F355 Challenge
F355 Challenge is a racing simulation arcade video game based on the race car and Ferrari event. It was developed by the AM2 division of Sega for the Sega Naomi Multiboard arcade system board under the direction of Yu Suzuki, and was later ported to the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 home video game consoles under the names F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa and Ferrari F355 Challenge respectively for both American and European releases. The only model of car featured in the game is the Ferrari F355 Challenge model. The game was considered the most accurate simulation of the F355 possible up until that time.
| F355 Challenge | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sega AM2
|
| Publisher(s) | Sega
|
| Director(s) | Yu Suzuki |
| Producer(s) | Yu Suzuki |
| Designer(s) | Yoji Kato |
| Composer(s) | Tomoya Koga |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Racing simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Arcade system | Sega NAOMI Multiboard |
Some versions of the arcade cabinet are noteworthy for having three screens, allowing the player to look through the side windows as they would in a real car. The cabinet itself is composed of four NAOMI units: one for each of the three screens and one to sync them all. The game also allows the player to use an automatic transmission or paddle-shift the gears. It also uses a real-time "Magic Weather" system similar to Shenmue. The Dreamcast version has link cable play for direct competition, but by January 2006, the online servers and website for F355 Challenge were offline until November 2023 when online component was restored.
The game features an original soundtrack featuring Genki Hitomi and Minoru Niihara that mimics the style of 1980s hard rock/heavy metal which is integrated into a radio station format during gameplay (some music was later reused for another AM2 game, Shenmue). The radio DJ and the announcer are played by Alan J (Alan John Peppler), an American DJ who works at the Japanese radio station Bay FM.
Yu Suzuki is a keen Ferrari enthusiast who allegedly used data from his own Ferrari 355 at certain tracks to implement in the game during its development.