Video Game / R: Racing Evolution

Following

R: Racing Evolution (known as R: Racing in Europe) is a 2003 racing video game released on the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox by Namco. It is a spin-off of the Ridge Racer series, though unlike it, this game uses licensed racecars rather than fictional vehicles.

Rena Hayami, an ambulance driver, responds to an accident at Twin Ring Motegi.^note The track is officially renamed as Mobility Resort Motegi as of 2022. Former racing engineer and now team manager Stephan Garnier is impressed enough with Rena's driving skills to deliver the injured racer to the hospital that he offers Rena a chance to become a racing driver herself. She accepts and joins Stephan's team, oblivious to the fact that the team is sponsored by a shadowy corporation called GVI, which determines the placing of the racers in the race. At first, Rena benefits from the company's influence and is given equipment and opportunities to race in major events. However, she quickly finds herself tangled in a rivalry with fierce and veteran Spanish racer Gina Cavalli.

T: Trope Examples:

• Action Girl: Rena Hayami, whose skills as a badass ambulance driver net her a chance to become a badass racing driver. Gina Cavalli is also this as well.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore: Depending on the region of the cover, the car that appears behind Rena differs; the original NTSC-J cover uses the De Tomaso Pantera GT5-S, the American NTSC uses the Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, and the European PAL version uses the almighty BMW McLaren F1 GTR Race Car.
• Artistic License – Cars: The car's engine sounds were recycled from Namco's MotoGP series, where all sound like robotic motorcycle engines. It gets worse when neither the Dodge Charger, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R nor the Shelby GT500 sound like the roaring V8 Engine present in all of them.
• Badass Driver: Rena Hayami proves to be this. From your ordinary ambulance driver who Drives Like Crazy in saving an injured driver's life by reaching to its destination in time to becoming a race car driver who is capable in tacking through numerous racing disciplines.
• Big Bad: GVI. It initially appears that Gina Cavalli is this, until her Heel–Face Turn. She's a Disc-One Final Boss at best.
• Bookends: The game begins with Rena attending an emergency call at Twin Ring Motegi, and ends with her meeting with Gina also at the same track.
• Break Meter: The game features a mechanic called "Pressure". It has a meter above the opponents car, which would fill up by simply drafting behind them. When it's full, the opponent will psych out and lose control. It's a Player-Exclusive Mechanic that AI opponents don't have.
• Challenge Run: Apart from the "Racing Life" story mode, there's another called "Event Challenge", which is much like the game's "career mode" you partake in numerous race events (by simply purchasing it using the RP you accumulated during races).
• Character Class System:
  • GT Class 1 - The premier racing class featuring race cars and supercars that competed in the JGTC and the IMSA, such as the Toyota Supra JGTC, the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R and the Volkswagen Nardò W12.
  • GT Class 2 - Intermediate-level modified cars fall under this class, such as the Mazda RX-7 ^note Fitted with a Mazdaspeed A-Spec body kit, the Lotus Elise ^note ...or the Motor Sport Elise as noted by its body kit and the 1969 Dodge Charger. Some rally cars (tuned for circuit racing) such as the Subaru Impreza WRC and the Peugeot 206 Rally Car are also included.
  • GT Class 3 - Entry level compact cars under 2.0 liters or 250 hp, like the Audi TT Quattro, the Toyota MR2 VM180 and the Mini Cooper S.
  • Prototype Class - The ultra-high performance race cars based on Le Mans prototypes, like the Audi R8, Bentley EXP Speed 8 and the Advan Kondo S101.
  • Rally Class 1 - Turbocharged 4WD rally cars based on the World Rally Championship. Cars like the 1998 Ford Focus WRC and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII.
  • Rally Class 2 - Easy-to-handle rally cars with small displacement engines. With modern cars like the Mini Cooper S and the Honda Integra Type R ^note Known as the Acura RSX Type-S in the North American release, as well as iconic rally legends like the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA Junior and the Alpine A110.
  • Drag Class - Monster machines emphasized on accelerating on the drag strip like the Shelby GT500 and the Nissan 350Z. Some of the cars from GT Class 2 and Rally Class 1 would fill up this category.
  • Privateer Class - Historical race cars from yesteryear. Essentially, any of the classic cars from the Rally Class 2 category is this.
• Cosmetic Award: Completing a Vs Rival event just simply unlocks a Rival livery of an existing car.
• Creator Provincialism: At least half of the car roster is favored to Japanese ones.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: After several losses, Gina Cavalli realizes that she misjudged Rena, and by the end of the game, the two have joined together on the same racing team, and have a Friendly Rivalry.
• Defeat Means Playable: Defeating The Rival twice in a Vs Rival race unlocks the special livery of a certain car. For example... you beat Max Schultz in two different races, you're awarded the custom rival livery for the BMW M3 GTR. ^note Which is just essentially the #6 Team PTG M3 GTR that competed in the IMSA GT Championship. It's noted for the large Yokohama logo.
• Duel Boss: Vs Rivals put you one-on-one against a key rival. Defeat them in two different races to unlock their special livery. The same goes when you race at the Rally Arena SS, a "Twin Trials" rally circuit where two rivals battle, similar to how super special stages work in the World Rally Championship.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Upon Rena beginning her career as a racing driver, she meets the feisty Gina Cavalli, who quickly butts heads with her. You'd be excused to believe from this that the game is about defeating Gina... up until after several losses, Gina acknowledges that she misjudged Rena and pulls a Heel–Face Turn. As it turns out, the real Big Bad are the shadowy GVI organization and the game is about foiling their plans; turns out the reason Gina antagonized Rena was because she knew about GVI, hated them, and thought Rena was one of their pawns.
• Fanservice: The rather infamous Shower Scene Rena Hayami has at one point.
• Gaiden Game: R: Racing Evolution is this compared to the main Ridge Racer series. It's actually closer to ToCA Race Driver (nowadays known for being a spiritual predecessor to GRID), with real cars, real tracks and a story mode with cutscenes.
• Genre Shift: Compared to the usual arcadey Ridge Racer games, before and after, R: Racing Evolution not only was more down-to-earth, but averts Featureless Protagonist, being more story-driven, and features real cars.
• Goroawase Number: It's implied that Rena Hayami's racing number, 76 is derived from Namco's famous "namuko" number, 765.
• Improbably Cool Car: The game includes the Volkswagen W12 Nardò, a W12-powered concept car with over 600 horses under the hood that never went into production.
• Land Down Under: The only Australian track is the Philip Island Grand Prix Circuit, a popular racing circuit that saw action in the MotoGP.
• Letter Motif: There is something with the letter "R" of R: Racing Evolution: it stands for "racing" (of course) and the first letter of The Protagonist: Rena Hayami.
• Metropolis Level: The Yokohama street circuit. The Surfside drag strip would count since it's within Miami.
• Mission Control: Stephan Garnier acts as Rena Hayami's pit spotter during races.
• Money Is Experience Points: You earn Reward Points (RP), which is considered to be both Experience Points and the game's in-game currency. RP is earned based on your finishing position, overtaking, driving at high speeds, etc. and it's used to buy race events and upgrade vehicles you unlocked in Event Challenge.
• Nitro Boost: Exclusively for drag races, nitrous is available to use for a short burst of acceleration.
• Noob Cave: The Twin Ring Motegi is this. It's just in its speedway variant where it's nothing but very long straights and very easy left turns in which speed is the emphasis. ...and this is the first track you race on in "Racing Life".
• Oddball in the Series: R: Racing Evolution is a "simcade" racer with none of the overemphasis on drifting of the main Ridge Racer series and features licensed vehicles and real-world courses. Also instead of being a mere Hood Ornament Hottie, the cover girl is the main character and lead driver. It is still considered part of the Ridge Racer family, however.
• Regional Bonus: The PAL version gives European players something nice that the NTSC release doesn't, such as the Fiat Punto and the TVR Cerbera Speed 12.
• Reliable Rustbucket: Chapter 6 of "Racing Life" has Stephan Garnier procure a special racing machine for Rena Hayami to use for the next race. You may think it's some flashy race car or supercar, but no. He instead gives her... an old Fiat 500. It's not just any ordinary Fiat 500 though, as this cute 'lil machine its tuned to have 300 horses under the hood. This 'ol reliable pocket rocket can however pack quite a punch and even humiliate seasoned rivals in Le Mans race cars!
  Stephan: I want you to drive this. Yes, it's a Fiat... ...but hardly an ordinary one.
• The Rival: Gina Cavalli is this, but later blossoms into a Friendly Rival.
• Second Place Is for Losers: Stephan must be having extremely high standards for Rena to meet, as all of its chapters of "Racing Life" (except one) requires you to win races in order to proceed to the next chapter. In championships, you may finish at whatever position you are, but as long as you lead in the championship standings, it's evidence enough to proceed.
• Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: More like "Skimpy Heroes, Skimpier Villains", but Rena (the protagonist of the game) and Gina (her rival for most of the game) spend much of their cutscenes with their racing suits zipped down to the top of their stomachs, giving them considerable cleavage, but while Rena can be clearly seen wearing a black bra, Gina appears to be wearing nothing at all.
• Shout-Out: One of the GT Class 2 cars is the DMC DeLorean, which is described as "clad in a beautiful stainless steel body and fast enough to travel through time".
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Rena Hayami bears a suspicious resemblance to Reiko, the Series Mascot of the Ridge Racer games, except that she is the Badass Driver protagonist. Her overall design would later influence another character from Namco... and that would be the brash fighter from Osaka Asuka Kazama from Tekken 5, who'd end up having the same tomboyish hairstyle and large ample breasts as Rena.
• Throwing the Fight: The main story's conflict is that the shadowy organization involved in Rena's racing team fixes matches due to being involved with gambling syndicates. Done explicitly in one race, with Rena outright being ordered to finish second rather than first.
• Version-Exclusive Content: The Xbox release give you the console-exclusive Hummer H1, draped in its Xbox livery, the one and only SUV in the game. Considered to be as a Joke Character since this behemoth has utterly poor acceleration. What's worse is it's placed in the Rally Class 1, where all the WRC rally cars are suppose to be than rather the beginner level Rally Class 2.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can actually take a shortcut by leaving the track limits and gain an advantage. The game doesn't penalize you for doing this illegal maneuver. Especially on the Monaco track, where you can actually cut the Nouvelle Chicane and gain a huge advantage since that turn was left unguarded with solid barriers. Stephan will call you out and tell you to slow down or brake early. But then again, it has no impact on your pace.
• Windmill Scenery: As the name suggests, Windmill Hill, a rally stage set in the Spanish rural area.. is a hilly road with windmills on the scenery.
• Women Drivers: Inverted with Rena Hayami. She is an ambulance driver who is recruited into becoming a racer after impressing Stephan Garnier after seeing how she Drives Like Crazy, although she is a straighter version before she progresses her racing career.
• You All Look Familiar: All of the opponents share the same voice and personality (who'd often hold a grudge against Rena). Of course, the exception is Gina and a selected few.
• You Are Number 6: Rival racers would call out Rena by her racing number; that is 76.