This classic racing game was basically a playable soap opera for home consoles

Presumably still smarting from people loudly pointing out the original Ridge Racer arcade game only had a single track and a single car to drive, for the fourth home instalment of the series Namco responded with eight tracks, a vast narrative based career mode and an almost sarcastic 320 cars to collect. Not counting the secret bonus car shaped like Pac-Man, of course.

In fact, Ridge Racer Type 4 was barely recognisable as a sequel to the original Ridge Racer. Far from the coin gobbling arcade experience, which probably lasted for less time than this game’s long winded explanation of its arcane championship structure, Type 4’s intention was to tell a soap opera story. Picking one of the four teams available saw you thrust into a motorsport flavoured melodrama, whether that was a young team manager struggling to live up to her family legacy or a squad reeling from the tragic death of their star driver.

These storylines acted as connective tissue between races and ended up becoming surprisingly involving as the career mode continued. And we promise we only giggled a little bit when we discovered that the name the Japanese developers had picked for the team manager of US team Dig Racing was ‘Robert Chrisman’.

On track, your chances depended on which of those teams you’d chosen. Select Dig Racing, for example, and you’d end up battling against restrictive budgets and limited upgrades, forcing you to scrap for every position. If you were looking to eke out the best possible performance, you could choose your preferred fictional model of car based on whether you preferred grippy or drifty handling.

Alternatively you could do what we used to do and choose it based on which had the silliest name. Will it be the Terrazi Ambitious or the Lizard Bonfire today? Choices, choices...