R4 is the fourth and most refined of the PS1 Ridge Racer games, an arcade racer about drifting rather than gripping the road, where each car handles as either drift or grip and the appeal is reading a corner and committing to the slide. Its Real Racing Roots '99 career wraps that in something unusual for the genre: four rival teams, each with a manager and a small ongoing storyline across a season, and a celebrated jazz-funk and acid-jazz soundtrack that has aged better than most of its peers.
The verdict critics and players keep returning to is durability. The handling and presentation still feel deliberate decades on, though this is a 1998 PS1 game: visuals are dated and the campaign is short by modern standards, and some find the drifting lighter than earlier entries. Playable on PS Plus Premium with up-rendering and rewind, it suits arcade-racing connoisseurs and the curious more than anyone chasing a long, modern progression.
R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 -- Gameplay (PS1)
