Ridge Racer 7: The Awakening

Ridge Racer 7: The Awakening was a 2017 movie made by Warner Brothers™, written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers (now the Wachowski Sisters after their transgender transformations), directors of 2008's Speed Racer movie. The film takes place in the Ridge Racer 7 universe, during the UFRA's (United Federations Racing Association) annual RGSP (Ridge Stage Grand Prix). The movie grossed $250 Million on a $150 Million budget, making the movie more successful than the total flop that was Speed Racer.

Story
Kevin Cooper (played by Tom Holland) is a college student who found himself getting into the professional racing scene in Ridge State. He owns a black Kamata Fiera sponsored by Shootaway. It was a college project of his, building the car from the ground up to handle fast-paced racing. But it was only a Category 4 machine, which is the slowest category. After a bit of practicing and doing some small-time qualifier races, he does his first RSGP race, which takes place on Seaside Route 765, located in the coastal Sunny Beach area of Ridge State.

The antagonist, John Reinhardt (played by Liam Neeson), is a veteran race driver who's won several RSGPs consecutively over the years. He wasn't one to mess around with, driving a silver Danver Bayonet sponsored by Sheonite, his machine of choice even when he could easily afford a Soldat Raggio or an Assoluto Fatalita if he so wished. He grows a big ego against Kevin as Kevin begins to make his way up through the ranks throughout the movie.

Meanwhile, as Kevin begins winning races, he gets contacted by an agent working for Kamata, who was looking for a new driver for their "secret" project car; that car being a white Kamata RC410 with Arkbird aero parts and a Dig Dug front bumper, sponsored by F/A Racing. The car was also supervised by the executive of Arkbird, Francis Winger (played by John Goodman). After all, he needed a faster car anyways if he was going to compete in the later races, which required higher-category machines.

The next race would take place at Sunset Heights, and the day before the race after the roads were closed in preparation for it, he was doing several test laps on the course and taking the RC410 for a spin, helping the Kamata team tune it just right in time for the race. The Druaga engine tuning division also helped with the engine in the RC410, tuning it to achieve 210+ MPH quite easily by the time the races reached Category 1.

John Reinhardt was shocked when Kevin rolled up in an RC410 the next day instead of the Fiera, and he himself had switched to a Danver Hijack sponsored by Burningforce, tuned up for 180 MPH racing in Category 2.

Music Score
The movie uses music from the Ridge Racer series, mostly ones in Ridge Racer 7. Kevin's first RSGP race played "Before You Reach For Love". His final race is the 20th Anniversary Remix of Ridge Racer 2 's "Grip", composed by Sanodg.

The credits music is Ridge Racer PSP 's "Disco Ball".

Aftermath
Shortly after the movie's success, Bandai Namco™ would announce Ridge Racer 8 for the newly-released Nintendo® Switch™, which had gameplay elements taken from several games such as Ridge Racer V, Ridge Racer PSP, Ridge Racer 6, and Ridge Racer 7. Bandai Namco also partnered with Mattel™ to make Hot Wheels® cars of the Ridge Racer vehicular lineup, using the Ridge Racer 7 body design of the cars. They made every standard machine, from the Kamata Fiera to the Soldat Raggio, with rarer ones being the complete variants of these cars (bespoke racing versions of the vehicles with custom parts), and rarer still are special machines such as the Kamata Angelus, Soldat Crinale, or Monstrous. The Soldat Crinale and Kamata Angelus use their Ridge Racer 7 designs, however there were much rarer "classic" versions of these special machines which used their designs from Ridge Racer V (the Crinale being manufactured by Rivelta instead of Soldat).