Ridge Racer 7

2006 racing video game

Ridge Racer 7 (リッジレーサー7, Rijji Rēsā Sebun) is a racing video game developed by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation 3. It was released in Japan and North America by Namco Bandai Games in 2006 and PAL territories by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2007. The seventh mainline installment in the Ridge Racer series, it was developed as a launch title for the console. The game has around 40 cars, many of which return from Ridge Racer 6 and the PSP incarnations of the game. There are also 22 courses, available in forward, reverse and mirror mode. The game runs at 1080p native resolution and 60 frames per second. It also features Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and free online gameplay via the PlayStation Network. The game was first unveiled at the 2006 E3 event in a teaser trailer, and the first trailer of game footage was shown at the 2006 Tokyo Game Show. Like many other games in the series, it features a full motion video opening that stars Reiko Nagase. The game received positive reviews from critics, and has since been re issued under Sony's "Platinum" and "The Best" budget lines. A patch was made available in October 2010 titled "Ridge Racer 7 3D License Version" that enables Ridge Racer 7 to be played in 3D.

As in previous games within the Ridge Racer series, the gameplay centers on high speed circuit racing featuring "drift" handling, where the player slides the car around turns without great loss of speed. New features in this iteration include car body and engine customization which can affect the performance, handling and nitrous boost system of the car. Ridge Racer 7 also actively encourages players to slipstream other cars, whereas previous iterations did not mention that this technique increases speed. This game sees the "unlimited restarts" return for the first time since Ridge Racer Revolution in 1996, which means the player can restart during the race (including the regular races and the duel races) at any time. The player can re play the same race series for more points and money. A global ranking system is used to rank players. It uses a combination of FP (Fame points), CR (Credits, the game's currency) and OBP (Online Battle Points, gained in the online races) to work out an overall number of RP (Ridge Points), which are displayed on the player's Ridge State ID Card. Manufacturer's Trials special races where the player can earn new cars or parts to customize their car; if the players get 100 Manufacturer points, they will become a member of one manufacturer. Extreme Battle boss battles with a much higher difficulty where it is possible to win normal or special cars. Arcade a single player game mode where the player can choose among the unlocked tracks or cars. Standard Race a standard race over the Internet for up to 14 players. Pair Time Attack similar to Global Time Attack, but instead combines the times of two racers working in tandem to achieve fast lap times. Team Battle players are split into red and blue teams (other colors are featured, such as yellow, green and pink), with a points system used to decide which team wins after a race. Pair Battle players are split into teams of two to race, and the winning team is that with the smallest total race time. The classic arcade game Xevious is unlockable in this game.

The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of all four nines for a total of 36 out of 40.

Ridge Racer 7 received the IGN Award for Best PlayStation 3 Racing Game of 2006.