Van-Über Racing Developments (often simply referred to as Van-Über and alternately spelt as Van Über in the Omega Collection) are an Anti-Gravity racing team based in Germany. The team, along with Tigron, were one of the only two new teams in Wipeout Fusion to make a return in Wipeout Pure and Wipeout Omega Collection.
History[]
Four-time world champion Wolfgang Van-Über, as an AG racing pilot, was famed for his belief in what he called "The purity of the race". Committed to traditional racing ethics and good sportsmanship, commentators believed Van-Über had been hampered by a refusal to "play dirty", but in his own words, "We must remain cleaner than clean. If all the clouds in the sky turn black, who can hope that the rain will ever cease?" A popular figure both on and off the track, Van-Über had always loved what he called "this sublime and delicious game" – a phrase that has since entered the language, giving the anti-gravity tech magazine "Sublime And Delicious" its name.
Wanting to see similar action in a new age of AG racing, Van-Über went into development. However, instead of joining FEISAR's development body, he formed his own team in 2143. He later registered his new team to compete in the F9000 League. Prior to the 2160 season, Van-Über also hired Dieter Schmidt as director of technical services to improve the shield strength of the team's craft.
The Van-Über team turned out to be very popular thanks to their two pilots, Songen Grey and Nami Mishima, with the latter likened to AG racing legend Arial Tetsuo, mainly because of her hairstyle. Later however, Grey retired, and Mishima was subsequently tipped to take over the main pilot spot. From this point on, her craft had been constantly sabotaged throughout the league.
As a result, the Van-Über team would soon struggle to keep up with the competition, until they left the F9000 League sometime before the 2170 season, when the scandal and corruption involving the F9000 Race Commission was unearthed. This revelation marked the end of the F9000 League, with the league originally suspended prior to its penultimate race.
Because of the great depression coming after the collapse, all professional AG racing competitions had been aborted. Unable to find a new outlook for its business, Van-Über would soon be put into dormancy. A few years later, when amateur AG racing was on the rise, Van-Über saw this as an opportunity to return to AG racing. Once they got word of the Anti-Gravity Rebirth Festival, Van-Über participated in the festival in 2185, hoping to get themselves back into business.
Following the success of the FX150 Amateur League, Van-Über had finally recovered from their financial recession, and were able to catch wind of the announcement of the FX300 League. And so, they started developing their new craft as they planned to compete in the upcoming league, after which Wolfgang Van-Über unveiled the craft to the public as soon as it was completed. After seeing fair success, the Van-Über team decided to transition into the FX350/FX400 Leagues with a craft that would exemplify the purity of the sport as it was fast yet maneuverable, but paid for the price in shielding.
Appearence, Evolution and Stats[]
The Van-Über is one of the better craft in Wipeout Fusion, in terms of performance and weapon strength. Among the three starter teams, the Van-Über has the best thrust. However, this has been brought down by poor shield strength and low stability, despite improvements of the shield strength by the team's Technical Services Director, Dieter Schmidt. On the other hand, its decent brake force proves helpful in compensating its poor handling.
The Van-Über FX300 ship in Wipeout Pure appears to be a bridged-dual-hull ship like the third and fully upgraded versions of its predecessor from the F9000 era. The ship is extremely agile, as evident with its outstanding handling and strong thrust, although this comes at the cost of speed and shielding.
Available through digital pre-orders of Wipeout Omega Collection, the digital edition or a code supplied with physical copies in selected territories, the Van-Über FX350 ship now features a radical triple-hull design, doing away with the team's tradition of a bridged, dual-hulled chassis and design language. The ship's most notable feature is a quad-airbrake system when used. It retains its trademark handling from the FX300 model and its powerful thrust, and is somehow pretty fast as well, but its shields are among the weakest, marginally better than the Icaras.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- "Van-Über" roughly means "of the superior" in German.
- "Van" is not a German word, but a word of Dutch origin and means "of", with the German equivalent being "Von". It could be possible that it stands for a noble title, as both "Van" and "Von" are used for noble names in the Netherlands and Germany, respectively. Moreover, these names don't contain a hyphen, and the letter "V" in "Van" and "Von" is written in lower case (i.e. the correct naming would have to be Wolfgang von Über).
- The "Ü" is a common letter in Germany, spelled a bit like a "Y". The alternative form would be "ue".
- Van-Über is currently the only team in the Wipeout series founded by a former AG racing pilot.
- As a result, Wolfgang Van-Über himself can be likened to Enzo Ferrari in that they both were former professional racers who established their own respective namesake racing teams.
- Wolfgang Van-Über also shares a common personality trait with Enzo Ferrari in regard to his close bonds with his racers, as seen when he was emotional over Songen Grey's departure from the team, according to press releases from Fusion.
- It is not yet known which team(s) Wolfgang Van-Über had raced for, but realistically, it can be presumed that he was active as an AG racing pilot during the F7200 League.
- As a result, Wolfgang Van-Über himself can be likened to Enzo Ferrari in that they both were former professional racers who established their own respective namesake racing teams.
- According to press releases from Fusion, Wolfgang Van-Über was reportedly selling toiletries and fragrances for men.
- This may be yet another, if indirect, reference to Enzo Ferrari, in particular Scuderia Ferrari (the Formula One racing team he founded), also known for having their own merchandise line, including men's fragrances.
- Even though the team was founded on the idea of "The purity of the race", their F9000 League motto reads "Rest in Pieces".
- "Rest in Pieces" is a pun on "Rest in Peace", which refers to the irony that the team had one of the best weapons technologies among the competitors of the F9000 League.
- Van-Über in Wipeout Fusion bears some similarities to Icaras in Wipeout 3, as shown below:
- Both are independent Europe-based AG racing teams unrelated to FEISAR, though their respective headquarters are within territories of European Federation member states, and Icaras did not even have a proper country of origin in Wipeout 3.
- They both were founded on the idea of "traditional racing ethics" which involved minimal use of weaponry, though Van-Über had among the most powerful weapons technologies and a particularly devastating super weapon in their era.
- They both were extremely popular with AG racing fans during their respective eras – Icaras were best known for being the underdogs of the F7200 League, while Van-Über boasted two pilots who proved to be likeable.
- Both their craft were known for their lightweight build, resulting in poor durability and, more often than not, reliability issues – in the case of the Icaras craft, it was obvious because the craft often failed to finish a race, and as for the Van-Über craft, it was mainly because the craft was frequently sabotaged by an unknown party.
- Van-Über were the only new team to have directly survived the collapse of the F9000 League – EG-R and Xios also survived, but as a result of their merger to form EG-X.
- Van-Über are one of the few teams to have used triple-hulled ships.
- In Wipeout HD, there are three Van-Über billboards: one can be seen in Vineta K, hanging at a balcony of an apartment; while the other two can be found in Sebenco Climb, with one on a large dam – due to the dam size, it's very easy to spot if the camera is at a correct angle – and another at a tower by a long slope.
- It's possible that Van-Über was intended to make into Wipeout HD, but time constraints removed the team from the game. Nevertheless, the billboards remain in their original positions. The same case also applies to Tigron.
- Both teams eventually make an appearance as returning teams in Wipeout Omega Collection.
- Before Wipeout Omega Collection, there was much speculation that Van-Über folded after the end of the FX300 League. This has been retconned, at least for now.
- It's possible that Van-Über was intended to make into Wipeout HD, but time constraints removed the team from the game. Nevertheless, the billboards remain in their original positions. The same case also applies to Tigron.
| Anti-Gravity Racing Teams in Wipeout |
|---|
| AG Systems • Assegai • Auricom • EG-X • FEISAR • Goteki 45 • Harimau • Icaras • Mirage • Piranha • Qirex • Triakis • Van-Über |
| Defunct/Former Teams: EG-R • G-Tech • Tigron • Xios |