Ray Tracers PS1 (Part 1) | Duckstation | i7 14700F + RTX 4060

Ray Tracers is an arcade style racing game released in 1997 by Taito. The game's full of speed, crashes, and over the top action, and is a spiritual successor to Chase H.Q. as it keeps that same high speed pursuit feel but with 3D graphics and an even more arcade driven style.

When it comes to graphics, Ray Tracers was pretty impressive for a 1997 PlayStation game. The cars and environments were fully rendered in 3D, with smooth textures, bright lighting, and that classic arcade flair that made everything feel fast and exciting. What really made it stand out, though, were the little technical details. Vehicles actually cast realistic shadows and even had real time window reflections, both of which were incredible achievements for a 32bit console. That’s not something you’d see every day back then!

The sense of speed was one of the game’s strongest points as well, the motion blur, explosions, and debris flying everywhere gave it a real touch of pure energy that stood out compared to other racers of the time.

The city backdrops, tunnels, and highways were all designed with a futuristic look, almost like something out of an anime action movie. Even though the PS1 had limited hardware, the developers managed to push it pretty far, given the game ran smoothly and kept the frame rate stable even with lots of cars and explosions on screen. Back then, it felt like something you’d see in an arcade cabinet rather than a home console.