Last changed: 12/12/98
Platform: Playstation
Author: Jacel Ong
Email: starnight@animefan.org
This FAQ should not published without the author's permission,
and should not be used for commercial purposes (i.e., magazines).
This FAQ may be redistributed, provided it stays unaltered.
Please email me, just to let me know. Also give credit where it's
due.
Ridge Racer and R4 are trademarks of Namco.
FAQ copyrighted work of Jacel Ong 1998.
This FAQ is written according to the Japanese version of R4.
1 - The Grand Prix
2 - The Tracks
3 - The Teams and Makers
4 - The Garage System
5 - Cornering Tactics
6 - VS Battle
7 - The Extra Trial
8 - Tips
9 - Ending
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1 - The Grand Prix
===================================================================
Heat 2
-Stage 02
3 - Edge of the earth (USA)
4 - Out of the blue (Japan)
Final GP
-Stage 03
5 - Phantomile (Japan)
6 - Brightest nite (USA)
7 - Heaven and hell (Japan)
-Stage 04
8 - Shooting Hoops (USA)
The stages indicates the types of cars used. They'll ship a new
and faster car at the beginning of next stage.
===================================================================
2 - The Tracks
===================================================================
Normally, only four tracks are playable. Complete the Grand Prix
once and all 8 tracks will be playable. In addition, reverse
tracks are available in Time Attack mode. You can identify
between Normal and Reverse tracks by the N and R symbols beside
the logo of the track.
===================================================================
3 - The Teams and Makers
===================================================================
In Grand Rix mode, there are four teams, each with a different
difficulty.
Easy - R.C. Micro Mouse Mappy / M.M.M (France)
Normal - Pac Racing Club (Japan)
Hard - Racing Team Solvalou (Italy)
Expert - Dig Racing Team (USA)
You're advised to start with Mappy, since it is the easiest. Hey,
I'm no expert, so I started with that too.
After choosing your team, select a car maker.
Drift Types - Assoluto (Italy)
- Lizard (USA)
Grip Types - Terrazi (Japan)
- Age Solo (France)
Drift cars are generally harder to control, since it has a
relatively smaller turning angle than grip cars. More on this
below.
===================================================================
4 - The Garage System
===================================================================
In this game, there are two sets of cars available: Garage and
Preset. Each time you complete the Grand Prix, 4 cars will be
added to your list. In your garage, you're allowed to have 8
usable cars at a time. So each time you want to change your cars,
go to the garage, select an unwanted car and hit the 'change'
option. Up to 320 cars can be added to your list.
The option 'save' in the garages saves your name.
In the garage, you're also able to customise the stickers on your
cars. There are 16 colors and 16 stickers to choose from. You can
also draw your own sticker in the Sticker edit section if you like.
If you haven't played the previous versions of Ridge Racers, you
should read this.
As mentioned, drift cars have a smaller turning angle than grip
cars. This isn't very obvious, since drift cars now share nearly
the same turning angle as grip cars.
To perform a perfect sharp cornering, you have to have your car to
do some skidding. Both types of cars have different ways of doing
this, and they sound different too. By doing skidding, you'll
definately have a loss of speed, but it is far better off than
knocking into the wall and having to catch up later.
In order to make a sharp cornering using drift cars, release
the accelerator button just before the corner. Turn to the
specified angle and step on the accelerator again. At this time,
the cars will then to lose control, so just keep tapping left
and right to get it into its correct direction.
As for grip cars, keep tapping or hold the brake button while
doing the corner.
Tough? Well, practice makes perfect.
===================================================================
6 - VS Battle
===================================================================
This game assumes that both players have the Playstation. So both
players are supposed to earn their own cars and battle it out.
By default the second player has to put his / her memory card into
the second slot and load the cars that he / she can use for the
battle (i.e. the cars that he / she has set ready in the garage).
A solution to battle with non-R4 gamers is to copy the memory
in slot 1 into the card in slot 2, then get the 2nd player to
load from the card. If you don't have two memory cards, try
switching the card btween slots. However, please take care because
there is a risk of data loss of removing the memory card while the
PS is still in operation. (I'm not sure, but just a precaution)
===================================================================
7 - The Extra Trial
===================================================================
You can use the cars you've earned in the Grand Prix here. Secret
cars are earned in this mode. In order to earn the cars, you'll
have to win them. Doesn't sound that easy yet, but please try to
use Mappy (M.M.M) cars first, since it is the easiest team to play
with. Besides that, use stage 04 cars, because the speed of the
secret com cars are constant. (Don't forget to change your cars in
the garage)
Try to remain calm throughout the whole race. Don't get too
excited whatsoever. ("I'm first! I'm first!" Then someone overtakes
you after you knock into the wall) This may be a dumb tip, but
works all the time to me.
Try to master Manual Transmission. MT has a higher acceleration
point than Auto Transmission (AT) cars. MT allows you to have a
faster start-off than AT.
Credits
--------
Namco for making this great racing game.
Version History
----------------
Version 0.1 - 12/12/98 Started this FAQ
Miscellaneous
--------------
My email addy is . Feel free to correct
any mistakes I've made or contribute to this FAQ. Do not ask me
any Gameshark codes. Go to http://www.gameshark.com/ to get the
codes.
This FAQ can be found at:
GameFAQs http://www.gamefaqs.com
