Inspired by the popularity of the NASCAR motor racing series in the U.S., "Daytona USA" was developed by AM2 after a meeting of the heads of Sega's regional offices for a game to debut the Model 2 hardware. The concept was suggested by Tom Petit, president of Sega's American arcade division, with input from AM2 director Toshihiro Nagoshi. Sega aimed to outperform Namco's "Ridge Racer" (1993). The developers researched motorsports extensively; they used satellite imagery and photography to map the Daytona International Speedway, and their experience developing "Virtua Racing" (1992) helped with lighting and camera control. Visual effects include texture filtering and texture mapping, a 60-frames-per second frame rate, and four different camera perspectives.