I like all of the crusin series. Plus they all have a bill & hillary funny easter egg at the end of the entire game. Very funny!

I had 4 hydro link....here a pic with 3...can't find a pic when i had 4....but any time you have 4 link you're going to have a blast....

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If you can get a good working pair for $1500 that would be great.
The only longevity concerns I would really have is the same for most original arcade games....the monitors going out. That being said, LCD swaps are a viable cheaper option than a repair. (I can feel the purists cringing right now, but these monitors are hard to find if they completely die.) The racing games look good with LCD in my opinion.
The game itself is on a regular "spinner" hard drive, so that can go out, but you can swap it to a compact flash using the IDE to compact flash option.

Overall they are pretty reliable, especially for home use. I highly recommend them!

Wow! East coast prices are quite a deal then. Most pairs of working Rush 2049s don't go for less than $2000 on the west coast.

I've got a guy who is willing to bring me a pair, prob one of the Cruisin series like Exotica for $1200 plus a Pump it Up dance game for another 1k. Considering he's getting the games up and running and bringing them to me, I'll pay it.

Swapping out LCDs and spinner hard drives make my head spin. If the machines crap out, be looking for a PM from me for help haha

I would not pay that for a pair of Cruisin's. Those are not worth near as much as Rush 2049. ($900 is the most I would pay for a pair of Cruisin's personally.) That offer of $1300 for a pair of Rush 2049s is what I would jump on. I wish I could pay that for a working pair!

You will have the same potential issues with all of these driving games. Just comes as part of the deal. Really the monitor is the biggest thing when you are buying them.
Swapping the monitor or the hard drive is not as hard as you would think. Safety is the biggest concern with the CRT. Happy to give advice if you need it.

Oh, I just re-read your post...somehow I missed that that included delivery and setup. Never mind....not a bad deal then as long as the monitors are good.

Well let's hope they are damn good monitors. The Rushes are close, like 30-45 minutes away but I have no way to transport games that size and bringing them in the house off the truck would be big pain. I have some fond memories playing the Cruisin games in the arcades. I played Rush 2049 on N64 on my emulator and it was cool but just ok.

That's a good price for both if there working 100% with good monitors. $650 apiece? Heck yeah.

John

Well shit. Now you guys have me second guessing myself.

Cruisin vs Rush 2049

Design. Is one machine (monitor cabinet and seat) any better than the other in design or ease of transport or servicing?

Gameplay. Let's use Cruisin Exotica as an example. How many tracks are on Exotica compare to Rush 2049? How many vehicles does either have to choose from?

There seems to be a large majority preferring the Rush series. Is it the realism factor? The hidden parts in the courses?

Wow. Prices must be higher away from the coast, yeah. (Maybe availablility?) Over here, there's at least two for sale at any one time within 100 miles of DC, NY or Boston.

Part of the reason they're so cheap is because they ARE large, and hell to move. Someone just offered me before Xmas one working 2049 for $200 - I didn't take it because my other games are RtR's, and a single 2049 wouldn't do anything for me. Don't get me wrong, I like the game! Just having one, and trying to move it myself.. Not worth my time. Now maybe sometime in the future, I'll look around for two, and have two RtR's and two 2049's, but.. hey.

I don't know 2049 enough to answer the other questions, but on this one - this is a huge selling point for me. Yeah, car handling is a lot more 'realistic' (to me, again.. but then, I drive like I'm insane!) than Cruisin' or Daytona. Maybe not as much as that Ferrari game, but I've never played that, so can't say. The secrets are fun - those are best when you're playing solo - turn off the drones, pick a slower car, and go cruisin' (pun intended) around San Francisco. The three views are also a plus (not sure how many other games have that), and if you've evern BEEN to San Francisco, it's kinda neat seeing the lesser known landmarks as you fly by.

It's true, I have upgraded both of my Hydrothunder's to LCD monitors. I don't advertise this much, but I have a full assortment of arcade parts, kits etc. I hope to do better with it (but pinball takes all my time).

I have complete 26" LCD monitor conversion kits for $469 which has monitor, plug, cables, conversion board, and bezel

Also have 19" options

Sorry the image is just a quick snap shot, not a fancy product image

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Konami GTI Club was always my grail driver and I finally managed to snag one for the games room just before Christmas.
Nothing better than driving a classic mini around Monaco taking shortcuts and doing handbrake turns.
Also it has a head to head "bomb tag" mode which is great for kids non-video game types.

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Rush 2049's but get the SE hard drive for them. I had a linked pair for years and my girls loved them. What I liked was that they had manual driving, so there's a clutch and a shift stick. Mode in the options to allow the person behind to catch up easier (keeping the races close), lots of short cuts on the tracks, customized vehicles, save your own account with the keypad, etc. Picture is old as I finally sold them after 7+ yrs of enjoying them.

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2049 has (from memory) three tracks to start out with. As you earn more "miles" you can eventually open up two additional tracks and other car choices. The most I think then is five different tracks, but I'm pretty sure you can mirror the tracks just like the Alcatraz editions (again if memory serves me right). Best part for me was finding the gold coins, there are 100 hidden in each track and some I could never figure out how to get to. Some I found by accident, the inside of the gazebo comes to mind.....
Being able to actually "crash" your vehicle is a HUGE plus for me, where as the Cruisin series I think it just sort spins your car around (lame) and puts you back on the track and you keep going. I want to be able to skip along on roof tops and find hidden short cuts and do jumps in the air. As far as I know the other games don't allow you to do any of that stuff but all the Rush games do.
I had a 2049 for a year because I wanted to see what it was all about and to make sure I wasn't missing something that I didn't get from the Alcatraz versions. After a year I'd had enough of it. Yes the graphics were better because it was three years newer but not enough tracks and once the coins ran out then it was sorta like "whats the point?" and I might as well stick with my Alcatraz pair that I already had.
Another HUGE PLUS for me is that fact that Rush games have the shifter at seat level instead of being on the dash board like all the other games, I hate that and I wouldn't even consider another driving game that had it on the dash. Its very awkward when driving and not realistic at all.

John

If you switch to the SE, you get additional tracks (3 more). A couple of those are super hard as well (but have some creative shortcuts). Mirroring all the tracks is an option.

You should 2nd guess yourself ....Rush is a much better game. Even if you don't get Special edition units, you can easily upgrade the ROM chips and HD to SE.

Rush 2049 separates at the seat. The cab is still heavy and big, but manageable. We took it down stairs with 3 people and a hand truck. (2 strong guys and me...sorta strong girl. ) The seat is nothing to move and super easy to separate from the cab and re-attach. As far as servicing...easy to remove large panel on the back of the cab.

Lots of tracks, vehicles and secret paths on Rush. Also fun solo modes. You can play with or without the drones. It plays like you are really driving, with several view options and force feedback steering. You can crash too hard into a guard rail, other car, or flip upside down from taking a ramp wrong and your car will blow up. (It does regenerate though.)

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Case in point..

I played my game tonight, and found TWO new (to me) previously unknown shortcuts. One takes me across a whole bunch of buildings, and you FLY..

Love racing games so when you find a set I'll help break them in. ;P

That's a sweet deal. I've been looking for a Pump it Up machine for over a year, and would love a $1k price. Finally saw a DDR (not what I wanted, but I really just wanna hack it and put Stepmania on it anyway) and yeah, that is NOT a $4k game in this day and age. Especially not if you've already hacked it and replaced the PC as I have no idea what their skillset/hacks are.

Also, no love for Initial D? We had quite a cult following on those games for awhile around here.

I finally got my set fully working. Upgraded firmware. All I need to find are the linking prom chips and I can play head to head.

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Concerning the Cruisin series, sorry if it's been discussed before but if I had an Exotica, could I swap boards and play USA or World?

Hard Drivin' was at an arcade I frequented almost daily back in the day. I'd usually be there @lunchtime on break from my 2nd job. Lots of competition going on. Business guys in suits I remember playing a lot. Manual trans w/a clutch, feedback steering,instant replays of crashes were all too cool. Graphics weren't the greatest, but it did not matter. Good times..............

Ok I can't. I think I'm getting a World which means I'll be able to put in a USA and an Off Road Challenge. The Cruisin' games will be a hit with the kids. I'm excited as hell.

From what I understand. World and exotica can be swapped somehow. But I have read that USA cant be easily upgraded to world.

I've been doing some reading on old KLOV threads:

I'm doing some research on KLOV:

I think USA and World can swap out no problem... but with Exotica there's are kit wires you need for the conversion (you can make your own though). Also, the force feedback won't work unless you either change the chip on the driver board to Exotica or also swap out the driver board with an Exotica. There are two versions of the driver board too... on the "older" version it's chip U8 (long rectangle) and on the "newer" boards it's U3 (square).

And:

The only game that works in your Cruis'n USA without any addition work but pcb-swap is Cruis'n World. We have two USAs with World-boards insideand we simply swapped the PCBs. All others need additional hardware or change in the wiring.

Another vote for Daytona USA, my twin always gets played lot's by friends BUT gotta add, something only vaguely touched upon in this thread, it's an Arcade Tech's bread and butter machine!! The game board is a biatch for crapping out and can be expensive to get repaired if it gets as far as the "Blue screen of death" stage. Not a sit down but Super Sprint is up there with the best top down racers around, simple game, HEAPS of fun

I think I will stick with my USB wheel/pedals and windows PC with online play. More room for pins!

Man that was a great game with the card dispenser. My buddies and I would play that at the mall all the time

Is world any easier to link? I'm set minus the chips and it's frustrating no one has them. Or is it the same cable etc?

Oh I don't know bud. If you find out let us know.

I haven't seen Crazy Taxi mentioned, while not a racing game, still a fun driving experience. Also 18 Wheeler is entertaining.

You haven't read the entire thread, then...
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/educate-me-on-sit-down-driving-games/page/2#post-3552346

To my mind, it's more fun than racing.

Most of the time, anyway:

People who have owned/played both please give me your opinion:

Pair of California Speeds or a pair of Cruisin Worlds?

why?

What's a good price on a pair of California Speeds?

Since this thread started I picked up an F355 Challenge Deluxe. I am going to advise you avoid it and even the twin sit downs.

It is fun if you like Gran Turismo. Really stupidly fun if simulators are your thing, but not so much for casual players. So far the standard reaction is holy crap followed by them spinning out in turn 1 and walking away. Loving it myself, but hard to recommend for a basement arcade.

Anyone want to sell me some boards?

I'm looking for a Cruisin World main board.

Two Cruisin USA main boards

Two Off Road Challenge main boards

Anyone?

I've been hard at work on my Cruisin USA games. These came to me dirty and rusted. I had a hard time with all the rusted and stripped screws on this thing.

I have new glass to put in the display but I put new bezels in and swapped the monitors that had burned in images for LCD tvs. I cleaned them, painted them and put all new hardware and seat slide adjuster assemblies in the seat bases.

Next is the removal of the old decals on the sides and putting the new sets on. Oh yea and I bought all new speakers for the cabinets and the seats too.

I've got them linked up for Head 2 Head action as well.

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I like what you did with the bases. I too have a set of cruisin USA.
Where did you find the seat adjusters?
Do you have any leads on the linking pal chips? I need two.

Here's where I got the new seat adjuster assemblies:

https://na.suzohapp.com/products/accessories/50-2801-00

As far as the linking chips? All I did was find two boards with the same version roms, linked them with a computer cable, switched a few dip switches on one to make it the master and some on the other to make it the slave and boom, linked games.

I suggest building a cockpit and going the pc route as well. Can use pc and consoles and probably run the arcade drivers in a mame setup. Triple monitor racing is awesome and can even do some racing against other people online.

My current setup just uses a wheelstand with some thrustmaster equipment. Added a load cell to my brake pedal so braking is a lot more consistent. One day I plan to buy some nicer pedals and a direct drive wheel for much better force feedback.

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To those of you with cruis'n USA games. I made a video of what's required to link. Also a test with and without the security pia.

Does anyone know if Cruis’n USA supports linking of more the 2 games? If so what’s the max 4?

I believe that you can link up to 8. if not 8, then 4.

No.

Cruis'n World up to 4 players.

LTG : )

Just bought a Race Drivin' compact version and I'm wondering just how hard it's going to be getting it into my basement.

Anyone have any experience with moving one indoors?

For those of you with Rush 2049, any idea how heavy they are?

And are there ways to lighten them?

My game room is upstairs.