RIDGE RACER (PlayStation Vita)

For the original or PSP iteration, see Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer (PSP).

Ridge Racer
Japanese	リッジレーサー
Developer	Cellius
Publisher	Bandai Namco Games
Release date	17 December 2011 22 February 2012 13 March 2012
Genre	Racing
Game modes	Ghost Battle Online Battle Local Battle Spot Race
Players	1 Player 2-8 Players (Multiplayer)
Age rating
Platform	PlayStation Vita
Game Timeline
Previous Game	Ridge Racer 3D
Next Game	Ridge Racer Unbounded

RIDGE RACER (also known as Ridge Racer Vita) is a Ridge Racer entry released for the PlayStation Vita and the fifth Ridge Racer title on handheld consoles, developed by Cellius and published by Bandai Namco Games. It was released on 17 December 2011 in Japan, 22 February 2012 in Europe, and 13 March 2012 in North America.

Plot

Judging by the series' timeline, it is set in 2012, a year after the events of the 2011 Ridge State Grand Prix. Major revisions were made to the regulations once again, featuring fewer venues and competing vehicles, but with new team-style "combat" racing, and the establishment of dedicated teams.

Gameplay

Like in previous titles, Ridge Racer's main focus is high-speed drift racing across different race events located in various locations. Returning from previous games are nitrous boosting, which gives players a temporary speed boost that can be filled up by drifting around corners; and slipstreaming, which speeds players up by aligning themselves behind opponent cars.

For the first time since Ridge Racer Revolution in 1995, Ridge Racer does not offer a grand prix-style game mode that serves as its main form of game progression.

Planetary League

A new kind of player interactivity among the Ridge Racer community, being placed into four teams. Each team will have an objective, usually against another team. Sometimes, alliances will be form to take down one common enemy. Upon starting up the game for the first time, players will select a team to associate themself with, sometimes with one of them offering signing bonuses. Afterwards, they can change teams.

Squaris GP

"Your Home, Your Cloud"

―Squaris GP

Squaris GP is a team who rose to the top with its cutting edge cloud computing technology. Its icon is depicted as a purple square-like spiral.

Xealot Motorsport

"Where Your Purchase Has Power"

―Xealot Motorsport

Xealot Motorsport is a team who recently entered the e-commerce space, yet their innovative style propelled them to popularity. Its icon is depicted as two lines turning in a manner perpendicular to each other, forming an X.

Circlite Motorsport

"Make It Social"

―Circlite Motorsport

Circlite Motorsport is a team who reworked social networking with its fast-paced approach and features that make their users' product experience more personal. Its icon is depicted as three circles overlapping, forming what appears to be a Venn Diagram.

Trianchor Alliance

"Creating The Power Of Green"

―Trianchor Alliance

Trianchor Alliance is a team working towards revolutionary energy technology. From their theming and colors, said energy technology appear to be clean energy. Its icon is depicted as three triangles overlapping.

Courses

Ridge Racer features nine courses, all from previous titles Ridge Racer 6, Ridge Racer 7, and Ridge Racer 3D. Three of these courses are available in the base game:

• Harborline 765
• Highland Cliffs
• Southbay Docks

Six additional courses were made available as individual DLCs:

• Old Central
• Sunset Heights
• Lost Ruins
• Oceanfront Cruise Way
• Silver Mountain Skyway
• Redstone Thunder Road

Vehicles

Ridge Racer's machine collection is comprised of 15 unique machines across 8 manufacturers, excluding crossover machines and "Special Edition" variations. Seven of these manufacturers return from previous titles:

• Kamata (Japan)
• Âge (France)
• Gnade (Germany)
• Assoluto (Italy)
• Himmel (Germany)
• Soldat (France/Italy)
• Lucky & Wild (United States)

Also introduced is an all-new manufacturer, Zihua (Hong Kong), which offers only one machine: the Zihua Archangel.

Five machines are readily available in the base game. These are:

• the Kamata SYNCi, a brand new machine from Kamata;
• the Kamata Fiera;
• the Soldat Rauna, the new generation of the Soldat Raggio;
• the Himmel EO;
• and the Assoluto Bisargento, the new generation of the Assoluto Bisonte.

Two Special Machines are also available in the game:

• the Soldat Crinale;
• and the Zihua Archangel, the spiritual successor to the Kamata Angelus.

Machine customization in Ridge Racer is limited to machines' body color, deviating from the vast number of modifications previously offered in Ridge Racer 7, which included performance upgrades. To make up for this, Nitrous, plug-in units and special abilities can be changed, although this requires progression in the Tech Tree menu, with most items costing 400CR.

The machines' handling behaviors can also be changed through a slider which can be altered to lean more towards Mild, Standard or Dynamic.

DLC machines

Available as individual DLCs are:

• Assoluto Promessa, sporting a new design since its last appearance in R4;
• Age Solo Elenie, a new machine from Âge's racing division Age Solo;
• Gnade Dignistar, a new machine from Gnade;
• Assoluto Fatalita, featuring a redesign reminiscent of its Rage Racer days;
• Soldat Meltfire;
• Kamata RC410;
• Lucky & Wild Evolver;
• Lucky & Wild Wisdom;
• SEGA Hornet, a crossover machine from rival racing game Daytona USA by SEGA;
• Kamata SYNCi "PAC-MAN"SP, a variation of the SYNCi with a special Pac-Man livery.

Exclusive to Japan are 14 Special Edition machines. One of these machines sports a sponsored livery, while the rest feature liveries based on The Idolm@ster characters:

• Kamata SYNCi "Docomo"SP
• Kamata Fiera "Haruka"SP
• Soldat Rauna "Makoto"SP
• Assoluto Bisargento "Chihaya"SP
• Himmel EO "Azusa"SP
• Assoluto Promessa "Yayoi"SP
• Age Solo Elenie "Mami"SP
• Age Solo Elenie "Ami"SP
• Gnade Dignistar "Yukiho"SP
• Soldat Meltfire "Miki"SP
• Assoluto Fatalita "Takane"SP
• Kamata RC410 "Ritsuko"SP
• Lucky & Wild Evolver "Hibiki"SP
• Lucky & Wild Wisdom "Iori"SP

Music

Ridge Racer features 6 songs playable during races in the base game.

No.	Title	Composer
1	Into the Lead	Hiroshi Okubo
2	Digital Horizon	Rio Hamamoto
3	Future Driven	U
4	Sliding Beat	Ryo Watanabe
5	Virtuoso	sanodg
6	Purple Sky	AJURIKA

DLC music

Available as DLC are 28 packs of additional music for the game. Twenty of these packs feature four songs each from previous Ridge Racer titles, two feature two new songs each, two feature long-form non-stop mixes of various Ridge Racer songs, and four are Japan-exclusive songs from The Idolm@ster. In total, 90 individual music tracks are available as DLC.

No.	Title	Composer	Original game
MUSIC PACK 01: R4 #1
1	Pearl Blue Soul	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer Type 4
2	Naked Glow	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racer Type 4
3	Your Vibe	Asuka Sakai	Ridge Racer Type 4
4	Burnin' Rubber	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer Type 4
MUSIC PACK 01: R4 #2
1	Quiet Curves	Hiroshi Okubo, Asuka Sakai	Ridge Racer Type 4
2	The Objective	Koji Nakagawa	Ridge Racer Type 4
3	Move Me	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racer Type 4
4	Movin' in Circles	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer Type 4
MUSIC PACK 03: RIDGE RACER V #1
1	Euphoria	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racer V
2	TsuiTsui	U	Ridge Racer V
3	Samurai Rocket	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racer V
4	Daredevil	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racer V
MUSIC PACK 04: RIDGE RACERS #1
1	Highride	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racers
2	Warp Trooper	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racers
3	Chrome Drive	sanodg	Ridge Racers
4	Vanishing Horizon	J99	Ridge Racers
MUSIC PACK 05: RIDGE RACERS #2
1	Bassrider	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racers
2	Disco Ball	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racers
3	Tunnel Visionary	Tetsukazu Nakanishi	Ridge Racers
4	Tek Trek	Hiroshi Okubo, Koji Nakagawa	Ridge Racers
MUSIC PACK 06: RIDGE RACERS #3
1	Pulse Phaze	U	Ridge Racers
2	Synthetic Life	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racers
3	Night Stream	Kohta Takahashi	Ridge Racers
4	Light Groove	Asuka Sakai	Ridge Racers
MUSIC PACK 07: RIDGE RACER 6 #1
1	Explorers	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer 6
2	Nitro Mantra	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racer 6
3	I Want You	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racer 6
4	Road Mauler	Rio Hamamoto	Ridge Racer 6
MUSIC PACK 08: RIDGE RACER 6 #2
1	Valley of the Mind	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer 6
2	Floodlight	sanodg	Ridge Racer 6
3	Drift Psychosis	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer 6
4	Trail of Light	J99	Ridge Racer 6
MUSIC PACK 09: RIDGE RACER 6 #3
1	Ultra Cruise	Tetsukazu Nakanishi	Ridge Racer 6
2	Highway Fusion	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer 6
3	Radiance	sanodg	Ridge Racer 6
4	Photon Field	Koji Nakagawa	Ridge Racer 6
MUSIC PACK 10: RIDGE RACER 7 #1
1	Turn Me On	Akitaka Tohyama	Ridge Racer 7
2	Orbital Rock	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer 7
3	Beat Assassinator	Rio Hamamoto	Ridge Racer 7
4	Hard Drive	sanodg	Ridge Racer 7
MUSIC PACK 11: RIDGE RACER 7 #2
1	Freak Out	Akitaka Tohyama	Ridge Racer 7
2	Transparency	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer 7
3	Saturation	Ryuichi Takada	Ridge Racer 7
4	Down to Earth	Ryuichi Takada	Ridge Racer 7
MUSIC PACK 12: RIDGE RACER 7 #3
1	Awakening	Tetsukazu Nakanishi	Ridge Racer 7
2	Shut Up Baby	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racer 7
3	Listen Up!	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer 7
4	M.T.T.B.	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer 7
MUSIC PACK 13: REMIX #1
1	Rotterdam Nation Remix	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racers
2	Speedster Remix	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racers
3	Rareheroes	sanodg	Ridge Racers
4	Drive U 2 Dancing Remix	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racers
MUSIC PACK 14: REMIX #2
1	Blue Topaz Remix	J99	Ridge Racers
2	Rotten7 Remix	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racers 2
3	Kamikaze Remix	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racers 2
4	Heart of Hearts Remix	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racers 2
MUSIC PACK 15: ORIGIN #1
1	Ridge Racer (Power Remix)	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer
2	Grip	sanodg	Ridge Racer Revolution
3	Euphoria	SamplingMasters AYA	Rave Racer
4	EXH*NOTES	sanodg	Rave Racer
MUSIC PACK 16: VARIETY #1
1	Burn Up The Road	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer 3D
2	Venomous	Rio Hamamoto	Ridge Racer 3D
3	Angel Halo	Rio Hamamoto	Ridge Racer 3D
4	Rage Racer Remix	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racers 2
MUSIC PACK 17: VARIETY #2
1	Stream of Lights	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer 3D
2	Heat Shadows	Rio Hamamoto	Ridge Racer 3D
3	Rolling Glider	Keiichi Okabe	Ridge Racer 3D
4	Supercruiser	ESTi	Ridge Racer 7
MUSIC PACK 18: VARIETY #3
1	NOx Warheads	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racer 3D
2	Call of Apsara	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racer 3D
3	My Crazy Chainsaw	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racer 3D
4	Nitro Witch	SamplingMasters AYA	Ridge Racer 7
MUSIC PACK 19: VARIETY #4
1	Psychokinesis	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer 3D
2	Napalm Sled	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer 3D
3	Dr. Mad's Gone	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer 3D
4	Combustion	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer 7
MUSIC PACK 20: PAC-MAN #1
1	Eat 'em Up!	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer Type 4
2	MotorPacCity5	Kisaburo	Ridge Racer V
3	Run PAC-MAN Run!	Akitaka Tohyama	Ridge Racer 6
4	Eat the World	Ryo Watanabe	Ridge Racer 7
NEW SONGS PACK 01
1	The Time is Now	SamplingMasters MEGA	—
2	Racer's Delight	Taku Inoue	—
NEW SONGS PACK 02
1	Take You Away	SamplingMasters AYA	—
2	Super Acceleration	Kyoko Miyakura	—
LONG MIX BGM 01
1	Nitrous Mix #1	Hiroshi Okubo	—
Tracklist: No. Title Composer Original game 1 Into the Lead Hiroshi Okubo Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita) 2 Stimulation Hiroshi Okubo Rage Racer 3 Future Driven U Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita) 4 Nitro Right Now Taku Inoue Ridge Racer 3D 5 Rising Koji Nakagawa R: Racing Evolution 6 Aberration LindaAI-CUE Ridge Racer 3D 7 Hard Drive sanodg Ridge Racer 7 8 Virtuoso sanodg Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita) 9 Saturation Ryuichi Takada Ridge Racer 7 10 Freak Out Akitaka Tohyama Ridge Racer 7 11 T Minus Ten AJURIKA R: Racing Evolution 12 Purple Sky AJURIKA Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita) 13 Sliding Beat Ryo Watanabe Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita) 14 Transparency Hiroshi Okubo Ridge Racer 7
LONG MIX BGM 02
1	Nitrous Mix #2	Kensuke Ushio	—
Tracklist: No. Title Composer Original game 1 Your Vibe Asuka Sakai Ridge Racer Type 4 2 Thru Koji Nakagawa Ridge Racer Type 4 3 Pearl Blue Soul Hiroshi Okubo Ridge Racer Type 4 4 Motor Species Tetsukazu Nakanishi Ridge Racer Type 4 5 Sliding Beat Ryo Watanabe Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita) 6 Into the Lead Hiroshi Okubo Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita) 7 Disco Ball Hiroshi Okubo Ridge Racers 8 Burnin' Rubber Hiroshi Okubo Ridge Racer Type 4 9 Quiet Curves Hiroshi Okubo, Asuka Sakai Ridge Racer Type 4 10 Movin' in Circles Hiroshi Okubo Ridge Racer Type 4
Ridge racer (RIDGE RACER USA MIX)
1	Ridge Racer (Ridge Racer USA Mix) (vocals: Takenobu Mitsuyoshi)	SamplingMasters MEGA, Hiroshi Okubo	—
GO MY WAY!!
1	GO MY WAY!!	The Idolm@ster	—
MEGARE!
1	MEGARE!	The Idolm@ster	—
The world is all one !!
1	The world is all one !!	The Idolm@ster	—
THE IDOLM@STER 2nd-mix
1	THE IDOLM@STER 2nd-mix	The Idolm@ster	—

On 7 July 2024, Nitrous Mixes #1 and #2 were made available for purchase and streaming worldwide. Each medley appears both as its constituent songs labeled individually as well as a single long-form track.

RIDGE RACER - PLANETARY SOUNDS

An album featuring the new songs created for the game was released on 26 March 2012 under the name RIDGE RACER - PLANETARY SOUNDS.

No.	Title	Composer
1	Entrance	Hiroshi Okubo
2	Planet (Select Screen Edit)	Taku Inoue, Hiroshi Okubo
3	Into the Lead	Hiroshi Okubo
4	Digital Horizon	Rio Hamamoto
5	Future Driven	U
6	Sliding Beat	Ryo Watanabe
7	Virtuoso	sanodg
8	Purple Sky	AJURIKA
9	The Time is Now	SamplingMasters MEGA
10	Racer's Delight	Taku Inoue
11	Take You Away	SamplingMasters AYA
12	Super Acceleration	Kyoko Miyakura
13	Planet	Taku Inoue

On 26 April 2024, these songs, along with the music from Ridge Racer 6, were made available for purchase and streaming worldwide.

RIDGE RACER - PLANETARY SOUNDS egc DECI-MIX EXTRA DISC

An extra disc was included with online purchases of the main soundtrack album when bought online through the SuperSweep web store. This extra disc contains a 53-minute non-stop megamix mixed by Takahiro Eguchi containing BGM tracks from the game, as well as from a few other Ridge Racer titles.

No.	Title	Composer	Original game
1	Racer's Delight	Taku Inoue	Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita)
2	Nitro Right Now	Taku Inoue	Ridge Racer 3D
3	Virtuoso	sanodg	Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita)
4	Into the Lead	Hiroshi Okubo	Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita)
5	Photon Field	Koji Nakagawa	Ridge Racer 6
6	Sliding Beat	Ryo Watanabe	Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita)
7	Future Driven	U	Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita)
8	Purple Sky	AJURIKA	Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita)
9	Radiance	sanodg	Ridge Racer 6
10	Super Acceleration	Kyoko Miyakura	Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita)
11	Digital Horizon	Rio Hamamoto	Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita)
12	The Time is Now	SamplingMasters MEGA	Ridge Racer (PlayStation Vita)

Reception

The game was panned by many critics, due to the game being light on feature. GameSpot gave the game 3.0/10 and said that the game had a huge lack of content, (which consisted of just five cars and three tracks, the tracks were all from RR6 and RR7). This resulted in a poor experience which lacked any variety from previous installments. To conclude, the game was considered "a complete and utter ripoff" that "feels more like a cheap cash-in rather than a fully thought-out product". IGN also gave the game the same a 3/10 for similar reasons, they said that it had no storyline or progression-based modes or leagues and unbalanced online races that use a leveling system to determine a player's top speed, which gave an unfair disadvantage to newer players, Ridge Racer was described as "racing in a vacuum", barely more than a tech demo, wrapped up in a online-reliant social framework that's fundamentally flawed on several levels. In June of 2012, IGN also named the game as one of it's Top Ten Worst Video Games of 2012 so far.

Modern day consumer reception of Vita views it as a decent racing experience for people who already own a Vita, but not a title worthy of purchasing the console retroactively.

The poor reception of Vita can easily be seen as part of Ridge Racer's penultimate decline and discontinuation, as this would be the last mainline entry in the series. While three more games, Ridge Racer Unbounded, Ridge Racer Slipstream, and Ridge Racer Draw & Drift would be released, these were all spin-offs and supplementary mobile titles. Outside of vehicles from the game occasionally being featured as collaboration event rewards in the Japanese-exclusive mobile game Drift Spirits, Namco has made next to no acknowledgement of Vita or the Ridge Racer franchise since.

Trivia

• With all music DLC packs installed, the game features 96 BGM tracks, giving it the largest music collection across all Ridge Racer games.
• For the first time in Ridge Racer history, all of this game's courses are separated from each other; no two courses in the game are situated in the same area.
• This is the first time that Pac-Man has no dedicated vehicle of his own, instead having a special livery variant of one of the available machines.
• Considering the series' lore, the Japan-exclusive The Idolm@ster-themed machines imply that the 765 Production idols are competing in the 2012 Ridge State Grand Prix.