Peak Performance PS1 Review

Peak Performance is an arcade type racing game that was released for the PlayStation in North America, Europe and even in Japan in 1997. 

This game would also be known as Touge Max drift master in the Japanese region and again would see a number of sequels being released under that name that would also only see release in Japan I have done previous videos on both Touge Max 2 and Touge Max G on the channel already so I'll make sure to leave links to those videos in the description and it's an interesting concept because the games themselves gradually evolved over the look and feel of that of the original. 

There was many elements also in the Japanese version of the game that were left out in the European release in terms of cars and different elements the game itself would receive mixed average reviews considering the game to be kind of too quirky or too difficult for many players to get used to because the controls although while Good can be quite fiddly and Twitchy to get used to because the the game is very fast paced, if anything it's probably one of the most frantic Racers that you can play on the system. 

It has decent graphics and the controls even though they're decent do work well and it has a really good fun Factor as again it's very fast paced and the emphasis is on drifting around different types of tracks where you have to beat various opponents on the track and obviously to try and win the races and pass all of the opponents before you get to the end of the race and in turn you will be able to unlock a variety of different features from different cars to different variations of the tracks and layouts as you can play and go through different routes of each track and depending on the different day and night cycles you can be able to choose from a variety of difficulties and again the higher the difficulty that you play and even win races on, the more elements you'll unlock as you play. 

One of the most noticeable elements with this game especially even when it's sequels is a selection of cars as you have a wide selection of some of the most iconic Japanese sports cars and coupes ever seen within the JDM Market anything from the likes of mazda mx-5s to Toyota Corollas, MR2, Nissan 300ZX and Nissan Skyline iterations of the R32 and R33 GTR even different variations of the Mazda RX-7 the Nissan Silvia s13 even all the way up to the Toyota Supra among many other cool and unique cars that all have their own different characteristics and handling abilities and you also have the inclusion of a course edit mode that allows you to create your own varieties of tracks for time trial modes that you can place different obstacles at different intervals to increase the overall asthetic of the gameplay to provide more of a challenge and you can also play against your mates using a split screen mode as well which also adds to the longevity of the game. 

Now the game does have a very arcade style and feel to it, it is very very fast paced, it does focus on drifting style elements although even from my own perspective from playing the game the drifting elements while they do work because of the fast-paced nature and frantic pace of the game it can be hard to drift and to maintain a powerful drift without hitting a wall or anything like that but that would be drastically improved in its later sequels where the general sense of speed would actually be toned down but the handling physics of the cars would be much more refined.

And those two games would be considered to be among some of the most visually impressive racing games ever seen on the PlayStation especially with Tokyo Max G the graphics on that game are incredible again I have covered videos on those games so be sure to check them out in the description. 

But Peak Performance or Touge Max is a really good game in its own right. 

It gets a lot of things right although some things could have been a lot better but it is a good solid racer, it's just it's frantic and it's fast-paced that might put some people off because it can be tricky to control the cars because the handling is very twitchy and especially with the fast pace of the cars and the tracks.

You will crash a lot in this game but it's just it's so frantic that you don't even really know what's going on, so all you really have to focus on is just making sure that you acquire and move up the ranks and the positions as you race, but generally it's a very fun game to play and it has enough unique modes and even track layouts to keep you playing for quite a while, while it doesn't have the same diversity of tracks you would see on more mainstream games it does definitely have enough there to keep you playing for a while and definitely offers something a wee bit different plus the fact that you get to play as iconic racing cars as well so that in itself is another reason why you should try it out especially if you want to gain access to playing with the Toyota Supra and Skyline and so forth.

If they are more your thing this would be another game on the PlayStation to try you out to gain access to those cars. 

All in all it's a fun game in my own opinion is worth having a look at it is worth trying out for sure and from my own experience I'm playing it, yeah it is Twitchy and can take a while to get into as it does have somewhat of a steep learning curve at the start but once you put a bit of time into it it is a really good race and is a lot of fun.

I really like the graphical nature, it is very bright vibrant and colorful graphics that really suit the aesthetic of the game, but again these would all be later refined and tweaked in the sequels but it's still a very fun game to play and it's often overlooked with regards to racing games on the PlayStation but it's still a worthwhile experience for anyone that does want to get involved or get more involved with racing games in General on the system.

This is another one that I genuinely think is worth trying to know for sure, and I would love to know your thoughts on Peak Performance or say Touge Max for the PlayStation if you have played the game at all and if so what do you think of these type of games do you enjoy them or maybe not so much? 

I'd love to hear whatever stories you do have at this game, so be sure to share it down in the comments, below and be sure to keep watching to see more content on other racing games similar to Peak Performance then you can check out the blog where we will be diving into more of the iconic elements of these classic video games and as always keep those gaming memories alive...