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DAYTONA USA
{fon:tri}

  Daytona USA is the latest arcade coin-operated driving game which
you must see because it blows everything else away.  Flabbergasted
was the word to describe my feelings when I first saw this game at
the SEGA World arcade in Bournemouth.

  In fact I think this was the first arcade in the country to install
it.  They've currently got four individual machines plus eight
machines in a link-up so that players can race one another.

  Everything is displayed as texture mapped polygons as opposed to
straight polygons as used by Virtua Racing, basically the polygons
are now sprites. The graphics are all scaled and rotated in real time
and nothing jerks about like in some other games like OutRun.  The
simulation is incredible, this is the first driving game where you
can go into a controlled skid to clear corners and then steer out of
the skid as you come out of the turn.  You can even drive back round
the course in reverse.

  From what I've heard, this game runs using a central processor and
loads of customised hardware working in parallel to handle the
scaling and rotation of the graphics, apparently a 68000 chip is used
to handle the background clouds alone.

  At a quid a go this game still attracts queues of people waiting to
play.  One play lasts just over three and a half minutes if you're
good enough to finish one of the three courses or if you're racing
with someone who is.

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