Sega Model 1

Sega went to General Electric Aerospace (who made the first 3D simulators for NASA in the 1960s) in 1991-92 for assistance to develop a CG platform architecture for their new experimental 3D system, which later became known as Model 1. Virtua Racer was the game being written to find out how viable hardware 3D games were; it was never designed to be released, but it was such a success internally they decided to actually release it.

Unfortunately, seeing as it was so expensive to manufacture it was never a stunning financial success for Sega, but it did cement their place in the history books as the world leader in 3D arcade technology, a title which they still hold to this day, and it led to possibly the most popular platform ever, Model 2.