While Gran Turismo and eventually Forza was more acclaimed, was Ridge Racer a more beloved series?

[Ed MOTHEREFFING G]

I don't know if any GT was as loved as the original ridge racer, nor as enthusiastically supported by Ridge racer fans as R4. Ridge Racer 4 probably pushed the PS1 hardware further than any game with its peers being stuff like MGS, SFa3, Colony Wars 3, and GT2.

From there it really feels like Namco did not 'water the plants' when it comes to the series and did a bunch of uninspired games...i don't even know what Ridge Racer 6 or 7 were, and it got passed up by GT and Forza on the simulation side, and Burnout and Kart games on the arcade side. But, Was Ridge Racer more loved than those game in that era?

Is it just me or are there still legs to this series? Is there a Ridge Racer game in the pipe? Or is it over? Why would Namco let this IP just die slow...?

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

nope its all about RAD Racer

 

[Ed MOTHEREFFING G]

nope its all about RAD Racer

shyt was the only game that worked well with the powerglove

and btw

its all about SUPER HANG-ON

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

shyt was the only game that worked well with the powerglove

and btw

its all about SUPER HANG-ON

Nope for motorcycle games...

 

[Ed MOTHEREFFING G]

Nope for motorcycle games...

no arguments here

 

[King Sun]

Crusin USA takes this title but yes Ridge Racer had a little following for a minute.

 

[Take It In Blood]

It would be nice if Gran Turismo dropped an open world spin off like Forza did with Horizon

 

[parallax]

i love ridge racer more than both, but they were arcade racers and not driving sims like those series. i would love a new ridge game after all this time, unless is that shyt they tried with bugbear...

 

[Legal]

Ridge Racer built up a lot of goodwill by always being an alternative.

Maybe I'm misremembering, but it originally popped in arcades because it was the higher quality alternative to Virtua Racing. And around R4, it was basically an alternative to Gran Turismo, for folks that wanted something a little less intense.

But since then, there have been multiple series that have taken their spot. Need for Speed filled that role for a while, not to mention the entirety of the Midnight Club series. And now, I guess you could say Forza Horizon is the closest, but even then, to get the most out of the game, you need to get into some car nerdery.

It could definitely make bank now as a straight up arcade style racer with some depth, as long as it's quality, is multiplatform, and they don't have some crazy expectation for sales.

 

[humminbird]

I still miss midnight club

 

[Rice N Beans]

Gran Turismo has a street named after it. There were even brief talks to bring one of the original courses and build it to make it real. Kaz has a road in his honor in Spain. There's no bigger or beloved racer out there except for maybe Mario Kart.

As for RR, I think the uptempo arcade racer faded out. Need a draw, like Burnout's crashes or FH's openness.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

I hope they bring wipeout back, it was like what i wanted F-Zero to eventually turn into

 

[MeachTheMonster]

I would love a new ridge racer game. They don’t make arcade racers like that anymore

 

[Grand Conde]

A soft reboot of Ridge Racer for PS5 would be cool, and sell well I think, but they would have to shorten the content a bit to make it work as nobody pays full price for arcade racers these days.

 

[CodeKansas]

Had the best original music, hands down.