F355 Challenge; when Sega made a racing sim...and made it INSANELY difficult. And other games you love but SUCK AT

VGEsoterica

VGEsoterica

Member
Sega makes arcade racing games...we all know that and Id say most of us absolutely love their output. Daytona USA, Scud Race, Sega Rally, OutRun, OutRun 2....the list could go on and stretch out to a mile! But these games all have one very distinct thread that ties them together...100% "Arcade racers" with physics and handling engines that make you feel like an INCREDIBLE DRIVER

F355 Challenge on NAOMI and Dreamcast? This game makes you feel like you just drank half a bottle of whisky and got handed the keys to one of the fastest and hardest to drive cars on the planet. You will spin out. You will crash. You will swear the car has a mind of its own and it is fighting you at literally every turn...and you will end up loving every minute of it

Sega and Yu Suzuki decided they wanted to make one racing game for arcades that was a pure driving sim ala Gran Turismo and in that respect they 100% succeeded. Ive never played a racing game that felt quite as true to what it would be like to drive a particular car in real life as I have with F355 Challenge (but Gran Turismo 7 comes close with their GTI. Feels in game on a wheel like what driving my old GTI truly felt like)

But GAF....who here is a fan of F355 Challenge...and are you good at it?

I have plenty of games I love but suck at and I want to hear what game you love and suck at haha

 
VGEsoterica said:
Sega makes arcade racing games...we all know that and Id say most of us absolutely love their output. Daytona USA, Scud Race, Sega Rally, OutRun, OutRun 2....the list could go on and stretch out to a mile! But these games all have one very distinct thread that ties them together...100% "Arcade racers" with physics and handling engines that make you feel like an INCREDIBLE DRIVER

F355 Challenge on NAOMI and Dreamcast? This game makes you feel like you just drank half a bottle of whisky and got handed the keys to one of the fastest and hardest to drive cars on the planet. You will spin out. You will crash. You will swear the car has a mind of its own and it is fighting you at literally every turn...and you will end up loving every minute of it

Sega and Yu Suzuki decided they wanted to make one racing game for arcades that was a pure driving sim ala Gran Turismo and in that respect they 100% succeeded. Ive never played a racing game that felt quite as true to what it would be like to drive a particular car in real life as I have with F355 Challenge (but Gran Turismo 7 comes close with their GTI. Feels in game on a wheel like what driving my old GTI truly felt like)

But GAF....who here is a fan of F355 Challenge...and are you good at it?

I have plenty of games I love but suck at and I want to hear what game you love and suck at haha

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VGesoterica, documenting every reason why arcades never needed to die, every day. The forum wouldn't be the same without your posts
i actually never even heard of this game until now, Sega really made a lot of these racing games
 
I ran Suzuka Short on the Dreamcast version for like hours at a time. Something about that track and that car was hypnotic. Never played the multiscreen arcade version though.

It is a shame the F355 is rarely included in Gran Turismo, I think it might have been in 6 but that's it I think.
 
That game was so impressive, and yes HARD AF! At first, even breaking was painfully hard. But hey, that makes for one of the most satisfying racing game I've played.

Great post, man, and great content on your channel!
 
64bitmodels said:
VGesoterica, documenting every reason why arcades never needed to die, every day. The forum wouldn't be the same without your posts
i actually never even heard of this game until now, Sega really made a lot of these racing games
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I mean you still can't easily do the three screen setup at home but in arcades it just exists.

Arcades should have just kept building more unique experiences vs becoming ticket redemption halls
 
15cAhe1.jpg


I wonder if they had the three monitor setup
 
Never played it despite being into sims since the 90s

Wonder how the controls are using an emulator along with a Logitech G25. I recall a few people used to rave about the game on dreamcast back in the day as being realistic but curious to see how it holds up. The cockpit view was heralded.
 
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chromatic9 said:
Never played it despite being into sims since the 90s

Wonder how the controls are using an emulator along with a Logitech G25. I recall a few people used to rave about the game on dreamcast back in the day as being realistic but curious to see how it holds up. The cockpit view was heralded.
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It works well with a wheel. Def needs to be calibrated and dialed in but it's doable with minimal effort :)
 
64bitmodels said:
VGesoterica, documenting every reason why arcades never needed to die, every day. The forum wouldn't be the same without your posts
i actually never even heard of this game until now, Sega really made a lot of these racing games
Click to expand...
You never heard of it? Wow, it was a showcase for the Dreamcast
You can even mod the game to play in third person mode.
 
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This was a great game. I probably played it a few times and loved it because I learned how to drive on a standard and using it in the arcade was just fun. And yes it was hard and I sucked.
 
I played the online mode of this game daily on my Dreamcast for about a year. It was kind of strange, though. You'd go through a race solo and upload your data to the server, then it would compile everyone's ghost data together and replay the race. No collisions, of course, but back then it was pretty cool to see. Watching other people spin out on corners never got old.

There weren't many of us on there, but I had fun with it.
 
More shoddy ~30fps footage (if that) of a glorious 60fps game, fix your shit or at least put a disclaimer so people don't think that's how it is for real if you're too lazy to change your vsync setting or whatever causes it.


And yes, it is a sim so you're gonna need loads of practice mode time with the racing lines before you get to driving and then racing with any chance, especially if you wanna start disabling some of the massive assists.​
 
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SEGA Rally for X360 was absolute terror, all cars had the same speed and since then if you were to hit your car once in the race, you had no chance of winning in later stages
 
Sega arcade racers are probably my favorite games ever. This one frustrated me and started me on the path of generally disliking sim racers. It's one of those great games that I just can't seem to like.
 
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VGEsoterica said:
15cAhe1.jpg


I wonder if they had the three monitor setup
Click to expand...

that game taught me how to drive manual trans, and it's also why I always collect an F355 in whatever driving game I'm on. That high pitched sound echoing off the walls is forever etched in my brain. Nothing sweeter! I think Anakin's pod racer engines used the F355 as inspiration for the sound.
 
Some day ago, I found a cabinet in a mall near me, I still remember some tricks driving with no assistance. I also had a blog called "Your selection" from the game.

There were some trick to know before playing, for example one of them was press the gas with a fast tap to avoid the initial wheel spin.

I also remember people who mastered the game with the best lap times used to play with the neGcon and the adaptor, best setup for F355 and many racing game in general.

And the OST... guys, the OST!!! Many people hated it because it sounded too rock for a racing game, but I absolutely loved it.

Crave for Ride is still one of my favourite song ever

 
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Loved this game in the arcade and I was just playing it the other day on my dreamcast in full 480p VGA glory.

The 355 may be my favorite car ever. It's certainly my favorite Ferrari. The looks are just perfect.

oh BTW the OST is awesome, and I wasnt all that good at it. i beat the game simply through sheer bloody-mindedness (on DC, not in arcade, id be bankrupt)
 
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Yes I loved that game and could finish at 100%. It was not that hard as it was very realistic how the car handled.

But sure there wasn't any kind of help when using the stick like sadly all driving games currently like Gran Turismo that still have acceleration nonsense using the analog sticks. Controls were difficult on dreamcast because of the analog stick that weren't really good.

But the car handling was perfect for me. A true sim.
 
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Played the 3 monitor F355 Challenge cab many times after it's original release in 1999.

I don't think it's insanely difficult of a game, it's just not forgiving if you don't get the game mechanics down. It's not meant to be a Gran Turismo clone. You need to know the track layouts, their racing lines, and the optimal gears to take corners in. If you know that, you can do very well at this game.

It's only got the F355 in it, one of the most underrated Ferrari cars ever released. Well underrated only insomuch as it was gorgeous but an absolute money pit due to the exhaust headers being prone to cracking. I looked into buying one once because I couldn't believe the prices on them. There was a good reason they were priced more cheaply than the average Ferrari. The repair costs are astronomical. Plus if the exhaust headers crack at the wrong time and pieces get into the motor, that'll be the end of that engine. They fixed this with the successor; 360 Modena. Maintenance costs were much improved with the 360 Modena. But the F355 is one of my go-to cars in the Forza games since at least they've got the Ferrari license.

F355 Challenge: 10/10, might be Yu Suzuki's real masterpiece assuming you're into cars/motor racing.
 
UnNamed said:
Some day ago, I found a cabinet in a mall near me, I still remember some tricks driving with no assistance. I also had a blog called "Your selection" from the game.

There were some trick to know before playing, for example one of them was press the gas with a fast tap to

And the OST... guys, the OST!!! Many people hated it because it sounded too rock for a racing game, but I absolutely loved it.

Crave for Ride is still one of my favourite song ever

Click to expand...

Damn, yes! that OST was incredible.
 
I think I played it *once* and never tried it again on the account of how difficult it was to even go straight.
 
JPSLotus97T said:
Played the 3 monitor F355 Challenge cab many times after it's original release in 1999.

I don't think it's insanely difficult of a game, it's just not forgiving if you don't get the game mechanics down. It's not meant to be a Gran Turismo clone. You need to know the track layouts, their racing lines, and the optimal gears to take corners in. If you know that, you can do very well at this game.

It's only got the F355 in it, one of the most underrated Ferrari cars ever released. Well underrated only insomuch as it was gorgeous but an absolute money pit due to the exhaust headers being prone to cracking. I looked into buying one once because I couldn't believe the prices on them. There was a good reason they were priced more cheaply than the average Ferrari. The repair costs are astronomical. Plus if the exhaust headers crack at the wrong time and pieces get into the motor, that'll be the end of that engine. They fixed this with the successor; 360 Modena. Maintenance costs were much improved with the 360 Modena. But the F355 is one of my go-to cars in the Forza games since at least they've got the Ferrari license.

F355 Challenge: 10/10, might be Yu Suzuki's real masterpiece assuming you're into cars/motor racing.
Click to expand...
I'll never forget the video of Tyler Hoover's burning F355 Spider.





734c008d77e085b16752b08728dc0979.png
 
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I remember this. They glued together 3 Naomi boards to get the three screens running.

Actually they didnt glue them. The Naomi board had a feature where you could connect and stack them.

You could put together about 49 Naomis. I remember my friends and I would imagine and speculate about Virtua Fighter 4 using 49 Naomi boards. Fun times.
 
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lukilladog said:
I don't think it was too difficult, although I was coming of owning all charts of Super Monaco GP and Hard drivin' in a few towns :messenger_relieved:
Click to expand...

Super Monaco GP is definitely a huge challenge. I remember playing that for the first time and thinking I was on a rollercoaster ride to hell the way the corners came up in that one.
 
Azelover said:
I remember this. They glued together 3 Naomi boards to get the three screens running.

Actually they didnt glue them. The Naomi board had a feature where you could connect and stack them.

You could put together about 49 Naomis. I remember my friends and I would imagine and speculate about Virtua Fighter 4 using 49 Naomi boards. Fun times.
Click to expand...
was about to call you out on spreading lies.
but we cool now.

if you open up a wii tho you can see two gamecubes ductaped together.
 
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I owned both the Dreamcast and PS2 versions of this game. My college also had an arcade machine in the student hub.

I'm rather good at this game. :)
 
mclaren777 said:
I owned both the Dreamcast and PS2 versions of this game. My college also had an arcade machine in the student hub.

I'm rather good at this game. :)
Click to expand...
Oh nice they have a cab? My college (an expensive and prestigious place. Not bragging…wait for the next part) had a vending machine that was usually empty and couches that probably had the next plague inside them 🤣
 
I had the opportunity to buy one of these arcade cabinets for $1,500 and passed because it's so ridiculously large. Really awesome game.
 
It's too bad they didn't do a sequel with the Porsche 930 Turbo. (911) I always heard those things were tricky to drive, hell the car got the nickname "The Window Maker" given it's handling characteristics. I would have loved to try a game that accurately reproduced how that drove.
 
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