GTI Club

Konami GTI Club

GTI Club is a racing game originally released for the arcades in 1996 by Konami, on their new Cobra arcade board, which uses PowerPC-based hardware. In the original, the player raced around the Côte d'Azur and could choose from 5 rally cars including a Mini Cooper 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 turns round sharp corners.

Series

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

The original title in the series was released in 1996 in Japan and 1997 overseas. It features a single course and four classic supermini cars plus a Bugatti EB110 supercar which could be used only in the single player game, at the cost of an extra credit.

GTI Club: Corso Italiano (Arcade, July 2000)

The first sequel (ＧＴＩクラブ・コルソイタリアーノ) was released in 2000, it was published overseas in 2001 as GTI Club 2. 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 and Bugatti EB110 plus a selection of new cars including the Fiat 500, Lotus Seven, AC Cobra, Volkswagen Beetle, Nissan Fairlady Z (S30) and Alfa Romeo Giulia.

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.GTI Club ワールドシティレース (lit. "GTI Club: World City Race") was later released for the Wii and PlayStation Portable in February 2010 in Japan and in March 2010 in North America.

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

GTI Club+: Rally Côte d'Azur, an HD port of original GTI Club, has been released for the PlayStation Network (2008 in Europe, 2009 in United States). The port was by British studio Sumo Digital and published by Konami. The game features 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. It is no longer available for purchase due to an expired license.

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

• GTI Club at the Killer List of Videogames
• Hardware description of GTI Club
• Partial emulation images
• GTI Club at Caesar.logiqx.com
• Latest news on July 31, 2008
• GTI Club: Corso Italiano official website