Out Run (video game)

Out Run (アウトラン Auto Ran, also written as OutRun) is an arcade game developed by Studio 128 and published by Sega in September 1986. It was designed by Yu Suzuki, well known for his previous work on Hang-On, Space Harrier and Enduro Racer. The game is known for it's groundbreaking features such as nonlinear gameplay and in-game radio with soundtrack selection (music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi), and has been cited as an influence upon later video games and milestone in the racing/driving genre, being ported to numerous home platforms and inspiring several sequels.

Gameplay
Out Run is a 3D driving video game in which the player controls a Ferrari Testarossa Spider convertible from a first third-person rear perspective. Designed as a racing game, the goal is to avoid traffic and reach the finish line in one of the five destinations, labelled "a" to "e", without running out of time. The game is divided into multiple stages that end in a checkpoint, with the track forks near the end of each stage giving the player a choice of routes leading to five final destinations, representing different difficulty levels and concluding with their own endings.

The car has two gears, high and low, with the player needing to switch between them at the appropriate moments like switching to the lower gear while negotiating tricky roads and dodging upcoming obstacles, which are obscured by the road curves, crests and dips, thus increasing the challenge.