Backstories in racing games are usually as ornamental as a tiny hula dancer swivelling her hips on the front dashboard, but R4’s Grand Prix mode somehow made it work. You played a rookie driver who must choose to race for one of four international teams and climb into cars from one of four manufacturers. And it turns out that competing for a fictional boss – each with his or her own fictional emotional baggage — can be kinda fun. Like all Ridge Racer titles, R4 put its drivers on wide city streets (where a mastery of the power-slide is essential to getting into the winner’s circle). Still, R4 vets may recall perhaps the greatest incentive to completing the game and acquiring all 320 cars, was an “unlockable” 321st vehicle: the famed and elusive PacMan car.
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