Rage Racer is the third title in the Ridge Racer series of racing games on the PlayStation. Developed and published by Namco, it was released in Japan on December 3, 1996, with releases in the U.S. and Europe following in 1997. It was the first game in the series to feature a CGI animated introduction, and introduced a new "mascot", Reiko Nagase.

Ridge Racer is a racing video game series developed and published for arcade systems and home game consoles by Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Namco. The first game, Ridge Racer (1993), was originally released in arcades for the Namco System 22 hardware, later ported to the PlayStation one year later as a launch title. It was met with several sequels and spin-off games for multiple platforms, the latest being the mobile game Ridge Racer Draw & Drift (2016) with the latest mainline game being Ridge Racer 7 (2006). Gameplay involves the player racing against computer-controlled opponents to be the first to finish in a race. Drifting is a core aspect of the series, and is used to keep speed while turning corners.