Dreamcast classic F355 Challenge’s online time trial rankings and ghost data sharing features restored

Another Dreamcast classic returns online. F355 Challenge (2000), the Ferarri focused arcade racer by the great Yu Suzuki that is otherwise unrelated to OutRun, has it’s own website restored, re-enabling all the online features of the Dreamcast game. The website can be accessed straight from the game’s disc when running on a Dreamcast connected to the internet, as well as through a network-enabled Dreamcast emulator. This comes thanks to developer Flyinghead.

F355 Challenge did not actually have an online multiplayer mode, however. Its online features were limited to allowing for the upload and download of time trial rankings and car ghost data, as well as an exclusive Ferrari movie that could be viewed on the website. DreamPi and Broadband adaptor users will be automatically directed to the site when trying to access it from within the game now.

Zoom in past the break for a bit more technical info to get you started.

The F355 Challenge website has now been fully restored, including rankings, thanks to flyinghead! Check out the details in the forum thread below.https://t.co/OyJmY96Ujh pic.twitter.com/MOR1N9OamL

— Dreamcast Live (@dclivenet) August 10, 2024

You can view this info from this forum post on Dreamcast Talk, where the announcement of F355’s website being restored was made. Here, I’ll just sum up some more important info to get you started.

Dreamcast user PCWIZRD, whom has been talked about here before, summed up a few extra details for those trying to upload data to the website.

1. You need to have a country code and “Score Name” set or it won’t submit the data. If either one of these is blank, clicking “Register all laps times” will just refresh the page without submitting the data.
2. You can set the country code in Options > Game Settings from the main menu of the game.
3. When entering the “Score Name”, do not hit Enter after typing it in or you’ll get an error. Hit the escape button or “Exit” on the on-screen keyboard to exit the box and press the Update button.

And with that, you should be all set. Unfortunately, the website cannot easily be viewed through a computer or mobile device, so I won’t be linking it here. The F355 Challenge game disc will easily direct you to the site on your Dreamcast and it can also be viewed in a Dreamcast web browser, albeit in read-only mode since only the game disc has uploading features.

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