Finding a Ridge Racer arcade machine is getting harder and harder, due to a number of reasons.

Custom IC’s on the game board are stopping people from getting the files and information required to run the game off the board.

The boards also tend to run hot so have one fan on top to keep them cool, but once these fail the game soon over heats and causes fatal damage to the board as the copper traces on the board are very thin.

Namco only stopped repairing these boards in 2018 and still often sent them away to Japan, which isnt bad for a game that was released in 1993. It’s entirely possible that one day there’ll be no working Ridge Racer Arcade boards.

We love Ridge Racer once you have mastered the novice course its easyier to step up to intermediate but the extra top speed can catch you out. We managed to get under 1:7:300 seconds on the novice course which has taken a great deal of practise and we are now on with mastering the intermediate course.