''GTI Club'' is a

racing game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a motor racing, racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more re ...

originally released for the arcades in 1996 by

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

, on their new Cobra arcade board, which uses

PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...

-based hardware. In the original, the player raced around the

Côte d'Azur The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

and could choose from 5 rally cars including a

Mini Cooper Mini Cooper may refer to: *Performance Cars of the original Mini series with uprated drive train and brakes, called the "Mini Cooper", made by the British Motor Corporation and also the successors 1961–1971, and 1990–2000 *Cars of the Mini (mar ...

and Renault 5 Alpine Turbo. The game allowed free-roaming of the environment, which was revolutionary for the time, and contained several semi-hidden shortcuts that could be used to reduce lap times. A handbrake is provided which the player is encouraged to use to perform

handbrake turn The handbrake turn (also known as a bootleg or bootlegger's turn) is a driving technique used to deliberately slide a car sideways, either for the purpose of quickly negotiating a very tight bend, or for turning around well within the vehicle's o ...

s round sharp corners.

Series

''GTI Club: Rally Côte d'Azur'' (Arcade, September 1996)

''GTI Club: Corso Italiano'' (Arcade, July 2000)

The first sequel (GTIクラブ・コルソイタリアーノ) released in 2000, it was published overseas in 2001 as ''GTI Club 2'' and ''Driving Party''. The action moves from France to Italy with Town (Easy), Coast (Medium) and Mountain (Hard) courses, hence the title. It features eight unlicensed cars resembling the likes of

Morris Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

and Bugatti EB110 plus a selection of new cars including the

Fiat 500 The Fiat 500 (, ) is an Economy car, economy / city car that was manufactured and marketed by Fiat Automobiles from 1957 until 1975. It was sold as a two-door semi-convertible or saloon car and as a three-door panel van or estate car. Launched ...

Lotus Seven The Lotus Seven is a sports car produced by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars (initially called Lotus Engineering) between 1957 and 1973. The Seven is an open-wheel car with two seats and an open top. It was designed by Lotus founder Colin Ch ...

AC Cobra The AC Cobra, sold in the United States as the Shelby Cobra and AC Shelby Cobra, is a sports car manufactured by British company AC Cars, with a List of Ford engines#8 Cylinder, Ford V8 engine. It was produced intermittently in both the Uni ...

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle, officially the Volkswagen Type 1, is a small family car produced by the German company Volkswagen from 1938 to 2003. One of the most iconic cars in automotive history, the Beetle is noted for its distinctive shape. Its pr ...

, Nissan Fairlady Z (S30) and

Alfa Romeo Giulia Alfa Romeo Giulia () is the name of three not directly related model (line)s from Italian carmaker Alfa Romeo. The first were the four-door Type 105 entry-level compact executive sports sedans produced from 1962 to 1978; the second are the upda ...

''GTI Club: Supermini Festa!'' (Arcade, December 2008)

In December 2008, Konami released the third episode in Japan with the original "France Course" and "Italy Course" plus two additional circuits (England and U.S.A.) and twelve cars. , which adds a "Japan Course", was later released for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

on 25 February 2010 in Japan, and under the original name on 16 March in North America and 25 March in Europe. The

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...

version was released simultaneously in Japan but was delayed to 22 April 2010 in North America, and was not released physically in Europe. European supply of the Wii game was reportedly affected by the Icelandic volcano eruption.

''GTI Club+: Rally Côte d'Azur'' (PlayStation 3, December 2008)

'' GTI Club+: Rally Côte d'Azur'', an HD port of original ''GTI Club'', was released for the

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

(2008 in Europe, 2009 in United States). The port was developed by British studio

Sumo Digital Sumo Digital Ltd. is a British video game developer based in Sheffield and the principal subsidiary of Sumo Group since 2017. The company was founded in 2003 by four former members of the management team of Infogrames Studios. History Sumo D ...

and published by

. The game featured a number of improvements over the original game, including enhanced graphics and sound, eight player online multiplayer, new modes and compatibility with the

PlayStation Eye The PlayStation Eye (trademarked PLAYSTATION Eye) is a digital camera device, similar to a webcam, for the PlayStation 3. The technology uses computer vision and gesture recognition to process images taken by the camera. This allows players to i ...

. As of 2012, it is no longer available for purchase due to license expiration.

Arcade hardware description

* 3D DSP: ADSP-21062 ( SHARC) @ 36 MHz * Sound CPU: 68EC000 @ 16 MHz * Sound chips: Ricoh RF5C400 PCM 32Ch, 44.4 kHz Stereo, 3D Effect Spatializer. * Graphics (Custom 3D): 2 x KS10071 (Possibly graphics as well: KS10081, K001604) * Unknown Chips (possibly sound related): K056800, K056230

External links

*
Hardware description of ''GTI Club''

Partial emulation images

''GTI Club''
at Caesar.logiqx.com
Latest news on July 31, 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gti Club 1996 video games Arcade video games PlayStation Network games Racing video games Konami franchises Konami games Konami arcade games Video games developed in Japan