KennyLinder
Member
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...ars-of-playstation-the-ridge-racer-revolution
"Considering the fact that this was our first development for PlayStation and the development period was only six months, we could not take a risk and decided to have a locked 30fps," Sakagami says - but the full 60fps experience was never far from the thoughts of the Ridge Racer team.
"Ridge Racer with 60fps was included into R4-Ridge Racer Type 4, as Ridge Racer Hi-Spec version. It was actually what we wanted to do for first Ridge Racer on PlayStation 1 and I was very happy that we could do it with the R4 release."
Ridge Racer may not have been 'arcade perfect' - to use the parlance of the time - but it was a hugely significant release. As developers struggled with the transition from sprites to texture maps, Namco leveraged its existing experience with arcade 3D technology to create the most polished, technically adept polygon-driven console game of the time. It followed in the wake of a Sega Saturn conversion of Virtua Fighter that felt a little rough around the edges. Four months later, the Saturn version of Daytona USA would impress with its raw playability, but visually the game still couldn't meet the polish, quality and sheer performance of Ridge Racer. It took some time for the competition to catch up, but by the time Sega Rally appeared, PlayStation's dominance of the home console market was starting to take hold. Indeed, the level of its success would have dramatic consequences for the arcade market too.
Now, it feels as though the series lies dormant. Both the Vita version and its 3DS stablemate lacked the magic and both saw a downgrade to 30fps, while the latest Ridge games have been mobile games - a logical progression in some ways, but not quite the final fate we envisaged for a revered franchise. Some might say that the series had run its course on the home consoles, but in our view there's always a place for a new Ridge Racer with the arrival of next-gen hardware.
Our interview sadly lacks a response to the question of whether the series will return to home console hardware, but there'll always be a place in our heart - and indeed our software collection - for a new Ridge Racer.