Ridge Racer! If you like cars and driving cars, then this is the game for you. I’m giving R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 a go on the PSIO prototype, and there are a few interesting things happening. Some of them are even related to the hardware rather than my dreadful driving!

The first problem is that Grand Prix mode doesn’t seem to work. It just hangs at a black screen, which is rather unfortunate. Time Attack, on the other hand, works well enough for me to get into a race, so that’s what I’ll be testing.

There’s also some missing audio. I don’t get the music where I’d expect it in the menus, but the crowd can still be heard cheering me on during the race. That’s very encouraging of them, considering how often I’m driving straight into the walls.

I started with an automatic car on the Helter Skelter course, mainly because I don’t know what I’m doing. The game looks quite dark, but that might simply be the game itself. The handling certainly takes some getting used to, especially when I’m trying to keep an eye on the camera at the same time.

Eventually I managed to get around without crashing quite so often and even set some new records. Then I tried a faster red car, which seemed like a wonderful idea until I discovered it could reach the walls considerably quicker than the first one. At least the crashes are spectacular!

So Time Attack is quite playable in this test, but Grand Prix mode and parts of the audio still have problems. Please remember that this is PSIO prototype hardware 1.1 running software 1.1A, so these results don’t represent later versions or the final product.

You can hit up ps-io.com if you have any questions, since I’m but a mere tester. I don’t understand the technology behind this wonderful invention!

Prototype test conditions

  • PSIO hardware: 1.1
  • PSIO software: 1.1A
  • PlayStation: SCPH-5502
  • CD deck: removed