Rage Racer and Sega Touring Car Championship run at similar resolutions, 320x240
and 356x224 respectively, but that is where the similarities end. The only reason
this comparison was done is because these were top racers for their platforms
in 1997. At a glance, most people will simply pronounce Rage Racer the winner
in the graphical department. The presence of full screen dithering, the lack
of comparable numbers of opponent vehicles on screen, and the general lack of
AI or physics in Rage Racer all challenge its prowess in regard to Touring Car.
Since Touring Car does not maintain its 30FPS throughout the game and because
it is almost universally panned by Sega fans, it is unlikely that this comparison
will change anybody's opinion of the two games.
As can be seen in the above video, Touring Car places eight cars on screen at
once in comparison to Rage Racer's two, has a similar draw distance, much higher
vehicle detail levels and runs at a much faster speed overall. In addition to
that, Touring Car has a much more sophisticated vehicle physics engine and a
much more dynamic view in 3rd person mode than Rage Racer does. Rage Racer's
camera sticks so close to the rear or the car that you cannot see around the
vehicle or around curves, and getting the vehicle to slide or interact with
opponent cars in any way actually takes practice. Rage Racer's slide mechanic
functions as though the vehicle had a wheel in its center that would allow the
car to fish tail as though it had no traction in its four tires. Touring Car
emphasizes power slides in a similar way to Sega Rally but with much more emphasis
on realistic physics and sheer speed. Touring Car cannot be classified as a
simulation in the vein of TOCA Race Car Driver but it does add significant speed
and realism to Sega Rally’s physics engine that was no doubt hardware intensive.
Since this is not a review of either game it is only necessary to point out
that Rage Racer has much more in the way of features than Touring Car has. While
Touring Car allows the player to tweak how the cars drive, Rage Racer's credit
system allows the player to upgrade the way the car drives and looks throughout
the game. Despite its deficiencies in AI and Physics to other racers Rage Racer
is thought to be a much better game on the merit of its menu options. Nevertheless
this comparison between what is commonly thought to be one of the best PS1 racers
and one of the worst Sega brand Saturn racers still leaves no evidence of the
Saturn's deficiency at 3D gaming.