From the father of Out Run and Afterburner comes yet another milestone title in the history of gaming. Virtua Racing was probably the most impressive polygonal 3D video game to have ever come out at the time of its release. It was a monumental shift in what games could look like with upcoming technology and massively influenced both racing games and other titles 3D development in general.
The racing itself is pretty limited compared to the equally important Formula One Grand Prix, and there are definite quirks to this early 3D. The character animations are laughably terrible, the cars look like they're floating on track and the physics model allows for quite a lot of unrealistic drifting for these type of open-wheel racing cars. So while Formula One Grand Prix kept the title for best sim racer, Virtua Racing was still a fantastic arcade racer because it was fun to play, and looked like nothing else.
The racing itself is pretty limited compared to the equally important Formula One Grand Prix, and there are definite quirks to this early 3D. The character animations are laughably terrible, the cars look like they're floating on track and the physics model allows for quite a lot of unrealistic drifting for these type of open-wheel racing cars. So while Formula One Grand Prix kept the title for best sim racer, Virtua Racing was still a fantastic arcade racer because it was fun to play, and looked like nothing else.