Rev your engines and prepare for high octane arcade racing with Daytona USA. Released by Sega in 1993, Daytona USA plunges players into the fast-paced world of stock car racing as they take the wheel at the iconic Daytona International Speedway. Choose from three playable cars, each with their own strengths and styles, and race across twisting and turning tracks. Power slide around corners, jockey for position against aggressive AI drivers, and reach breakneck speeds in excess of 200mph in your quest for the checkered flag. With its detailed sprite-scaling graphics, a booming soundtrack, and intensely competitive multiplayer, Daytona USA became a signature arcade racer of the early 90s. Its pick-up-and-play controls combined with strategic drifting and slipstreaming mechanics ensure tight, white-knuckle races from green to finish. So buckle up as you slide into the cockpit of your very own stock car to test your racing reflexes in this seminal arcade classic. Ladies & gentlemen, start your engines!

@Quantum_P1

Sorry if this is a bit scatter-brained, I just wanted to get something out ASAP so people could take part soon as possible. Also it was too long I had to split it o god.

SETUP
If you can play this on an Xbox 360 / One, or PS3 / PSN then you can use that version, but you MUST set difficulty to 'ARCADE', as normal on this version is not the same as normal on the arcade.

Sega Saturn and Dreamcast editions are off limits as these play too differently.

Emulator guide: Interestingly, the guy who originally hosted the emulator from his personal website has since taken it down and apparently was hired by SEGA. I have attached my copy (1mb!!!) to this post.
Alternatively, you can get it from Archive.org here
https://archive.org/download/m2emu1.1a/
You don't need the full romset link, just the emulator 1.1a link.
The game file "daytona.zip" can be found from any site that does MAME roms (even though we are not using MAME, it's same ROM). Send me a DM if you need assistance with this.

IMPORTANT The game will initially think it is part of a series of linked cabinets and will fail when it can't find its partners. To solve this, you need to press F2 to go to the BIOS. Controls here can be tricky, F1 is cycle, F2 is enter, or try using Dpad left cycle / right enter.

Go to GAME SYSTEM > and set the following (see FIG 1.)

Fig 1

LINK ID > SINGLE (this stops the game looking for its mates and lets it play)
CABINET: DELUXE
COUNTRY: USA
DIFFICULTY: NORMAL
GAME MODE: NORMAL

CONTROLS
The emulator is using your analogue stick to mimic a steering wheel. This works surprisingly well although be warned it is very sensitive and what would normally be considered outer dead-zone will probably still impact your steering here. Setting up the controls is not intuitive so if you cba messing with it here is how I recommend you configure it (note you can't edit controls until you load the ROM):

See FIG 2, make sure Brake and Accelerate are Z axis and Z axis inverted, and sterering is X axis.

Fig 2

If you mimic what I have in FIG 2, you end up with this translated for a controller:

F1 / L1 - Insert coin
R2 - Accelerate
L2 - Brake (and Start, when in menu)
Left stick steer
Square/Y/left face button - 1st gear
Triangle/X/top- 2nd gear
Circle/A/right - 3rd gear
Cross/B/down - 4th gear
Dpad directions all point to different camera angles
PAUSE key on KB to pause
F3 to reset
F2 to bios

There are 3 races. BEGINNER ADVANCED EXPERT

Manual or automatic doesn't matter. Go with what you prefer. Manual lets you go faster and gives more control on cornering, but it is more difficult. You MUST progress in order from BEGINNER > ADVANCED > EXPERT in that order. By all means try the other courses out, but you cannot record a score for them until you have placed 1st in the race before.
Aim to finish 1st in each race,
or record your highest position when finshing the race,
or the number it places you at if you run out of time.

1st) Quantum_P1 - Progress - Completed all courses - Time: 02:01:36
2nd) IrishChamp - Progress: Course: Advanced (2nd - Finish) - Time: 03:44:55
3rd) Kythias - Progress: Course: Advanced (2nd - Finish) - Time: 03:57:47
4th) ShortyStraw - Progress: Course: Advanced (4th - Finish) - Time: 04:00:00
5th) FullCup - Progress: Course: Advanced (4th - Finish) - Time: 04:17:50
6th) ReturnOfOctobot - Progress: Course: Advanced (6th - Finish) - Time: 04:25:00
7th) TomTheWizzard - Progress: Course: Beginner (4th - Finish) - Time: 01:14:18
8th) Marcman_59 - Progress: Course: Beginner (4th - Finish) - Time: 02:46:58
9th) Fusha - Progress: Course: Beginner (6th - Finish) - Time: 05:00:00
10th) Deccyf - Progress: Course: Beginner (12th - Timeout) - Time: 01:01:40
11th) Kylorian - Progress: Course: Beginner (16th - Timeout) - Time: 01:01:21