Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

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tnc
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Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by tnc »

Is it?
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by Austin »

Yes.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by Ghegs »

It's better as far as I'm concerned. My favorite pre-nitrous-era Ridge Racer.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by bigbadboaz »

Loved it. Great RR arcade handling and a pumping soundtrack.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by tnc »

Great! I really enjoy Ridge Racer Revolution but there isn’t much variety to it.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by bigbadboaz »

Oh yeah. I think you'll find it's far, far beyond Revolution. Rave Racer took a big leap in depth - though there was a lot of monotony to it - and R4 was a triumph. V follows it up well.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by Ji-L87 »

Yes.

In some ways it's better, in some ways I find the originals more charming but it is very solid.
Framerates are high, controls are "good" (for a pre-nitro RR anyways - biggest improvement they made) as you can have finer control over your car by pressing the "analog" button on the controller.

There is more content, more cars and two racing classes and a slew of different tracks within the same city area but they do a good job giving each circuit a bit of personality. Honestly, the track design coupled with different time and day options (sadly not dynamic and not available for all tracks) might be my favourite thing about RRV. I really like this iteration of Ridge City.

In all honesty, RRV handles colours and time of day really well. Even better than RR6 and 7 in some cases. Both can be a bit drab with 6 being too hard into sepia tones and 7 a bit under-saturated.

The biggest negative about the game for me is that vehicle handling can be super weird. Sure, Ridge Racer always takes big liberties with physics.
But this time the cars are not only very different from each other in the traditional RR-handling way (mostly related to their turn radius at speed) but also behave in ways hard to foresee before getting used to them. Like, drifting might actually pull you closer to the inside of a corner instead of being pushed outwards or perhaps the car is kinda floatey even when you're not drifting.
The analogue nature of the dual shock 2 face buttons means that you really have to press the accelerator button down hard so that you don't initiate a drift by mistake by letting go of the gas. It has happened a few times for me, especially in the Airport Oval track.

So each car has it's own behavioural pattern not rooted in physics and you need to get a feel for that in order to properly place yourself in the corners. It's more akin to picking a character in a fighting game than a car.

The good news is that once you get over the initial wave of "that's weird, that's not how it works" you will be properly rewarded for racing the right way for your choosen car as well as learning the general track layouts and where to be at any specific point. And practice really makes perfect in this case.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by scrilla4rella »

It's good but for me it's much harder than R4. Maybe I just need to get used to the engine which seems quite different from it predecessor.

edit: also, buy a NeGcon.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by Austin »

Thinking about it today, I realized I didn't really put any time into Ridge Racer games post-RRV.

I decided to fire up 7 on my PS3 today for the first time and it seems decent so far (occasional framerate drops during turns aside, when six or seven cars are right in front of me). A bit on the challenging side so far, though I'm guessing it's focused more on upgrading this time around and I haven't done much of that yet.

What are everyone's thoughts on RR6 and 7? And for that matter, how about the PSP games (since they fall under the boost line of games anyway)? I remember picking up 6 at the 360 launch but barely put any time into it--I can barely remember anything about it asides from the menu system being vastly different from 7. Thinking I should probably go back to that later.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by Pointman »

6 is better than 7 in my eyes, I put many hours into that game. 5 is superb, the 99 lap race alone makes it worthwhile. It was a definite step up from Type 4, the snapback handling in that game was terrible.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by KAI »

Austin wrote:how about the PSP games
RRS1 and RRS2 are basically RR6 with courses from RR1,2, REVO, RAVE, RAGE, and T4. If you like the new dynamic drifting and nitro from 6, I'm sure you will love de psp entries.

RRV:
hardest game in the series=best game in the series
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by Ji-L87 »

Austin wrote:What are everyone's thoughts on RR6 and 7? And for that matter, how about the PSP games (since they fall under the boost line of games anyway)? I remember picking up 6 at the 360 launch but barely put any time into it--I can barely remember anything about it asides from the menu system being vastly different from 7. Thinking I should probably go back to that later.
Pointman wrote:6 is better than 7 in my eyes, I put many hours into that game. 5 is superb, the 99 lap race alone makes it worthwhile. It was a definite step up from Type 4, the snapback handling in that game was terrible.
RR6 has two things going for it. Some good music and the Xbox 360 controller which is so much better for racing games than the PS3 controller. Oh, and it has a short but cool opening cinematic. (But 7 has a super nice ending instead).
The biggest drawback is the colors, save for the night races which I think are more convincing looking than RR7
RR7 is also pretty nice from what I remember.

For both games the controls are generally very forgiving and easy to get to grips with but the insane speed later on can make navigating the tracks a bit tricky, especially ones with jumps before sharp corners - it's hard to keep up sometimes.
Because the transition from grip to drift is much smoother now it also has the side effect of making the game feel more floaty. But that's perhaps better than it feeling too rigid and you "glued to the road".
My biggest issue with the modern games is the addition of boost - I'm clearly not cut out for using it effectively - and the upgrade tree in 7 feels a bit out of place.
Both 6 and 7 have a ton of races with various small differences but I found the more classic championship in V or the narrative in Type 4 to be a lot more satisfying.

The PSP games are generally great if I remember correctly. Graphics are good for PSP music collection is excellent and controls solid. There are way worse ways to wear out that joystick.

Edit:
Said that RR6 was a 30fps title. I was mistaken orz
Last edited by Ji-L87 on Thu Oct 17, 2019 4:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by Austin »

I did put more time into RR7 today. My initial observations of its difficulty were unfounded, as the game clearly wants you to upgrade the second you get the chance. I did just that and plowed through the first five Grand Prix rounds without a hitch. It got a little tedious by the end, but I could start to see it picking up in difficulty a bit in the last round so hopefully this is where the game starts to get more interesting.

I do enjoy that 5 has a high difficulty curve overall, making you really work for your victories, and 7 up to this point has been the opposite of it. It's still fun though, at least in short bursts at the moment.

The differing perspectives on RR6 had me looking up videos of it. It's interesting they went to 30fps on it. That's quite the downgrade from 5. They went overboard with the DJ as well--he never stops talking and it's so cringe worthy, haha. I'm sure you can mute him, but considering the downgrade to 30fps and it featuring many of the same courses as RR7, it seems redundant for me to try it anytime soon. Maybe sometime down the road after I've taken a break from the series for a while.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by Fudoh »

and the fact that it's a 30fps game which stops me from enjoying it too much.
where's that coming from? RR6 might take a dip here and there, but it's 60fps through and through. Buttery smooth compared to Shutouku Battle X (which was indeed just 30fps compared to the 60fps Dreamcast iteration before that). What RR7 added was the native 1080p output, but it had to remove some track details to make that happen.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by bigbadboaz »

Seriously. ..? 6 has always been 60fps; it's one of the first things that jumps out when you fire it up after most any other run-of-the-mill 360 title.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by Austin »

Fudoh wrote:
and the fact that it's a 30fps game which stops me from enjoying it too much.
where's that coming from? RR6 might take a dip here and there, but it's 60fps through and through. Buttery smooth compared to Shutouku Battle X (which was indeed just 30fps compared to the 60fps Dreamcast iteration before that). What RR7 added was the native 1080p output, but it had to remove some track details to make that happen.
Thanks for correcting that. After reading the initial 30fps comment the other day, I checked out a recent YouTube longplay that also had it moving at 30fps (the video uploaded was 1080p60, but the gameplay was clearly 30fps). Misleading. I just went and checked out another video and the game is definitely is 60fps (this one: https://youtu.be/3DsTbQG44yo?t=2518).

It looks a lot more appealing to me now. I'm also noticing the extra roadside objects compared to 7. I felt like something was missing in that game and that seems to explain it (along with the better color usage in 6).
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by Ji-L87 »

Fudoh wrote:
and the fact that it's a 30fps game which stops me from enjoying it too much.
where's that coming from? RR6 might take a dip here and there, but it's 60fps through and through. Buttery smooth compared to Shutouku Battle X (which was indeed just 30fps compared to the 60fps Dreamcast iteration before that). What RR7 added was the native 1080p output, but it had to remove some track details to make that happen.
bigbadboaz wrote:Seriously. ..? 6 has always been 60fps; it's one of the first things that jumps out when you fire it up after most any other run-of-the-mill 360 title.
Huh. In that case, I'm happy to remember wrong.
I shall fix my posts. :oops:
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by odilo »

yes V is one of the best and the hardest gp is a legit 1p challenge.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

What's cool about the PS2 port of Ridge Racer V is that you can use the optional Namco produced NeGcon or JogCon controller if so desired. Namco went back and added 3D glasses support for use with 3D enabled HDTVs with Ridge Racer 7 later on along with 1080p output on the PS3 console.

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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by bigbadboaz »

NegCon was a cool innovation and a genuine control improvement for racers. I was super-hyped for the JogCon at launch but found that one too complicated and cumbersome for its own good. :/
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by tnc »

Not a fan of RRV’s music though. Also seems like you can’t mute it which I can’t understand why.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by evil_ash_xero »

I always had such fond memories of RR4. I wish they'd make a remake of it.

Didn't RR V do that "one track, but just expanded" kind of thing that the first 3 had? I remember being frustrated with it's low number of tracks, compared to 4.

We could stand for a new Ridge Racer, but they should wait until PS5 or whatever, so it can have a gigantic boost in graphics, as the games are quite similar.
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Re: Is Ridge Racer V as good as the PS1 games?

Post by neorichieb1971 »

I prefer less tracks don't know why.

RR5 is as good as the PS1 games and even better in my humble opinion.

However, nothing beats Burnout 2. Probably my favourite racer of all time that plays offline.
This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
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