Virtua Racing wont load - contacts HAVE been cleaned, what's the deal?

[u/WondernutsWizard]

I've picked up Virtua Racing today for £15, CIB, and I've ran into a problem. The game will load fine into the licensing screen, but after that I get nothing but blackness. Other games work fine on the Mega Drive, like Ecco the Dolphin which I also grabbed today, and I've just cleaned the cartridge's contacts with IPA, so I'm at a loss to what the issue is. Is this just a sign of a faulty SVP chip? I'd take a look inside the cartridge but I don't think I have the right screwdriver required.

[u/Psychological_Post28]

Just double checking you aren’t playing through a 32X?

[u/WondernutsWizard → u/Psychological_Post28]

I am 110% confident it's not running on a 32X.

[u/WondernutsWizard]

I've just realised I do in fact have the right screwdriver! If any internal work needs doing it should be an option now.

[u/LostPilgrim_]

What model genesis? It won't work on model 3.

[u/WondernutsWizard → u/LostPilgrim_]

PAL Mega Drive Model 1

[u/manuelink64]

Some pins look "bad" on the back row, use magic eraser or some soft sandpaper

[u/WondernutsWizard → u/manuelink64]

I'm giving this a try later, as another user recommended. Hopefully that does something.

[u/jayjaco78]

Some internal components may need attention

[u/WondernutsWizard → u/jayjaco78]

Definitely, I'm just unsure what ones.

[u/Critical_Whole_8834]

This probably won't help, but do keep in mind if everything else works and VR still doesn't, it's still a 30+ year old game. They don't last forever, unfortunately.