is a racing simulation arcade video game based on the actual race car and

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

event. It was developed by the AM2 division of

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

for the Sega Naomi Multiboard

arcade system board An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arc ...

under the direction of Yu Suzuki, and was later ported to the Dreamcast and

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

home video game consoles under the names ''F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa'' and 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. Some versions of the

arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

are noteworthy for having three screens, allowing the player to look through the side windows as they would in a real

car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

. The three-screen cabinet version also features an H-shaped gear stick and three foot pedals, and presents a tough challenge to any player who decides to use them. 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; however, as of January 2006, the online servers for F355 Challenge are now offline, and the website has gone offline. The game features an original soundtrack featuring Genki Hitomi and Minoru Niihara that mimics the style of 1980s

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

/ 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.

Circuits

The 1999 arcade version of the game includes six circuits: * Motegi (Oval Circuit) * Suzuka (Short Configuration) *

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

(1998 configuration) *

Sugo ''Sugo'' (International title: ''The Chosen One'' / ) is a Philippine television drama action series broadcast by GMA Network. Directed by Dominic Zapata and Lore Reyes, it stars Richard Gutierrez in the title role. It premiered on July 4, 200 ...

* Suzuka (Full Configuration) * Long Beach In addition, the home console versions of the game include five extra unlockable circuits: * Atlanta *

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

* Laguna Seca *

Sepang Pekan Sepang is a small border town and also a mukim in Sepang District, Selangor, Malaysia. The Sepang International Circuit in the western part of the town, where the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix was and Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix is held. Mal ...

* Fiorano (real life track used by Ferrari to test their cars) All these circuits can be unlocked by either finishing in certain positions in a certain race or championship, driving over a certain cumulative distance in the game, or by entering a password in a revealable password entry screen. These tracks were also included in the ''F355 Challenge 2: International Course Edition'' arcade machine, released in 2001.

Development

The game was announced at E3 2000.

Reception

''Passione Rossa'' received "generally favorable reviews", while ''Ferrari F355 Challenge'' received "average" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. John Gaudiosi of '' NextGen'' said that the former "offers plenty of eye candy and deep gameplay for dedicated, hardcore Ferrari aficionados." In Japan, '' Famitsu'' gave it a score of 29 out of 40 for the same console version, and 27 out of 40 for the latter one. Also in Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed the arcade version in their January 1, 2000 issue as the seventh most-successful dedicated arcade game of the past year. The same arcade version won the award for Coin-op of the Year at the '' Edge'' Awards 2000, while ''Passione Rossa'' was a runner-up for '' GameSpot''s annual "Best Driving Game" award, which went to '' Test Drive Le Mans''. It was also a finalist for the "Racing Game of the Year" award at the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards The ''4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards'' is the 4th edition of the Interactive Achievement Awards, an annual awards event that honors the best games in the video game industry. The awards are arranged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & S ...

, which went to ''

SSX ''SSX'' is a series of snowboarding and skiing video games published by EA Sports. It is an arcade-style racing game with larger-than-life courses, characters, and tricks. While the general focus of the series is racing and performing tricks on ...

''.

Notes

References

External links

Official websites

Official Sega F355 Challenge Website

Official Ferrari Challenge Website

General resources

F355 Challenge Vehicle Specifications, Profile, and Pictures
* * {{Ferrari 1999 video games Arcade video games Dreamcast games Ferrari video games Head-to-head arcade video games PlayStation 2 games Racing video games Racing simulators Sega-AM2 games Sega arcade games Video games developed in Japan Video games set in California Video games set in Georgia (U.S. state) Video games set in Germany Video games set in Italy Video games set in Japan Video games set in Malaysia Video games designed by Yu Suzuki