EmP's Virtua Racing Deluxe review

ADDEM: Because my work is never done, it’s worth pointing out (and I was planning to point out in the body of this review before I sailed over 1,000 words with no end in sight - yikes) that there were two more attempts at Virtua Racing made some generations later. One’s on the PS2, made under the SEGA AGES brand which remade old classics as budget games that never often made it outside of Japan. Virtua Racer: Flatout did by way of a compilation disk, and it was pretty okay. Pretty okay indeed! It took a lot of the good ideas of Time Warner Interactive’s V.R.: Virtua Racing, but was truer to the original foundations (probably because Yu Suzuki was made use of), and more flexible in their execution. No ten lap marathons here! There’s also a very recent Switch version that’s come out which seems to be Flatout v2, but focused hard on the multiplayer aspects, which is a very good place to focus on. I have zero experience with that strain. A Switch is far too mainstream for me!

To get to this point, I’ve spent considerable time with four (arcade, Mega Drive, 32X, Saturn) different releases of the same game (I played Flatout years back, and am working off memory there). I’m not sure when I became so invested in this neverending 32X project.

Feedback for oneself? Poor form, even for you, Gary.

But you redeem yourself with possibly the best tagline of the year.

I'm more than half way through the year, and I've not dropped a pun yet. One day, I'll hit a pun wall and, on that day, I shall be forever grey.

You've really been killing it with these taglines, EmP.

Played the Sega Saturn version a few years back (actually planned on reviewing it), and it was as horrid as EmP claims it to be. Almost felt like Virtua Racing in name only.

Since I don't own a Switch, I didn't know there was a version on that console. I did a little snooping to see what it's like and the biggest surprise I found was that there's an 8-player offline option! Eight player split screen on a single monitor is a ridiculous sight to behold, but it's there. Also, from a screenshot I saw, Virt McPolygon makes a glorious return. Edit: With the 32X replay music!

Nice review, EmP. Certainly loaded with history.

I saw EmP's tagline for this review and wanted to cry, because it is so perfect and also a bit demoralizing. If that's my tagline competition, why even try?

Edit: Get a Switch, pickhut. You'll love it. And you too, EmP!

Jason, when it comes to food puns, you're a master chef.

I agree, this is the best port of SEGA's awesome racer in an otherwise unfortunate console add-on.