Ridge Racer, when all is said and done, is just Ridge Racer. This is the prevailing feeling around here, and we feel it germane to deal with that point fi rst. If you’re under any illusions that Ridge 7 offers anything other than the standard drift racing experience, you’re setting yourself up for a £50 fall. No, by way of substitute for a wordy intro designed to waste a little space and segue neatly into some profound point or other, we’re giving it to you straight. Straight, hard and concise. It’s easy to whip out the old if-you-like-Ridge-you’lllove- this line, and in this case we feel it’s fully appropriate, but that doesn’t stop it being the kind of game that will quickly fi nd its way to the bottom of your collection.

Something that says much for the rudimentary nature of the racing is that even with the outstanding online mode the game still suffers horribly from being decidedly dull and lacking the kind of fundamentals that have been around for many, many years in the genre. An absence of quality crash physics will make Ridge Racer 7 unplayable for many gamers, as it grates even the most dedicated of fans, and could be improved with no detriment to the perfectionist nature of the gameplay. Bump once into a wall at over 200 mph and your machine (as the game insists on calling it) will slow down and turn into the wall even more. This continues until your motor stops, and you get annoyed. Granted, the point of Ridge Racer is that you complete laps without slamming into the barriers, but surely there’s a better way to deal with the mishaps that inevitably occur over the course of the races, no?

Similarly, there’s been little improvement in the courses available. Again, this is the kind of title that benefi ts from a limitation such as this, as the hardcore aren’t likely to want to learn more than the 22 courses on offer. A total of 40 cars isn’t exactly mindblowing either, so it’s diffi cult to champion Ridge Racer 7 as a title ripe for the completist gamer. Its only real appeal is for those wanting to attain perfection, but with such insipid racing, why would you want to? Even the comparatively eye-watering speed of previous titles has been surpassed by numerous racers since, leaving this iteration lacking in too many aspects to stand out as a next-gen title.

That said, it’s diffi cult not to have fun with Ridge Racer 7. It’s silly racing with silly cars and silly physics and silly games can be fun, especially online. This is where you’ll fi nd the greatest appeal, as it’s as complete an online title as you’ll ever fi nd in the genre. There are numerous time trials, where your solo efforts are ranked against everyone else’s in the world and standard races, where you can compete with up to 13 other racers in all manner of nicely varied race types along with newsfl ashes and info bursts of ranking information. Unlike so many other racers, brute strength won’t get you anywhere in Ridge Racer 7 online, as the delicacy of the slipstream system means that considered overtaking is the only way forward. Lose contact with the guy in front however, and your only means of catching up is the old fashioned nitros. It’s the nitros’ connection with the powersliding that gains a modicum of interest from us though. Extended sliding can be achieved via the powerful medium of ultimate charge. Yes it’s a silly name, but somehow fi tting with ethos of the piece. By going into a powerslide as your nitros fi nishes, you can very rapidly build up your meter again, meaning that the real pros will not only learn the corners, but also have to remember distances to those corners, giving them a far greater amount of nitros than you. This knowledge makes such a huge difference between a good driver and a great driver. Online, things are complicated by this, as anyone using this technique will wipe the fl oor with you. It took us a while to fi gure this out, but it makes a great difference to the way the game should be played.

This all brings us back to the fact that you’re not going to enjoy Ridge Racer if you’re not prepared to put some serious work into it. It doesn’t require nearly as much exertion as say, Tony Hawk’s, to become a true master, but you do have to work beyond the basic racing mentality. Sadly this doesn’t take away from the fact that Ridge Racer 7 is still just Ridge Racer with a prettier skin. That said, it can be a great blast with the greasy powersliding and silly nitros, and online you have the option to truly push yourself and get on that rankings board. With the inclusion of some aspects that so many other racers have been using for a signifi cant time, namely decent crash physics, AI and damage modeling, Ridge Racer could well have been the stand out title of the launch line up. As it is though, it’s just Ridge Racer.

Tom Leclerc