Arcade Racer
From Sega Retro
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| Arcade Racer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Made for: Sega Saturn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer: Sega | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Arcade Racer, called the Racing Controller (レーシングコントローラー) in Japan, is a racing wheel style controller for the Sega Saturn.
Contents
Hardware
As opposed to many digital controllers at the time, the Arcade Racer is analog in nature, allowing for smoother control than a standard Sega Saturn D-Pad. Whereas digital controllers rely on values assigned to on/off switches (like light switches, they react in steps), analog controllers respond in a smoother arc (like dimmer switches).
The Arcade Racer was designed primarily for racing games such as Virtua Racing, Daytona USA or Sega Rally Championship. Its height and angle can be adjusted by the user. The seven face buttons are positioned on the face of the wheel, and the 
and 
directions are redesigned into paddles on each side of the wheel which resemble semi-automatic transmission paddle shifters (or a "flappy paddle gearbox"). These paddles are digital, not analog, unlike the wheel itself. The Arcade Racer does not have 
or 
buttons, so games designed for it cannot use those buttons.
The Arcade Racer is supported by most driving games released for the Sega Saturn (in North America it was mandatory that racing games supported the peripheral[5]). There are a few, such as Impact Racing or Road Rash, that do not support it, however, perhaps because they need the additional buttons that the Arcade Racer is missing. Most games that do support the Arcade Racer will also work in analog mode on the Sega Mission Stick and 3D Control Pad, but a few, including Virtua Racing and Hang-On GP, require the Arcade Racer for analog play.
From a design perspective, the Arcade Racer is one of the oldest Saturn controllers, so much so that it originally started life as a Sega Mega Drive wheel. Known as the Sega Wheel it was originally set to debut with Virtua Racing in late 1994[6], but in the end no official wheels were released for Sega's earlier console.
List of supported games
- note: Please expand or fix this list as needed. This list may use Japanese names instead of Western ones.
- Andretti Racing
- Choro Q Park
- Code R
- Crimewave
- Crimewave Demo
- Gran Chaser
- Daytona USA
- Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition
- Daytona USA: CCE NetLink Edition
- Daytona USA: Circuit Edition
- Destruction Derby
- Die Hard Trilogy
- F-1 Challenge
- Formula Karts Special Edition
- Gale Racer
- GT 24
- Hang-On GP
- Hardcore 4x4
- High Velocity: Mountain Racing Challenge
- Highway 2000
- Manx TT Superbike
- NASCAR 98
- The Need for Speed
- Race Drivin'
- Saturn Power No. 5: Wipeout 2097
- Sega Ages
- Sega Ages Memorial Selection VOL.2
- Sega Ages OutRun
- Sega Ages Power Drift
- Sega Rally Championship
- Sega Rally Championship Plus
- Sega Touring Car Championship
- Shutokou Battle '97: Tsuchiya Keiichi & Bandou Masaaki
- Touge King the Spirits 2
- Virtua Racing
- Wangan Dead Heat + Real Arrange
- Wangan Trial Love
- Winter Heat
- Wipeout
- Wipeout XL
Gallery
JP model (grey)
JP model (Shin/white)
EU model
Side of unit (grey)
Bottom of unit (grey)
PAL model
Physical scans
| Saturn, US |
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      Cover
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| Saturn, EU |
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 Cover
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| Saturn, JP (grey) |
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   Cover
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 Manual |
| Saturn, JP (white) |
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  Cover
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Magazine articles
- Main article: Arcade Racer/Magazine articles.