Ridge Racer (series)

Ridge Racer (Japanese: リッジレーサー, Hepburn: Rijji Rēsā) is a series of arcade racing games developed and published by Namco for both the arcade and various gaming systems. In each of the games, players take part in street races set in and around the fictional Ridge City while utilizing the concepts of drift racing to quickly traverse corners. Its virtual mascot is Reiko Nagase.

Gameplay

While there are differences among the various games, the basic gameplay in the Ridge Racer series has remained relatively consistent. Races take place on tracks laid out on city streets and other public roads. Starting in last place, players have a limited number of laps in which they can overtake opponents and ultimately win the race. As many of the turns on the course were not intended to be taken at race speeds, players drift through the corners, attempting to maintain as much speed as possible.

In the arcade games (and the home versions based on those games), the players also race against a timer, with time extended for each successfully-completed lap of the course. The race will end if the timer expires or the player completes the final lap of the race, whichever occurs first. In the console-exclusive versions, players must finish the race in a minimum assigned place in order to advance through the game.

Ridge

A ridge or mountain ridge is a geological feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for some distance. Ridges are usually termed hills or mountains as well, depending on size. There are several main types of ridges:-

Racer

Racer may refer to:

Snakes

Any of several genera of colubrid snakes, such as Coluber; Drymobius, the neotropical racers; Masticophis, the whip snakes or coachwhips; and Alsophis.

Entertainment

Aircraft

R4: Ridge Racer Type 4

R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 (Ridge Racer Type 4 in Europe) is a racing video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation. It is the fourth title in the Ridge Racer series and the last to be released for the PlayStation. It was later re-released on the PlayStation Network in 2011. It is the first Ridge Racer series game on the PlayStation to use Gouraud shading on polygons.

Gameplay

R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 is an arcade-style racing game with a strong emphasis on powersliding around corners. Vehicles use one of two styles of powersliding depending on the make of car they select: Drift and Grip. Drift cars require players to tap the brake once while turning to break into a smooth powerslide while Grip cars requires players to alternate between brakes and gas while turning to powerslide.

Vehicles are earned by playing through the game's Grand Prix mode. Players select one of four teams; R.C Micro Mouse Mappy, Pac Racing Club, Racing Team Solvalou and Dig Racing Team, who each have varying difficulties, and one of four manufacturers; Age Solo, Lizard, Assoluto and Terrazi, which determines the style of car and powerslide type the player will use. In each race, the player must attempt to reach a qualifying position, with later stages requiring players to place in higher positions to qualify. Depending on the qualifying position in each race, players will be awarded a new vehicle, or an upgrade to their current one, based on their team and manufacturer, with better cars earned for reaching consistently higher positions (i.e. the best cars are earned by placing 1st in each match while the least impressive cars are earned by just clearing the minimum qualifying positions). There are a total of 320 vehicles earned by racing with every combination of team, manufacturer and qualifying position. If the players unlock all 320 cars, they will unlock an additional one modelled after Pac-Man, for a total of 321 vehicles.