Described by designer Yu Suzuki as a driving game rather than a racing game, Sega's 1986 game OutRun puts players behind the wheel of a red convertible on a trip through California-inspired landscapes.
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 you tapped the side of a wall the player would get a slight jolt, but completely wipe out and everyone in the room would know you just totalled that Ferrari. 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 you chose to go would decipher if the next track would be more difficult or less difficult. Some areas and paths were much more difficult than others, so choose wisely. Each path features different endings, most of which are often humorous.
| Game Name | OutRun |
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