I really like Daytona USA 2001 and Shutokou Battle. I like Buggy Heat, even though the controls and handling are kind of weird. I got that game at an import game store in Seattle. I like F355 Challenge, though I think the music is rather annoying. Although, I recently discovered that you can turn the music off, which is cool.
Finally. I'm not the only one who has an import copy of Buggy Heat around here. Really want to get Shutokou Battle 2 though. All I've got is the first.
Mines are: Test Drive Le Mans. Incredible visuals (it even looks better than the PS2 version released one year later) rigorous simulation, excellent gameplay. MSR: awesome gameplay, nice car roster, visuals incredible ar stage desing...but weak for car modelling. F355: awesome graphics! Hard but extremely realistic gameplay. Vanishing Point good gameplay (despite some weird physics), nice visuals...considering the game runs on a crossgen engine (VP is on PS1 too...and its obvious it uses a heavily downgraded version of the same DC version engine) Looney Tunes Space Race: lotta of fun...great cel shaded visuals. Crazy Taxy 2....The Offspring...no need to explain more. 18 Wheeler: solid visuals, lots of arcade fun. Daytona USA 2001: great arcadeish gameplay, solid visuals...but DC is capable of more...why no Model's 3 Daytona 2? V-Rally 2: awesome gameplay, car roster, track desing...but poor crossgen visuals...would V Rally 3 could be possible on DC? Hydro Thunder: fun as hell, ok visuals for 1999...but dated at the next year. Sega GT: Excellent gameplay, nice car roster and track design...ok visuals for 99, but very poor for being the supossed Gran Turismo killer. Even Gran Turismo 2000 looks miles better....in fact..GT2 via Bleemcast looks similar to Sega Gt...despite the cars and stages of the latter sports like 5 times less polycount ...for me...they didnt take proper advatage of DC hardware.
That game has some pretty good graphics for a DC game. The way cars handle is kind of weird, but it's still a fun game.
I can agree with that. The game is very exciting, if you love racing genre. Some parts of the game are extremely challenging. Physics glitches - http://imgur.com/a/GWSXs DC VS PS1: Spoiler gifs http://imgur.com/a/x26mi nullDC extra geometry 720p
DC port was horrible... PC is quite good though, even though 90% of the cars in the game look nothing like they're suppose to be. Game play is brilliant though, great game to play when sick. Amount of times I faked to be sick to play it I would have to say Rush 2049, prior to it being re-released on Xbox, it was the best version to play. Also another vote to Vanishing Point. Soundtrack is neat, crash courses were very strict. I miss that in racing games today.
Oh yeah, I'm well aware that it's the PS1 port just a bit nicer. Too bad, I think the DC could have handled the PC version.
I read an interview with the creator/head of clockwork games at the time recently, in which he said they developed what was quite a realistic physics model for the time using multiple data inputs, but the car companies often deliberately withheld the data on the cars - so the developers would have to guess or leave certain data blank for the data profiles for certain cars. Perhaps some of that could result in some of the more unusual crashes.
The crashes were the best part of Vanishing Point, it kept you on your toes. Oh and how quick the Supra was
And this is the interview I was talking about. Lots of really interesting details about Vanishing Point. http://www.grumpyoldgamers.co.uk/index.php?/topic/2358-neil-casini-interview/ Another quote related to collissions and bumping around
^This, I was hugely disappointed by the Dreamcast version of Sega Rally 2, it looked terrible compared to so many of the other Dreamcast racers, particularly as so many of them ran at 60 fps and this was only 30. I heard it was visually compromised because if the whole Windows CE thing. Totally with you on the Hydro Thunder love though, probably my favourite DC racer ever, I still enjoy playing it today. Another DC racer which I wasn't a massive fan of back in the day which I've developed a new found appreciation for is Daytona USA 2001. I loved the arcade original, but the handling on the DC version was just so weird with a pad. However, now I can play it using my PC steering wheel on DEMUL and it really handles brilliantly with it.
I soaked up every last detail I could find online regarding the Black Belt, Katana and eventually Dreamcast back in 1998, but one incident that stood out was Sega Rally 2 making its long awaited debut at the Autumn '98 Tokyo Game Show. Despite only being weeks away from its planned release as a Japanese launch title, this highly anticipated conversion was still only 40% complete and presented in video form, appearing on a handful of screens hidden away at the back of Sega's booth. For some reason, I don't recall this footage making its way into the media, but alarm bells definitely started ringing when high resolution screenshots surfaced. Journalists and fans alike were quick to compare the work in progress build to a second rate PC effort as opposed to a flawless reproduction of a Model 3 title, which only became more concerning when actual PC images also found their way into print. Although still not arcade perfect, it's clear Sega paid attention to the general negativity and ordered the same CS department responsible for this to simply port their PC code to the Dreamcast using Windows CE. From what I've read on the subject, this process took either two or three weeks in total, requiring several of the team members to sleep under their desks when they weren't enduring up to 18 hour shifts, leading to the PC version being significantly delayed and its Dreamcast counterpart missing the launch window by several weeks. Considering the development troubles it faced, Sega Rally 2 could have turned out a lot worse, plus it should be noted that the slowdown can be remedied with the 60fps code that lowers trackside geometry. Additionally, there's a similar command you can input to enable a consistent 30fps rather than the variable default frame rate (from personal experience, this only ever really becomes a problem while taking corners). For the sake of curiosity, I'd love to play whatever exists of AM3's preliminary effort - assuming this was in a playable state, that is. Along with Genki's flawed take on Virtua Fighter 3tb, it was Sega Rally 2 that convinced many the company's claim their latest system could "do" Model 3 might have been a little premature... At least VF3tb improved massively compared to the first preview shots without requiring a change of developer, even it it's rumoured that AM2 had to intervene at the eleventh hour!
Whacky Races was great fun BUT, it became a bit of a student halls obsession and plenty of alcohol was involved!
All the actual racing games worth mentioning have been mentioned, for me it's a toss up between Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2, MSR, Test Drive Le Mans or F355. However, while the Dreamcast version is probably the most noteworthy of these games, only TXR2 is an exclusive. And even then TXR Zero on PS2 was mostly the same game. So I give the nod to an apparently forgotten favorite - Pen Pen TriIcelon.
I've tried the 60 fps code but the frame-rate still seemed a bit variable to me and not particularly solid. I'd love to have seen what a 'true' Dreamcast version of Sega Rally 2 could've looked like (instead of the gimped CE version). Judging by the graphical quality of the likes of Daytona USA 2001 and Ferarri F355, which both ran at 60 fps and looked awesome, I think it could've handled a version on a pretty similar graphical par to the original arcade Model 3 version. Despite my dislike of the DC version of Sega Rally 2, I actually have a lot of time for the PC version. The graphics are slightly higher res, but more importantly (IMO) it runs at a rock solid 60 fps and that fact alone makes a whole world of difference in terms of actually trying to re-capture the feel of the arcade original at home. Would've loved to have seen DC ports of Scud Race and Daytona 2 as well - why Sega never ported them is anyone's guess. Just chalk it up to another of the stupid decisions they made in the 90's.
