Sega Virtua Racing Arcade Pickup: The Before

Sega Virtua Racing is one of my favorite racers of the arcade era. It gave rise to perhaps the greatest arcade racing game of all time, Daytona USA, and remains one of the true pioneers of polygon graphics. When a chance to pickup the twin version of the original cabinet presented itself, I barely thought twice about it. Here's hoping I don't regret that decision.....
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[@utubepunk]

"Poor man John's Arcade!" 😆😄

[@ScarletSprites]

I don’t know how that dude does that. It would take me 3x as long to get any real work done if I went that route. Love his stuff though and am thankful he does those.

[@RetroClash95]

This thing is gorgeous. Can’t wait to see it at 100%.

[@ScarletSprites]

Classic early 90s for sure. Thanks man, I can’t wait I to see it either, lol.

[@plowking813]

$350 great deal wow, nice pickup! I loved this in the arcade back in the 90s and now currently play it on mame with thrustmaster wheel with built in paddle shifters/pedals

[@ScarletSprites]

That’s awesome. I just asked someone else who makes decent wheels and pedals, because I’m totally out of the loop on that scene. I’ll have to check those out.

[@googleboughtmee]

Btw in future would be great to see some high quality gameplay footage if you can do it - in Mame the camera goes jittery over bumps and I don't remember it being that way in the arcade

[@ScarletSprites]

I plan on showing that on the "after" video. It could be a while though, lol.

[@magnvs_]

There used to be a Virtua Racing machine in a restaurant in my home town, I remember playing this thing a lot and staying 1 hour more just to look at the demo screen when my mom wouldn't give me the money to play. However sadly the machine was broken a few years ago, and the restaurant threw it away last year.

[@ScarletSprites]

It’s amazing how these things are capable of resurrecting past memories and feelings. They’re like true time portals in that sense. Too bad about the broken unit. I’m sure it had salvageable parts on it that others could have used to resurrect machines. That of course, if the machines itself couldn’t be fixed if someone gave it a little TLC.

[@magnvs_]

@@ScarletSprites Yeah I immediately clicked on your video when you uploaded it because of the nostalgia haha. Here in France restaurants must pay a loan for arcade machines, but the loaner never really cares of the machine once it gets old and they almost always end in dark warehouses in pieces or they're thrown away... Very sad about this. I really like your channel and your videos btw, you bring my interest in arcade machines back to life ^^

[@ScarletSprites]

Thanks for sharing that last piece. It's always nice to know that people are enjoying the same things I am, and makes the little extra work worth it. Thanks man.

[@katkillad]

$350 for any working arcade is good deal

[@ScarletSprites]

Agreed. At worst, I figured the two working medium res monitors would be worthy pickups. With some love though, I think this will far exceed expectations in the end.

[@ToddsNerdCave]

Dude, this thing is boss! $350 for this is a steal. Looks like most of what needs to be done is cosmetic at this point. Looking forward to seeing your progress on restoring this bad boy.

[@ScarletSprites]

Aside from the test switch on Car # and the paddle shifter on Car #1, it's basically just cleaning. Easier said than done though, because everything has to come out. Looking forward to showing off the final product in a few months though. Thanks for checking it out man.

[@emanatingf]

Man I couldn't handle equipment at the level of this. You are a Lifesaver to the Arcade Spirit

[@ScarletSprites]

Trying to save what I can. If I can get it on the cheap and salvage it (and I have the time) I’ll gladly take on a restoration. This one has admittedly been a bit more than I expected.

[@Gorilla_Jones]

This is my most played arcade game ever! My friends and I would drive to Milford Rec every Saturday and pretty much pump about 25 bucks into the 4 player sit down and race all night. R.I.P Milford Rec, we miss you and we miss arcades. Millennials don't know what they missed. What an awesome time the 80s and early 90s was.

[@ScarletSprites]

The lates 80s and early 90s were phenomenal for the arcade scene. I have many fond memories of this one which is somewhat forgotten with the greatness of Daytona.

[@Gorilla_Jones]

Scarlet Sprites On the large site where Milford Recreation used to stand now sits a Chipotle, a chiropractor, a Bobs Discount Furniture, a Dentist, and Blinds to Go. 😡 Progress..............Milford Recreation offered batting cages, bumper boats, an entire laser tag complex, go cart racing, and literally hundreds of wonderful arcade machines on two floors as well as over 30 pool tables. The three keystone arcades of Connecticut Arnies, Spankys, and Milford Recreation are all dust now, replaced by megacorp garbage. Apologies for my tragic soliloquy, but its sad to know such places are nothing but a memory now, and once my generation is gone, nobody will remember them at all. 😢

[@ScarletSprites]

@@Gorilla_Jones Yeah, that's not really an upgrade is it?

[@ScarletSprites]

Also, I added you to the "safe list" so your comments are no longer flagged. Lol.

[@Gorilla_Jones]

@@ScarletSprites lol thanks. I'm the Hamlet of your loyal followers. Often full of hyperbole, but in the end redeemed. Haha

[@PabstOban]

I can’t get over how much hardware is actually in this thing. You have really taken on a challenge. I look forward to seeing the finished product. My dream driving arcade would be a multi-player Daytona... I played that a lot as a youth.

[@ScarletSprites]

Daytona has always been THE racer of the 90s imo, but I love that Virtua Racing kind of carved the path for that. I’d gladly take a Daytona for $350 if anyone is selling!

[@GDUBLEY]

Very cool pickup, I didn’t realize this machine had so many components. The fact that they all make up a working game makes $350 well worth it.

[@ScarletSprites]

Agreed, I didn’t know that EVERYTHING was doubled up. And yes, I figured in a worst case scenario I could somewhat easily get my money back by parting it out. Definitely worth the gamble.

[@MetalTiger88]

thanks for showing every detail, never saw a model 1 board in action :D

[@ScarletSprites]

Still working on it, it’s been a little big larger of a project than normal due to the cleaning that is needed. I’ll post a finished product in a few months hopefully.

[@mailson4526]

Congratulations! First time i played VR in this cab, was in Buenos Aires-Argentina. I love Racing and racing games, so i have a Simulator and aside PC simulation games, i play VR via MAME in it. Irs really cool. I dont remember if VR force feedback is great, but Mame dont support it.

[@ScarletSprites]

I recall seeing it for the first time too, I was at a miniature golf and arcade center close to my hometown. I made jokes the other day about perhaps needing to go the Mame route for this if all else fails.

[@mailson4526]

@@ScarletSprites It is in deed a challenge, to make all this work, but you can do it! For me, racing arcade games has to be via Mame, and i wish i had the space to have a original VR and Indy500 cabs, but this way is good enough for me. Great videos man.=!

[@ScarletSprites]

Thanks man. What are some good racing controls for Mame? I’m assuming there is a company making nice wheels and possibly pedals/shifters?

[@mailson4526]

@@ScarletSprites I use a Logitech G25. Works perfectly with Mame. You just have set the degree of rotation to 270º. Virtua Racing, Ace Driver is a great racer, Super Monaco GP, San Francisco Rush is super cool to play; Ridge Racer and others! Unfortunatelly no Force Feed back until now, but its really fun to play.

[@plowking813]

@@ScarletSprites scud race/super gt, daytona 2 has force feedback on supermodel 3 emulator. I use Thrustmaster 150 pro wheel with shiny pedals, the Thrustmaster shifter can be modded where you can place any shifter knob on it, ie leather shifter or anyone in market for cars/trucks etc

[@vidlink]

Wow! That's a lot of work and dedication you there. Can't wait for you to show us when it is 100% complete.

[@ScarletSprites]

I can’t wait either, I just want to play!

[@Bearcade]

Nice video. I think you did a great job. Sometimes just showing around something that’s in repairs is fine. It shows how passionate about it you are.

[@ScarletSprites]

Thanks man, much appreciated. Definitely not a typical video from me but I felt it was fun to give an overview and am hopeful it will make the “after” video more impressive.

[@goukigod]

Looks crazy complicated but it's a seriously enviable piece of kit. Always wanted either this or a daytona setup. Looking forward to progress videos!

[@ScarletSprites]

Thanks man. I always wanted a Daytona myself, but for $350 this is a sweet runner up. I have a lot of memories playing this before Daytona launched.

[@goukigod]

@@ScarletSprites $350 whaaaaaat?!?!? So jelly

[@muhaxiiii]

Holy crap, 300$ here in Europe we can only dream about that 🤔

[@TheShibbybear]

Great video and I’m so glad that you’ve got it going. Our machine at 1UP Arcade was is a similar state when we received it, only we had two dead sounds PCBs, and two very bad condition steering wheels with all the rubber pulled off - which really upped the cost of repair. We ‘borrowed’ some Daytona steering wheels, and have one replacement paddle assembly on the way for manual play. We also needed to replace the power supplies and step-down transformers, but we were blessed with really good monitors. However, we did pay AUD$1800 (USD$1200) for the machine to start with. Your looks bright but washed out. A recapping will probably fix that though. Thanks again for the detailed video!

[@ScarletSprites]

Oh man, that sounds like a real hassle. I felt fortunate that a new optical cable and power supply got it up and running. I adjusted the “picture” setting on the back of the monitor and was then able to up the contrast which made the greys look more black. Since I need to tear this apart to clean it I may just go ahead and do caps on the chassis though. I’m always just so hesitant to work on monitors for fear of making something worse though. Thanks for sharing your experience as well, I’m hoping I can get it to 100% before years end.

[@TheShibbybear]

Scarlet Sprites I’m sure you’ll be fine. If you don’t do it now, you probably will in the next year or so. Good luck!

[@LindaTheGAMERGal]

This is a great game. Loved seeing the before and what you did with it.

[@ScarletSprites]

There’s more coming, I’m probably not even a third of the way through. Re-painting today actually!

[@Charlie-Cat.]

Oh man. I saw it while I was eating Scarlet. Blllluuuuuhhh. 8^) Anthony..

[@pauldobson8952]

Loving your arcade vids!

[@ScarletSprites]

Thanks Paul, hopefully there are more to come!

[@pauldobson8952]

@@ScarletSprites sounds good dude!

[@CAPCOM784]

Hope it turns out well that's alot of tinkering you've got to do.Sega has made so many wonderful games over the years I wish them the best of luck going into the future.🙂

[@ScarletSprites]

The good news is that base piece that was disgusting is about 90% complete. I’ll end up putting the sealer coat on it tonite now that it’s been sanded, bleached, and repainted. I’m just hoping the paddle shifter isn’t a real pain.

[@CaptNRetro]

welcome to the club dude!

[@ScarletSprites]

And what a down and dirty club it is.

[@XxBishop78]

I knew you could handle it,looking good man

[@ScarletSprites]

Thanks man, I’m definitely getting there. I think I will have the base box scoured with all parts cleaned, repainted, and put back together with new power supplies by end of week. Then comes the monsters of the main unit with all of the controls.

[@XxBishop78]

@@ScarletSprites its a big project but man for the price you couldnt have done better,id leave the monitors alone except maybe a little cleaning,they look pretty good and i bet that one has a newer chassis on it(looked super clean),keep us posted,lookin forward to seeing how it turns out man

[@RetroRalph]

I love this! I'm a huge fan of yours and I'm excited to see you clean this thing up! I would love to pick your brain on Atomiswave sometime, is it possible to find games for the original hardware without going broke? I only have two of them and I'm pretty sure one is a reproduction :-/ Keep up the great work man!

[@ScarletSprites]

Thanks Ralph, much appreciated. My knowledge on Atomiswave collecting is fairly limited, I don’t own any actual hardware for it, but I am able to play the games via the Naomi NetBoot setup. I know that a lot of the Metal Slugs I see out there all have the same serial number on the sticker, so there are likely a lot of bootlegs floating around. It’s a cool system though and not one that gets too much attention too often. Sorry I couldn’t be more help on that front, I really haven’t scouted for games though.

[@Charlie-Cat.]

Oh man bro. I've been looking forward on seeing this one. I got my supper of White Castles with me. So this will be good for sure Scarlet.. 8^) Anthony..

[@ScarletSprites]

I’ll give you a warning, there is a scene featuring some gross mold...may want to eat first. Lol.

[@mike7599]

Great score man! reminds me of the day I picked up my Daytona USA.

[@ScarletSprites]

But did your Daytona come with four dead rats!? Daytona is a fantastic game that I admittedly would really like to pickup some day. Do you have the first or the second? There are so many great racers from Sega.

[@mike7599]

Scarlet Sprites haha yeah, your right no rats! It’s a twin Daytona USA 1. When I got it it had major monitor, sound and electrical problems right out the gate. Got it back to 100% but there always seems to be an issue popping up just when I think I’m done with it! recently I had a bad trace on the sound board, I filmed a video on it, check it out if you get a chance. If you ever have issues with your Sega stuff make sure to talk with Ken at irepairsega.com! He’s the man and I’ve had him do a bunch of work for me over the years including recently modding my AES with the unibios. Great video as always

[@ScarletSprites]

I'll check it out. Yes, Ken is pretty awesome and is good at explaining what the issues actually are and what he did to correct them. He repaired a Naomi 2 for me about a year ago.

[@emanatingf]

@@mike7599 I'm happy to hear that. Arcade boards were made so complicated when they came out. & I;d hope for a Code of future-proof servicing wiv transportation for them or something. Because considering how inconvenient & hefty it is for those Beasts to be thrown away. They were really intended to be kept Idle *where...* there's space whether working or not. Correct me if I missed the mark

[@emanatingf]

The reason Money overwhelms me is not so much The not being able to envision it. But because it's taken for granted & over-confused how much Power it has had & continues to over our Society & the Globe's ethical & considerate decision making.

[@kevinyoung7294]

Fair price. Dedicated cabs are cheaper than astro citys. Most people want a small cab and dont have the room. Shame its not a generic hardware where you could switch it out with daytona or sega rally boards

[@ScarletSprites]

Yeah, I like that most of my others have options for multiple games. In this particular case, I kind of like that it’s a relic of a specific time. I had my eyes out for a Daytona, but this will do for now.

[@Gorilla_Jones]

Nah, VR is worth it. You can do it. For the rust remove the pedals and get polishing wheels for a compact drill. I restored my 1976 Evel Knievel pinball to showroom using just such tools for all the brightwork.

[@plowking813]

my mame/emulator driving cab plays VR racing, spy hunter, daytona usa, crusin usa/world and out run 😎 I just use thrustmaster 150 wheel pro pedals and thrustmaster shifter

[@SilkySilv]

Solid pick up!!!

[@ScarletSprites]

If that mold doesn't kill me, then yes! Actually, that bench is nearly unrecognizable now. It turned out pretty decent, was sanded and bleached, and is now ready for painting.

[@thehumbleone1983]

👍👍👍👍👍

[@G-MoneyCMB]

Looking forward to seeing the ‘After’ video for this machine....It seems like quite a lot of work needs to be put into this one but I’m sure you’ll do it justice as per your past cab projects! How many machines are you up to now -is this #7?

[@ScarletSprites]

Thanks Andy. Yes, this is #7. I wasn’t planning on picking another up this year, and certainly not a project, but it was Sega and it was cheap. It’s a weakness.

[@googleboughtmee]

Rust aside that looks pretty awesome. Is it possible to change the colours of car 2? The orange made me think the screen was bad, and in the marquee it suggests car 2 should be blue?

[@ScarletSprites]

Good eye. Someone had it set to orange. It can be changed to any of eight colors once I get the test switch working again. In a worst case scenario I plan on using the Car 1 wiring on that board to change the settings back to blue and slave, and then switch it over.

[@yooamatwa]

Amazing score man, obviously a bit of work but looks fantastic (anthrax none withstanding). I have to say though when I see the game pcb stack I winced a bit, just made me think about all the custom chips on those boards, hearing the issues on things like the namco system 21, these early 3d boards scare me a bit hah. Whats the out look for model 1 boards going forward. Long may it last though! Amazing stuff.

[@ScarletSprites]

Yeah, it’s a delicate flower from what I can tell. I’ve heard the Virtua Fighter board can be used and is a little more forgiving but that isn’t leaving much grace. I’m hopeful in the next few years we’ll begin seeing more FPGA options, but until then (if?), may the arcade gods bless this.

[@yooamatwa]

@@ScarletSprites Ah yeah, hopefully we will get FPGA solutions for these early 3d boards. Surely that will happen. To be safe I'll light a candle to the arcade gods ;)

[@dixitnuon]

Hi, great video! I’ve buy one of those the last month and I can use your infos as reference. Just a question, the fans attached to main boards are in pull or push position? I’ve asking this because one of mine are in push and one in pull and I don’t know what is the right one. Bests

[@ScarletSprites]

Awesome! I currently have it unhooked right now while I refurbish and clean the base, but I will let you know in a few days. I want to say that they are pulling air in and the fans in the back of the base are pushing it out.

[@dixitnuon]

For sure the back fans push air out, but the mainboard ones I didn’t know how to correct setup. Can you please link site were you have buy the new PSU? I want replace them too.

[@Sam-Lawry]

I remember when that was 'the future'...now,a micro sd is enough for all these memory. Arcade cabinet is like a old car,you need to work a minimum.

[@ScarletSprites]

Yeah, in 1992 this really was one of the first polygon games. I read that this unit was $25k, and that was in the early 90s. This needed some love for sure but it’s coming along. I need to tear the main unit with the monitors apart and clean the insides and exterior, as well as recap the monitor chassis.

[@Sam-Lawry]

@@ScarletSprites Yes,some part are rusted,you can restaure it like them. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6i0Z3p_orl0fJY A amazing work. But,only for the important parts,I did it too with a Blast city. If you can make a tuto about the nanao 2930 with all the stuff on the platin,the rings and all to have a nice picture,that s can be usefull,few months ago I knew almost nothing except the japanese manual,I didn t have anything in 31khz..now is almost perfect,just the pin cushion () to fix (the 13 I think on the manual,check my last video,you can probably confirm). Thanks Good luck.

[@kiodiekin]

Good stuff !

[@ScarletSprites]

Thanks man!

[@kiodiekin]

Scarlet Sprites r u in the retropie official group on fb? U can share ur content there to. Me and level one r admins

[@ScarletSprites]

I don’t think I am actually. I haven’t messed with the RetroPie too much at all in the past six months.

[@kiodiekin]

Scarlet Sprites well it’s all gaming related feel free to join and share

[@user-de9ks7so5m]

How did you move that beast? I have an upright virtua racing and it is one of the heaviest uprights I’ve ever owned😅

[@ScarletSprites]

It’s actually not terrible. The bench piece separates and is (relatively) light. The piece with both monitors I was able to strap to a dolly and wheel around the house. A neighbor helped shove it through a door and then from there I was able to wheel it and reconnect the two pieces.

[@DiskCart]

Lighting is pretty good here this is Led lighting? Do you do any color correction or brightness adjustment stuff to get it looking like this?

[@ScarletSprites]

The opening was indeed the new led lights. I figured if I hated it, no big deal since this is a down and dirty video. The only thing I didn’t catch was the shadow that was cast around my neck, but I wasn’t about to get fussy. I do some minor correcting in Vegas, usually upping blues just a tiny bit., as well as contrast. Lights were set to 5700K.

[@DiskCart]

@@ScarletSprites thanks for that tip. The battery thing is a game changer. Moving corded lights around is going to kill me!

[@ScarletSprites]

Yeah, these are sweet because they can run plugged or off batteries. I’m still experimenting with temperature and intensity but I’ll shoot you a DM on Twitter later today.

[@kslice5022]

Would you trade a sega rally for virtua racing? How much are both worth?

[@ScarletSprites]

I personally would make that trade, but that doesn’t mean that others would. It really comes down to how much you like either game or are you sick of one of them. I mostly played Rally on DC and skipped it in arcades. There’s more history to VR imo and that’s important to me and factors into my decision. As far as how much are either worth? That’s another tough call that could swing wildly based on region, condition, and general availability.

[@kslice5022]

@@ScarletSprites i own a sega rally arcade and someone made me an offer to trade... But i couldn't find any information about how much virtua racing is worth. Could you help me out?

[@MobileDecay]

You know how many children farted on those boards? 😮😮😮

[@ScarletSprites]

I don’t, but given the amount of time I spent scouring the bench with various cleaners, sanding the interior, and simple greening the boards I feel confident enough to say you could eat off of any of it.

[@MobileDecay]

@@ScarletSprites Farts are forever. 🥺

[@hamstrungharry259]

Man, my Outrun and Hang On is in way way waayyyyyy worse shape. Haha.

[@ScarletSprites]

Well this had four dead rats and a nest in it when I finally tore it all apart soooo, lol.

[@AkatsukiBK]

Jesus, was this outside or something?

[@ScarletSprites]

Definitely was stored outdoors or in a place with high humidity. It’s cleaning up pretty well though.

[@stgenerations]

Take care of that rust, It has a tendency to spread if not addressed especially in a climate controlled space.

[@ScarletSprites]

I’ve had a pretty steady Evaporust bath rotation going on since mid-week. It’s amazing what that stuff can do.