Does anyone remember Yuki Terai and 2000s virtual idols in general

[Fireminer]

Yuki Terai is a virtual idol created by computer animator Kenichi Kutsugi for his manga "Libido" in 1997, and in a few years she became big--she was even featured in the first issue of the magazine Tokyo Pop. Does anyone who followed Japanese culture closely at the time remember Yuki Terai, or other virtual idols such as Kyoko Date?

[usamimi]

I remember seeing stuff about it, though I never did look into it...

[Phase]

I remember Virual Idol 2000, I think there were a couple more around the early 2000s, tangentially with Namco pushing Reiko Nagase as a virtual race queen

[DKop]

I remember Virual Idol 2000, I think there were a couple more around the early 2000s, tangentially with Namco pushing Reiko Nagase as a virtual race queen

Wait the one that was feature in Ridge Racer 4 and Ridge Racer 5? I thought those were two different designs for girls, I guess they do look alike, I never pieced that together till just now.