Original Release: Sega, 1992, Arcade
Other Releases: 32X (1994), Saturn (1995)
Sega’s first cabinet-based Formula One racer that served as the predecessor to Daytona USA.
Virtua Racing Deluxe (32X, 1994, Sega)
Where to Buy: Amazon
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
Being just slightly better than average, Virtua Racing is arguably the very best game on the whole of the 32X’s roster. Which is sad, yeah, but hey – it’s still not the worst system in history.
The racing action is pretty solid, but there are only three cars and five tracks to choose from. No real tournament mode or extended gameplay modes, you just kinda race for your own pleasure at will – so goal-oriented gamers be warned, there really isn’t anything to “achieve” here besides just driving around and having fun.
The game mostly relied on its graphics to sell at the time, which were unparalleled on consoles when it came out in the mid-90s … for a few months, anyway, then the PlayStation dropped and the 32x became irrelevant. As you can imagine from something based on the Genesis, it’s polygonal and 3D but it is very blocky. In the game’s defense, however, it does run smoothly, which is always more important to me than graphics.
It’s a pretty good racing game, but it’s been surpassed in every category by multiple titles. It really doesn’t have much to offer now, unless you happen to have a 32X and are desperate for something of decent quality to play on it.
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