DF Retro: Ridge Racer - The Second Decade - RR6/RR7, Ridge Racers PSP and Beyond!

Join John Linneman for this comprehensive look at Ridge Racer's second decade from the highs of RR6 on Xbox 360 and RR7 on PS3, the brilliance of Ridge Racers and its sequel on PSP and then on to the sad decline of an iconic franchise.
Watch our original Ridge Racer 5 DF Retro episode: • DF Retro: Ridge Racer ...
The DF Supporter Program needs you: join up for behind the scenes content, early access to DF Retro, early access to DF Direct Weekly and much, much more - including pristine quality downloads of everything we do: bit.ly/3jEGjvx
Subscribe for more Digital Foundry: bit.ly/DFSubscribe
Want some DF-branded tee-shirts, mugs, hoodies or pullovers? Check out our store: bit.ly/2BqRTt0

[@dark1x]

Just to head things off - I've been working all weekend on the GTA video and it still has a ways to go. Expect that early this week.

[@NashMuhandes]

Oh man, that would be quite the watch :)

[@SanchezS1998]

Looking forward to the verbal massacre, man. 👍

[@0Wayland]

Thanks for the update!

[@romanbellic810]

Thanks friend and colleague John Linneman. Let's go bowling when you're done.

[@jack_knife-1478]

Thanks john love your videos.

[@retractingblinds]

It's a depressing episode. NAMCO as a whole deserves so much credit and attention, their games are some of the best the industry ever produced, the quality of their games held strong until the 7th gen when it feels like the entire industry took a bump on the head. I really hope they come back again as strong as they were in the past.

[@melxb]

yep ace combat 7 looks super clean, they could definitely make incredible looking next gen games, hopefully ridge racer will be one of them

[@cronodoug4501]

I would applaud NAMCO, if they hadn't taken all the minigames out of the Loadings from over 20 years of gaming in the gaming industry. hahah

[@rhtr.]

Currently BAMCO and look what they do with Tekken 7. People complaining for the state of the game but its sells so they don't care about cheaters, broken DLC characters (OP on purpose - just to sell), netcode etc. We don't know even if at least half of original staff from Ridge Racer is still there. For me it is a dream to get Ridge Racer 8 but even if it will happen I'll be sceptical because like many other companies BAMCO is not the same as before.

[@Sly2Cooper]

@@melxb Enjoyed Ace Combat 7 VR missions. If only Namco release a Ridge Racer for VR...

[@melxb]

@@rhtr. i think the staff is there, those animated intros and cut scenes in ace combat 7 look the same as the one's they always done in ridge racer and some of their other games and the visuals of ace in general are reminiscent of ridge racer too, so yeah that same team could definitely make a great new rr entry

[@trevortrevor4209]

Ridge racer 6 is now working on Xbox series S and X.

[@03chrisv]

Ridge Racer Type 4 on the PS1 is still my favorite. The music, graphics and controls are just top notch and pushed the system hard. I would love to see a return of the series on PS5.

[@anonony9081]

Don't play if you have high blood pressure though....that rubber and AI was brutal

[@MikeRox83]

Heh I was just playing that on Thursday! Love it!

[@PopeTheRevXXVIII]

Ridge Racer 7 on RPCS3 and Ridge Racers on PPSSPP are mind blowing.

[@PopeTheRevXXVIII]

@@anonony9081 it's worst with the Jogcon

[@EVR-NOIR]

The intro was also EPIC???

[@SteamPunk96]

The passion behind the content John creates is honestly palpable, DF Retro is my all-time favourite piece of media, simple as.

[@blackflagqwerty]

He's around my age and is passionate about all the games I loved as well!

[@purwantiallan5089]

@@blackflagqwerty agree.

[@FeisarX]

Nothing... and I mean NOTHING was as incredible as booting up Ridge Racer PSP on my imported Japanese PSP (the only console I ever imported). The PSP was WAY ahead of its time.

[@racephase]

Wipeout on psp was better than ridge racer :)

[@strykah92]

I feel like it was more so that most people were growing tired of Nintendo massively underspeccing their handhelds for 15 years at the point. It was a huge breath of fresh air to see such an ambitious portable platform in 2004/5.

[@mr8I7]

I remember someone bringing a PSP into school way before the European release and it was absolutely mind blowing seeing that game run on a handheld console. The PSP is the only console I've ever bought a launch and kept. Seeing Ridge Racer was definitely a big reason for that.

[@Sly2Cooper]

@@racephase PSP had plenty of great racing games with amazing visuals.

[@FeisarX]

@@racephase I loved that game more - you're right. But I had a Japanese PSP shortly after launch in 2004.. and the only game I had was Ridge Racer. It was more than enough. It is hard to believe we had those graphics on a handheld in 2004.

[@DrMatta]

Ridge Racer 6 was legit. Took me 80 hours to clear all races, of which 3 hours for the last 5, those were insane. Good shit

[@Blur4strike]

It's a crying shame that there hasn't been a solid "Ridge Racer" released since 7. The 3DS and Vita "Ridge Racer" games were enjoyable but didn't quite have the same soul as the older titles. I really hope that Bandai Namco can put together a great internal team to make a revival of the series possible.

[@firenze8938]

I agree with your main point that a revival would be great. But to be fair, the 3DS game really does clearly have the soul of an "older title". It's mostly a port of Ridge Racer 64 (which was released in early 2000 in between the PS1 R4 and PS2 launch Ridge Racer V), and RR64 is itself was bit of an old school game that was focused on tracks from the original Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer Revolution. If anything, the biggest complaint about RR64/DS might be that even at launch those releases felt a little more dated than their closer contemporaries like R4 and 5.

[@darinherrick9224]

They would have better odds outsourcing to SEGA like Nintendo did for F-Zero.

[@sunray2818]

@@darinherrick9224 They already outsourced RR to Bugbear to create Unbounded, it's good but it's not outstanding enough.

[@purwantiallan5089]

@@darinherrick9224 Darin, Ridge Racer Vita imo is still the worst ever RIDGE RACER game.

[@purwantiallan5089]

@@sunray2818 not expecting that.

[@m-seb]

I'll never understand Namco's shortsightedness of pushing every RR game past RRT4 as a release title. RRT4 became a legendary title in no small part due to the expertise the devs had with the hardware, the game came at the tail end of the PS1's life span and it shows. They squeezed out every bit of eyecandy and peformance they could, not having to deal with unthinkable deadlines also allowed the game to have that distinct and clear cut artstyle that still stands out today. I still wonder what would a proper Ridge Racer game have been like if Namco gave their devs two or three years to develop a game on familiar hardware.

[@graalcloud]

I wouldn't really call it legendary

[@perfectlap9379]

@@graalcloud it's widely regarded as a top psx title. And it's considered to have a top tier soundtrack

[@DARS_04]

Just imagine if Namco didn't wuss out of the Dreamcast after Soul Calibur and developed a Ridge Racer Game on the Dreamcast...

[@buhshmuh]

@@danieladams5379 i was there when r4 was released. It was far from legendary. Gt2 was crushing every racing game at the time. R4 felt slow compared to the original arcade games

[@Devixicus]

@@buhshmuh Depends on what you consider technically impressive. GT had more detailed car models and an advanced sim handling model for the era. But R4 had one of the most consistent framerates as well as a tessellation feature to counteract afine texture warping (both things that the GT series struggled with a lot on PS1). They have different visual styles that people naturally will be split on due to preferences, but I think it's notable how carefully designed the color palettes and faux lighting is in R4

[@Nobutehuhh]

These videos are always expertly well made & full of heart. The shot’s of your PS3’s glossy exterior reflecting the TV were awesome. Showing those old game room & Japan pics really added a personal touch. These are some of my favorite videos on KZbin, gonna play RR7 now lol.

[@purwantiallan5089]

Hopefully. Even all 13 Nijigasaki members also love Ridge Racer Type 4.

[@wildonionchase3934]

“It’s Ridge Racer! RIIIIIIIIIIIDGERACER, remember that one?” Namco: Nope.

[@AlexanderTrombetta3010]

😂😥😥

[@arronbryan5314]

Haha genius!

[@subparSamaritan]

I had no idea I had so much nostalgia for the Ridge Racer series, especially Ridge Racer for the PSP, until this video. God I miss those games, arcade racers desperately need to make a comeback. Outstanding work as usual, John! DF Retro is always such a treat. :)

[@mzarectah]

Totally. I was more into Wipeout Pure at launch, but when I saw Ridge Racers just now, my heart skipped a beat. Might dust off the vita and play it

[@valentineli305]

There is a new arcade style racing series called Horizon Chase (turbo and another subtitle). It's neat, but not as good as RR on PSP.

[@jeremygregorio7472]

People hated seven and I don't understand why. For some reason they expected it to be something like Forza horizon or something and it's freaking ridge racer. Reviewers kept complaining the cars didn't race like cars . That's like complaining the Mario doesn't jump like a plumber

[@mr8I7]

Seven was brilliant. I got it long after release for very cheap and played it on a 1080p TV. I wanted a gorgeous looking version of the PSP game I'd love and wow did it deliver.

[@Sly2Cooper]

@@mr8I7 golden years of Ridge Racer games ))) It was also fun online. I remember plenty of players online even so much later in the PS3 lifecycle.

[@tchitchouan]

7 sucks

[@tropixx_xlr1549]

It was one of the best games of the series

[@black.phoenix.]

The RRT4 sound track is still the one who I regularly listen during my commute time. It's so good and it aged so well.

[@haaxxx9]

"Move me" and "Your Vibe" are my favorite ones!

[@purwantiallan5089]

@@haaxxx9 me too man. Along with "One More Win" and "Urban Fragments".

[@cia4u752]

-Ace Combat 7 was a big success, new games in development -Klonoa is coming back I refuse to give up hope in the Ridge Racer dream

[@TheDr502]

RIGHT! Klonoa, despite never being a financial success, had a new game sell 800,000 pre-orders. Namco Bandai doesn't think RR could have greater success than that?? I think RR will return at some point, especially arcade racing games start to make a comeback like 3D mascot platformers have been as of late.

[@CoolTrane23]

This video and it's comment section still shows me that this saga has a very passionate fan base, and i could not be more proud. Ridge Racer is the reason i still boot up my PS1/PSP and i would, as many others, love to see this franchise return. You made my day, thank you DF!

[@odinsplaygrounds]

I completely agree the clean and a bit more simple graphics of the 360 and PS3 generation, with strong art direction that runs in 1080p 60FPS has aged SO MUCH better than the majority of other games that had bloom, shiny surfaces and motion blur up the ass, dipping down 15 FPS at a sub-720p resolution. Practically unplayable, and not even visually appealing. Wipeout Fury is another great example of strong art direction, visuals and performance.

[@zachsteiner]

Well said, I can’t agree more.

[@goncaloduarte4683]

Games I'm the 7th gen being brown and having every piece of metal reflecting light like they were flashlights was horrible, those bright metals only looked good on God of War 3. PBR materials really saved the day in the 8th generation PS2 games old much better visually then most PS3/360 games.

[@PFBM86]

Wii visuals aged best of any 7th gen console. Lots of 60fps games with strong art direction and vibrant colors. Next to none on PS3 and Xbox 360

[@VexAcer]

Not to mention Ridge Racer 7 is the only PS3 game I can think of that runs at a full locked 1920x1080. Gran Turismo is 1280x1080, Lair is 1440x1080, Wipeout HD is 1920x1080 but is dynamic and drops below that.

[@deanchur]

@@PFBM86 Whenever I think of 360 art direction all I can think of is BROWN. Maybe because of the multitude of "gritty" shooters on the console.

[@ArcadeStriker]

Holy shit, this video made me drop some tears with realizing the beauty of RR6/7 and the lost potential from 3D, Vita and Slipstream, specially with that last montage playing to RRT4 soundtrack with "Ridge Racer Forever" scrolling over the screen And then Mitsuyoshi showing up again at the end made me crack a huge smile, you are a genius

[@Sly2Cooper]

PSP's Ridge Racers looks gorgeous on Vita's OLED screen.

[@Horeteppe]

Amazing work on this one John! We can only hope for a glorious return to Ridge City and powerslide our way along the Seaside Route 765, with adrenaline pumping music cranked up to 11!

[@washedSIL]

Ridge Racers on PSP still amazes me to this day. It looks amazing, sounds great and has hours of content. The end boss cars kept me challenged for hours. I think it's probably my favourite RR game (just) over Type 4. I remember having high hopes for RR on Vita.... massive shame they went the DLC route.

[@ogroto]

And sadly no grand prix mode

[@Akira-kd6us]

I massively condone piracy when game studios pulls some shit moves like RR on Vita, that's just pure greed coming from them. I hate stealing but honestly those kinds of people who decided to run things that way left me no choice lol.

[@DW98rosy]

@@Akira-kd6us i might actually be pirating RRVita once i have my vita, because while RR3D is a game i do plan to buy legit, the vita game being how it did (plus the absurd price of importing it as i can't find an AS release anywhere) means piracy will likely be how i get RRVita.

[@marksmith566]

Used to lay in bed playing Ridge Racer on my PSP till I fell asleep or the PSP died, I can still hear the soundtrack now 🙂

[@reevespeterson]

Thanks for this. Ridge Racer 6 is still my favourite racer of all time, even bought a PS3 just to play 7. Unbounded was just horrible. Very pleased to hear that RR6 has been added to the back compat list on Xbox. Glad I kept that disk.

[@shadowknight9395]

The drifting physics was so satisfying in Ridge Racer 6 and 7

[@reevespeterson]

@@shadowknight9395 absolutey. So zen and fluid

[@purwantiallan5089]

@@shadowknight9395 so did both RIDGE RACER PSP games.

[@kyledodson2992]

I just picked up RR6… worth it to get RR7?

[@reevespeterson]

@@kyledodson2992 just has a few extra tracks. Kind of Ridge Racer 6.1.

[@rityblackmore]

one of the best things about a DF Retro is how deep John can go in analyzing a certain game or franchise, I confess that many of these games I didn't even know about... Love DF Retro!!!

[@itsd0nk]

Ridge Racer’s: Funeral Service You gave it a fine eulogy.

[@spl1t433]

Thank you for this video John. It's so nice to see someone this passionate about that series. Ridge Racer is the only racing game that had such an impact on me. The blend of visuals, house/jazzy/techno music and how it played was unique. No other games can make feel so thrilled and nostalgic at the same time. I wanted to buy the Vita for RR, but when I played it in the store, with framerate drops and 30 fps, I thought that something really bad happened. And then it just fell apart... I miss this series so much. Each E3 I'm hoping to see it coming back. I hated Unbounded so much. I was, and still am angry at Bugbear for doing what they did. I know they wanted to do something different, but it's like they never played the series before. There was no sense of style visually, everything was yellow and orange, with urban layouts so boring you couldn't feel any sense of speed. The cars steered like bricks, you couldn't drift properly and the shortcuts and Burnout elements were completely out of place, like they tried to do a sandwich of Split Second and Burnout, mixed with the worst NFS games. The worst was the music, which was a patchwork of trendy dubstep music that had no place in there, with older tracks from RR to fool us into believing it had the style of the series... It really killed the series in my eyes, and it's not even a good racing game in its own merits since it had no identity. But it's also the doings of Namco. The only way they can redeem themselves is by launching a complete collection on the Switch or doing a full size new game for the new consoles. We need arcade racing games, I've really had enough of the open world with shiny cars formula. I just wanna go fast in corner with electronic music. i'm not asking much.

[@ahmadrafi8087]

Not only that,i found out that RR car from 1,type 4 & 7 are there with same as the tittle. What worse than proving this is still ridge racer?the online version tittle are fckng d*mb*ss its RR Driftopia and has repair system on destruction game!

[@zanychelly]

I got one my wishes, Ace Combat 7, a proper comeback.. A new Ridge Race would be great. Im tired of all anualized racing games that comes every other year. I really like the clean visuals in RR7

[@RyuRanXII]

Fast sport scars, 90's techno, clean japanese cities and sexy race queens. That's what's Ridge Racer is all about. ❤

[@freddiegreen6491]

Simple and to the point 💯👌🏻

[@joaopinto3655]

Ridge Racer is a vibe

[@IronicSonic83]

I just miss the golden era of arcade racers. Hope we get a new Rodge Racer, Out Run and Daytona/Scud Race down the road. Indie games are not quite there yet sadly

[@MrFallen1ne]

Mentions arcade racers and doesn't list cruisin USA smh lol

[@verdomtnochmal]

You get stuff like Cruisin' Blast or Hotshot Racing once in a while but yeah. I miss those days too! And it's so hard to properly play those classics today. I was hoping for Burnout 3 or Outrun C2C via back compability for so long...

[@statcous]

Hopefully we'll get a new Wipeout game on PS5 (fingers crossed)

[@ccricers]

And Blur. That came and went too soon.

[@verdomtnochmal]

@@ccricers Blur, Split Second, Sonic Racing Transformed. That was a good year

[@ureeb5829]

You always take us back to those days, some of the best content i've ever watched on KZbin. Thank you for all the amazing work you do John, every episode of DF Retro is truly special!

[@Georgeirfx]

He's gonna take you back to the past

[@TheKastorian]

Amazing video, John! That ending section starting at 55:48 alongside the RR-Type 4 soundtrack gave me goosebumps. Memories of simpler times...

[@Mx64MaxyImpress]

I came to this video, such an amazing tribute to one of my favorite racing game franchise that sadly faded away by Namco. As right now, it has been 30 years since the franchise invented, this games will always has place in my heart....

[@Artificeral]

Ridge Racers 2 on PSP is a technical marvel. Seriously, smooth 60FPS framerate, 21 tracks with lots of variety, 62 cars, all this on a portable system in 2006. I don't know how they managed to pull it off.

[@lanarkorras4411]

Wasn't Ridge 7 the game where they introduced an improved turbo system with various ways to charge the boost? Loved that system, and the game - still being as excellent today as it was then!

[@Route765]

Auto nitrous, reverse charge, ultimate charge, flex nitrous etc. It was pretty amazing! I also like how the nitrous companies are a reference to Ace Combat

[@Christian-op1ss]

A wonderful love letter to Ridge Racer! Thank you for the memories! I would like to respectfully disagree on 6 vs 7. To me 7 seemed to be improving some things, but without respect of what made 6 great. Some examples: - the pretty great campaign of 6 let you pick your own path, create your own races, and really gave a feeling of progression. 7 broke all of it, with just flat life-less menus to go in and out of. - while there definitely is improvement in some of the graphical detail in 7, and the new style is a matter of taste, it seemed like a color palette swap without the vision of the original. I think in your video this shows nicely at 29:50 . Yes, there is more detail in the background, but the image does not look as cohesive, since the changes seem to be stamped in there. - a lot of the Ridge Racer music to me felt like pretty flat techno, some of the songs seemed almost a randomly composed mess of sounds sometimes. However some songs are real standouts. Ridge Racer 6 had a jukebox that let you disable songs, so only the good ones played. This feature is missing from 7 I believe. However 7 absolutely improved some things, and along the benefits you mentioned, I would like to mention the nice slipstream mechanic it introduced. Not the first one to do so to be sure, but it really helps Ridge Racer. There are some tracks that are pure speed tracks, and in RR6, if your car was not up to snuff, it could be impossible to complete until you got further in the campaign. In RR7, you can use slip streams to get closer to cars you could not before, like the super cars. It adds a nice extra strategy. Finally on the drifting being simple, I thought so too until I tried going for the world record on some tracks. RR6 (and 7 too perhaps?) had this wonderful asynchronous time trial mode where you can race against the ghost of other players. To my bewilderment, the best players just gained boost at insane levels while going through corners. The trick turned out to be that some cars gain much more boost through drifts (at the cost of top speed or handling often), and if you hold the gas at JUST the right level so the wheels keep grip while drifting through the corner, the boost builds much faster. Suddenly the game becomes all about feeling the right amount of grip through each bend, and learning the car and circuit... and knowing when to drift at all and not. And when you pull it off at high speed, it's a real kick to pull off perfectly! (and have suddenly two bars of boost filled...). Also you can use the boost to straighten the car out of bends... well, you see it's not simple at all anymore :-) Because of this, Ridge Racer 6 is my favorite race game.

[@slowlymakingsmoke]

You did it John. I now am a proud owner of RR7. I have never really been a fan of arcade style racers, but your love for this game is infectious. Picked up a copy in a charity store in London yesterday. Looking forward to experiencing this new world.

[@AnthonyCSN]

Track design both in the races and in the music!!!

[@benvanasdale6273]

How are comments like this valid? It's just a statement... Not a statement about how good something is, just an open ended statement. Same w comments that just quote a line from a video lol

[@tranquility6789]

@@benvanasdale6273 who asked?

[@Sheepy765.]

@@benvanasdale6273 Damn, that’s crazy, except nobody asked.

[@Reggiamoto]

46:39 I didn't know this existed, and hearing it made me smile harder than I thought was possible. This is insanely awesome, I hope both Ridge Racer and Daytona will see a revival someday.

[@MatSpeedle]

An amazing DF Retro as always John. I have such an affinity for Ridge Racer, from memories of me and my brother riding our bikes over 30 mins to the bowling alley just to play ridge racer in the arcade there. To staying up playing RR4 on my Playstaion a night before a flight to the US. I was awake for over 36 hours that Day(s) but it's such a vivid and great memory completing it multiple times that night until early AM. I really do hope that RR will return to form there is most certainly a place for it in todays gaming landscape and it is missed. To this day I'll always rewatch that RR4 intro, and I know we're onto the later games here but for me that was and still is my favourite of the series.

[@LobsterJim]

Ill never forget the feeling of seeing ridge racer on PSP for the first time. I don’t think anything looked as futuristic and surreal.

[@Gorkab]

Infinite could be a great title for an eventual Ridge Racer 8 down the line, and oh man would those 4K60 (or even 120) graphics would look gorgeous on the newest machines! If only Namco would revive the series for good…

[@qaywsx583]

I must have been 11 or 12 when I came home from playing soccer outside and my mom had bought me a PSP together with Ridge Racer. Just for that fact alone I will always remember the game fondly. Needless to say though, the graphics did blow me away especially since I've only known GBA sprites prior to that in terms of handheld experience

[@idakev]

Unbounded is very underrated based on its own merits. The crashes are art, and if you get really good at it chaining drifts, frags (takedowns) and the Split Second-like shortcuts through buildings, it flows so well.

[@mgrimble3975]

Maybe but its not remotely a real Ridge Racer game.

[@danielebagnasco1123]

@@mgrimble3975 In fact, the problem stands in the name itself.. a very weird choice to use Ridge Racer instead of Burnout or Flatout

[@idakev]

​@@mgrimble3975 I do get it - if I bought a Burnout game and it was basically Ridge Racer 7, I'd lose it. haha. But that's why I said "based on its own merits". Good arcade racing games became rare last gen so I bought Unbounded thinking it wasn't even going to be that good, and it really surprised me.

[@vicamaral]

Lost interest for playing unbounded, not the same has rr7 LOL

[@LiamD7]

Ridge Racer 7 was one of the first titles I saw in-person on a demonstrator PS3 in a store. I was floored by the clarity of the image at the time. I was never fully engrossed in the style of handling of the series, but felt that the style suited the vita particularly well as a pick-up-and-play title. And again, a title that impressed with its clean presentation. I only wish the vita received a proper motorstorm title after the impressive Arctic Edge on PSP.

[@danielebagnasco1123]

Driving+Music is the Nirvana of the perfect arcade racers. OutRun (my favorite), PGR, Sega Rally, Daytona, Cruis N, Virtua Racing, Ridge Racer, F Zero, Wipeout, Forza.. all these games are blissed by stunning OSTs and vibes and i just want more of this.

[@racephase]

Couldn't agree more! At least we have Forza Horizon. It's the only one left.

[@oasisbeyond]

@@racephase Well that team made most of the best arcade racers from Xbox 360 era. Pgr, Dirt, Split Second and more.

[@danielebagnasco1123]

@@oasisbeyond Split Second was a very, very underrated gem. Also Blur was very interesting, i remember them as little sparks in 2010s.

[@HZNlife]

It’s a shame that a good number of those series have been abandoned. I don’t know why Sony closed down Studio Liverpool; wipeout on PS5 with ray tracing would be amazing

[@Tom-qo4mz]

a man of culture

[@ZulqarnainAidil]

Only when a game that came out in 2005 is featured in DF Retro do you realise that your knees have been pretty loud the past couple of years.

[@SpikeyNDS]

As someone who has and extracted what fun I could out of the Vita Ridge Racer, you've given it the fairest look I've ever seen online of the game. It lacks content but what's there looks and plays great. It's a shame they never took that groundwork and made a full proper single player game out of that. A damn shame. And I've also played a lot of Slipstream as well, given it was more or less the last proper game in the series. Even if it's only on mobile. Thanks for the video!

[@si2k7801]

Man, these videos always hit the spot when I need a hit of nostalgia. They remind me of how much more I enjoyed games when I was younger. Other than Nintendo games for me, most games are a chore now, in both how to operate them, i.e-install, updates, ect, and how they play... season passes, DLC, ect.

[@hetmanpolnykoronny1918]

Wow, still have it in my PS3 collection. So many beautiful memories from Dublin 2006/07. Thank you DF❤️

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

"It's RIIIIIDGE RACE, RIDGE RACER guys..." remember as if it was yesterday. I also remember playing Ridge Racer 1 at the arcades back in the mid 90s. The Namco System 22 arcade hardware was a beast. Recently I found out it was created with the help of Evans & Sutherland and old graphics company from the 80s/90s sort of how Sega teamed up with Martin Marietta and later Real3d to make the Sega Model 2 and 3 arcade hardware.

[@CaramelisedNipples]

I'm also old enough to remember playing the original in the arcades. Never knew that though, thanks for sharing!

[@DP12321]

We could play Ridge Racer on our... PS1, PS2, PSP, PS3, Vita, but not on PS4 or PS5. Sorry for making fun of you Kaz 😔

[@1ChilledDude]

That's right. Evans and Sutherland were known for their industrial Boeing 747 pilot training simulators and they provided the TR3 chipset for the System 22 board - The board used for Ridge Racer, its subsequent arcade sequels and the Ace Driver series. The 747 fly-by you see in-game on the Seaside route is a subtle acknowledgement of the Evans and Sutherland partnership.

[@christopherwalkinalloverya5824]

Did you ever play Namco's *_"Winning Run/Driver's Eyes",_* which released in 1988 in arcades? It was a fully polygonal F-1 racing game and it came out many years before Virtua Racing!

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

@@christopherwalkinalloverya5824 I know about it but never played it. looks amazing. I know Atari made some 3d arcade games in the late 80s as well.

[@AmigaOmega]

It might have been skipped over in the video, but Ridge Racer 7 did get a 3D update as well which serves as an interesting demo for 3d on ps3. The resolution gets cut in half, not sure about framerate due to differences between passive and active 3d. I used a passive LG Cinema 3d display. It's interesting at the start of the game but once the difficulty curve goes up, I found I needed the resolution and framerate of 2D mode to get through it.

[@Banderpop]

I would have loved more information on the 3D update to RR7 and what it meant for performance. Seems like an odd thing for Digital Foundry to omit.

[@skins4thewin]

This has ALWAYS been my absolute favorite racing series of all time, & I was genuinely sad to see it end like it did, not with a bang but a whimper. It seemed to really lose favor with the masses which is a real shame because the gameplay was polished to a razor's edge. It's some of the most refined arcade style racing you can possibly experience and is an absolute BLAST to play once you get the drift mechanics down. Every single entry is a blast to play, and the music is freaking AMAZING! The very first entry on the PS1 is what actually introduced me to Techno music & got me curious about the genre, after which I discovered a whole bunch of awesome DJ's that I still listen to this day! I have this game series to thank for that & for what is now one of my favorite music genre's.

[@E24KLawson]

Thank you, John Linneman, for reigniting my love for this fantastic arcade racing game franchise. Because of how I foolishly decided to clean my PSP--which I've had for twelve whole years--with a Lysol wipe five months ago, the HOME button and the d-pad stopped working altogether. Watching this well-put-together retrospective on the Ridge Racer series during the seventh generation of gaming as I wait to purchase a brand new Sony PSP-3000 (NTSC-J) was time well spent.

[@youtindia]

I've played PSP version of Ridge Racer and bloody hell does it get really difficult at later levels. The mechanics are not realistic at all, but it's challenging and very fun. All been said, it's incredible looking game for that system and runs at a flawless 60fps. It's the best racing game on PSP and this episode would be really interesting to watch. Whlle not the original way, I'd highly recommend playing this game at 2x resolution scaling in PPSSPP with a LCD filter. That is a good balance between how it was originally intended to be presented on a LCD screen while still enhancing resolution to reduce jagged edges.

[@tarekwayne9193]

I never understand why people highlight that the mechanics aren't realistic. RR is blatantly a hyper-arcade game, that's the whole point!

[@MrChezaj]

What a delightful video, I absolutely loved this! I really wish they could develop a HD version of the original Arcade port of Ridge Racer and Rage Racer like Sega did with Daytona on PS3.

[@WillRamos]

Such an awesome video….thank you!. It’s so great to see people still talk about this series, especially now that its dormant Ridge Racer on PSP is still one of my all time favorite racing games and probably one of the greatest launch games ever. This was my first psp game that i got on launch, and playing it for first time was a revelation. I had since sold my PSP but tracked one down a few years back and bought a copy of RR…i still play it every once in a while, and its an absolute blast. I will say, I had no idea RR7 was essentially a RR6: Definitive Edition…i am definitely going to track down a copy and check it out.

[@knightsabre2k]

John really nailed it on the head when he described the problems with Ridge Racer on Vita. It's a decent game and pretty fun to play but it's purchasing structure absolutely kills it. For me, the series lives eternally in Type 4 and Ridge Racers 2

[@VexAcer]

Not to mention that even if you buy everything it's still less content than you would get from the PSP Ridge Racers. Honestly it's such a pitiful release, it's really unfortunate.

[@TheGamer-om5rc]

Great video, I miss this series. I’ll never forget my 9 yr old self getting a PlayStation for Christmas and playing Ridge Racer the first time. A new, traditional entry in the franchise would be a day one purchase for me!

[@Clesarie]

Im glad you guys have a love for RR as much as I do. I love this era of RR. To this day I think RR on psp and its japanese / european only rr2 are some of the best looking games for the psp. I've honestly always loved how rr plays more than any other racing game sans maybe wangan midnight / initial d. These df retros are truly a treat.

[@Neptunelight]

OMFG I really love your video. I had tears at the end when listening to my all time favorite track in RR4. I bought all my console based on the release of a new ridge racer then.

[@arronetchells4363]

Absolutely fantastic homage to one of the great racing series of my time. It is quite simply racing for an arcade generation and one I will continue to enjoy past Forza and Gran Turismo. This to me….is racing!!

[@ThePhantomnaut]

47:57 Compare Ajurika's Purple Sky and Plucking Tulips in Tekken Tag Tournament 2. He seems to contribute a lot of the most memorable tracks from Tekken 6 onwards. Karma, Heat Haze Shadow, Equator Line, Empty Your Mind, Tekken Tag Tournament Piano Intro -Massive Mix-, Tekstep Fountain, etc. SO MANY BANGERS (even if what I listed are for Tekken).

[@Robocop_1987]

I was waiting for this one , Ridge Racer is an amazing series .

[@drumjod]

Videos like this are a treat. Love hearing John's passion for the series and can tell he put a lot of care into this video. These are so well done and professional.

[@tippinator]

I didn't know I needed to see this. Thanks for such a strong emphasis on music. Ridge Racer Revolution has some of my favorite game tracks to this day.

[@michaelpegasiou4531]

Ridge racer 7 was a killer launch title,1080p 60 was top notch back then and the games after very rarely got to full hd,final fantasy 13 and virtua tennis were the only other ones I had that maxed out my 1080p Bravia at the time.

[@lorenzotoma]

When I was a kid I loved playing ridge racer on my psp, really wish they would make a next gen one

[@kevinsammut7246]

Thanks for being you digital foundry. After watching this video, I had this familiar feeling I've not experienced since the late 90s. It's that feeling I used to get after reading the latest issue of physical published gaming media. Like an itch I couldn't quite reach has finally been scratched. Thanks for bringing that back.

[@Renaissance2K]

Thanks for highlighting the PSP Ridge Racer games. While it wasn't my official introduction to the franchise, I picked up the game in a used PSP bundle back in 2005, and I was absolutely floored. The aesthetics were incredible, the music was unforgettable, and seeing graphics so crisp and so performant on a portable console was mind-blowing in an era when Super Mario 64 on a DS was a revelation. I don't think I ever truly finished the career mode, but I did progress far enough to unlock some pretty crazy cars. The Pac-Man car with its "wokka wokka" engine noise sticks out in particular. I started exploring the rest of the series after that, checking out the early PlayStation games and some of the HD titles, but with the exception of maybe R4, none of them were as sticky as the PSP release. What a perfect way to kick off a new platform with a bang.

[@JimboJimbolina]

The OG Chad Warden making a Tyler Durden-esque single frame appearance.

[@PopeTheRevXXVIII]

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet we talkin bout that PSTriple

[@Minnevan]

@@PopeTheRevXXVIII Sup bitches

[@Tom-qo4mz]

damn i missed that, was watching his vids yesterday randomly after years and came across john's HD upscale as well

[@HAZARDOUS88]

Timestamp?

[@halinanowak781]

@@HAZARDOUS88 25:22

[@TerraWare]

Still have my original PSP I bought. I used to love playing racing games on it. I'm hoping we get some really good modern racing games. I'm thoroughly enjoying playing through Forza Horizon 5 and really looking forward to Motorsport and GT7. Racing games are great fun.

[@Sly2Cooper]

PSP had so much amazing racing games in many different sub-genres!

[@ChrisGower]

I have no idea how anyone is going to thumbs down these videos. The level of research and comparison is incredible. I don't even care for or like RR games, but watched as I love the technical comparisons an breakdowns. So good. As always. next time I'm hoping for a franchise that means something to me!

[@franksfv6674]

THANKS for doing such an amazing job on one of favorite series EVER! This has shown I need to be a Patreon! "Congratulations! You're now a patron of Digital Foundry"

[@havaska]

I’d be happy if they just ported the previous games to modern consoles

[@havaska]

Aaanndd Ridge Racer 6 is now back compatible on Xbox One and Series S/X.

[@tropixx_xlr1549]

Or steam, rr6 and 7 are a perfect fit for steam just for preservation and opening up the magic of the game to a wide range of audiences.

[@RMSYMultimedia]

Well John, Riiiiidge Raaaaceeer! They just added RR6 to Xbox Back compat list, no enhancements though....

[@WMARUoriginal]

Words can't describe how excellent this video is and the nostalgia this whips up in me. Thankfully I have Ridge Racer 7 and a PS3 which I will now play again tonight!

[@Alanzice]

Incredible work as always, John! You are the perfect guy to remember how incredible the Ridge Racer games were.

[@BlindBison]

If the PSP had a second analog nub, it probably would be my favorite console of all time. So many games would've benefited tremendously from a second nub -- especially the FPS genre.

[@ccricers]

Ridge Racer on PSP was my jam. I liked the nitro system and adding along many classic songs (some that I missed from not playing some previous games)

[@odip81]

Ridge Racer 6 just got added to the backwards compatibility list , 4k 60fps on the Xbox Series X.

[@RXNFS]

Thank you so much for this, this is a series that will live on forever in the hearts of fans and I'm beyond grateful to see this keep the spirit alive. ❤️

[@5punkybob]

This was great!! My wife is recovering from hospital so I have been deep cleaning the house and with this playing in my pocket with headphones on it’s all presented so well that I didn’t even need to watch the screen and it was very enjoyable!!!

[@clairearan505]

Ridge Racer 6 just got added to the list of Xbox Backwards Compatible games

[@stargateheaven23]

I would love for Namco to release a Ridge Racers (PSP)-style game on new-gen consoles, including every track to ever exist for it. A celebration of 30 years of Ridge Racer. Tell me they won't forget??

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

Ridge Racer 7 is beautiful to me, and it brings me back to how I felt when I first saw a PS3 for the same time, it’s amazing, 1080p60 is a crazy resolution for consoles of that era, especially when most games chug along at 576p at 10-20fps. I remember at the time when I first saw one, I was blown away, I don’t know if I would ever say it looked “real” but it was really impressive, I had grown up with a Wii hooked up over composite and was used to fuzzy graphics and low res textures, and then suddenly at my Aunt’s house I got to play the port of a game I had on Wii on their 360 and the graphical increase still shocks me today, it was so smooth and the colours were really rich and the graphics were so much better. It’s fascinating to me, it has this weird feeling where the graphics are really impressive but they don’t look “real”, it’s almost got this uncanny valley effect where you can see the flaws, even back then, but that didn’t take away from how impressive they could look. Whenever I think back to this generation I see this strange mix of grey, muddy games that aged terribly, games with muted colours like RR6, and then the really impressive PS3-exclusives built around that hardware on top of them all, they usually aged the best, when people genuinely tried with this console some great results were possible.

[@MichaelBjork]

Bravo! I love that you couldn't leave the ending sad with that banger after credits drop!

[@drlight6677]

Ridge Racer 7 is literally the only reason I haven't sold my PS3 yet. I would LOVE for a 4k remaster of it, including the UFRA Special Challenges dlc.

[@Fellipe2k5]

Been waiting for years! And RR7 on LG CX with FULL RGB is amazing PS3 + LG CX = FTW!

[@sneakyturtle305]

The PSP and the release of Ridge Racer was one of those moments you just HAD to have been there to really understand how mind blowing it was to have a game that looked that good on a handheld. I remember visiting a friends house in early 2005 and he had an imported PSP from NA with Ridge Racer and Wipeout Pure and it blew my damn mind at the time.

[@griffgames9538]

👍 Excellent retrospective, John. It kept me glued to the end, and you bonus-scene'd the end with style.

[@amnril]

Ridge Racers on PSP was truly epic.

[@Shaki123]

Why are you skipping over R: Racing Evolution? That's actually a retro title worth comparing between the 3 systems (PS2, NGC and Xbox).

[@Tom-qo4mz]

would be interested in this

[@redlinelies]

Ridge racer on the PSP truly was something special, spent many hours inside of that game while out on family vacations or just wanting to spend some time away alone. The way it was presented and ran on the PSP really was like a perfect match for that handheld.

[@tarekwayne9193]

Totally, still play it to this dayyy

[@Obscusion2]

For anyone curious, Ridge Racer 6 is actually still available for purchase digitally on the Xbox 360 Marketplace, and for only $10 ("full" 360 games are usually $15-$20). Unbounded is also there, but costs $20. Meanwhile, the PS Store on PS3 doesn't offer RR7 for purchase, minus the DLC, but both PSP games are still available (Racers 2 only in Japan [& maybe Europe?]), as well as the Vita game. Racers 2 is actually surprisingly up there in price, with the JP PS Store's cost of ~2,600 yen honestly being rather comparable. EDIT: And now Ridge Racer 6 is Backwards Compatible on Xbox One & Series X/S!

[@luismartins3785]

Amazing. Loved it, thank you ! Ridge Racer Lives on!

[@sunray2818]

Own both 6 and 7 HK version, they are both amazing for their retro, clean and beautifully stable framerate, might not be the most exciting or interesting racing titles anymore, but still a must have for a racing fan like me.

[@SaminPK]

Fantastic throwback and love to Ridge Racer!! Absolutely on the same page with you John. RR on Playstation just takes me to times when I had no other worries and just was game crazy. A time of simple and fun gaming that didn't take 100+ hours to complete.

[@cjoyce1980]

The quality of the production of these episodes is getting so slick. Great job Jon and Audi 👍

[@KoeiNL]

RIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDDGE RACERRRRRRRRRR

[@LRon-ef7ni]

I feel that RR started to drop in popularity when Reiko was replaced

[@fifeauctions18]

Loved this stroll back through memory lane. Have all the console releases. PSP Ridge Racer 2 is still brilliant on my 4K telly on an emulator in retropie. (Pc not pi). Those tunes ! All those tracks! Great vid John.

[@JPHarringtonJr]

Man you do awesome work. Thanks for the coverage on these vids.