OutRun

Inspiration behind the Game

The inspiration behind the development of OutRun was born out of two things. The first was to overturn Namco, the developer (at the time) of the hugely successful Pole Position and a company synonymous with racing titles, to make Sega Japan's leading manufacturer of racing games. The second, surprisingly, was Yu Suzuki's love of the Burt Reynolds movie Cannonball Run. Suzuki states "The main impetus behind OutRun's creation was my love of a film called Cannonball Run. I thought it would be good to make a game like that."

Suzuki took the development process very seriously and wanted to visit the locations where the courses and levels of his game would pass through. The film Cannonball Run is a pan-American road-race and Suzuki made plans to follow the same course and collect photographic, video and audio data along the way. However, he quickly realized there was a problem:

"The film crosses America, so I made a plan to follow the same course and collect data as I went. But I realized, once I'd arranged everything, that the scenery along the course actually doesn't change very much so I revised my plan and decided to collect data in Europe instead..."

Introducing Force Feedback

There were four versions of the OutRun arcade cabinet, Deluxe and Standard moving models, an upright with a force-feedback wheel and a cockpit version without any movement.

The early classic Arcade machine for OutRun, featured force-feedback. If the side of a wall was hit the player would get a slight jolt, but completely wipe out and reveal the mistake to everyone else present. The rumble brought a sense of immersion that other arcade games lacked at the time.

Multiple Paths

OutRun also featured a unique way to play through the game. At the end of each area (or checkpoint) the road would fork left and right. The way the player chose to go would decide if the next track is more difficult or less difficult. Some areas and paths were much more difficult than others, so it is best to choose wisely. Each path features different endings, most of which are often humorous.

Gradient

Out Run was the first racing game to introduce the use of gradients, with the car climbing uphill and downhill along the course.