Virtua Racing
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Virtua Racing | |||||
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System(s): Sega Model 1, Sega Mega Drive | |||||
Publisher: Sega | |||||
Developer: Sega AM2, Sega AM4 (cabinet) | |||||
Genre: Racing | |||||
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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.
Contents
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:
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
Promotional Material
- VirtuaRacing MD US PrintAdvert.jpg
Mega Drive US print advert
Mega Drive JP TV advert
Mega Drive UK TV advert
- VR.JPG
Mega Drive DE print advert
- 1994 06 - Virtua Racing.jpg
Mega Drive ES print advert 1
- 1994 07 - Virtua Racing.jpg
Mega Drive ES print advert 1(variation)
- 1994 10 - Virtua Racing.jpg
Mega Drive ES print advert 2
- 1994 12 - Mega Drive.jpg
Mega Drive ES print advert 3
Physical Scans
Model 1 Version
Sega Retro Average | ||||
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N/A | |
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Based on 0 reviews |
Model 1, US (upright) | ||||
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Model 1, US (twin) | ||||
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Model 1, US (deluxe) | ||||
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Model 1, JP (upright) | ||||
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Model 1, JP (twin) | ||||
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Model 1, JP (deluxe) | ||||
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Mega Drive Version
87 | |
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Based on 49 reviews |
Virtua Racing series of games | |
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Virtua Racing (1992) | Virtua Formula (1993) | |
Virtua Racing (1994) | |
Virtua Racing Deluxe (1994) | |
Time Warner Interactive's VR Virtua Racing (1995) | |
Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 8: Virtua Racing FlatOut (2004) | |
Sega Ages Virtua Racing (2019) | |
Virtua Racing related media | |
Virtua Racing & OutRunners (1993) | Yu Suzuki Produce G-LOC/R360/Virtua Racing (1998) | |
Virtua Racing Hisshou Kouryaku Hou (1994) | Virtua Racing: Official Racing Guide (1994) | |
Virtua Racing: Virtua Video (?) |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 File:MeanMachinesSega19UK.pdf, page 49 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>
tag; name ":File:MeanMachinesSega19UK.pdf_p49" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 259
- ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "April 1994" (JP; 1994-03-08), page 19
- ↑ Console Mania, "Aprile 1994" (IT; 1994-0x-xx), page 102
- ↑ Consoles +, "Juin 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 159
- ↑ Computer & Video Games, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-15), page 50
- ↑ Computer & Video Games, "July 1994" (UK; 1994-06-15), page 107
- ↑ Edge, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-03-31), page 82
- ↑ Electronic Games (1992-1995), "August 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 84
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "June 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 33
- ↑ Famitsu, "1994-03-25" (JP; 1994-03-11), page 1
- ↑ FLUX, "Issue #1" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 78
- ↑ GameFan, "Volume 2, Issue 7: June 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 26
- ↑ Game Players, "Vol. 7 No. 4 April 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 36
- ↑ GamePro, "June 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 38
- ↑ Gamers, "März/April 1994" (DE; 1994-03-04), page 36
- ↑ Games World: The Magazine, "July 1994" (UK; 1994-05-26), page 17
- ↑ Hippon Super, "April 1994" (JP; 1994-03-03), page 61
- ↑ Hobby Consolas, "Junio 1994" (ES; 1994-xx-xx), page 60
- ↑ Hyper, "March 1994" (AU; 1994-xx-xx), page 22
- ↑ Joker, "September 1994" (SI; 1994-xx-xx), page 29
- ↑ Joypad, "Avril 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 126
- ↑ Joypad, "Mai 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 60
- ↑ MAN!AC, "05/94" (DE; 1994-04-13), page 36
- ↑ Mega, "April 1994" (UK; 1994-03-17), page 22
- ↑ Mega Force, "Avril 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 8
- ↑ Mega Force, "Mai 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 96
- ↑ Mega Fun, "04/94" (DE; 1994-03-23), page 44
- ↑ Mega Power, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-21), page 42
- ↑ MegaTech, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-21), page 4
- ↑ Magazina Igrushek, "5/1995" (RU; 1995-xx-xx), page 78
- ↑ Player One, "Mai 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 51
- ↑ Play Time, "5/94" (DE; 1994-04-06), page 142
- ↑ Power Up!, "Saturday, May 21, 1994" (UK; 1994-05-21), page 1
- ↑ Power Unlimited, "Jaargang 2, Nummer 5, Mei 1994" (NL; 1994-04-27), page 28
- ↑ Score, "Říjen 1994" (CZ; 1994-10-01), page 53
- ↑ Sega Magazine, "August 1994" (UK; 1994-07-15), page 97
- ↑ Sega Power, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-03-31), page 28
- ↑ Sega Pro, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-21), page 44
- ↑ Sega Zone, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-xx), page 54
- ↑ Sega Force, "3/94" (SE; 1994-03-29), page 18
- ↑ SuperGamePower, "Maio 1994" (BR; 1994-0x-xx), page 34
- ↑ The Official Sonic the Hedgehog Yearbook (1994), "" (UK; 1994-xx-xx), page 35
- ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 85
- ↑ Supergames, "Ano I, Numero I" (AR; 1994-xx-xx), page 6
- ↑ Todo Sega, "Junio 1994" (ES; 1994-0x-xx), page 32
- ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 219
- ↑ Video Games, "5/94" (DE; 1994-04-27), page 91
- ↑ VideoGames, "August 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 86
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