Iconic racing game capable of instantly fascinating with mind-blowing graphics, a very refined overall UI design and a killer soundtrack, but also supported by rock-solid driving mechanics.
I don't have a lot of experience with racing games of this kind, and frankly, until now I wasn't even particularly drawn to them, but with Ridge Racer Type 4 for some reason I immediately felt I had to dive in and see how far the driving experience could go. Driving in this game is really an experience that engages all the senses at once, with the tactile feel of the tight drifting mechanics that you gradually get used to and the audiovisual magic that is created on each track: it really is a gameplay delight from all points of view.
I also enjoyed the nice touch of the little narrative excerpts that take place between grand prix races, with the leaders of each team interacting with the protagonist, gradually revealing their motivations and emotional connection to the racing world.

The amount of praises I've seen people sing about this game had led me to believe that I was being played a fool, and a bunch of video game intellectuals™ with writing capabilities far better than mine had gotten around on a round table and decided "Hm yes this is the new niche PlayStation 1 video game we will be gassing up on Backloggd dot com this week."

After playing it through myself, yeah it's pretty good. I still don't get most of the praise but not like it should really matter. People like what they like and I like this game. I'm sorry Josh_The_Fourth.

You play it, and everything about it lives with you forever. There's hardly any games in the industry that is so perfectly designed to be this engaging of an experience. They check all the boxes of fun, mesmerizing, pleasing, challenging, addictive. It is beautiful.

It's a PS1 racer on the surface, but it is art. Most racing games that came after this have a fraction of style and dare I say; soul.

Every time I think about this song I get the insatiable urge to hop in a game and tear across a course. The soundtrack is unparalleled.

This is a once in a lifetime game.

- potentially the greatest soundtrack in video game history
- visually pretty damn good considering the limitations
- literally the coolest fucking game ever
- selection of cars is actually nuts for the time
- just really really good

Racing games were never my thing. Unless the game was an entry from the Mario Kart series or was at an arcade, I would rarely find myself willingly sitting down to play a racing game, especially by myself. The amount of praise that I've heard for both the Ridge Racer franchise as a whole and Ridge Racer Type 4 in particular sparked my curiosity, though, and so I was eager to give that game a shot. From the moment I booted the game up for the first time, I was greeted by one of the coolest video game openings of all time, and while it did take months for me to actually have the chance to really sink my teeth into the game, the imagery of Reiko Nagase and those cars being set to the song "Urban Fragments" was burned into my brain. That two minute opening cutscene alone made me know that this game was something special, and now that I've been playing it, I've also been thinking about it constantly.

Among other things, Ridge Racer Type 4 is a game that many people associate with its phenomenal music, and it fully deserves all the praise that it gets. This game's fun, energetic, and optimistic soundtrack is a melting pot of several genres including funk, acid jazz, and D&B, and this eclectic mix not only matched the thrills of the game's high-speed races, but it also worked beautifully alongside the game's stylish UI to evoke a consistent atmosphere of levelheadedness and confidence that I absolutely loved. Speaking of which, the driving in Ridge Racer Type 4 feels great, as its physics and controls were arcade-y enough for you to be able to pick the game up and immediately have a good time with it while still being realistic enough to make refining your skills in drifting and turning feel immensely rewarding. Racing against a friend in two-player mode is already a lot of fun, but I also got a lot of enjoyment out of the time attack and extra trial modes, as it always feels satisfying to shave off even one millisecond from your previous record.

The main bulk of this game's single player content can be found in its Grand Prix mode, and I was really surprised to see how even that was filled with tons of charm and personality. The tournaments themselves have a great sense of progression to them, as being able to earn the trust of your team partners while also unlocking new cars depending on your performance made me want to do better for more reason than to just win. Not only was it interesting to see what racing meant to each of the team's characters, but the mix-&-match element to the Grand Prix's difficulty and car manufacturers made for some great replay value. Ridge Racer Type 4 is also one of the best looking games on the original PlayStation, and while that is kind of a given due to how this game was released towards the end of the console's lifespan, the detailed car models and backgrounds still dazzled me while also retaining a bit of the PS1's charming blockiness. I was really surprised by just how much I loved Ridge Racer Type 4, and not only am I excited to keep playing it, but I also want to broaden my horizons with the racing game genre, with the Burnout, Midnight Club, and Need for Speed franchises looking especially intriguing.

Probably the best non Mario kart racing game I have ever played. While most arcade racers try to be a bit more silly or more over the top than their more serious simulation counterparts, Ridge Racer Type 4 still exudes a feeling of class and style that something like Gran Turismo has but takes a lot less effort and practice to have fun with. Ridge Racer 4 controls well, has an amazing soundtrack and even has a pretty entertaining story for a racing game. My only gripe with the game is that I wish there was just more of it, more tracks in this game would go a long way for me, but what is there is wonderful. Ridge Racer Type 4 is definitely a game I will return to again.

I'm starting to think this entire series is just style over substance. Although they are getting better with each release.

Considering all the hype around R4, I was expecting this to be a sort of reinvention of the series that introduces a completely new handling model and physics. But no, it essentially still suffers from the same problems as its predecessors, just to a much smaller degree. I would describe the gameplay here as subpar. It's not rage-inducing like the previous entries, but still pretty frustrating. And the amount of content is still miniscule. I could kinda understand that in the previous games, as they were aimed at the Arcade, but this one was intended as a console game, so I don't know why you can still beat it in like an hour.

There's also now this tacked-on story with extremely forced drama. It's all in text boxes, so at least you can just skip it and pretend it's not there.

The presentation is excellent of course. Flawless even. There's not one element that seems out of place or mediocre. Unfortunately, this is a video game, not a music video.

I really wanted to rate this game higher, but I can't. I gave Colin McRae Rally 3/5, and that game had one of the best handling models I've ever seen in a racer, and phenomenal physics for 1998. And its presentation wasn't too shabby either. So if I called R4 a better game, I'd be a liar.

Incrível, cheio de conteúdo, música espetacular, gráficos lindos, gameplay divertida e um modo história curto porém surpreendentemente único pra um jogo de corrida, tendo uma pegada mais visual novel com diálogos variando dependendo de qual posição você termina em cada corrida. Não temos mais de uma rota mas o jogo compensa isso com mais de um técnico com uma história diferente do outro pra vc escolher. Meu jogo favorito da franquia até o momento, disparado.

Uma jóia do PS1 e todo mundo deveria jogar algum dia. Única reclamação é que eu acho que deveria ter mais pistas, mas as poucas que temos são muito boas e me vejo rejogando varias vezes nelas de tão divertidas que elas são. Então, não me senti tão incomodado com essa falta sendo sincero.

A very solid arcade racing game for the PS1 that still looks pretty damn good. Great soundtrack, and even a little bit of a story for the different teams you can join in Grand Prix mode that seemingly adapts to your performance. As an example, in the second heat I got first place and then second place, and afterwards the manager commented on how "it wasn't as good as last time" which was a very neat detail.

Only reason I am docking a star here is because while the tracks themselves are pretty challenging, the fight is actually more with the ridiculous turning that the cars do so it's hard to focus on good apex's. Still, definitely a blast regardless of that.

“He's the one for me
There's no place I'd rather be... Yeah
To the finish line,
Everywhere you look he's right on time”

Esse jogo é mais um caso de falsa nostalgia (para mim que nunca encostei nesse game), pois encontrei essa obra em playlists de jungle music ou relaxing PS1 music, sem contar que já vi esse jogo sendo citado várias vezes como um jogo de corrida com estética foda e uma ótima trilha, mas não via nada sobre a gameplay hahah. Sendo assim, parei para jogar R4 (RRT4) e entender o que tinha de conteúdo e o que a obra podia proporcionar como um jogo de corrida.

Começando pelo que vi de cara e amei de primeira, que foi o DESIGN de carros, pistas, menus. Realmente teve um enorme capricho na área artística do game, os cenários típicos das cidades fazem o game ter mais charme e identidade, o que o faz ser graficamente bonito para época que foi lançado, com isso os gráficos não envelheceram mal em comparação aos outros jogos de PS1. Como comentei do design, as cutscenes e apresentação do jogo deixam ainda mais com a cara que ele é, muito chamativo e envolve seus olhos, lembrando bastantes clipes de música da época, um design extravagante e bem característico para a obra.

Não tem como falar desse jogo sem dizer da fucking trilha sonora. Os compositores pareciam que deram a vida para fazer a obra ser extremamente marcante e única, é impressionante a variedade sonora que tem neste game, as músicas tem uma pegada eletrônica/house, e você sente que está em uma balada só que de carro hahah.

Bem o jogo tem esses pontos fortes na estética e trilha sonora, cutscenes com a linda da Reiko Nagase que é a “Race Queen” do game. Sobre a gameplay é muito boa, mas é só isso, não há nada de extraordinário. É super divertido fazer drifts (no início você fica bolado porque uns carros derrapam mais que outros, mas isso é costume hahaha), mas em questão de conteúdo bem o game não oferece tanta coisa para fazer, alias é um game de corrida, assim como outros jogos o objetivo é sempre ganhar o grand prix em todas as dificuldades. Um ponto interessante é que a dificuldade é alterada pela equipe que você escolhe, com isso o jogo cria um fator replay por querer zerar com todas as equipes. Porém, o grand prix e o game todo só tem apenas 8 pistas (apesar das pistas serem legais, mas acho o número de pistas muito baixo), em compensação você pode conseguir 321 veículos, entretanto para desbloquear é jogar as mesmas 8 (16 se for contar que você pode correr no sentido contrário) o que acaba cansando por não ter uma variedade de pistas.

Em conclusão Ridge Racer Type 4 é um jogo “aesthetic”, é bem legal jogar e se divertir fazendo drifts, correr nas cidades japonesas e americanas ao som de músicas de balada anos 1990 e 2000. Contudo o jogo tem uma falta de modos, o multiplayer é basicamente um racha o que fica um pouco “chato” se você quiser colocar você, seu amigo e a CPU, apesar dos 321 veículos, acho que deveriam ter criado mais gordura em modos single player.