Virtua Racing Flat Out - (Big Forest with Coupé drift car in 16:9) Sega Ages 2500 Volume 08

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MrThunderwing

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Published on February 2, 2018 1:05:02 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks9daLMOFEQ

Game:

Virtua Racing (1992)

Duration: 6:01

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45

Here's some gameplay from Sega Ages 2500 Volume 08 - Virtua Racing Flat Out for the PlayStation 2 being played on PCSX2 emulator. This is the Big Forest Beginner course, with the game's sunset option turned on (rather than the normal Sega blue, blue skies) using one of the bonus cars - the Coupe Drift car. The drifty steering on this was a bit weird to get used to at first, bu before long I was managing to shave about 2-3 seconds off some of my previous lap times using the other cars . By popular demand I've added a widescreen patch to the game so I'm no longer restricted to playing this in 4:3.

(The following has been copied and pasted from my previous VR Flat Out video with a few minor additions).

The Sega AGES collection on PS2 is notorious for generally how piss poor these (at the time) modern re-imaginings of classic Sega games were (the Golden Axe remake being a particularly shitty highlight - it looks like it was programmed by a lobotomised chimp) and the first time I tried this new version of Virtua Racing out I thought it was the best of a bad bunch. Having spent a bit more time with the game now... I'm not so sure.

Let's talk about the good stuff first. On the whole it looks pretty nice. It runs at 60fps (I believe the original Model 1 arcade game was 30fps) and the graphics upscale very nicely into HD using PCSX2. The sense of speed is good. The simple polygons of the original game have been given a bit of extra polish here and retain a nice colourful chunky look. There are 3 extra courses compared to the original game and a small selection of unlockable bonus cars as well. The cars handle well and it's got all the great VR music in (as you'd expect). You can also choose whether to race during the day or evening and whether you want cloudy or clear conditions.

On to the bad.The draw distance is pretty atrocious, scenery just pops into view constantly. The tire screeching sound as you turn corners will make you want to poke your eardrums out with a knitting needle after a while. There feels like there's a bit of a general lack of effort in terms of some of the game's presentation (when you complete the Grand Prix for example there's no podium presentation or anything, you just get immediately returned to the car selection screen).Edit: I've subsequently found out that's because you have to complete all 5 sets of the GP first. Derp.

But for me, the biggest issue lies with the complete and utter asshat AI cars.There is no graduation between a minor and major collision with a CPU car. If the driver of a CPU car so much as breathes in your general direction, it will make your car spin out and come to a complete stop. And these cunts WILL fucking DRIVE RIGHT INTO YOU as you're attempting to go around a corner. They WILL drive right in the way of your racing line and if one of your wheels grazes theirs by a nano-meter, you will spinout and come to a complete stop. If you're taking a corner slowly, because a dickhole CPU driver is taking up all the space on the FUCKING ROAD and you're trying not to go anywhere near it, one of his mates will drive into your arse and make you spin out and come to a total FUCKING STOP. If it's a narrow stretch of road his other dickhole CPU mates will drive into you as you try to pull away.

Can you see where the frustration lies? I've got nothing but happy memories of playing the original arcade version of VR and the Sega Megadrive version too. I can't remember ever getting this angry with the game's AI drivers in the original game and it's home port. Maybe I've got rose tinted memories? I dunno.

So yeah, good stuff and bad with this one. You can't beat blasting around the 3 original tracks in this though, they are timeless in their quality. The 3 new tracks are pretty good as well, but I actually found the new intermediate Mountain Course harder than the original Expert stage, because it's got a lot of narrow sections which were a right pain in the arse getting past the CPU prick cars on.

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