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It's been 9 years since the last proper Ridge Racer released.

M

MvCSpiderman

Banned
With Bizarcreations dead, EA killing Burnout, MS killing PGR, and no proper Ridge Racer since 2012's Ridge Racer Unbounded, the arcade racing scene has been dominated by subpar Need for Speed entries. EA doesn't have competition so there's no reason for them to try.

Since PS1 a Ridge Racer was on every system outside Sega, but now it's dead. I don't understand why either, a well made entry on new consoles could sell well, it seems like avoiding free money imo.

But I'm not sure we will see another proper Ridge Racer again, the last couple titles were outsourced and it seems Namco has been cheap with Tekken and several of their other franchises recently, which is unfortunate.

Occasionally some dev will release a one off arcade racer but these vary in quality. I guess it's just Madden presents Need for Speed for the foreseeable future.

Yes Forza Horizon is a great and highly acclaimed game series, but it's just one option and it aims for open world racing gameplay, not the no mercy fast paced circuit or street racing other games had.

This would have been the perfect game genre to show off the power of the PS5 or XSX.
 
NikuNashi

NikuNashi

Member
Well it's been 14 years since we had another iteration in the GOAT racing game series Chase HQ.
 
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01011001

01011001

Banned
technically, this was the last proper RR released, in 2014:

OIP.nvg3RLey2jD0iAj8zZS_6gHaEK


I wouldn't even call Unbounded a real Ridge Racer game... so yeah, Slipstream was the last one.

I just wish someone would hack, and mod Slipstream to have a better progression system and so that local VS works again. ever since the servers went down you can't even play locally anymore, only Singleplayer
 
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Pagusas

Pagusas

Elden Member
I mean I don’t think Ridge Racer even has a place in modern gaming the way it was, unless you price it at .99 cents and shove it on the App Store. It needs to massively evolve if it ever comes back.
 
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M

MvCSpiderman

Banned
NikuNashi said:
Well it's been 14 years since we had another iteration in the GOAT racing game series Chase HQ.
Click to expand...
You didn't even race in Chase HQ lol.

Pagusas said:
I mean I don’t think Ridge Racer even has a place in modern gaming the way it was. It needs to massively evolve if it ever comes back
Click to expand...
How is it any less modern than Split second or current NFS?

01011001 said:
technically, this was the last proper RR released, in 2014:

OIP.nvg3RLey2jD0iAj8zZS_6gHaEK


I wouldn't even call Unbounded a real Ridge Racer game... so yeah, Slipstream was the last one.

I just wish someone would hack, and mod Slipstream to have a better progression system and so that local VS works again. ever since the servers went down you can't even play locally anymore, only Singleplayer
Click to expand...
No it's not, it's a mobile game. It also no longer exists
 
Calverz

Calverz

Gold Member
I still play ridge racer 7 on my ps3 regularly and I agree with OP. Where the hell has the series gone?! OP I strongly recommend you try the GRID reboot. It’s really fun and runs at 4K 60fps on series x so it looks amazing. But yea I want ridge racer 8
 
01011001

01011001

Banned
MvCSpiderman said:
No it's not, it's a mobile game. It also no longer exists
Click to expand...

and Unbounded was literally not a Ridge Racer game... it was a wannabe burnout with the name slapped onto it.

Ridge Racer Slipstream might be a mobile game, but it plays like Ridge Racer 7, has tracks from the PSP games, RR6 and RR7... has some of the classic songs in there, has all the classic cars and it looks pretty nice for such an old Mobile game.
it's better than whatever that PSVita game was supposed to be, and has a fairer monetization model as well :nougat_rofl: :nougat_rofl:

and you can still easily play it btw. you can get the .apk file for android on some sites, and it still works offline... just multiplayer is non functional sadly, even local LAN doesn't work anymore... which is why I would love for someone to mod that thing... hell you could literally port it to the Switch even! the Switch can run android games with that wrapper this guy made for GTA.
but even as it is, it's a great game for on the go... just pop out your phone and play a quick race. I still play it from time to time, still have it installed on my phone, and I have the .apk file so I can reinstall it on every android phone in the future as well.
 
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S

Smether

Member
Ridge Racer PS1 was epic, certainly not much to it gameplay wise, but a display of what the original Playstation was capable of and delivered on the promise of meeting or exceeding arcade quality games at home. And then:

tenor.gif


But they revived Wipeout so maybe they can reimagine for PS5 soon?
 
01011001

01011001

Banned
Smether said:
Ridge Racer PS1 was epic, certainly not much to it gameplay wise, but a display of what the original Playstation was capable of and delivered on the promise of meeting or exceeding arcade quality games at home. And then:
Click to expand...

except that it ran at a shitty 30fps and looked worse...
of course they later fixed that with the rerelease "Ridge Racer Hi-Spec"/"Ridge Racer Turbo"
 
01011001

01011001

Banned
it is funny how they made a bunch of controllers for PS1 back in the day to have various ways to play it with analog steering... and now with the newer ones like RR6 and 7, you basically have to play with the D-Pad if you really wanna get serious :messenger_tears_of_joy:

but I mean that Jogcon controller had actual force feedback, which was cool I guess
 
RaZoR No1

RaZoR No1

Member
I miss RR too

A good easy to learn but hard to master racing game + dat music.

It is really sad to see the decline in arcade racing games...
One reason more, why we should be happy to see Test Drive is back again.
 
01011001

01011001

Banned
all this talking makes me wonder how well RR7 runs on a PC nowadays... be right back

edit:
PRETTY WELL it turns out!



this is running on a GTX 1660 Ti and a Core i5-9400F (2.9ghz)... not bad at all
 
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Stuart360

Stuart360

Member
Its actually more like 14 or 15 years as Unbounded was not a RR game, Namco just slapped the name on some racing game, and a shit one at that as it played nothing like RR.
The proper last console RR games were RR6 and RR7, and they were glorious (not including handheld versions)

Will we ever get that kind of RR again, probably not, especially with arcades being dead these days.
 
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93xfan

93xfan

Banned
I agree OP. Would love a remaster of the arcade games and Rage Racer personally. I really miss those games
 
01011001

01011001

Banned
Stuart360 said:
Unbounded was not a RR game, Namco just slapped the name on some racing game, and a shit one at that as it played nothing like RR.
Click to expand...

exactly! and OP didn't count Slipstream because it was a mobile game... well at the very least it was a Ridge Racer game, and a good one as well
 
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Nozz-A-La

Nozz-A-La

Member
01011001 said:
it is funny how they made a bunch of controllers for PS1 back in the day to have various ways to play it with analog steering... and now with the newer ones like RR6 and 7, you basically have to play with the D-Pad if you really wanna get serious :messenger_tears_of_joy:

but I mean that Jogcon controller had actual force feedback, which was cool I guess
Click to expand...
I seem to remember preferring the twisting one, but I just can’t picture myself playing Forza by twisting a controller (not that it could make my driving any worse).

I’d love for them to bring back Ridge Racer though.
 
Pagusas

Pagusas

Elden Member
MvCSpiderman said:
Forza Horizon and NFS sell millions.


You're thinking of RRV or R racing evolution. Unless your talking before PS2 that would be R4 or Ridge Racer 64
Click to expand...
Horizon is literally an open world game with tons of features, and even then wasn’t it just yesterday we were talking about how it’s been suggested it’s sales numbers come from MS basically giving the game away via packins/game pass/free offers.

need for speed is all over the place and does open world, arcade, story driven, mod driven, everything. The series Is constantly changing its core to try staying relevant. That’s what a Ridge Racer would have to do too, but I just don’t see it happening as it doesn’t hold the same name clout anymore.

I mean if we’re honest, the most famous thing about Ridge Racer is a meme.
 
Markio128

Markio128

Member
RR sold me on PlayStation - I remember playing it at my mates house and thinking that it was like being at the arcades. We spent countless hours trying to beat each others lap times. It had such a well designed track, as did a lot of the earlier arcade style racers. Sega Rally was another racer with amazing track design. I think I would actually love a developer to focus on making an arcade style racer with stunning visuals and just a few meticulously designed tracks.
 
Stuart360

Stuart360

Member
Pagusas said:
Horizon is literally an open world game with tons of features, and even then wasn’t it just yesterday we were talking about how it’s been suggested it’s sales numbers come from MS basically giving the game away via packins/game pass/free offers.
Click to expand...
www.thegamer.com

Xbox One: The 10 Fastest-Selling Exclusives (& How Much They Sold)

The Xbox One developed a pretty solid lineup of exclusives, but which of those games sold the fastest? How much did they sell?
www.thegamer.com www.thegamer.com
The dynamic seasons and open-world gameplay of Forza Horizon 4 proved to be great additions to the franchise. It garnered 2 million sales in one week, with those numbers rising to 10 million as of June 2019. These numbers also established Forza Horizon 4 as the best-selling game in the franchise.
Click to expand...

The game was in the NPD charts for months after launch.
 
STARSBarry

STARSBarry

Gold Member
God I loved type 4 for the playstation with the different teams and upgrade paths.

These days none of the cars would be unlockable by gameplay but be part of a season pass or something... which kinda would suck the enjoyment out the title.
 
M

MvCSpiderman

Banned
Stuart360 said:
Its actually more like 14 or 15 years as Unbounded was not a RR game, Namco just slapped the name on some racing game, and a shit one at that as it played nothing like RR.
The proper last console RR games were RR6 and RR7, and they were glorious (not including handheld versions)

Will we ever get that kind of RR again, probably not, especially with arcades being dead these days.
Click to expand...
RR 6 and 7 were not released in the arcades.
 
Stuart360

Stuart360

Member
MvCSpiderman said:
RR 6 and 7 were not released in the arcades.
Click to expand...
I know that. My point is in this day and age, the only way will get an old RR style game, is if it was a port from the arcades.
For whatever reason, these games dont sell today, or studios dont think they sell anyway.
 
01011001

01011001

Banned
I know that. My point is in this day and age, the only way will get an old RR style game, is if it was a port from the arcades.
For whatever reason, these games dont sell today, or studios dont think they sell anyway.

I bet it would sell on Switch honestly... and there was a leak/rumor about Ridge Racer 8 being a Switch exclusive, which for a while looked extremely credible, but that just vanished over time and people forgot about it, it was supposedly canceled... I wonder if those rumors were true

edit: I found a summary about RR8 and the leaks/rumors

After Ridge Racer Slipstream, it was thought to be the end of the series, with no fully-fledged games announced on any platform. Then during 2018, it was discovered on a LinkedIn profile of a Senior Software Engineer at the Singapore branch of Bandai Namco Games, that Ridge Racer 8 was in production using the Unreal 4 Engine. It was supposedly in development as a Nintendo Switch-exclusive title. Unfortunately, a year later, they updated their profile to confirm that development had been stopped and canceled. Officially Bandai Namco has never announced the existence of this game.
Click to expand...

if it was indeed fully canceled, that's really bad news... because that might mean that Namco has no trust in the ip (could also be that the quality of the game was terrible tho... which would not be as bad as the first option)
 
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M

MvCSpiderman

Banned
Stuart360 said:
I know that. My point is in this day and age, the only way will get an old RR style game, is if it was a port from the arcades.
For whatever reason, these games dont sell today, or studios dont think they sell anyway.
Click to expand...
Nothing is stopping Namco from making a modern RR with it without arcades outside them focusing on few franchises filled with mtx.
 
Stuart360

Stuart360

Member
MvCSpiderman said:
Nothing is stopping Namco from making a modern RR with it without arcades outside them focusing on few franchises filled with mtx.
Click to expand...
Well i think they may do a new one at some point. The only thing with Namco today is do they even have their own devs anymore?, nearly everything they seem to puiblish is made elsewhere.
 
Tschumi

Tschumi

Member
It lives forever on my jailbroke vita!

Driveclub some kind of a spiritual successor?

I think car racers these days are too snobby about realism for racers like that.. i used to think i was really skilled at hot pursuit 2, but i replayed it a few weeks ago and it was the easiest thing in the world to keep on the road.. poop!
 
D

Drew1440

Member
Thankfully the games are well emulated, MAME can now run the arcade (System 22) releases near perfect, although its still CPU bound. PS1 and N64 versions are also well supported.
PCSX2 still struggles with Ridge Racer V's textures and shadow effects, even the PS4 and PS3 emulators (PS2 classics) struggle with these effects which makes me wonder how Namco developed this game that causes issues with these emulators.
That said, The last Ridge Racer game I brought was the PSVita cart off Amazon, fired it up and went to buy one of the DLC passes, only to find the region on the cart was different from my PS Store region (UK). I made an effort to avoid online DLC on the Vita for this reason.
Also can't have a Ridge Racer thread without a mention of it's soundtrack, which I still play in other racing games where possible.
 
6502

6502

Member
A simple game design that delivered thrills and left loads of headroom to show off the "wow" of a new generation.

Of course you can't have a new one. 🙄

My Saturn and Sega Rally are used weekly. I have money to spare devs... just sayin'
 
Skyfox

Skyfox

Member
Ridge racer was cutting edge. So much so, that because they were one of the first mainstream console titles to introduce DLC as a significant part of the game the reviewers slaughtered it.

It was specifically the vita game that went heavily digital. The series never recovered.
 
AeonGaidenRaiden

AeonGaidenRaiden

Member
I dotn miss it nor do I think its better than the other arcade racers you mentioned. PGR is light years ahead of anything RR did. But I do wish there were more arcade racers because this latest/previous generation i have not seen so many sim car racers in all my life.
 
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