I got this VHS from Japan a few weeks back and watched it a few nights back. I think je280 was interested in finding out what this title was all about so I figured to post a few thoughts here as well as a high-resolution scan of the cover.
The film itself isn't very long, a mere 23 minutes. Inside the cassette keep case you get 2 pairs of yellow 3D glasses with one black lens and one clear lens. I hadn't seen this combination before, but upon further research I discovered that the film uses the Pulfrich 3D technique, and thus the spectacles bundled in with this release are Pulfrich 3D glasses.
The Pulfrich technique essentially takes advantage of the human brains responses to low level light conditions. Basically by limiting the light in one eye it causes a natural delay between the eye and the brain. The clear lens is not affected by the delay and thus the Pulfrich technique takes advantage of the delay with appropriate (by that I mean by colour and brightness level) imagery on screen in order to create the illusion of depth and separation, thus the 3D effect becomes the end result. You can find more information here, it's quite clever in it's simplicity:
https://www.3dglasses.net/Pulfrich%203D%20Glasses.htmAs for the film itself, it isn't what I expected it to be. I went in thinking it would be a compilation of driver footage shot in 3D, the most obvious first thought I suppose. What this is though is a bizarre Formula 1 version of the Virtual Drug series. You get a bunch of crazy, psychedelic visuals set to thumping electronic music and heaps of motor racing footage shot entirely at the Suzuka circuit in Japan. There is also a '3D' section featuring nothing but a pair of 'grid girls' if pulling the stomach off of yourself to that sort of thing during the throws of pounding acid house music floats your boat...
The 3D effect is surprisingly good. A lot of it centres around the crazy visuals rather than around the race cars, which is a little disappointing but what is there does work well. Unlike the Virtual Drug films, which use refractive 3D to create a firework display effect and the sensation of colours and liquids literally pouring out of your screen, this F1 in 3D release is far more restrained, it goes more for a sense of depth and a much cleaner, crisper separation of images and patterns.
There's some nice race footage here, also for the older viewers it's fun to play 'spot the now retired F1 star' and 'oh doesn't Ron Dennis look young'. For the serious petrolheads and motor racing fanatics you probably won't find much here. For fans of odd things, curios and especially fans of the Virtual Drug series, there is plenty here to entertain across the whole 23 minutes. One other thing to mention is there is a whole bunch of paperwork that comes with the cassette that talks about a Scuderia Pony Canyon team. It even states that this cassette will earn you 10 SPC points. I can't find anything at all about Scuderia Pony Canyon online, short of sending Pony Canyon an email in the hopes they can fill in the blanks. If anyone reading this can help it would be great to learn more!
One other thing to note is the date on the cover states Feb 18th, 1994 so I am assuming it was either when the footage was shot, or the release date.