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If you’re of a certain age, you might remember sliding a highly pixelated Ferrari Testarossa around an equally pixelated city in an arcade, accompanied by the smells of stale popcorn and spilled soft drinks. One builder gave that experience an upgrade.
Across eight YouTube videos, 19kfox has been building a Gran Turismo 7 arcade cabinet that makes for a cool new way to play the current installment in the Gran Turismo series. It started out as a junked Sega Jambo Safari cabinet that needed a lot of work, but that also ensured that the finished product was a standard size that could be placed alongside other machines. That wasn’t the case with a previous build made from scratch, which proved to be too bulky.
19kfox via YouTube
The salvaged cabinet nonetheless required lots of modifications to fit the ambition of this build. It was widened to accommodate a new monitor and seat, and the shifter was moved from the dashboard to the right of the seat—more like a real car. Much cutting and welding made this happen. Reproduction stickers capture the feel of the originals, but unlike standard arcade cabinets, there’s a button to turn off the marquee light above the monitor to help players focus. In a darkened room, even VR can’t beat this level of immersion.
That builds on the game’s meticulously rendered cars and tracks— a hallmark of the Gran Turismo series. GT7 may play it safe when it comes to format, and isn’t as concerned with a realistically-rendered environment beyond track limits as, say, the Forza games. But that still makes it a good fit for this arcade setup, which is super cool but retains a bit of fun that purpose-built sim rigs for aspiring racing drivers lack.
Gran Turismo Arcade 2 – Finale
It may be four years old, and may have launched with plenty of cars, but developer Polyphony Digital is still finding good additions for the monthly update cadence. Where else can you choose between a Renault Twingo and the Yangwang U9, the 1,300-horsepower, quad-motor electric hypercar with active suspension that lets it drive on three wheels?
There’s no shortage of epic gaming rigs that are built or bought. But the marriage of Gran Turismo 7 and an old school arcade cabinet is one of the best between game and playing medium.
Stephen has always been passionate about cars, and managed to turn that passion into a career as a freelance automotive journalist. When he’s not handling weekend coverage for The Drive, you can find him looking for a new book to read.
