Phoenix|Down x3: Ridge Racer VIII

[Neon Ignition]

It remains a reasonable one to consider given the recent successful revival attempts of Soul Calibur and Ace Combat to mixed success. The rumour of a new game seems to have gone away but Ridge Racer remains one of the largest resting series Namco has in its stable. It's been 8 years since the last traditional entry and 13 since RR7. A return at some point feels almost inevitable yet Ridge Racer had a particular feel to it that doesn't sell these days making the risk of another reinterpretation possible also...





Ridge Racer VIII

Time will tell if Namco revives the 26 year old racing series, especially if they will do it for the anniversary in a few years time, but looking at the series past and gamers tastes today, what form should a new entry take if it happens?

[wakka]

I think there are probably two paths you can take with a new entry. One is to make an unashamedly old school experience that follows on directly from 7 and doesn't do much to change the formula. Realistically that would probably do best as a game deliberately limited in scope and sold at a budget price digitally to test the waters for the franchise returning.

The other is to go balls to the wall for a follow up. A free roaming, online-enabled Ridge City with a structure of individual events that apes Forza Horizon's, and incorporates some of the character/narrative almost visual novel esque stuff they had in Type 4 to glue it all together. They'd probably need to add some additional types of event into the mix.

The latter is something that could potentially be great, but would be massively risky. As you point out SF, the overall vibe of Ridge is not something that feels too relevant right now.

[Asura]

A free roaming, online-enabled Ridge City with a structure of individual events that apes Forza Horizon's

ew no

[Atticus]

At this stage I'd like to see Namco do a Capcom and remake the game making the most of current gen horsepower and features, while retaining that all-important essence; like a Ridge City Megamix with all vehicle styles and circuits and tunes ... but 4K, HDR visuals and online features too ... races, world TT leaderboards, friend ghosts to race, etc.

[wakka]

ew no

Hehe another unpopular idea from me. What would be the biggest problem with this for you?

[Cassius_Smoke]

I know what I don't want from a new ridge racer. I don't want a graphical boost of the PSP games that have all the old cars and tracks. And I don't want a free roaming open world.
It's got to be a well thought out ridge racer with new elements but still the great arcade handling. RR7 was brilliant, more of that with a hint of RR4 sprinkled on top.

[Asura]

Hehe another unpopular idea from me. What would be the biggest problem with this for you?

I was being a bit glib, but it's very much a personal tilt. I love the old Ridge Racer games and I hate Burnout Paradise.

[dvdx2]

Yeah I think free roaming would be the Dead knell. It certainly was for the forza and burnout series (for me).

[DeathAdder]

There is still a non-free roaming series of Forza games, if the Horizon ones don't do it for you.

I agree about Burnout because we never got any that weren't free roam again.

I might have enjoyed Paradise if they had shown the racing line. Without it I kept taking wrong turns and thereby cocking up the races. I also seem to remember it being fiddly to start a race, but it has been many years since I've played it,

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah I had the same issue with Burnout Paradise - tracks weren’t clearly marked. That pretty much broke it for me, as much as I enjoyed driving around. But I think that I generally prefer racing games where I can learn the tracks. That usually means defined scenery, landmarks and not a whole bunch of routes that all look the same.

For me, I’d happily take a Ridge Racer that continued from 7 and was more of the same. A game that, probably rightly, would be criticised for not making any leaps or doing anything different.

[Asura]

I agree about Burnout because we never got any that weren't free roam again.

I might have enjoyed Paradise if they had shown the racing line. Without it I kept taking wrong turns and thereby cocking up the races. I also seem to remember it being fiddly to start a race, but it has been many years since I've played it,

Worth saying, also, because people forget - if you've played Paradise recently you might not understand the probem people have with it.

When Burnout Paradise came out, it didn't have the "turn indicator" to give you directions (you had to memorise the city/use the map) and it didn't have a restart function - if you failed a race, the game just dumped you back into the open world, where-ever you happened to be, and you had to drive back to the start line if you wanted to restart.

The developers said the idea was that you should just do a different race instead, which was fine, I guess, until you'd had the game for a few days and had done many of the races. You started having to hunt out the new races just because you couldn't restart.

These things were fixed with later patches, but bear in mind, the developer was very clear that this was their design, and they wanted people to engage with the game this way.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, post patches BParadise is amazing and typically hard to drive the wrong way.


For a Ridge 8 I'd be okay with the old structure but the key thing for me is a complete replacement of the car physics. That old sensation of steering and the car pivoting



cannot return for a new entry. It should feel arcade styled but the car should feel like you're actually drifting into corners with some physicality. Plenty other racing games have hit that mark but it would immediately make RR8 feel like a significant mark up from RR7 but without requiring other major changes to the formula

[QualityChimp]

I agree with the handling. It's always felt like something on castors.

[Atticus]

Take away the trademark handling and it's no longer Ridge Racer.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah, I have to say I love the handling. Nope, there isn't a hint of realism to it but it's fun and it evolved over a period of years to a point where it just feels exactly as it should for me and I know how a Ridge Racer car will work.