Ridge Racer 7 is the seventh console installment in the Ridge Racer series of racing games, released on PlayStation 3. 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 1080pnative 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.
Gameplay
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. A global ranking system is used to rank players. It uses a combination of FP, CR and OBP to work out an overall number of RP, which are displayed on the player's Ridge State ID Card.
Game modes
Single player
Ridge State Grand Prix - The main game mode consisting of a series of races.
Manufacturer's Trials - special races where the player can earn new cars or parts to customize their car, if you get 100 Manufacturer points you will be a member of one manufacturer.
UFRA Single Event - special races with restrictions.
Extreme Battle - boss battles with a much higher difficulty and you can win normal cars, or special cars.
Arcade - a single player game mode where the player can choose among the unlocked tracks or cars.
Multiplayer
Global Time Attack - a time trial mode where players race their cars around the circuits as fast as possible and post their best lap times on a global leaderboard.
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, 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.
UFRA Special Event - A set of 25 extra events, downloaded for free from the PlayStation Store, which boast a much higher difficulty than any event in the Ridge State Grand Prix mode. The choice of cars is often preset or massively narrowed down.
Extras
On 22 March 2007, Namco released downloadable extras and content for Ridge Racer 7 through the PlayStation Network. This content includes extra events and special decals for customizing the roof of the car. Players also have the option to purchase extra background music for their game. These add-ons were added to the US PlayStation Store on 1 June 2007. A patch for the game was released in October 2010 to make the game playable in 3D. The classic arcade gameXevious is unlockable in this game.
Reception
Critic reviews
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.
Awards
Ridge Racer 7 received the IGN Award for Best PlayStation 3 Racing Game of 2006.
