MSR's UK Chart Performance (4 November- 16 December 2000)

I managed to find some news articles in the old Segaweb.com archives (a US based site) that covered the UK chart performance of MSR during November and December 2000.  The first three dates include the all-format chart because those are the only time MSR makes an appearance.  All the other dates show Dreamcast charts only.  At the very end is a US Dreamcast Chart ending 14 January 2001 (after MSR had been released.       

Week ending 4 November 2000.  MSR had only been on sale for 1/2 days selling just over 13,000 units

All Format Chart

1.  Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - PSone, PC, Dreamcast
2.  Championship Manager: Season 00/01 - PC
3.  FIFA 2001 - PSone, PC (New Entry)
4.  Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 - PC
5.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer - Dreamcast (New Entry)
6.  Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 - PSone
7.  Pokemon Yellow - Game Boy
8.  Pokemon Pinball - Game Boy Color
9.  Gran Turismo 2 - PSone
10. Tomorrow Never Dies - PSone

Dreamcast Chart

1.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (New Entry)
2.  Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
3.  Sonic Adventure
4.  F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa
5.  Virtua Tennis
6.  WWF: Royal Rumble
7.  Hidden & Dangerous
8.  Sega Bass Fishing
9.  Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
10. UEFA Striker
11. Resident Evil Code: Veronica
12. Rayman 2: The Great Escape
13. Blue Stinger
14. Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles
15. Crazy Taxi
16. WWF: Attitude
17. Dead Or Alive 2
18. Power Stone 2
19. Soul Fighter
20. MDK 

5-11 November 2000 

All-Format

1.  Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - PSone, PC, Dreamcast
2.  FIFA 2001 - PSone, PC
3.  Championship Manager: Season 00/01 - PC
4.  Pokemon Pinball - Game Boy Color
5.  Pokemon Yellow - Game Boy
6.  Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 - PC
7.  Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 - PSone
8.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer - Dreamcast
9.  Rayman - PSone, Game Boy Color
10. Gran Turismo 2 - PSone
11. Toy Story 2 - PSone, Game Boy Color
12. Tomorrow Never Dies - PSone
13. Spider-Man - PSone, Game Boy Color
14. Driver - PSone
15. Pokemon Red - Game Boy
16. Pokemon Blue - Game Boy
17. Disney's Dinosaur - PSone, Game Boy Color
18. Tarzan Action Game - PSone
19. Army Men: Land, Sea, Air - PSone
20. Spyro: Year Of The Dragon - PSone [New Entry]

Dreamcast Chart

1.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer
2.  Sonic Adventure
3.  Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
4.  Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 [New Entry]
5.  Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
6.  Virtua Tennis
7.  WWF: Royal Rumble
8.  UEFA Striker
9.  Rayman 2: The Great Escape
10. F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa
11. Soul Fighter
12. Hidden & Dangerous
13. Crazy Taxi
14. TrickStyle
15. Resident Evil Code: Veronica
16. Shadowman
17. Sega Bass Fishing
18. WWF: Attitude
19. Time Stalkers [New Entry]
20. Blue Stinger

12 - 18 November 2000

All Format Chart

1. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - PSOne / Dreamcast / PC
2. Driver 2 - PSOne [New Entry]
3. FIFA 2001 - PSOne / PC
4. Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask - N64 [New Entry]
5. Pokemon Pinball - Game Boy Color
6. Pokemon Yellow - Game Boy
7. Championship Manager: Season 00/01 - PC
8. Tomb Raider Chronicles - PSOne [New Entry]
9. The World Is Not Enough - PSOne [New Entry]
10. Rayman - PSOne
11. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 - PSOne
12. Spyro: Year Of The Dragon - PSOne
13. Toy Story 2 - PSOne / Game Boy Color
14. Rugrats: Search For Reptar - PSOne
15. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 - PC
16. Tomorrow Never Dies - PSOne
17. Gran Turismo 2 - PSOne
18. Pokemon Blue - Game Boy
19. Pokemon Red - Game Boy
20. Driver - PSOne
21. Escape From Monkey Island - PC [New Entry]
22. Disney's Dinosaur - PSOne / Game Boy Color
23. Spiderman - PSOne / Game Boy Color
24. Tarzan Action Game - PSOne
25. Rayman 2: The Great Escape - PSOne / Dreamcast / N64 / PC
26. Super Mario Bros - Game Boy Color
27. Army Men: Land, Sea, Air - PSOne
28. Metropolis Street Racer - Dreamcast (previous No. 8)
29. Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace - PSOne / PC
30. Theme Park World - PSOne / PC
31. Rally Championship - PC
32. Medal Of Honour - PSOne
33. Rugrats: Studio Tour - PC
34. Worms Armageddon - PSOne / PC / N64 / Dreamcast
35. The Sims - PC
36. Pokemon Snap - N64
37. Colin McRae Rally - PSOne / PC
39. Prince Naseem Boxing - PSOne
40. Perfect Dark - N64

Dreamcast Chart

1.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega)
2.  Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3.  Silent Scope (Konami) [New Entry]
4.  Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (Eidos Interactive)
5.  Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 (Sega) 
6.  Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (Eidos Interactive)
7.  Soul Fighter (Mindscape)
8.  Virtua Tennis (Sega)
9.  Le Mans 24 Hours (Infogrames) [New Entry]
10. WWF: Royal Rumble (THQ)
11. TrickStyle (Acclaim)
12. UEFA Striker (Infogrames)
13. Rayman 2: The Great Escape (Ubi Soft)
14. Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
15. Hidden & Dangerous (Take 2 Interactive)
16. Dead Or Alive 2 (Acclaim)
17. Resident Evil Code: Veronica (Eidos Interactive)
18. F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa (Acclaim)
19. Blue Stinger (Activision)
20. Crazy Taxi (Sega)

26 November - 2 December 2000

MSR had dropped out of the All-Format Top 40 by this point.  You can see that particular chart for this week here: https://web.archive.org/web/20011222121349/http://www.segaweb.com/news/1200/019.html

1.  Shenmue (Sega) [New Entry]
2.  Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega)
4.  Jet Set Radio (Sega)
5.  Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (Eidos Interactive)
6.  Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (Eidos Interactive)
7.  Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
8.  Sega GT (Sega) [New Entry]
9.  Soul Fighter (Mindscape)
10. Silent Scope (Konami)
11. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 (Sega)
12. Virtua Tennis (Sega)
13. WWF: Royal Rumble (THQ)
14. TrickStyle (Acclaim)
15. Rayman 2: The Great Escape (Ubi Soft)
16. Crazy Taxi (Sega)
17. Resident Evil Code: Veronica (Eidos Interactive)
18. Hidden & Dangerous (Take 2 Interactive)
19. WWF: Attitude (Acclaim)
20. F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa (Acclaim)

3-9 December 2000

1.  Shenmue - Sega
2.  Quake III: Arena - Sega [New Entry]
3.  Sonic Adventure - Sega
4.  Tomb Raider 4 - The Last Revelation - Eidos
5.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer - Sega
6.  Sega Bass Fishing - Sega
7.  Who Want To Be A Millionaire - Eidos
8.  Ultimate Fighting Championship - Ubi Soft
9.  Jet Set Radio - Sega
10. UEFA Dream Soccer - Sega
11. Trickstyle - Acclaim
12. Soul Fighter - Mindscape
13. Virtua Tennis - Sega
14. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2 - Sega
15. Sega GT - Sega
16. Silent Scope - Konami
17. Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver - Eidos
18. WWF Royal Rumble - THQ
19. Rayman 2: The Great Escape - Ubi Soft
20. Shadowman - Acclaim

10 - 16 December 2000

1. Shenmue (Sega)
2. Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3. Quake III: Arena (Sega)
4. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (Eidos Interactive)
5. Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
6. MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega)
7. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (Eidos Interactive)
8. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (Activision) [New Entry]
9. Ultimate Fighting Championship (Ubi Soft)
10. Jet Set Radio (Sega)
11. UEFA Dream Soccer (Sega / Infogrames)
12. TrickStyle (Acclaim)
13. WWF: Royal Rumble (THQ)
14. Virtua Tennis (Sega)
15. Rayman 2: The Great Escape (Ubi Soft)
16. Silent Scope (Konami)
17. Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver (Eidos Interactive)
18. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 (Sega)
19. Soul Fighter (Mindscape)
20. Tomb Raider: Chronicles (Eidos Interactive)


US Chart ending 14 January 2001

1.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer
2.  NBA 2K1
3.  NFL 2K1
4.  Crazy Taxi
5.  Sonic Adventure
6.  Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
7.  Shenmue, Sega
8.  Sega Rally Championship 2
9.  Grandia II
10. NHL 2K

Asakusa Eki-Iriguchi and Koen Minami 0.00 bug solved by hexediting

I finally solved my problem with the 0.00 'Miata' time bug on the Asakusa Eki-Iriguchi and Koen Minami courses!  I downloaded a hacked saved with all the events opened but nothing completed.  I then set laps on each course, saved the game and then looked at that main save file via a hexeditor.

I managed to identify the addresses for each of these courses and then edit the code on my main save so it made the game think they still need to be unlocked (see picture below).  Unfortunately for a number of hours, I was editing the wrong addresses that only affect the 'Record Time' not the actual 'Time' that remained at 0.00.  That is why you see the record lap time at 6 hours+!  Eventually I was able to find the right address and get the 0.00 times removed by copying a 'blank' hexidecimal code somewhere else in the save, hence the greyed out times.

I then switched on the 'Open All Cheat' via the Cheat menu (see 1st picture below) and this allowed said courses to be selectable (see 2nd picture below).  I then set a basic lap on both and saved (see 3rd picture below).  As a result the game wiped the record times with my basic lap.  Successful hexedit complete! 

I think this problem originated back in 2007 when I first completed the game.  I was using a bugged PAL copy (SS code) and somewhere the VMU must have corrupted slightly when saving.  So more a VMU save error than a coding error; if it was the latter, it would not have been fixable.

Courses from MSR that appear in Project Gotham Racing 1 [Corrections likely]

I've stated before that the only thing Metropolis Street Racer and Project Gotham Racing 1 (PGR1) really have in common is sharing some of the same courses.  Therefore I've compiled a list of said shared courses that can be viewed in the pictures below.  Some courses have the same name over both games but most of them have been renamed in PGR1.  Corrections to this post are likely, particularly for the very small tracks as they are more a 'best guess' at this point in time.

I should state that I was wrong about PGR1 having all its London, San Francisco and Tokyo tracks from MSR.  There are some unique variations in PGR1 although they still use the same basic city layouts (no new areas/roads).

 LONDON

TOKYO

SAN FRANCISCO

Time Trial Misty/Foggy bugs (trying to fix via Hexedit)

Metropolis Street Racer has a known bug in Time Trial mode where ghosts saved under 'misty' or 'foggy' weather revert the VMU file (MSRCHALL) to clear weather when you try to replay it.  The ghost itself will also be missing even though the file states it's present.

My workaround is as follows:

1. Create a empty Time Trial file (MSRCHALL) on your required course with either misty or foggy weather.
  
2. Select the Time Trial file in question to play but once you get to the screen where the weather is displayed (final screen before the race), back out all the way to the main menu screen using the B button.  

3. Go into Time Attack from the main menu, choose Time Attack again on the next menu (not Ghost Attack) and select the exact same course.  The weather should come as misty or foggy on the info screen just before the race.

4. Set a ghost, then exit and save.  

When you replay the same ghost (MSRGHOST) via Ghost Attack, the weather will be misty or foggy accordingly.

Unfortunately the drawback of this workaround is that you can only have one ghost for each course per VMU unlike Time Trials where you can save multiple ghosts for the same course if desired. This is because the MSRGHOST file's '3-number extension' corresponds to a particular course.

I attempted to fix the problem by using the Hexeditor in Dream Explorer.  I created an empty Time Trial and figured out that address 0x00308 controls the weather (00-07, 00 being clear, 01-05 are wet conditions, and 06 and 07 are misty and foggy respectively).  I then took a Time Trial ghost that reverted back to clear weather (and missing ghost) and adjusted the hex address 0x00308 to 07 in order to activate foggy weather.  

However while the weather was indeed foggy again on my replay, the saved ghost car was still nowhere to be seen.  I then hex adjusted the whole of line 0300 to '00' with the exception of the 0312 and 0313 numbers that were left alone.  On replay, the saved ghost reappeared but naturally the weather was clear.

I then took a look at the MSRGHOST file created via my workaround and noticed its line 00308 did not have a value at address 0x00308 but did have one at at 0x00304 and sometimes 0x00300.  I hexedited the Time Trial's 00300 line with the exact same values found in the MSRGHOST file equivalent.  However on replay, the weather was again clear and no ghost was present.  The Time Trial programming seems to expect a value at 0x00308

After playing around with hex values for quite a while, I decided to delete my original MSRGHOST file and rename my MSRCHALL file to MSRGHOST with the relevant course extension.  Before doing this I reverted the hex values on line 0300 back to their original values.  Low and behold, when replaying said file via Ghost Attack the weather was foggy and the ghost was present.  It seems that MSRGHOST and MSRCHALL (Ghost saved inside) files are exactly the same minus the names.  

Unfortunately I think this means the fault lies within the Time Trial programming itself and therefore it is impossible to replay ghosts with foggy/misty weather via that option, regardless of how much you mess around with the VMU save file. 

Par For Car

A post about MSR's 'Par For Car' times on Hotlap and Timed Run events (Street Racing mode).   These are supposedly the best lap/overall time that can be achieved with your selected vehicle .  However most of those par times were calculated with 'maths' as opposed to extensive play testing.  As a result, the game thinks vehicles with the same CPF can achieve the exact same par times (they can't), high CPF cars can have unrealistic par times (particularly the 5.0 Nissan Skyline and 4.7 TVR Chimaera) and on a couple of occasions, show faster/equal par times for wet weather compared to clear conditions on the same course. 

At the bottom is a video demonstrating the Par For Car error on the first event in the game (Chapter 1, Event 1: Hotlap/Buchanan South).  It shows the Skyline par lap time as 29.4 seconds.  I could only manage just under 30 seconds with said car (29.929).  However the lower CPF cars Jensen SV-8 (4.3), Celica GT-Four (4.2) , Fairlady Z Convertible (4.0) & Toyota Supra (3.8) were all capable of going under 29.4.  Best clean lap was with the Supra (just over 29 seconds).  Best lap with wall bashes was 28.910 in the Celica GT-Four.  The Evo 6 & RX-7 only managed around 29.6.  The TVR Chimaera with a CPF of 4.7 was the slowest of the lot with a 30 second time.

CPF            GAME'S PAR TIMES

5.0              29.4 secs (Skyline)

4.7              30.1 secs (Chimaera)
4.6              30.4 secs (Evo 6/ RX-7)
4.3              31.1 secs (Jensen SV-8)
4.2              31.3 secs (Celica GT-Four/Vauxhall VX220)
4.0              31.8 secs (Fairlady Z Convertible & many others)
3.8              32.3 secs (Toyota Supra)
3.6              32.8 secs
3.5              33.0 secs
3.4              33.2 secs
3.3              33.5 secs
3.2              33.7 secs
3.1              34.0 secs
3.0              34.2 secs
2.8              34.7 secs
2.7              34.9 secs
2.5              35.4 secs
2.4              35.6 secs
2.2              36.1 secs
2.1              36.3 secs
1.9              36.8 secs
1.2              38.5 secs
1.0              39.0 secs

MY BEST

Celica GT-Four                         28.910 (side bash) / 29.346 (clean)   
Toyota Supra                            29.046 (clean)
Jensen SV-8                             29.391 (side bash)
Mazda RX-7                             29.602 (clean)
Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 6          29.694 (clean)
Nissan Skyline GTR                 29.929 (side bash)
TVR Chimaera                         30.291 (side bash)

Fairlady Z Convertible              29.384 (clean)

Please note, I am not saying the Skyline isn't capable of 29.4; it's just that I wasn't able to do it. My point is that high CPF does not automatically equal the fastest vehicle.

All Overtake Events

Videos showing all my best overtake runs from MSR.  All runs were done between June - August 2025 except the final event on Chapter 24 which was done way back in August 2011.

• On some events, it is possible to overtake more than the maximum number of selectable cars.  However you do not get any additional Skill kudos for doing so.

• The lower the CPF, the higher the Skill Kudos awarded.

 

• The lower the CPF, the lower the Style Kudos and No Penalty bonus.

  

• The No Penalty bonus is very low when compared to Skill & Style points, and does not make a big difference to your overall score. 

• Style Kudos 'exploits' are still possible on some overtake events.

Thanks for the support VR! :)

Kudos Records Video (Total and Individual Event)

 

A stats video showing Kudos records from the various MSR saves I downloaded online.  I used the 'Merge Records' function within the game to combine their records with my own.  It shows records for total Kudos (held by NoName) and individual Event records.  All 250 event records are displayed.

As you can see, the best scores are obtained by exploiting Style Kudos.  While the developers always intended the game to be about "how you drive fast", the problem is that MSR's Style Kudos rewarded reckless power sliding/bad driving or driving up and down while powersliding ad infinitum.  Any penalties you may receive from hitting the walls/other cars are more than made up by the excess Style Kudos awarded. See my previous post https://msrdreamcast.blogspot.com/2023/07/bad-driving-more-kudos.html for more information.  

I believe these issues was fixed in PGR1 and PGR2 with their more intricate and redesigned Kudos systems.  While exploits still existed (spinning your car in a circle/skidding side to side), you still had to practice and be skillful to obtain the best results.  You do not need to be a skillful driver to get the highest Kudos scores on MSR.  However if I was able to 'patch' MSR's kudos system, I would cap the number of Style Kudos awarded unless you obtain a high Skill Kudos score and little/no penalties.  I would also have severe penalties if you drove backwards or hit the walls.   

When you view the individual Street Race event scores, you will notice that my records generally have a higher Skill Kudos award.  The only notable exception is the final Championship race on Chapter 25 (where no Skill Kudos get awarded at all).

I totalled up all the individual Kudos records for each event and came up with a potential Kudos total of around 541,600.  If you added Jokers to all the records that were obtained without one, the potential then becomes around 934,200.  So I can see how the 1 million+ Dreamarena record was obtained.  However I would never recommend trying to achieve this as you would have to play MSR in such a repetative and boring way that you'll end up hating the game very quicky.  It best to forget the excess Style Kudos records and just concentrate on Skill, minimal penalties and Style in that order.  You will enjoy the game much more!   

These player saves originate from the early 00s and I downloaded them from various sites including Blueswirl/Dream Explorer, GameFAQS and archive.org back in the early 2010s.  The other players shown are NoName, Shambl3r, Larry Lar, BabyGangsta, '2' & Cichy.  I have no info on these players other than one of the saves belonged to a 'John Peat' who posted an early MSR car guide on GameFAQS.  He also commented on the old Usenet group archived here: https://groups.google.com/g/uk.games.video.dreamcast and hosted his save on his now defunct website that can be accessed at: https://web.archive.org/web/20020607060911/http://www.fury161.com:80/msr/