1up's Yu Suzuki Interview

[NeoZeedeater]

http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3182644

I'm more interested in part 2 coming tomorrow. Mielke says a few stupid things (crediting Suzuki for things he didn't do and making unnecessary comparisons with Miyamoto) but it's cool to have Suzuki talking to the press again.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

Virtua Racing wasn't the first 3D racer, was it?

[kingoffighters]

Not way VR is the first, Hard Drivin' predates it and it is not the first either.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

That's what I thought.

[Opaque]

You can't see the car when you play Hard Drivin' so they might be pulling some technicality.

Was Virtua Racer the first 3D racing game where you saw the car?

[Frogacuda]

Not way VR is the first, Hard Drivin' predates it and it is not the first either.

Hard Drivin' might be the first real 3D racer, actually. At least as a commercial entertainment product and not a simulator.

You can't see the car when you play Hard Drivin' so they might be pulling some technicality.

You can in the replays

[Opaque]

You can in the replays

Which still isn't you playing, to be fair.

[James]

Hard Drivin' is the first 3D racer the public could get its hands on. No technicalities needed. You might as well say "first 3D racer using F1 cars" if you want to give the nod to Virtua Racer.

James

[NeoZeedeater]

Namco's Winning Run came out around the same time as Hard Drivin'. I don't know which came first. Hard Drivin' was certainly more common.

[Frogacuda]

You might as well say "first 3D racer using F1 cars" if you want to give the nod to Virtua Racer.

Pretty sure there were a few of these before hand as well, on home computers. 1988 saw the release of Hard Drivin and Starglider 2 and those two inspired a lot of games to adopt filled 3D polygons. It was well charted territory by the time VR rolled around.

In fairness to Meilke it's not clear to me he meant VR was the first 3D racer as much as he meant it was Suzuki's transition to 3D.