Sega Saturn Arcade Racer
Platform:  Sega Saturn
 
 
 
 
 
 

    Nearly every video game system ever created has had a driving peripheral available.  This can be traced back to the Colecovision's driving module but if you want to get technical I suppose one could argue that the first driving controller offered as an accessory was the Driving paddle for Indy 500 on the Atari VCS.  Just the same, even since the early days of the industry driving games have been a key development genre.  The reason is simple, at their base all driving games have the same controls - an accelerator and a steering wheel, a brake pedal would come into play later.  Simple and easy controls, something everyone could play.  As the driving games in the arcade grew from their roots with titles such as Pole Position and Turbo so did the realism of their control methods.  When home video games began to offer 3D visuals it seemed natural that an analog steering wheel would be a desirable accessory and for the Saturn Sega themselves stepped up to deliver what they named the Arcade Racer.

The pentacle of analog control on the Saturn before the Sega 3D Control Pad was bundled with NiGHTS, the Arcade Racer did a lot of things right at a time when the digital game pad was still the peak of control technology.  To begin with you have to remember that Sega had very poor third party support for the Sega Saturn.  Most cite the rocky support history with the SegaCD and 32X as the reason that third party Saturn support was poor out of the gate but one also has to remember how difficult developing games on the Saturn was.  Optimizing one of the SH2 CPU cores in the Saturn was difficult enough but very few development houses never even began to come close to utilizing both cores to their full potential.  So if a driving peripheral was to be made it would have to be developed by the company that was developing most of the Saturn's games at the time - Sega themselves.

Design wise the wheel is modeled after a Formula-1 style control wheel with L and R shift paddles behind the wheel and buttons mounted along the top of the controller so they can easily be reached without moving one's hands.  This is still my all time favorite design for a driving peripheral to this day and it still resembles some modern Formula-1 steering systems as shown in the picture above.  The Arcade Racer only turns about 90 degrees either way before reaching full lock but this never becomes an issue in any game as the steering system is very sensitive.  In fact it may be a little too sensitive which is usually the biggest complaint against the Arcade Racer.  There is a decent amount of resistance when turning away from center but the wheel is still pretty loose compared to the steering peripherals of today, as well as the newly developed force feedback steering systems, first appearing in the arcades at the time of the Arcade Racer's release.  I have used far more touchy wheels developed around the same time, namely Interact's V3 steering system for the PlayStation which required the devotion of a Tibetan monk to learn how to operate properly, so honestly the Arcade Racer was the best option at the time of its release.  With the wheel shaped how it is your hands rest at a position where precise control can easily be obtained with a bit of practice.  This is made easier by the fact that even though the wheel is loose it still automatically returns to center smoothly and quickly if no steering input is given.

When it comes to control one may notice something right off the bat about the Arcade Racer - there are no pedals.  Yes, the Arcade Racer never featured a separate pedal assembly although it had been done in the past (the Colecovision driving module, again, did this years ago).  However true analog acceleration and breaking in driving games was a few years off so it's not all that big a deal.  So instead of using pedals most games map the acceleration and breaking to the face buttons which line the top of the wheel - Z, Y, and X on the left and A, B, and C on the right.  As stated above, all the buttons are very easily reachable with one's thumbs without moving one's hands from their resting place on the grips.  Most of the time button Z will be used for breaking and button C for acceleration.  Honestly this works out great and throttle control is smooth and accurate especially when playing games like Daytona USA.  It's hard to believe that having to hold down a button on the steering wheel for acceleration and still having any kind of normal comfortable control over the car is possible but it's true.  The Start button sits right in the center of the controller and can be reached with either thumb easily.

Where the Arcade Racer was lightyears ahead of other wheels is in the L and R butterfly shift paddles.  Behind the left and right grips are grey paddles that are usually used to upshift or downshift, similar to Formula-1 shifting control for years now.  The butterfly paddles make a good solid "snap" sound when pressed, this is due to genuine Zippy arcade microswitches on the inside - the same parts used for arcade controller buttons.  This at a time when only custom joysticks were using real arcade microswitches in the home market, which is the same to this day.  Sega really was putting some genuine quality workmanship into this peripheral.  Additionally the butterfly paddles are one piece so when you squeeze one the other lifts which adds to the solid tactical feedback.

The wheel has two tilt adjustment angles controlled by unlocking the wheel from the front with a large lever, as well as two column length adjustment levels controlled by a locking collar just behind the wheel itself.  The large base is shaped to fit beneath one's legs for use while sitting in a chair however as we all know this method is more akin to driving a bus rather than a performance car.  Most people with set the wheel on a table or TV tray, four small suction cups on the bottom of the base do well to hold the wheel down on most smooth surfaces.

At the end of the day you are left with a must have accessory if you play a lot of Daytona USA on the Saturn.  I'm still surprised how many people complain about how loose this wheel is.  Honestly it's far better than other offerings on other platforms at the time.  In fact we wouldn't get a steering wheel with nice solid resistance until the Interact V4 wheels near the end of the PlayStation's lifespan.  Then of course it would be many years later until the Logitech GT-Force for the PlayStation 2 brought realistic force feedback steering resistance into the home.  The Arcade Racer is very much usable and a solid quality product, it was Sega taking a step in the right direction.  Personally I'm disappointed that very few manufacturers since have followed the design of this wheel.

These wheels used to be as common as dirt back when everyone was dumping their Saturns for PlayStations but now days expect to spend $5 - $25 for a loose wheel and upwards of $40+ for a complete boxed one.  It's pretty heavy with a metal base so shipping may cost a bit so try scouring local flea markets if you have yet to obtain one.  Most of the time if the buttons are stiff and the wheel turns smoothly it'll work fine.  Gone are the days when there were piles of these on the floor behind the counter at nearly every FuncoLand... gone are the days of FuncoLand as well but hey, the Arcade Racer is still worth searching out.
 

Written on 10-03-05 by David, insanedavid@classicplastic.net
Last amended 04-13-06 by David, insanedavid@classicplastic.net

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