Early MSR: Gang Mode (Pictures)

"The Gang Battle mode is a four player Olympic-like event that consists of players battling it out in several different games to see who the ultimate driver is. The idea is very innovative and could be a deciding factor in how well Metropolis does." 

Statement taken from the old Sega Zone website: https://web.archive.org/web/20000831030938/http://www.sega-zone.com:80/previews/dreamcast/metropolis.html

Pictures originate from the old 'Segaweb' site and 'Videogames.com' (predecessor of Gamespot).

MSR's UK Chart Performance (4 November 2000 - 23 November 2002)

I managed to find some news articles in the old Segaweb.com archives (a US based site) and a chart archive archive (https://retrogamecharts.blogspot.com/) that cover the UK chart performance of MSR during November 2000 and December 2002.  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.      

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

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

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


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

Dreamcast Chart

1.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)
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)


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.  So UK charts from this point onwards are Dreamcast only.

1.  Shenmue (Sega) [New Entry]
2.  Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3.  MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)
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)

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


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 Europe)
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)

17-23 December 2000

1.  Shenmue (Sega)
2.  Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3.  Toy Racer Sega [New Entry] (Sega Europe)
4.  Tomb Raider 4: The Last Revelation (Eidos)
5.  Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
6.  Quake III: Arena (Sega)
7.   Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (Eidos Interactive)
8.   MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)
9.   Tony Hawk'S Pro Skater 2 (Activision)
10. Jet Set Radio (Sega)

24 - 30 December 2000

1. Toy Racer (Sega Europe)
2. Shenmue (Sega)
3. Sonic Adventure (Sega)
4. Quake III Arena (Sega)
5. MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)
6. Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
7. Tomb Raider 4 - The Last Revelation (Eidos)
8. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2 (Midway)
9. Tony Hawk'S Pro Skater 2 (Activision)
10. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (Eidos)

31 December 2000 - 6 January 2001

1. Toy Racer (Sega Europe)
2  Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3. Shenmue (Sega)
4. Quake III Arena (Sega)
5. Tomb Raider 4 - The Last Revelation (Eidos)
6. Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
7. Sega Rally 2 (Sega)
8. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2 (Midway)
9. MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)
10. Hidden & Dangerous (Take 2)

7- 13 January 2001

1.  Toy Racer (Sega)
2.  Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3.  Tomb Raider 4 - The Last Revelation (Eidos Interactive)
4.  Sega Rally 2 (Sega)
5.  Shenmue (Sega)
6.  Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
7.  Tony Hawk'S Pro Skater 2 (Activision)
8.  Quake III Arena (Sega)
9.  F355 Challenge (Acclaim)
10. MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)

14- 20 January 2001

1.   Toy Racer (Sega Europe)
2.   Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3.   Tomb Raider 4 - The Last Revelation (Eidos)
4.   Sega Rally 2 (Sega)
5.   Shenmue (Sega)
6.   Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
7.   Quake III Arena (Sega)
8.   Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (Activision)
9.   MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega Europe)
10. WWF Attitude (Acclaim) 

21 - 27 Jan 2001

1.  Toy Racer (Sega Europe)
2.  Sonic Adventure (Sega)
3.  Shenmue (Sega)
4.  Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (Eidos Interactive)
5.  Sega Rally 2 (Sega)
6.  Virtua Tennis (Sega)
7.  Sega Bass Fishing (Sega)
8.  Tony Hawk'S Pro Skater 2 (Activision)
9.  Quake III: Arena (Sega)
10. MSR: Metropolis Street Racer (Sega)

Week ending 3 February 2001: No. 11

Week ending 10 February 2001: No. 15

Week ending 17 February 2001: No info but not in Top 10

Week ending  24 February 2001: No. 19

Week ending 10 March 2001: No. 10

Week ending 17 March 2001: No. 5

Week ending 24 March 2001: No. 5

Week ending 31 March 2001: No.  5 

Week ending 7 April 2001: No. 8

Week ending 14 April 2001: No info but not in Top 10

Week ending 21 April 2001: No. 7

Week ending 29 April 2001: No. 10

Week ending 5 May 2001: No. 6

Week ending 12 May 2001: No info but not in Top 10

Week ending 19 May 2001: No. 12 

Week ending 26 May 2001: No. 12

There are no Top 20 charts until October, only Top 10.  MSR is not in the Top 10 during this period.

Week ending 6 October 2001: No. 16

Limited info between 7 October - 24 November 2001 however MSR is not in the Top 10 during this period.

Week ending 24 November 2001: No.10

Week ending 1 December 2001: No. 12

Limited info between 2 December - 16 February however MSR is not in the Top 10.

Week ending 23 February 2002: No. 8

Limited info between 17 February - 7 September 2002 however MSR is not in the Top 10.

Week ending 14 September 2002: No. 8 

Week ending 21 September 2002: No. 5

No info for week ending 29 September 2002

Week ending 5 October 2002: No. 6

Week ending 12 October 2002: No. 3

Week ending 19 October 2002: No. 10

Week ending 26 October 2002: No. 10

Week ending 2 November 2002: No. 8

Week ending 9 November 2002: No. 8

Week ending 16 November 2002: No. 6

Week ending 23 November 2002: No. 6

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! :)