Daytona USA

In the 1990s, a row of Daytona cabinets was hard to walk past.

Sega released Daytona USA in 1994 as the first game for its Model 2 hardware. Texture-mapped cars swept around 3D circuits with a smoothness that made the machine feel unmistakably next-generation.

The driving matched the spectacle. The Hornet stock car slid through wide corners while the force-feedback wheel pushed back, giving the race a physical feel that home systems struggled to match. Link several cabinets together and as many as eight players could compete side by side.

Eight-player racing already existed, but Daytona USA made it an enduring arcade spectacle. Its success helped establish Model 2 as an arcade powerhouse and set a benchmark for 3D racing.

For years, Daytona gave arcades a shared racing experience that was difficult to reproduce at home.