In-depth look at Ridge Racer Full Scale

[Tedward]

Nice to see this come up in discussion again. There was concern over the Blackpool one being scrapped as there were construction works on the arcade its in, but its reopened now and definitely still there from what I've heard from a mate up there.

Dumping and getting it working in a 3 screen home setup would be the absolute dream, but Pleasure Beach would be very hard to deal with of course. I do hope there's at least one other out there, but its not looking likely, unfortunately.

I suppose they were doomed to being lost to time unfortunately, like the Galaxian 3 theatre. I doubt anyone developing them for Namco thought about the long-term survival and preservation of these things at that point. At least we still have some of it documented, as well as a good amount of footage- really wish this video of one in the Trocadero had sound though.

http://youtu.be/Xy_IWwUXJ2w

ISTR that there was also an odd Full Scale found in an arcade in Cape Town, with no flooring or outer walls assembled and the car tied to the carpet or something. There was a picture of it posted on Jamma+ but its obviously gone now.

 

[Guests]

Dumping and getting it working in a 3 screen home setup would be the absolute dream, but Pleasure Beach would be very hard to deal with of course.

It's actually the leisure company you would need to talk to as they own the machine (i forget their exact name now) but I spoke to one of the higher ups when i did my records on the machine and they were very easy to deal with and very kind so I wouldn't actually be too surprised if someone pulled it off. That said though, if any of it involved de-soldering anything from the PCB(s) I think they would probably say no but I think all the ROM chips are in sockets..?

I'd say it's certainly not impossible. Especially during the out of season downtime the pleasure beach has in the winter and the machine is turned off.

I suppose they were doomed to being lost to time unfortunately, like the Galaxian 3 theatre. I doubt anyone developing them for Namco thought about the long-term survival and preservation of these things at that point.

Yep sadly so! I said on here not too long ago that it's a shame that what makes these machines so unique and impressive (their size) is also their biggest issue in terms of keeping them.

ISTR that there was also an odd Full Scale found in an arcade in Cape Town, with no flooring or outer walls assembled and the car tied to the carpet or something. There was a picture of it posted on Jamma+ but its obviously gone now.

Was it this one? This one is actually in Japan not sure if it still is or where it is exactly but it's really stripped down sadly.

That video of the Trocadero is AMAZING! I've never seen live video of it nor the RR Full Scale that was there. Thanks for sharing! I wish i had gone there in the 90's.

Fun fact about the Trocadero RR Full Scale car.. when they scrapped the machine someone took the MX-5 from it and turned it into a track day car. One of the few MX-5's used in these to actually get a real engine.

 

[Tedward]

DIV]

That video of the Trocadero is AMAZING! I've never seen live video of it nor the RR Full Scale that was there. Thanks for sharing! I wish i had gone there in the 90's.?

Fun fact about the Trocadero RR Full Scale car.. when they scrapped the machine someone took the MX-5 from it and turned it into a track day car. One of the few MX-5's used in these to actually get a real engine. 

Nah it wasn't like that one, it still had all of the original parts, just the flooring and side walls seemingly weren't assembled. I did think I still had the image of it saved somewhere but apparently not... not getting it back then Tedward2019-07-10 18:44:07

 

[John Bennett]

Here's the MAME driver https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mamedev/mame/master/src/mame/drivers/namcos22.cpp

If you search for "ridgeracf", you'll see the ROMS for full scale. The bad/missing ones are the sets of rrf1gam, rrf1cg0 and rrf1ccrl - all graphics.
There are surface mount ROMs on the game, so I'd be very surprised if it's not these that are undumped.

The mame driver also includes a dump for the 3-screen version, except it's not - open it up in service mode and it's the 'standard' version, 'foreign' :-(.

You should ask Namco for the ROM data

 

[Brettster]

Do you know where this was in Japan, Jason?

I’m going in a few months would love to hunt it down

 

[Guests]

I'm afraid not. I saw it online randomly ages ago. A quick reverse image search brings up plenty of results though so maybe you can get some clues? I'd be curious to know where it is in Japan too.

I swear Japan must have some RR Full Scale machines... They typically take extremely good care of their stuff and being a Japanese game... surely there must be some out there.

Edit: Ok... did some digging myself and came across something very interesting...

A rather dated looking Japanese website which i translated... they mention it was a driving simulator called 'Sim Road' at the beginning of opening and was changed to RR Full Scale..

Could this be what remains of the prototype for Ridge Racer, Namco's Sim Drive!?

That website certainly seems to suggest it? Or perhaps it's just poor translation? It would make a lot of sense why this particular RR Full Scale is stripped down. Only thing i notice is the Sim Drive MX-5 has a spoiler whereas the one in the photo (and all other RR Full Scale MX-5's) do not but they could have swapped it out maybe??

That's pretty amazing if I'm correct in my assumption here.

rotunda2019-07-10 20:06:41

 

[Tedward]

There is at least some remnants of one Full Scale left in Japan- its faced a horrible fate though

https://twitter.com/saladbarM/status/1089453887537373184?s=19

 

[IanH]

I do have a ridge racer that got over volted by a faulty psu, it wont boot, but i'd gladly donate it if somebody wanted to try and read the roms.

 

[Guests]

Found another new picture posted a month ago of the 3 screen version... man those things were a BEAST!

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/brjfr0/found_and_played_the_original_ridge_racer/

 

[Bods]

looks a bit butchered, Sega Seat, monitors smaller than should be, wheel replaced, no shifter knob

Clive bought the only 3 screen one I've seen on ebay uk not sure who he sold it too but as with most he had some trouble getting it working fully

Glad I've got F355 3 screen over these, far easier to keep them working

 

[John Bennett]

Well great to know they were actually out there and people owned them.

Now to just find one and get the ROMs....

One maintenance advantage over F355 - 3x 15kHz CRTs!

 

[Bods]

Someone on the forums bought it from him I'm sure, I can't remember who though, Its one of the cabs I didn't see when I picked up cabs from him

he wasn't far from me

 

[Guests]

There is at least some remnants of one Full Scale left in Japan- its faced a horrible fate though

https://twitter.com/saladbarM/status/1089453887537373184?s=19

Oh my god :/ That's so sad... I never knew RR full scales ever came with the newer style headlights on the MX-5's. Saddest part is i see the radio in still intact... which could be used to replace the one in Blackpool and make that complete again.

Also the steering wheel.. The Blackpool one has a tiny one from a normal RR Deluxe which makes 3 point turning a pain in the a$$

I do have a ridge racer that got over volted by a faulty psu, it wont boot, but i'd gladly donate it if somebody wanted to try and read the roms.

You have PM sir.

rotunda2019-07-17 17:20:41

 

[John Bennett]

I’d assumed neither that car, nor the PCB were from Full Scale.

Happy to be mistaken on the PCB though!John Bennett2019-07-17 17:36:23

 

[Sbdesign]

I know and appreciate this is about ridge racer...

But up for debate is Forza on the xbox 360, being much more fun, and much more to do.

If you networked 3 / 5 xbox360s & monitors you could do this in HD (2 extra for a live tv view & rear view mirror!!!!)

You can even set the angles in game to match monitors perfectly.

3 screens and 3 xboxs and wheel easily for under £500. Or make a 2 player?

Xbox one has been done at shows, but not sure if can be done in the retail game like 360, I moved to PC after xbox360 sim racing and then possibility is endless, real gauges, motion, fans, race lights, ignition,

Just mentioning it, as some interested in this maybe also interested in that and not know.

Oh don't forget initial D

Back to Ridge racer...

 

[Guests]

I’d assumed neither that car, nor the PCB were from Full Scale.

Happy to be mistaken on the PCB though!

I think you are right as that generation of MX-5 was out in 1997 and also i don't see the yellow and red LED's on the dash for manual/auto transmission.

I think that is just a random MX-5.

 

[Pinballgeek]

It's been a while since I've been to Blackpool these days especially post covid, has anyone been the pleasure beach recently and is this still there?

 

[Tedward]

It's been a while since I've been to Blackpool these days especially post covid, has anyone been the pleasure beach recently and is this still there?

It's definitely not there anymore as of a few months ago. At first I was told some idiot had taken the whole thing outside, left it to rot, then scrapped everything except the signs and PCBs, but with this Facebook post I'm not so sure...

 

[John Bennett]

That was a few months ago. So it should be at the Sheffield National Video Game Museum now, unless the rumours of its feckless, imbecilic destruction are true.

 

[Alpha1]

As far as I am aware as I was in direct contact with the new owner a couple of weeks ago, it was removed from Blackpool on the basis it was going to a national videogame museum, then they said they didn't want it and it was left in various garages and potentially outside for a good while.

The pictures I have show it outside rusting in bits with grass growing round it. The car and possibly a few bits appear stashed in a garage.

Anyhow I was informed the new owner scrapped the entire thing, and was just keeping the PCBs and some signage, with a possibility of some signage being given to this national videogame museum.

Terrible fate really as there's a variety of ways the thing could have been saved. The new owner actually offered it to me and I arranged an HGV with another collector and then the communication became very strange before getting confirmation it was scrapped.

I'm happy to share the pictures I have of it outside in bits but it's not very nice to look at.