Turbo was released by Sega in 1981 and holds a special place in the history of racing arcade games as one of the first titles to attempt simulating the feeling of fast driving from behind the car using scaled sprites. The player sits behind the wheel of a red sports car, and the goal is to complete the track as quickly as possible, overtake rival cars, and avoid collisions that would slow the ride down.
Technically, the game worked with the illusion of a three-dimensional road, whose turns and climbs were created by scaling graphical elements up and down and moving the scenery at different speeds. The cabinet also featured a unique sports-car-shaped seat with a steering wheel, gear shifter, and pedals, making it one of the first truly immersive arcade cabinets of its time. The player progressed through several sections with different settings, from the city through the countryside to mountain hairpin turns, trying to beat the time limit.
Turbo became a commercially successful title and, both technologically and in design, foreshadowed Sega's later famous racing hits, especially OutRun, with which it shares the basic principle of fast forward driving and scenic tracks. Today Turbo is valued mainly as a historically important milestone on the way to the modern concept of arcade racing.
Why play it: It's one of the first genuinely fast pseudo-3D racers, from which the legendary OutRun grew a few years later.
Game 150 of 258 for Arcade
