Option Tuning Car Battle Research

This page documents research into the game from the perspective of someone new to game modification, this page will document that.

Game Background

Option Tuning Car Battle: Spec-R is a street-racing driving game released for the PlayStation on May 11, 2000 in Japan, developed and published by MTO. It is the third and final entry in the Option Tuning Car Battle series, a franchise based on the popular Japanese car tuning magazine Option and features many cars that were shown in both magazines and DVD's.

Many popular tuning companies are featured such as Veilside, Mines, Re-Ammmiya anongst others. The game also notably has both a Visual and Mechanical damage model where if you mess up your shifts a lot your car will start smoking and you have a noticable loss in power, Visual damage is pretty simple but also a nice touch. The handling of the cars is also rather good with the car getting unsettled and move after jumping or hitting curbs wrong.

Game File Structure

ROOT
├── C0 - .car files
├── C1 - .car files
├── C2 - .car files
├── C3 - .car files
├── C4 - .car files
├── C5 - .car files
├── C6 - empty
├── CS - courses
├── EV1 - more car related files possibly engines: .VOI format
├── EV2 - more car related files possibly engines: .VOI format
├── EV3 - more car related files possibly engines: .VOI format
├── OTHER - OTHER1.BIN
├── RACE - CAMERA.BIN & RACE.BIN 
├── SE - audio files .SHB & .VHB formats
├── SUB0 - multiple .BIN files such as ARCMENU, CAR, CARLG, CARSELE, CHAMENU, COMPLET... possibly menus.
├── SUB1 - MC_CAR.BIN & MC_SYS.BIN 
├── SUB2 - CONFIG.BIN, RECODES.BIN, STAFF.BIN, VICTORY.BIN 
├── SUB3 - AMBG.BIN, CHMBG.BIN, CTTLBG0.BIN, CTTLBG1.BIN, CTTLBG2.BIN, RIVBG.BIN, TMABG.BIN, TTLBG.BIN, TUNBG.BIN possibly background files
├── WHEEL1 - wheels are .TIM images
├── WHEEL2 - wheels are .TIM images
├── WHEEL3 - wheels are .TIM images
├── X_STR - END.STR, MTO.STR & OPEN.STR
├── Z_DA - DA00.DA, DA01.DA, DA03.DA, DA04.DA, DA05.DA, DA06.DA, DA07.DA, DA08.DA, ZZZ.DA
├── SLPS_025.87
└── SYSTEM.CNF