GamerDad writes: "Ridge Racer first started out in arcades when 3-D was becoming big in the early to mid 90's. As an arcade racer, RR is pretty pick up and play, gameplay wise. But the other thing that RR games are known for is the heavy use of drifting, where you let up on the gas to slide through turns without losing speed. I'm not sure if RR was the first arcade racer to do this. I bet some Sega racer did that before. As much as I love Namco, they do tend to copy Sega a lot in the arcade, and always have. But then, Sega copies Namco sometimes, too. As arcade competitors, they've always wanted a piece of the action of whatever popular arcade trend was out at the time. The tracks in RR games are also fun to race on and drift through turns. Why do you think they keep using the same original arcade track in other sequels? Because it's fun to race and drift on, that's why! Ridge Racer games are also known for their soundtracks, which feature a lot of high energy techno music. You can hear this music in other Namco games, too, like Taiko Drum Master, We Ski, and We Ski and Snowboard."
