Turbo Outrun - Overview

Overview

Turbo Outrun the player in control of a male driver sitting alongside his girlfriend in a Ferrari F40, racing against the clock and a computer-controlled opponent in a Porsche 959 in a race across the United States. The goal is to reach Los Angeles from a starting point of New York City. Unlike the original Out Run, however, there are no branch roads to choose from. Instead, there is only one way from the start to the end of the road.

The most notable feature of this game, which most players remember it for, is the fact that the player can increase speed by using turbo boost by pressing a button on the side of the console-mounted shifter and the engine temperature will increase in kind on the on-screen gauge. When the gauge reaches "OVERHEAT!" turbo boost cannot be used until the temperature decreases.

At every sub-goal (reached after passing through about four cities), a power-up can be chosen, the three being: Hi-Power Engine, Special Turbo, and Super Grip Tires. If the CPU opponent reaches the sub-goal before the player, at the next race, the driver's girlfriend will move to the opponent's car. He can still win the girl back if he beats the CPU opponent to the next sub-goal. If the player beats the opponent with the girl in hand, a 1,000,000 point bonus is given. Also, the girl kisses the driver in front of his CPU opponent. If the player reaches the final checkpoint, in the process, the player will pass the CPU opponent and the ending scene is played.

It was available in a stand-up cabinet, and a sit-down cabinet with decals giving it an appearance of a Ferrari F40, the car featured in the game. There were also conversion kits available to convert original Out Run machines to Turbo OutRun.

Computer ports of the game were received with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Commodore 64 version was widely seen as a good game but 16-bit conversions got very negative reviews.