if it recaptures even a fraction of the OG's magic. I'm subconsciously comparing every arcade racer I ever play against Ridge Racer and Burnout specifically.
 
OP
OP
ShaggyLobo

ShaggyLobo

Member
Jan 25, 2021
254
Dreamboum said:
Ridge Racer is amazing beyond belief. The only other racing game I've played with similar vibes was OutRun 2. You won't go wrong with any other Ridge Racer too, particularly Ridge Racers 2 on the PSP being a great one
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Oh, I'm dying to play Outrun 2! I've heard it's an all timer.


Also - When I first read Harada's quote about this being a very difficult series to reboot, I felt nothing, for I was not yet a Ridge Racer. Now, it is my life's mission to attack and dethrone him.
 
ciddative

ciddative

Member
Apr 5, 2018
4,635
Shout out to Rage Racer, an absolutely underrated and overlooked entry. A different kind of soundtrack to the usual, some beautiful cars, and sublime controls. Once the drifting clicked you were unstoppable.

I remember sliding horizontally around S-bends, Neg-Con in hand, great times.
 
mrbogus

mrbogus

Member
Jul 14, 2019
2,401
Love all the games, except Unbounded.

It used to be expected that every new Sony console would launch with a RR game. Wish that trend continued.

Would love a new game, or at least a compilation for modern hardware.
 
Leona Lewis

Leona Lewis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,921
I fucking hate how close we were to RR8

I fucking hate how badly they botched RR Vita

fucking hell
 
Rockodile

Rockodile

Member
Dec 7, 2018
1,152
Whatever happened to Ridge Racer 8? I recall it was being developed by Bamco Singapore, though it was never formerly announced. I assume it was cancelled alongside the first verision of MP4.
 
Spring-Loaded

Spring-Loaded

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,904
I've never played a single RR game, but I love the intro to RR: Type 4, and the intro song, Reiko, the cover art(s), and the in-game menus 🥹



I am a fan of a game I haven't played.
 
Vex

Vex

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,213
The Namco Sound Team were legendary, yes.

A group of some of the most legendary composers to ever do it. Absolute bopperz.

Unfortunately, it is really hard to get more information on the team. I wish there was a YouTube documentary or something about them.
 

Kalosky

Member
May 17, 2022
99
The RR series holds such a special place in my heart. Between the soundtracks and visual language of each game, I don't think I've ever played any other racing game as much as these. 4, 5 and the PSP games in particular are really something else
 
AstralSphere

AstralSphere

Member
Feb 10, 2021
9,134
Your Vibe is an absolute masterpiece. I get chills every time.

Where the HELL is the R4 remaster Bamco, goddamn it!
 
ThorHammerstein

ThorHammerstein

Revenger
Member
Nov 19, 2017
3,506
I need an ultimate collection of all tracks from RR 1~7 with the arcade games.
PSP RR 1+2 in HD would be an acceptable alternative.
 
mikehaggar

mikehaggar

Developer at Pixel Arc Studios
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
1,379
Harrisburg, Pa
I want a new Ridge Racer so bad, but I'd settle for a native 4K/60 version of RR7. It's crazy to me that there is no longer a market for this series :(
 
StreamedHams

StreamedHams

Member
Nov 21, 2017
4,340
SharpX68K said:
Ridge Racer Evolution made in Dreams.



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Damn, that's some Seaside-ass Seaside 765 if I've ever seen it. Very impressive.

On topic, I was just playing RRV on the PS2 today and lamenting how awful the camera is on that game. V pales in comparison to R4. Rage Racer is ok, but honestly R4 is probably the best in the series.

I absolutely adored the PSP RR when it came out.

Also recently picked up RR6 when I found out it was BC on the Xbox.
 
Ogawa-san

Ogawa-san

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,686
mikehaggar said:
I want a new Ridge Racer so bad, but I'd settle for a native 4K/60 version of RR7. It's crazy to me that there is no longer a market for this series :(
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Seriously. Like, do nothing else, just call it RR7 4k and ship the same game in 4k/60 and I'd be there.

But the things I'd do for a Ridge Racer Omega Collection, oh man.
 
Dizzy Ukulele

Dizzy Ukulele

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,013
It blew my mind when it was cutting edge on PS1 but imagine trying to sell a racer with one track and no multiplayer today.
 
Shiz Padoo

Shiz Padoo

Member
Oct 13, 2018
6,143
Amazing series overall, but I'm not keen on the "look" of it from 6 onwards. There's some kind of uncanny valley thing going on with the car designs.
 
Shift Breaker

Shift Breaker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,499
I adore RRT4. It and OutRun 2006 are the games I play when I don't know what I want to play.

Also, shout out to RR64. Picked myself up a copy recently and it's pretty great. Kind of a more graphically souped up version of the first two. Also makes me wonder how I coped with the DS port where the D-Pad is an absolute nightmare when driving anything fast.

halcali said:
Who prefers the OG RR to RRR?
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Revolution was one of the first games I owned for the PS1 so I should be biased to that.

But the original has Rare Hero in its purest form, so I gotta vote for that.
 
MrKlaw

MrKlaw

Member
Oct 25, 2017
33,118
see a little bit of love here for Rage Racer which makes me happy, RRV is great too but Rage is still that original generation as Ridge and really has its own flavour with the hills, revs falling as you climb so you need to maintain momemtum etc.
 
pahlke1

pahlke1

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,152
Brisbane
Ridge Racer 4 is timeless. Looks so flipping good in duckstation with perspective correct textures. Great UI and music too
 
Iucidium

Iucidium

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,052
I'd be happy lamping a 4K/60 Type 4.
Back in the day I got all the cars (yes, had a pocket station)
 
Qikz

Qikz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,521
R4 and it's soundtrack make it one of the best games in gaming. It's incredible to play even now, it's so smooth and it's beautiful in motion with that soundtrack just adding the perfect icing to an already amazing cake.
 
Adamska

Adamska

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,042
I loved it on the Vita, just a beautiful game with a very engaging driving model. In retrospect, it felt a lot like Vita's own Driveclub, as long as you had the complete version.
 
Tortillo VI

Tortillo VI

Member
May 27, 2018
1,954
RR4 & 5 for me are perfect games. Challenging, oozing style, beautiful UI design and music to go along with it, gorgeous fantasy cars and tracks and great gameplay with clear differences between Grip and Drift cars.

For me, all that came after those two (Ridge Racers, Ridge Racers 2, RR6, RR7, RR Vita) was great too, but the driving model was a bit more boring for me, drifts were too easy to pull out and the nitrous system a bit annoying compared to the base offerings of RR4 & 5.

The only game afterwards that I played and thought "damn these physics would be amazing for Ridge Racer" was GRID 2, which looked like a simcade but in certain circuits and cars it was gloriously arcade too.
 
.exe

.exe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,274
I didn't enjoy it that much, but that was probably because I played the PAL version which feels really slow and not fluid at all.

I'm also very partial to the turbo drift style of RR PSP, and this isn't that.
 

LCGeek

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,859
One of the reason I built my current 3080 rig. Last intel rig wasn't good at 60fps+ high res racing at all.

RR4 and RR 6/7 look amazing on it especially at 5k+ resolutions. I wish 4 had the good parts of the latter games I mentioned be crazy if it ever got the two blends right.
 
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