The game was a major commercial success. After becoming the highest-grossing arcade game of 1982 in Japan, it became the most popular coin-operated arcade video game internationally in 1983. In North America, it was the highest-grossing arcade game for both 1983 and 1984, and remained among the top five in 1985.
The player assumes the role of a Formula One driver competing at the Fuji Speedway. The first objective is to complete a one-lap time trial within a specified time limit to qualify for the race. Successful qualification awards bonus points and determines the player's starting position among seven computer-controlled cars, based on lap time. The actual race consists of a set number of laps, with time granted at the start and additional time awarded after each completed lap.
During play, the car can briefly lose control when running through puddles, colliding with other cars, or taking curves too quickly. Driving onto the grass slows the vehicle, while colliding with trackside billboards destroys the car, causing a delay before a new one enters play. The game ends when the player runs out of time or completes the final lap. Bonus points are awarded for every car passed and for any remaining time on the clock.
Pole Position was the first racing video game to feature a track based on a real racing circuit and the first to include a qualifying lap. Its graphics used full-colour landscapes with scaling sprites and a pseudo-3D, third-person rear perspective, with the vanishing point swaying as the player approaches corners to simulate forward movement. Unlike earlier 3D driving games that focused primarily on avoiding crashes, Pole Position rewards passing rivals and finishing among the leaders.
Pole Position was created by Shinichiro Okamoto and Galaxian designer Kazunori Sawano, with assistance from electro-mechanical engineer Sho Osugi. Drawing on Namco's experience with 1970s driving games, Sawano presented sketches to Okamoto, who wanted to create a true driving simulation using a 3D perspective and real-world techniques. Okamoto included Fuji Speedway to give players a recognisable location. Music was jointly composed by Nobuyuki Ohnogi and Yuriko Keino.
Development lasted three years. The most challenging aspect was producing hardware capable of running the game, which was too ambitious for older systems. The team used two 16-bit processors — an unheard-of concept for arcade games at the time — and for a period the game was the only video game to use a Z8000 CPU. Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani chose the name "Pole Position" because it sounded appealing, and filed a trademark for it shortly thereafter.
Namco president Masaya Nakamura reportedly became frustrated during control testing, having difficulty keeping the car in a straight line. The game is an early example of product placement in video games, with trackside billboards advertising Pepsi, Marlboro, and Canon. The development team debated gear-shift speed at length before settling on a simple high/low configuration.
Pole Position was released in Japan on September 16, 1982. It debuted in North America at the 1982 Amusement and Music Operators Association (AMOA) show in Chicago during November 18–20, before a mass-market North American release on November 30, 1982. Namco released the game in Europe in late 1982. Following its release, Osugi stated that Namco discontinued all its older electro-mechanical driving games, viewing video games as the future of arcade racing.
The game was released in two configurations: a standard upright cabinet and an environmental cockpit cabinet. Both included a steering wheel and a gear shifter, but the cockpit version added a brake pedal alongside the accelerator; the upright version featured only an accelerator. In 1983, Atari commissioned a TV commercial for the Atari 2600 and 5200 versions, aired exclusively on MTV.
In Japan, Game Machine magazine ranked Pole Position as the highest-grossing arcade game of 1982. In the United States, it sold over 21,000 cabinets for an estimated $61 million by 1983, with weekly coin-drop earnings averaging $9.5 million. It topped the US RePlay upright cabinet charts for seven months in 1983 and the Play Meter charts for six consecutive months. It was named the highest-grossing arcade game of 1983 and again of 1984 in North America.
Critical reception was strongly positive. Video Games magazine called it the "ultimate test of driving skill" and compared it favourably to Sega's Turbo (1981). Electronic Games gave it the 1983 Arcade Award for Coin-Op Game of the Year, praising its "dimensional depth" and "breathtaking" scenery, and noted gameplay was "reasonably faithful to real life" Formula One races. Computer and Video Games described it as "simply the most exhilarating driving simulation game on the market", noting that cars turning corners were shown "in every graphic detail". InfoWorld considered it the all-time best racing/driving game in 1983.
The Atari 8-bit version was highly praised by InfoWorld as "by far the best road-race game ever thrown on a video screen." The Commodore 64 and VIC-20 versions received more critical notices for lacking features of the arcade original.
Pole Position is regarded as one of the most influential video games of all time and the most influential racing game of its era. Bill Loguce and Matt Barton listed it as one of the 25 most influential games of all time, calling it "arguably the most important racing game ever made." In 1995, Flux magazine ranked it 32nd on their Top 100 Video Games list. In 2015, IGN placed it at the top of its list of the most influential racing games ever, citing its pioneering use of a real-world circuit, its introduction of the qualifying lap and checkpoints, and its status as the highest-grossing arcade game in North America in 1983 as having cemented the racing genre for decades.
The game spawned ports, sequels — including Pole Position II (1983), which offered four tracks — and a Saturday morning cartoon. Parker Brothers published a board game based on Pole Position in 1983. A clone called Top Racer, produced by Commodore International, led to a lawsuit by Namco against Commodore Japan that resulted in the seizure of Top Racer copies.
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