VIRTUA RACING
Developer/publisher Sega (AM2) Format Arcade Release 1992
It was Sega’s first project using 3D graphics. I was a designer, and I thought the graphics looked cheap, which was very stressful for me! But fun is about more than just the visuals, people were really happy with it, and I learned that having a bit of stress is good; it’s important not to be satisfied with what you’re working on. I was only making arcade games at the time, which was a big priority for Sega. Also, Japan’s economy was good. So the company was investing heavily in arcades, and it wasn’t much of a problem if a game wasn’t successful.
I was working under Yu Suzuki, the game director. We’d been working together a while by this point. He was a very energetic person and, well… a little childlike. He was full of curiosity, and when things didn’t go his way, he would get very angry. But I understood that those things were just a result of his energy. If you didn’t know him well, you might think he had a short temper. Once you got to know him, you came to respect it. I thought he was selfish, but realised that if I were in his shoes, I would be the same. I learned from him that it’s important to believe in yourself.
We decided early on we were developing the game in 3D, but when it came to the game itself, and what it would focus on in terms of originality… that was something we were talking about until the final phase of development. This is Suzuki-san’s style: he creates the game while thinking about what it is going to be. His arcade games had no planning papers at all. We would do some basic study, and if he decided it was feasible, it’d become a project and we’d begin work on it. Virtua
Racing is remembered for having multiple camera angles, which was something new at the time. That feature was only added towards the end of the project.
These days we have planning documents. Without them, the team doesn’t know which direction to head in. But they’re only a guideline. If we find something interesting that’s not on the plan, we must have the courage to challenge ourselves and take a different path. It’s in these moments that we make games more fun.