Ridge Racer Vita only offers 3 tracks, 5 cars

By Fred Dutton Published 23 November, 2011

30fps, post-launch DLC also confirmed.

Ridge Racer Vita only has three courses and five cars to choose from, according to a pair of Japanese previews.

Impress Watch and Famitsu impressions translated by Andriasang state that the tracks available are Harborline 765, Highland Cliffs and Southbay Docks - all three of which have appeared in past games in the series. Apparently mirror versions are playable too.

Publisher Namco Bandai reportedly intends to offer post-launch DLC to beef up the offering, though its unclear whether it will be free.

More good news: the Vita launch game reportedly runs at 30fps, rather than 60, and both the boxed and digital releases will require a memory card to play.

On the bright side, it will carry a reduced ¥3980 (around £33) price tag, knocked down further to ¥2980 (around £25) for all digital purchases before 31st March. The majority of boxed Vita titles will sell for ¥4980 (around £41) in Japan.

We've contacted Namco Bandai to confirm UK plans - look out for an update soon.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

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Comments (70) Latest comment 9min ago

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  • Flying_Pig #1 1d ago

    Sounds rubbish - very disappointing

  • gjgjg #2 1d ago

    sold!

  • customfirmware #3 1d ago

    allegedly would fit nicely in the title.

  • uiruki #4 1d ago

    The funniest part of the interview on a different site in Japanese was where the director suggested that some people might find that the downgrade to 30fps screen update may make them nostalgic of the PS1 games.

    Also, in none of the trailer videos was the game even close to maintaining 30fps.

    edit: Impress is a well-trusted site. The exact words are that the title has six tracks, which includes reversed versions. It is also presented in a paragraph explaining the lower price - the other reason being that they want a lot of people playing the online social missions, the so-called "Planetary League".

    Edited by 1 at 24/11/11 @ 00:00

  • Iain815 #5 1d ago

    Christ almighty, that's something shocking.

  • BloodSaint #6 1d ago

    is this a joke?!?

  • Stratix #7 1d ago

    That stands up well compared to Skyrim. Hundreds of hours of gameplay, against, what... half an hour? Fantastic, I know what I'll be playing in a few months time. (Hint, it's not Ridge Racer Vita).

  • Bernkastel #8 1d ago

    Kaz Hirai won't be getting a Vita anytime soon then.

  • Dizzy #9 1d ago

    Come on guys... It is.... RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDGE RAAAAAAAAAAAAACER!

  • photoboy #10 1d ago

    Sounds good to me. I like my Ridge Racer games to be arcadey and short. Recent RR games have dragged out the game with endless forwards/reverse variants of the same tracks with the cars getting slightly faster with each subsequent class. So a game that's skips all that and just lets me at the fastest cars right off sounds perfect, particularly for a handheld game where short and sharp sessions are likely to be the norm.

  • whatthefu #11 1d ago

    the lack of tracks is enough to remind you of the crap released on the PS1.

  • sfp_noodle #12 1d ago

    Sounds like a rush job to make a quick buck nd keep up a tradition that no-one cares about anymore. (New Ridge Racer game on every PlayStation launch.) Sounds more like a demo and at 30fps really sounds utterly crap.

  • rasmus.h.m.nielsen #13 1d ago

    <quote>Flying_Pig wrote:
    Sounds rubbish - very disappointing</quote>

    I agree.. it seem like they will try for the "buy a beefed up demo - pay an arm and a leg for our DLC"..
    I love Ridge Racer... think i will find and buy the ps3 version again!

  • doragonpawwa #14 1d ago

    Gran Turismo HD (I think) was free for the PS3 at launch and its just one track with 10 cars?, Ridge Racer just doesn't compare with even GT5 Prologue.

    If it was free then maybe it would've been slightly okay.. yet they just charge for it?

  • Nithron #15 1d ago

    I think it's got to the point now that we need "Let's Facelift Bar!" EG T-shirts.

    Note: There was one of those infamous spam adverts here earlier. I'm not just rambling incoherently.

    Edited by 1 at 24/11/11 @ 13:01

  • frazzl #16 1d ago

    I love the Ridge Racer series but this is seriously disappointing. A massive step back for the series!

  • ShiftBreaker #17 23h ago

    Rush Racer!

    I only wish that that nickname could mean a cart racing game around the band, rather than the development speed for this game.

  • chessboxer #18 22h ago

    Shut the front door!

    This has got be bullshit. If it turns out to be true then I won't be buying it.

  • Number1Laing #19 21h ago

    Worst Ridge Racer ever confirmed.

  • SimonM7 #20 20h ago

    @Stratix Wellll does Skyrim allow you to do a reverse 360 into a corner!?

    Actually yeah I guess it does.

  • alcides #21 19h ago

    and it looks like PS2 crap

  • DSman59 #22 18h ago

    Ridge Racer 7 cost me the equivalent of 7 euros. It has so much more content, runs in 1080p @ 60 FPS. Here is what RR Vita has to offer: screenshot.

  • haruvister #23 18h ago

    Bethesda should reverse Skyrim to increase playing time.

  • Eoin #24 18h ago

    While I'd actually be quite happy for a new Ridge Racer game that streamlined itself somewhat, this is taking that to a rather silly level.

    It's fair enough for Namco to cut down on the number of cars - it's been too large since Type 4 inflated the numbers with minor variants - so maybe around 30 or 40 cars wouldn't be bad - 5 is an extremely low number.

    As for the tracks, well, Ridge Racer on 3DS did get repetitive quite quickly, and that was with something like 15 tracks. 3 tracks will definitely become wearisome.

    It almost sounds like Namco wanted to do a freemium-style game, got the idea of having some content to start with but and adding more for purchase later, but completely forgot about the free bit.

  • Beano #25 18h ago

    Three old tracks?, 30fps?.. really?

    I'm a big RR fan but they can just f*** off!

  • 5lectro #26 17h ago

    This is 2012, most people wouldn't even look in the general direction of a GOOD Ridge Racer.

  • aidey6 #27 17h ago

    Ridge Racer on PSP launched (on the US PSP which I imported) with 12 tracks which were reveresed and ran at 60fps and you could play up against 8 people wirelessly...

    If true this is not good, how can a more advanced console have less content, truly baffling...

  • Benno #28 17h ago

    £33? thats £11 per track if my mathematics serves me correctly

  • Cobalt_Jackal #29 16h ago

    Well the same people who are complainig about this are the same people who bought Daytona USA, Which itself has only like 3 cars and 3 tracks, and yet EG gave that game a 9. So whats the problem EG?. They (and quite a few members on here) didn't seem to mind the lack of content with reguards to Daytona USA so why now?.

    I mean sure i agree its a ripoff for you get, but if you happily bought Daytona USA then really your not in position to complain about this. I admit dislike price gouging too, this is a rip off and blatent greed by Namco, its just the double standards at times which irk me. You moan about ridge racer yet Daytonna's fine, you complain about rip off DLC yet continue to buy/spend £15 on a single COD map pack every year. Make up your mind already.

    Edited by 2 at 24/11/11 @ 10:28

  • aidey6 #30 16h ago

    @Cobalt_Jackal Daytona USA is £6.29, I doubt RR will be less than £10 somehow...

  • TheLastProphet #31 16h ago

    The cost of driving is really getting out of control these days

  • Ryze #32 16h ago

    Botch job for the Jap launch, then.

  • iamtheoneneo #33 16h ago

    wth are they thinking....lazy.

  • ElNino9 #34 15h ago

    3 tracks?

    Get to fuck.

  • Ryze #35 15h ago

    @haruvister

    It'd be a bit like this then...

    [youtube]

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-188KrmEuGU

    Edited by 2 at 24/11/11 @ 09:39

  • Cobalt_Jackal #36 15h ago

    @aidey6 I know. But if other publishers see a game like Daytonna USA sale well even with its appalling lack of content, then in many ways this is just a progression of that in the sense that others are gonna try and do similiar and maybe increase the price as they go hoping nobody will notice or care too much.

    Its like map packs they were free to begin with (part of the actual content in-game), then they (sadly) removed maps and started charging for them, and people bought them in huge numbers. So the greedy suits wanting to increase profits raised the price of said maps and yet still people in continue to buy them in huge numbers as if nothings changed. And now as a result of that, other publishers of FPS's pretty much all (even if they didn't at first) now have overpriced DLC/Map-packs because they've seen that lots people seemingly don't care about price/being ripped off with reguards to map packs. And as result they've seen the large sums of money that their rivals make from DLC. So they follow suit.

    P.S. sometimes i fear where gaming is going. I don't like it either, i hate whats gradually happened since the start of this gen. Its just so wrong. :( I just think not enough gamers really care to put a stop to whats happening and put a stop this kind of thing we read about in the article. :(

    Edited by 1 at 24/11/11 @ 09:47

  • apoc_reg #37 15h ago

    30fps.... wow

  • mr_pink #38 15h ago

    Unfortunately this is the future of digital downloads. Release a basic-featured game and make you pay to 'upgrade' it with DLC, a publishers wet dream.

  • MattEdWithCheese #39 15h ago

    So... the 3DS game has a lot more content?

  • menage #40 15h ago

    That should sell.

    Edited by 1 at 24/11/11 @ 10:06

  • elephant_stone #41 15h ago

    Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Raaaaaaaaaacerrrrrrrr

    No

  • Darren #42 15h ago

    Sounds like the Vita's first gaming disappointment...

  • Caimbeul #43 15h ago

    Sounds more like a Demo than a game. Sony cant honestly let them release a title as weak as that for Vita surely?

  • HyperShadow #44 14h ago

    Well, this is perhaps good news, because now you will only be able to play it for 10-15 mintues, which is about the same as the Vita's battery life.

  • CrispyXUK #45 14h ago

    Oh Namco!

  • mcreddie #46 14h ago

    Christ, are people still buying Ridge Racer?

  • Murbal #47 14h ago

    Unbelievable. It's like Sony are setting out with the mindset that they're going to fail.

    That said, I'm more interested in what the likes of Atlus will do for it.

  • Zomoniac #48 13h ago

    Oh dear. Still, if they've matched the style of this to that abomination of a game that is Ridge Racer Unbounded then it won't bother me as much.

  • Eoin #49 13h ago

    Unbelievable. It's like Sony are setting out with the mindset that they're going to fail.

    How is this anything to do with Sony?

    They can maybe advise Namco that the idea of releasing a game with 3 tracks and 5 cars at nearly full price is stupid, but they can't stop them from actually releasing the game if it passes their technical tests (well....they can stop them in the US, but in Japan and Europe laws against anti-competitive behaviour will prevent them from rejecting the game).

    If this does happen, it's Namco's choice, not Sony's.

  • TonyHarrison #50 12h ago

    So this is the Vita's Steel Diver then... In fact Steel Diver probably had more content.

  • Rack #51 11h ago

    I'm sure Namcai Bando will offer a very fair rate for the rest of the content though!

  • Shonen84 #52 11h ago

    Still gonna buy it for the Reiko Nagase intro movie.

  • Murbal #53 10h ago

    @Eoin fair comment. I admit that I'm an idiot who failed to think his remark through! Second part holds true though - I am interested in what Atlus will bring to the Vita.

  • Astro-Creature #54 10h ago

    Considering the price tag, why are people shocked? It's a budget releaase.

  • GamesConnoisseur #55 8h ago

    Namco attitude to DLC is very worrisome, charging money for new skins in Ace Combats and Ridge Racers on X360 and PS3, this stinks of extreme pulling back of contents and charge extra on day one for extra cars and tracks.

    Complaining ain't any good, but boycott will be far more effective. If very few fools bought RR Vita then Namco ll wise up.

    I played all RR, launch versions and even 3DS one which was fun but repetitive I agree after you got past a point in the game. Good to see familiar tracks but part of fun of racing is to learn the best racing line, but if done the same track umpteenth times.. What the point?!

    Avoid this like plague.

  • Slipstream #56 8h ago

    This is underwhelming at best. Very disappointed in you Namco, very.

  • Bluetooth #57 8h ago

    Do them in reverse, and then mirrored, that's 12 tracks right there.

  • markw85 #58 7h ago

    Why would they even bother announcing this?!

    NAMCO must have the worst marketing team in the world.

    Edited by 1 at 24/11/11 @ 18:21

  • weebl #59 6h ago

    Price the game at £10 and the DLC cheap and we can talk.

  • JumpinJackFlash #60 3h ago

    So it only has 3 tracks, 5 cars but Namco still want ¥3980/£33 for it? Fuck that for a carry-on. Namco (and all Publishers) who treat their customers like piles of shite can suck my dong.

    I never buy DLC as it is and never will, no matter the title, but this is just taking the piss.

  • DBLue #61 2h ago

    @Murbal "I'm more interested in what the likes of Atlus will do for it."

    A port of Persona 4 (just in case you don't already know about it). Although they spent the last few years porting the entire series to portables, I can't deny drooling over the prospect of a portable P4 without the compromises of P3P.

  • MrVengeance #62 9min ago

    Less is more oftentimes. Just look at the mighty Sega Rally and the astounding 1080 Snowboarding on N64 - both only had a handful of levels but each are considered classics because they had vast quality over quantity. I doubt this will be the case here though as this smacks of a money making scheme to peddle DLC....