OutRun is still the pinnacle of driving games

First, an apology. Sega Week has been and gone, and you could probably do without another few hundred words on a classic that's been dissected countless times before. So I'm very sorry, because I'm about to do it all again: OutRun is on the show floor at this year's EGX, and it's still absolutely peerless when it comes to recreating the bliss of speeding out to the horizon and beyond. This game is as good as it's ever been. In fact, it's the best I've ever played it.

That's because the cabinet that's sitting in the retro section - one that, 33 years on, is still attracting a sizeable crowd - is from the top-end of the four variants that were initially offered back in 1986. It's the deluxe sit-down job, complete with hydraulics and working brake-lights. It's an example of the very pinnacle of the taikan cabinets that Yu Suzuki and his small staff made at Sega in the 80s. It's arguably the very pinnacle of Sega's arcade art.

I've made OutRun's journey countless times over the years, whether that's in one of Shenmue's virtual Hong Kong arcades, via M2's phenomenal 3DS port or more recently its Switch effort. Such platforms can only deliver a sliver of the full experience, though - playing OutRun on the deluxe cabinet is a revelation. It's an all-body experience, a kind of funky alternative to virtual reality that plays to all of your senses.

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