Ridge Racer 8

Ridge Racer 8 (Japanese: リッジレーサー8 Hepburn: Rijji Rēsā 8) is a 2022 racing video game developed and published Bandai Namco Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch. It is the ninth main installment in the Ridge Racer series. The game features over 200 vehicles, some of which are licensed cars, and 100 courses.

Gameplay
See also: Gameplay of the Ridge Racer series

Ridge Racer 8’s gameplay is similar to that of the previous games in the series, specifically R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 and Ridge Racer 7.

A new course type called Sprint was introduced, in which the player must drive from one point to another as fast as possible. Unlike Circuit races, Sprint races don’t have any laps. In addition, a new game mode called Eliminator Battle was also introduced. Eliminator Battles are similar to standard races but with a twist. After each lap, the player that is in the last position will be eliminated until one racer remains.

Development
In November 2019, Bandai Namco had announced that the long-awaited Ridge Racer 8 was already in production. In addition, the last Ridge Racer game to ever appear on a Nintendo platform was Ridge Racer DS in 2004, as well as the spin-off R: Racing Evoloution for the GameCube in 2003, and the Nintendo 64 title, Ridge Racer 64 in 2000.

Reception
The game received generally positive reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of two nines and two tens for a total score of 38 out of 40.