History YMMV / RidgeRacer

* PolishedPort: While having some of its own unique content and mechanics, for many fans ''Ridge Racer 64'' is ultimately like a really refined port of the first two [=PS1=] entries and then some, even allowing the player to use the prior game's drift and control systems if the player opts. Despite being made by an internal Nintendo team in America rather than Namco themselves, the whole game looks, plays and sounds like a missing link between the arcade style of the early series and ''Type 4''. ''Ridge Racer DS'' would then port the game wholesale besides the control selection system, and still ultimately keep the same experience intact while showcasing the [=DS=] hardware when used properly.

* NightmareFuel: The [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Soldat Crinale]] (Rivelta Crinale in ''Ridge Racer V''), especially in the first few games, because when racing against it, [[GuideDangIt its position is not showed]] [[NothingIsScarier in the racetrack map]], and since it's a very fast, evil-looking car, it can cause [[JumpScare sudden heart attacks]]. And its nickname (Devil) doesn't help either. Fortunately, in some games such as the UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable titles, it's shown in the racetrack map, [[ThatOneBoss but still requires putting a good fight against the said beast]].
* OlderThanTheyThink: ''Unbounded'' wasn't the first time a ''Ridge Racer'' game was made by a western company. That goes back to the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 days with ''Ridge Racer 64''.[[note]]The game was developed by Nintendo's NST division, located in Redmond, Washington[[/note]]

* EvilIsSexy: The hidden menu in the PS Vita version of Ridge Racer gives you, in the background, a seductively lying [[HoodOrnamentHottie Reiko Nagase]] in a latex suit based on the Soldat Crinale.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: For their [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny time]], several major entries in the series typically pioneered visual techniques and technical showcasing or progression on their hardware. The best examples would have to be ''Type 4'', held as the best-looking racing game on the original [=PS1=], ''V'' demonstrating the [=PS2=] hardware straight out of the gate with its 60 frames per second and legendary real-time intro, and ''7'' being one of the few [=PS3=] games to output at 1080p while doing it at 60 frames per second, all while sporting visual upgrades over ''6'' for the Xbox 360.

* TierInducedScrappy: Zig-zagged with Dig Racing Team, with a little UnstableEquilibrium thrown in. In GP Mode, Dig Racing Team is the most difficult team to play GP Mode with in ''R4'', due to the difficult opponents AI, usually low top speed and tricky handling of their machines (in-universe, this is explained by DRT having budget shortages and overall being one of the worst teams), whereas the two "grip" teams MMM and PRC have easier-for-beginners machines and Racing Team Solvalou's machines are at least DifficultButAwesome rather than "handicap mode". For time attack modes, at least with the Shooting Hoops track, they boast the best top tier Stage 3 and Stage 4 cars (car number 12 and 19 respectively) in the game, and their second bests in those Stages aren't slouches either, nearly as good as RTS. While they start off rubbish, their best car in each tier gets a much bigger boost in top speed over the previous model compared to the other teams. Their Stage 2 cars start off nearly as slow as MMM, but car 5 (the best in Stage 2) is as fast as the PRC version, and with Stage 3 & 4, while again they start off slow, if you're good enough to keep winning then their bespoke models (i.e. the cars that aren't just tuned versions of previous models) again get significantly bigger boosts in top speed over what would happen with their competitors.
** ''Ridge Racer V'' has the Kamata Fortune. It's supposed to be a newbie friendly car with its easy handling, but goes at the speed of molasses and even its oval engine has disappointing performance. On harder difficulties, the Fortune may make certain races {{Main/Unwinnable}}. For reference, the Danver Toreador and Himmel EO have better performance with DifficultButAwesome handling.
*** [[InvertedTrope However,]] [[DifficultButAwesome the Fortune crosses to the other side]] of the coin should the player put in the effort to unlock its Oval-class engine; as mentioned before, on the actual oval event it's garbage, but if it's used on a regular track in timetrial mode, it goes like absolute stink, while its twitchy, [[VideoGame/ChoroQ Choro Q]]-like "lift off and turn in"-based handling model mirrors the [[GameBreaker game-breaking Angelus's]]. Easily one of the best ways to beat the boss racers' times and unlock the duels with them once mastered...at which point you'd best have that EO handy to actually beat the bosses, since you don't get the Oval engines in the duels.

** From the same game, Heaven and Hell. The issue with Phantomile is purely lack of time, while the course isn't that difficult. The early parts of H&H are shared with Wonderhill from early in the championship, only this time, you will probably be doing those bits in a ''much'' faster car. Not helped by the fact that the bits of the course it doesn't share with WH are chock full of right angle turns and tightening hairpins. Taken UpToEleven when you factor in you have to race the Devil Cars here in Extra Trial if you want the Dig Racing Team (hardest difficulty) versions of the Terrazi Utopia and Age Solo Ecureil. In GP Mode it's not too bad even when driving for RTS, but with DRT it can be a realm grind because ''you have to win''. The save point is after this race, but screw it up and you'll have to go through Phantomile and Brightest Nite again to have another go.

** The '''Rivelta''', later '''Soldat Crinale''' from ''V'' onwards, but especially in ''V''. Before then, the Crinale's previous appearances as the "13th Racing" had it portrayed as a [[MasterOfAll]] that rivaled the White Angel (AKA the Kamata Angelus) tit-for-tat. Starting in ''V'', the Crinale's handling model was drastically altered such that the car has next to no lateral grip at all, making the handling akin to driving on ice; it gets to the point in later games that one can just '''steer''' hard into a corner to provoke the car into a drift. The ''extreme'' acceleration and speed aid the equation.

* GameBreaker: The Kamata Angelus in ''V''. Ludicrous top end speed (almost 700 kph!!!), twitchy handling and zooming-past-you-in-no-time acceleration in one lovely-looking package. That makes the [[BossRush Battle Royal]] mode a breeze if you use it.

* ThatOneLevel: %% some of the racetracks in the series are absolute bastards, such as ''EX Revolution Road'', ''Greenpeak Highlands'', ''Edgestone Expressway/Edge of the Earth'', ''Britenight Cruiseway/Brightest Nite'', ''Bayside Line'', ''Island Circle'', ''Sunset Heights'' and ''Redstone Thunder Road''.

** From the same game, Heaven and Hell. The issue with Phantomile is purely lack of time, while the course isn't that difficult. The early parts of H&H are shared with Wonderhill from early in the championship, only this time, you will probably be doing those bits in a ''much'' faster car. Not helped by the fact that the bits of the course it doesn't share with WH are chock full of right angle turns and tightening hairpins. Taken UpToEleven when you factor in you have to race the Devil Cars here in Extra Trial if you want the Dig Racing Team (hardest difficulty) versions of the Terrazi Utopia and Age Solo Euracil. In GP Mode it's not too bad even when driving for RTS, but with DRT it can be a realm grind because ''you have to win''. The save point is after this race, but screw it up and you'll have to go through Phantomile and Brightest Nite again to have another go.

** Bayside Line is this in ''Ridge Racer V''. It's basically a longer version of Green Hill but using Outer Pass's configuration. The track is known for having lots of tough corners, with one being a very long right turn. One slip up can mean defeat unless you're driving the [[DifficultButAwesome Himmel EO]].

** But, for now, the biggest feud the ''Ridge Racer'' fandom had is with ''VideoGame/ProjectGothamRacing''.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: For their [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny time]], several major entries in the series typically pioneered visual techniques and technical showcasing or progression on their hardware. The best examples would have to be ''Type 4'', held as the best-looking racing game on the original [=PS1=], ''V'' demonstrating the [=PS2=] hardware straight out of the gate with its 60 frames per second and legendary real-time intro, and ''7'' being one of the only few [=PS3=] games to output at 1080p at 60 frames per second, all while sporting visual upgrades over ''6'' for the Xbox 360.

** The "Ridge Racer Turbo Mode" bonus disc included with ''Type 4'' features the first game at 60 frames per second and high resolution visuals. It's really hard to go back to the original 1995 [=PS1=] version after playing this.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: For their [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny time]], several major entries in the series typically pioneered visual techniques and technical showcasing or progression on their hardware. The best examples would have to be ''Type 4'', held as the best-looking racing game on the original [=PS1=], and ''V'' demonstrating the [=PS2=] hardware straight out of the gate with its 60 frames per second and legendary real-time intro.

* ContestedSequel: ''Unbounded''. One half of the {{Fandom}} believes that Bugbear's interpretation of Ridge Racer has basically killed the series as a whole, with ''Unbounded'' being decried by most of its critics as a mash-up of several other arcade racers (the destruction of ''VideoGame/SplitSecond'', the combativeness of ''VideoGame/{{Burnout}}'', an art style similar to ''VideoGame/{{Blur}}'') without having any of the series' traditional aspects (save for the drifting, but even the weighty-ness of it is different from the older games) that made the series popular. On the other hand, the other half of the {{Fandom}} believe ''Unbounded'' as a breath of fresh air for the series (except for the recent portable releases, the last console game was ''Ridge Racer 7''; a ''launch title'' for the [=PS3=]), with some really solid racing mechanics (least they ripped off the best arcade racers) and a good track creator, among other good things people have to say for ''Unbounded''.

* ContestedSequel: ''Unbounded''. One half of the {{Fandom}} believes that Bugbear's interpretation of Ridge Racer has basically killed the series as a whole, with ''Unbounded'' being decried by most of its critics as a mash-up of several other arcade racers (the destruction of SplitSecond, the combativeness of ''VideoGame/{{Burnout}}'', an art style similar to ''VideoGame/{{Blur}}'') without having any of the series' traditional aspects (save for the drifting, but even the weighty-ness of it is different from the older games) that made the series popular. On the other hand, the other half of the {{Fandom}} believe ''Unbounded'' as a breath of fresh air for the series (except for the recent portable releases, the last console game was ''Ridge Racer 7''; a ''launch title'' for the [=PS3=]), with some really solid racing mechanics (least they ripped off the best arcade racers) and a good track creator, among other good things people have to say for ''Unbounded''.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Zig-Zagged in ''7''. Expect the top racers for the global time attack mode to either use the Jujak with the Druaga engine, Rolling Thunder Dynamic +3 tires and the Galaxian Normal Charge U nitrous, or the Himmel EO with Druaga engine, Astaroth Grip +3 tires with the General Resource Reverse Charge nitrous. For online play the car roster and tire setup is a lot more diverse. Though almost every car has the Druaga engine and only the Galaxian Normal Charge U nitrous is permitted for serious online play.

* {{Expy}} / SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Some of the tracks in Type 4 do suffer from somewhat lazy design; one can easily see the influence Revolution's circuit's had on the layout of some tracks (Easy to Edge Of The Earth & Phantomile, Intermediate To Wonder Hill, and somewhat Expert to Heaven & Hell) and Shooting Hoops is just High Speed Ring from Gran Turismo in the setting of Special Stage Route 5/11.

* WritersCannotDoMath: Suprisingly averted. According to 5, the Kamata Angelus has a W18 DOHC engine. One would think that W engines by design have to have a number of cylinders that is a multiple of 4, which 18 clearly isn't, as modern W engines do, but no, it's using the [[SchizoTech older]] "three-bank" design, in which case such engines [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W18_engine do exist (even if on closer inspection the configuration more closely resembles a Y).]] They were often used as aeroplane engines in the first half of the 20th Century, which is TruthInTelevision as early racing cars did indeed use such engines.
** Volkswagen's [=VR5=] engine shows that you can possibly create a W18 without the archaic 3 bank configuration.

* WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings: When Namco announced that a new ''Ridge Racer'' title was coming for mobile platforms, the fanbase was definitely not amused. They actually wanted -- and still want -- a full scale ''Ridge Racer'' game for next-gen consoles.

* NightmareFuel: The [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Soldat Crinale]] (Rivelta Crinale in ''Ridge Racer V''), especially in the first few games, because when racing against it, [[GuideDangIt its position is not showed]] [[NothingIsScarier in the racetrack map]], and since it's a very fast, evil-looking car, it can cause [[JumpScare sudden heart attacks]]. And its nickname (Devil) doesn't help either. Fortunately, in some games such as the PlayStation Portable titles, it's shown in the racetrack map, [[ThatOneBoss but still requires putting a good fight against the said beast]].
* OlderThanTheyThink: ''Unbounded'' wasn't the first time a ''Ridge Racer'' game was made by a western company. That goes back to the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}} days with ''Ridge Racer 64''.[[note]]The game was developed by Nintendo's NST division, located in Redmond, Washington[[/note]]