The world's first 128-bit system, the Sega Dreamcast is just one heck of a wonder machine.  Though it's unusually understated outside being white and a bit of gray with little swirls here and there, this wonder console packs a punch which would even make the Playstation and N64 cry and whimper. The specs itself are a gamer's dream. Aside from the 128-bit main graphics engine, the Dreamcast is powered by NEC's second generation PowerVR graphics chip which can render 3 million polygons per second with complete lighting and transparency effects. Still can't picture it? Imagine the Playstation with all its graphic effects put in multiply it by 150; that's how powerful the Sega Dreamcast is.

Aside from the fantastic graphics, the Dreamcast has an intelligent sound processor to match the visuals. Known as the Yamaha Super Intelligent Sound Processor, this 64-bit sound chip can handle a lot of sound effects such as reverb, delay, surround sound and true 3D audio.  The main difference between the approach of Sega and Sony is that Sony has always incorporated their sound processing into the console's main memory and chip, thus depriving it of useful computing power for graphics.  On the other hand, since the Saturn, Sega has always separated the two, allowing better optimization. In fact, the Dreamcast's sound system has its own dedicated CPU, RISC and 2MB of RAM.

From the obvious, to the sublime, the Dreamcast is also the first video game console powered by a modified version of Microsoft's Windows CE operating system.  Although most people remember the CE as one of those pathetic, crash prone OS, Sega has taken the liberty to modify the CE to suit the Dreamcast. The main advantage is that programmers will now take less time in translating games from the PC to the Dreamcast, and several games such as Quake 2 could be Dreamcast ready in less than six months. 

If you think that a 128-bit processor, 16MB of main RAM, 8MB of video RAM, 2MB of sound RAM and a 12x GD-ROM (1.7 GB capacity) isn't enough consider this: four control pad slots and a built-in modem. Multi-playing wasn't this fun or extensive before! What's more is that the control pads themselves are built for the enjoyment of among others, racing games.  Why? Well, because two of the Dreamcast's seven action buttons are analog triggers, similar to a car's gas and brake pedals.  These plus an analog directional pad make for great driving responses when it comes to racing games. Why?  Let's look at it this way--you will be able to accelerate, turn and / or brake by very small fractions rather than just the typical on / off routine with the normal control pad! Seems that Sega has though of it all!

Now, we come to the most important question of all: software.  Though the Sega Dreamcast has over 75 titles already available in the US and more than 300 titles in Japan, ranging from Sonic Adventure to the best fighting game of the year, Namco's Soul Calibur, we'd like to concentrate more on the available driving games, since we're a car magazine.