Question 1

Is this an emulator or a ROM of the arcade Out Run?

Accepted Answer

Neither. It is an original C++ and SFML program that reimplements the game's behaviour — the pseudo-3D road, traffic, forks, gears and radio — from scratch. There is no arcade ROM in the download and nothing to emulate. The source is GPL-3.0 on GitHub.

Question 2

Does OutRun support a controller or a steering wheel?

Accepted Answer

No. It is keyboard-only. We searched every source and documentation file in the repository for joystick, gamepad, XInput and DirectInput and found nothing, and the shipped settings file binds only keyboard keys. The README's mention of customisable controls means key remapping.

Question 3

What are the three game modes?

Accepted Answer

Original is the arcade run: five stages, each ending in a left-or-right fork, with a checkpoint clock. Continuous strings stages together without branching. Survival drops you into an endurance run. Difficulty and traffic density are separate settings, so you can tune the challenge independently.

Question 4

Is OutRun free, and is it legal?

Accepted Answer

Yes to both. The game is free and the source is licensed GPL-3.0. Because it contains no SEGA code or ROM data, it is a clean-room fan remake rather than a redistribution.

Question 5

Which version does PlayBound install?

Accepted Answer

Version 5.0, the latest release, published 7 June 2023. Earlier 4.0 builds are still on GitHub; PlayBound pins 5.0 for both Windows and Linux because the two platforms are published under separate release tags.

Question 6

Is the project still being developed?

Accepted Answer

No. The last release was 5.0 in June 2023 and the repository has had no commits since. It is a finished game rather than a broken one — everything works — but nobody is shipping fixes, so treat the GPL-3.0 source as your recourse if you hit a bug.

Question 7

Does it run on Linux?

Accepted Answer

Yes, there is an official Linux x64 build. It links against system SFML, so install libsfml-dev (or your distribution's equivalent) before running it.

Guides

OutRun

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