Playing OutRun 2SP in $CURRENT_YEAR

In 1986, a man named Yu Suzuki, along with a small handful of developers at SEGA AM2, would release an arcade racing game called OutRun. Suzuki had previously made some fairly successful motorcycle racing games for SEGA by way of Hang-On and Enduro Racer, and with OutRun, he sought to create a racing game predicated primarily on allowing players to enjoy the experience of driving and, in his words, “feel superior”¹. With incredible graphics for the time, a stellar soundtrack and shockingly well-realised driving physics, OutRun was a huge hit in arcades throughout the late 80s and even early 90s, and is one of the most influential and important games in the genre.

In 2004, SEGA AM2 would release OutRun 2SP, an update of 2003’s OutRun 2, into arcades. It is, without exaggeration, one of the greatest video games ever made. Here are your options for experiencing it.

Bear in mind that SEGA’s license to use the likeness of Ferrari cars expired a long time ago and they never bothered to renew it, so the game is technically abandonware, and obtaining it sits in a legal grey area that no one at SEGA is likely to care about.

OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast

Once upon a time, the PC port of OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast would have played second fiddle to the arcade version. Nowadays, though, it is without question the definitive way to play the game, all thanks to the incredible OutRun2006Tweaks mod.

• Native PC port that could probably run on your smart fridge
• Renders 3D elements perfectly fine in 16:9, with Tweaks enabling high-resolution textures for HUD elements
• The main draw of the PC version is the fact that it’s OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast, which means it just has more stuff. On top of OutRun 2SP itself, it’s also got a full single player campaign mode with various races and missions to complete, as well as significantly more songs to choose from
• Controller support can be spotty, but most of the time it’ll recognise whatever you throw at it, and compatibility is a lot higher than the base game if you have Tweaks installed²
• Online functionality has been completely reinstated via Tweaks as well, with online leaderboards tracking high scores/fastest times and online multiplayer being possible as well
• The main weaknesses of this port are poor force feedback support and an incorrect traffic spawn rate in OutRun and Heart Attack Modes, meaning scoring is not arcade-perfect
• Requires only a little bit of setup to get running but is bar none the best way to play the game and it’s not even close. Seriously, just install Tweaks and start driving

OutRun 2SP SDX

Literally just the data used in the beautifully extravagant cabinets that power OutRun 2SP SDX. Was my preferred way to play the game prior to OutRun2006Tweaks, but still has some features which are useful if you’re grinding for times or high scores.

• Arcade data played via Teknoparrot. Comes with all the moral hang-ups that stem from using Teknoparrot, but there’s currently no JConfig alternative, and it’s not like you were going to give the charlatans at Teknogods your money anyway
• Runs at a native 16:9 aspect ratio
• Compatibility is generally good, with only minor sound glitches that are either fairly unintrusive or resolve themselves pretty quickly
• Fantastic no-fuss controller support out of the box, including support for force feedback and analog pedals via the Teknoparrot settings menu ³
• Being arcade data, there’s a decent amount of waiting involved, especially on startup. It’s not an obscene amount of waiting, but there’s enough waiting to be noticeable
• Technically speaking this is probably the best way to play if you’re looking for accurate high scores in OutRun Mode, as OutRun 2006 has an incorrect traffic spawn rate that results in less cars compared to the arcade version
• Has LAN multiplayer capability, and can even be taken online through the use of VPN software like Radmin VPN, though setting this up is finicky and involves punching IP addresses into Teknoparrot and going into the game’s test menu to turn on the networking features⁴
• As long as you have a reasonable degree of familiarity with operating arcade software, you shouldn’t have too much trouble. Setup for certain things can be finicky, but it has great display options and incredibly flexible controller mapping. The shortcut to end a game early is Brake + View Change + Shift Up while stopped, and the same combo can be used at car selection to pick exactly the same things you picked the last run. Have fun.

OutRun Online Arcade

This is the long-defunct PS3 release of the game. Mostly loses out compared to the arcade and PC versions, but PS3 emulation is in a great spot and is only getting better, so it’s worth keeping an eye on it.

• This is basically an upscaled port of the arcade version for the PS3, which means it’s very no-frills, but a bit easier to use than playing the actual arcade data
• If playing on RPCS3, download via NoPayStation. That option also applies if playing on real hardware, but you can install through PKGi directly on your PS3 as well⁵
• RPCS3 compatibility is pretty good. It doesn’t have native racing wheel emulation, so you’ll need to McGuyver a solution if you want to use anything other than a standard gamepad. I can’t speak to any racing wheel compatibility on real hardware, so you’re on your own for that one
• Commits the crime of having a significantly smaller number of available songs compared to the arcade or PC versions. You won’t have any issues if you’re happy to jam to “Shiny World” or “Magical Sound Shower 1989”, but I will explode if I don’t get to do at least one run with “Keep Your Heart 1989” in the background
• Fully compatible with RPCN, the emulator’s built-in PSN alternative, which makes online play almost as seamless as OutRun 2006
• Overall, Online Arcade is probably the most convenient option, but the least fully-featured. With 2006 being what it is, it’s really hard to recommend this release for anything other than novelty