Model 1 was developed by Sega Enterprises Ltd., Released in 1992
Other Informations:
Main CPU: 32bits RISC NEC V60 uPD-70616 @ 16 MHz (2.5 MIPS)
Graphics Co-Processor: Fujitsu TGP MB86233 FPU 32bits 16M flops
Sound CPU: Motorola 68000 @ 12Mhz
Sound chip: 2 x Sega MultiPCM Custom 28 channel PCM chips @ 8 MHz, 1 for Music and 1 for Effects. Each can access up to 8meg sample rom *per chip*
Sound Timing Chip: YM3834 @ 8MHz (only used for its timers)
Co-Processor Abilities: Floating decimal point operation function, Axis rotation operation function, 3D matrix operation function
Geometry: 180,000 polygons/sec, 540,000 vectors/sec
Rendering: 1,200,000 pixels/sec
Video: Shading Flat Shading, Diffuse Reflection, Specula Reflection, 2 Layers of Background Scrolling, Alpha Channel
Video resolution: 496×384 in 65536 colors.
Sega went to General Electric Aerospace (who made the first 3-D simulators for NASA in the 1960s) in 1991-92 for assistance to develop a CG platform architecture for their new experimental 3-D system, which later became known as the Sega Model 1 hardware. Virtua Racer was the game being written to find out how viable hardware 3-D games were, it was never designed to be released, but it was such a success internally they decided to actually release it.