Virtua Racing

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Virtua Racing Title.png

Virtua Racing
System(s): Sega Model 1, Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Sega
Developer:
Genre: Racing

















Release Date RRP Code

Virtua Racing (バーチャレーシング) is an arcade racing game developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega in 1992. Virtua Racing was the first game released for the Sega Model 1 arcade platform, and also the first to use the name "Virtua" in its title (something which would be followed by numerous Sega arcade games, including Virtua Fighter, Virtua Cop and Virtua Tennis. It is considered a milestone in the racing genre, and is a foundation for most modern racing games.

Development

Initially created as proof of concept program for the system, Virtua Racing was given the all-clear to become a fully fledged arcade title during the Model 1's development, thereby becoming one of the first fast-paced 3D racing games to appear in arcades. Prior to this, most 3D racing games had been simulations, and often running very slow. Though Namco and Atari Games had put forward 3D arcade racers some years prior with Winning Run and Hard Drivin' respectively, Virtua Racing was among the first to render its worlds in sixty-frames-per-second, offer support for multiple human players, and include multiple camera angles adjustable during play.

Though the hardware was revolutionary at the time of release, it was quickly outclassed by its successor, the Sega Model 2 board which debuted towards the end of 1993. There are no textured polygons in Virtua Racing, as Model 1 hardware did not support them. There is also only one vehicle, and although when linked together it is offered in several colours, the stats never vary. There is no damage model (crashing merely slows you down), and although there are differing surface types, anything "not road" merely slows the car down - it does not affect handling in any way (this would be pioneered by Sega Rally Championship some years down the line).

There are also very few music tracks: during races, only jingles of several seconds play as the user crosses checkpoints and the goal line for laps; however, this is likely stylistic.

Virtua Racing does, however, have an advantage in terms of resolutions and polygon counts - though the flat shading leads to unrealistic-looking worlds, Virtua Racing actually renders more polygons in real time than its logical successor, Daytona USA, which brought the genre further forward. It would also take home systems several years to "catch up" in these two areas.

Virtua Racing was only available to arcade operators as single or twin cabinets, however four of the twin units can be linked up to create an eight-player experience.

Gameplay

Tracks

The original release of Virtua Racing has the player race Formula 1 cars around three different tracks divided into difficulty:

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Rereleases

Virtua Formula

Special "medium sized" attractions, usually only seen at SegaWorlds or other Sega-themed amusement parks, adapt the eight-player setup and upgrade the cabinets, creating Virtua Formula. Virtua Formula first debuted in 1993, and is almost identical (bar name) to Virtua Racing, though considerably harder to find. It also features fancier attract modes, covering all eight screens (there are variants of Daytona USA which do this too). Many Virtua Formula cabinets were later converted into eight-player Indy 500 ones.

The Mega Drive port

Virtua Racing was an arcade success, and though expected to avoid home consoles for quite some time due to the complexity of the Model 1 arcade board, saw an initially surprising port to the Sega Mega Drive in 1994. The Mega Drive version utilises a custom made "Sega Virtua Processor" chip, allowing the game to render polygons similar to the "Super FX" chip within Star Fox for the SNES, although it's arguably a great deal more powerful than the Super FX; the Mega Drive port is surprisingly accurate.

Though the Mega Drive Virtua Racing is one of the more technically advanced Mega Drive games in the library, the unusual specifications of the cart mean that it is often one of the first games to not be supported by cost-reduced hardware (for example, it won't work with the Genesis 3). The Mega Drive version also takes a hit in terms of graphics and sound, displaying fewer polygons at a smaller resolution with a restricted palette and lower frame rate. However, it and all of the other home ports include two-player modes, time trials and options usually only available to arcade operators.

The 32X port

Mere months later, Virtua Racing was released as a launch title for the Sega 32X, in the form of Virtua Racing Deluxe. Deluxe adds two extra tracks and due to the increased power of the 32X, has a greater resemblance to the Model 1 release. A Sega Saturn version of the game, officially titled Time Warner Interactive's VR Virtua Racing was brought to the console by Time Warner Interactive in 1995, sporting seven extra courses (on top of the three arcade tracks), four new cars and a grand prix mode among other additions.

Virtua Racing -FlatOut-

More recently, the game has been released as Virtua Racing -FlatOut-, part of the Sega Ages 2500 series on the PlayStation 2. This version includes an extra three new courses and four new cars to the Model 1 version.

Production Credits

Arcade Version

Director / Chief Programmer: Yu Suzuki
Programmers: Takuji Masuda, Masahiko Kobayashi, Masahiro Kawamura, Kazuhiko Yamada, Shin Kimura
Chief Designer: Toshihiro Nagoshi
Designers: Seiichi Ishii, Kunihiko Nakata, Toshiya Inoue
Music Composer: Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
Sound Effect: Yasuhiro Takagi
Hardware Designers: Shoji Nishikawa, Keisuke Yasui
Mechanical Effect Technician: Masaki Matsuno
Electrical Technician: Futoshi Ito
Program Supports: Ikuo Taniguchi, Yasuhito Shoji, Satoshi Hosoda
And Our Fresh Staffs: Kohki Koiwa, Toru Ikebuchi, Yasuko Suzuki, Naomi Ota, Takeshi Suzuki, Yasuo Kawagoshi, Nobukatsu Hiranoya
Produced by: Sega

Mega Drive Version

Director: Kouichi Nagata
Chief Programmer: Ryuichi Hattori
SVP Programmer: Osamu Hori
Chief Designer: Minoru Matsuura
Programmers: Kouichi Toya, Eiji Horita
Music Composers: Thoru Nakabayashi, Tomoyuki Kawamura
Hardware Designers: Junichi Terashima, Kouji Tsuchiya
Programmers: Hideya Shibazaki, Yutaka Nishino, Tetsuya Sugimoto
Special Thanks: Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Yoshinao Asako
And Our Fresh Staff: Kazuo Ohtani, Takayuki Yamaguchi
Produced by: Sega

Gallery

  • Upright cabinet

  • Twin cabinet

  • Deluxe cabinet

  • VR.JPG

    German Advert

Physical Scans

Model 1 Version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
90 №149, p86
Arcade
 90
Based on
1 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Arcade
 N/A
Based on
0 reviews

Virtua Racing


Mega Drive Version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
94 №33, p158
80 №8, p82/83/84
96 №30, p126/127'№31, p60/61/62/63/64/65
88
90 №19, p48/49/40/51/52
92 №10, p42
99 №42, p52/53/54/55
91 №54, p34/35/36
89 №32, p44/45
Sega Mega Drive
 91
Based on
9 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
60
[1]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
88
[2]
Consoles + (FR)
94
[3]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
79
[4]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
84
[5]
Edge (UK)
80
[6]
Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U
100
[7]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
78
[8]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
83
[9]
FLUX (US)
79
[10]
GameFan (US) NTSC-U
90
[11]
Game Players (US) NTSC-U
85
[12]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
90
[13]
Gamers (DE)
87
[14]
Games World: The Magazine (UK) PAL
84
[15]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
90
[16]
Hobby Consolas (ES)
92
[17]
Hyper (AU)
92
[18]
Joker (SI)
83
[19]
Joypad (FR) NTSC-J
96
[20]
Joypad (FR) PAL
96
[21]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
88
[22]
Mega (UK) PAL
92
[23]
Mega Force (FR) NTSC-J
95
[24]
Mega Force (FR)
95
[25]
Mega Fun (DE) PAL
88
[26]
Mega Power (UK) PAL
92
[27]
MegaTech (UK) PAL
93
[28]
Magazina Igrushek (RU)
4
[29]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
90
[30]
Player One (FR)
99
[31]
Play Time (DE)
93
[32]
Power Up! (UK)
90
[33]
Power Unlimited (NL)
91
[34]
Score (CZ)
90
[35]
Sega Magazine (UK) PAL
100
[36]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
91
[37]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
89
[38]
Sega Zone (UK) PAL
88
[39]
Sega Force (SE)
92
[40]
SuperGamePower (BR)
96
[41]
The Official Sonic the Hedgehog Yearbook (1994) (UK) PAL
90
[42]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
86
[43]
Supergames (AR)
100
[44]
Todo Sega (ES)
94
[45]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
85
[46]
Video Games (DE) PAL
80
[47]
VideoGames (US) NTSC-U
80
[48]
Sega Mega Drive
 87
Based on
48 reviews

Virtua Racing

Mega Drive, US
Virtrac md us cover.jpg
Cover
Virtrac md us cart.jpg
Cart
Virtuaracing md us manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, EU
Virtrac md eu cover.jpg
Cover
Virtua Racing MD EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, JP
Virtrac md jp cover.jpg
Cover
Virtua Racing MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, BR
VirtuaRacing MD BR Box.jpg
Cover
VirtuaRacing MD BR Cart.jpg
Cart
Virtuaracing md br manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, KR

Mega Drive, Asia
Virtua Racing MD Asia Cover.jpg
Cover
  1. ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 259
  2. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "April 1994" (JP; 1994-03-08), page 19
  3. ↑ Consoles +, "Juin 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 159
  4. ↑ Computer & Video Games, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-15), page 50
  5. ↑ Computer & Video Games, "July 1994" (UK; 1994-06-15), page 107
  6. ↑ Edge, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-03-31), page 82
  7. ↑ Electronic Games (1992-1995), "August 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 84
  8. ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "June 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 33
  9. ↑ Famitsu, "1994-03-25" (JP; 1994-03-11), page 1
  10. ↑ FLUX, "Issue #1" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 78
  11. ↑ GameFan, "Volume 2, Issue 7: June 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 26
  12. ↑ Game Players, "Vol. 7 No. 4 April 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 36
  13. ↑ GamePro, "June 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 38
  14. ↑ Gamers, "März/April 1994" (DE; 1994-03-04), page 36
  15. ↑ Games World: The Magazine, "July 1994" (UK; 1994-05-26), page 17
  16. ↑ Hippon Super, "April 1994" (JP; 1994-03-03), page 61
  17. ↑ Hobby Consolas, "Junio 1994" (ES; 1994-xx-xx), page 60
  18. ↑ Hyper, "March 1994" (AU; 1994-xx-xx), page 22
  19. ↑ Joker, "September 1994" (SI; 1994-xx-xx), page 29
  20. ↑ Joypad, "Avril 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 126
  21. ↑ Joypad, "Mai 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 60
  22. ↑ MAN!AC, "05/94" (DE; 1994-04-13), page 36
  23. ↑ Mega, "April 1994" (UK; 1994-03-17), page 22
  24. ↑ Mega Force, "Avril 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 8
  25. ↑ Mega Force, "Mai 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 96
  26. ↑ Mega Fun, "04/94" (DE; 1994-03-23), page 44
  27. ↑ Mega Power, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-21), page 42
  28. ↑ MegaTech, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-21), page 4
  29. ↑ Magazina Igrushek, "5/1995" (RU; 1995-xx-xx), page 78
  30. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-03-xx), page 49
  31. ↑ Player One, "Mai 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 51
  32. ↑ Play Time, "5/94" (DE; 1994-04-06), page 142
  33. ↑ Power Up!, "Saturday, May 21, 1994" (UK; 1994-05-21), page 1
  34. ↑ Power Unlimited, "Jaargang 2, Nummer 5, Mei 1994" (NL; 1994-04-27), page 28
  35. ↑ Score, "Říjen 1994" (CZ; 1994-10-01), page 53
  36. ↑ Sega Magazine, "August 1994" (UK; 1994-07-15), page 97
  37. ↑ Sega Power, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-03-31), page 28
  38. ↑ Sega Pro, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-21), page 44
  39. ↑ Sega Zone, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-xx), page 54
  40. ↑ Sega Force, "3/94" (SE; 1994-03-29), page 18
  41. ↑ SuperGamePower, "Maio 1994" (BR; 1994-0x-xx), page 34
  42. ↑ The Official Sonic the Hedgehog Yearbook (1994), "" (UK; 1994-xx-xx), page 35
  43. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 85
  44. ↑ Supergames, "Ano I, Numero I" (AR; 1994-xx-xx), page 6
  45. ↑ Todo Sega, "Junio 1994" (ES; 1994-0x-xx), page 32
  46. ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 219
  47. ↑ Video Games, "5/94" (DE; 1994-04-27), page 91
  48. ↑ VideoGames, "August 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 86
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