Genre: Racing
Developer: Sega AM2
Publisher: Sega

This Saturn port may not have the mind boggling resolution or filtered textures of the arcade version, and its draw-in distance could be better. But it has a charm of its own: the colors pop like they just don't in the more aesthetically realistic arcade original, while the wall, track, and grass textures look absolutely phenomenal as they sail by! There are one or two framerate issues on the "Expert" track's bridge sections, but otherwise the game's smooth flow compliments the excellent track and car visuals perfectly.

Takenobu Mitsuyoshi's lounge singer voice, completely off-the-wall lyrics, and corny keyboard synth melodies combine to easily take the cake as the best and most iconic arcade racing soundtrack of all time. But in this Saturn version, things get even better: the DSP originals have been enhanced into Red Book remixes, and between this change, the improved car sounds, a very nifty echo effect applied to the announcer's voice, and better sound mixing in general, this Saturn port of Daytona USA gets an aural turbo-charged upgrade from its coin-op big brother.

Nominally, Daytona USA's stock cars and oval "Beginner" track clearly signal "NASCAR". It doesn't take long-- try, the first corner-- for the player to realize something wonderful: this game is a drifting simulator! And the way in which the game emulates the real-life feeling of breaking the rear grip, then modulating the throttle, the brake, and the turn attitude together to take the perfect line, is one of the best feelings in gaming. This Saturn port also adds two additional cars, and a handful of other difficulty-related settings.

As a sequel in all-but-name to "Virtua Racing", it's impossible to not compare the two: the console versions of Virtua Racing have three different classes of car, and the five tracks-- two more than in Daytona-- feature significantly more varied settings. But while Virtua Racing is fun, this reviewer never sat for three hours consecutively playing it: yes, Daytona is that addicting; its car physics simply push its fun factor over the top. With a little more optimization, this port could have been the best version of the game, bar none.