I have had this game for a couple years now. I un-installed it shortly after I bought it as my PC didn’t quite have the power to run it well.
I forgot about it. Until yesterday.
I dug it out from the back of my drawer and figured I would give it another shot as my PC is much more powerful now then back then (Tbird 1.2Ghz, V5500 512 MB RAM)
My good lord, what a car racing sim. The graphics are very good but just the “feeling” of it is incredible. With the resolution cranked up to 1600x1200 and a full field of competitors it is absolutely amazing. Hell, even the sound of the engine wailing is beautiful. I have yet to see another sim come close to being so “believably realistic”. You can even see the suspension “working” on it. Its unreal.
I just thought some fellow dopers here must be PC game/sim nuts. I don’t think this thing should be passed by anyone interested in the genre.
I played GP2 untill my fingers bled. I never bought GP Legends, but I should, because it’s the only racing sim out there with the unbelievable “old” Nordschleife Nurburgring track on it. For those in the know: where Niki Lauda had his horrific crash in… 1976?
I do have GP3, but for some reason, it stopped running on my PC. I have a PIII 550 Mhz with 384 MB’s of RAM, so I should be OK. I just need a full reinstall. Then, I’ll get GPL as well. The Nordschleife in a vintage Alfa Romeo F1 car… I can’t wait!
Even two years after it came out (at least) this is still the most accurately modeled sim made (for home PCs, at least). I don’t think it sold very well, though, so nobody’s really tried to out-do it.
Good luck finding a copy, Coldfire, bargain bin or anywhere. I bought mine a year ago and had to try a couple stores to find it. There might be some online sources.
And there’s no Alfa Romeo (odd that you’d mention them, I just saw the real thing on Saturday). GPL is based on the 1967 Grand Prix season (when drivers were fat and tires were skinny, or was that the '30s?), so it’s Lotus, Brabham, Ferrari, Eagle, BRM, Cooper and Honda (those last two are renamed, for licensing issue, I imagine). There are a lot of add-ons available on the 'net, so maybe somebody’s done an Alfa.
I would have bought the game anyway, but the fact that it has the Nordschleife put it over the top for me. And damn that track is hard. I’m still getting the hang of it. Someday I have got to go to the real thing. Count me in if you decide to try some multi-player online races.
And I read somewhere about a game planned for release this fall or winter, called World Sports Car. It’s based on Le Mans type sports racers, but it’s supposed to be customizable to any car, any track, any era.
The tracks are Kyalami (South Africa), Mexico City, Monaco, Monza, Mosport (Canada), the Nurburgring, Rouen (France), Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, Watkins Glen, and Zandvoort (Holland). Rouen is one of the few historical inaccuracies of the game. The real 1967 French Grand Prix was on a course laid out in the parking lot at Le Mans. From the description in the manual, it doesn’t sound like a very great loss not to include it.
Spa is amazing. If anybody can make it through Masta without lifting, I wanna know about it.
Damn! I had no idea people were doing add-on tracks and cars for GPL. Now I’m gonna have to dig it out and install it again on the new machine, then start downloading the goodies. I’ll have to go for Le Mans Sarthe first since I was just there.
Ever play Sentinel? It was Crammond’s hit before he completely moved into racing sims. Very abstract and suspenseful. I never quite made it to the end.
Tell me, why do people like Formula 1 racing games so much?
I ask this because I like the Rally games, or the city driving games, where you have a wild ride over varied terrain or with fun obstacles etc. It makes it a challenge and an adventure.
But Formula 1 tracks are almost all just boring loops that just go round and round and round. And all you do is try to stay in front.
I can understand enjoying a game like that if you just have the one version, you know, it’s like one of many different types of games you may possess - a FPS, a real-time strategy, a puzzle game, a Monkey Island etc - but people buy every new version of a Grand Prix racer that comes out! Coldfire just said so himself right up there, so maybe he’s the guy with the answers. If there are any answers.
This game is about the 67 season. Aerodynamics were a back seat to raw power. It is modeled so fricken’ realistically its scary. Its quite a rush going 200Mph towards a corner, slamming the brakes barely in time and sideslipping around it… still doing 100. Its just a rush. Some of the tracks (or most of them) have some good scenery too. The Nurmburgring (sp?) is almost 30 miles through the forest on highway… complete with hills and bridges. The look of the graphics aren’t the “best” but still very immersive. The cars appear to be modeled very well.
Its just a great game. I guess you either like the genre or don’t. That being said though, I don’t care to much for the “recent” sims… but for some reason this one just turns my crank.
I just drove the Ferarri for the first time. The engine… oh man the engine. It just sounded un fricken’ believable.
If any dopers want to give a game a shot over the 'net, give a post here. I would like to try it. I suck pretty bad still but I try.
I’ll give it a try with you sometime, bernse, but we’ll have to figure out a time. I’m on the U.S. east coast. And which course have you been learning on?
You were pretty much right about the '67 season. By that time, mid-engined cars were the only way to go, and in '67 the engine size was increased (3.0 liter in '67, 1.5 before that). And by '68 the designers were adding front and rear wings and started turning the cars into airplanes. But in '67 they still drove like real cars. Formula 1 cars today are marvels of engineering, but back then they were works of art.
Oh, and about the Nurburgring, it’s 14.19 miles and 174 turns per lap. Formula 1 hasn’t used the old course (I think Nordschleife means “north loop” in German) since the early '70s, but it still exists. It’s now a public toll road.
That track in Belgium? That’s the old Spa-Francorchamps track. Back when they had really long and fast tracks (Spa and Nurburgring have both been severely shortened). The new Spa course is a lot safer, with the long straights from Les Combes to Blanchimont eliminated, and replaced with a really squiggley route. Like Nurburgring, I believe the old route still exists, if you go straight at Les Combes instead of through the chicane and then right.
La Source and Eau Rouge have remained, and the Bus Stop Chicane was recently added (1994?) to slow cars down as they approach La Source. Malmedy and Stavelot are no longer there, although the names are still used for parts of the new track. And, sadly, Masta no longer exists at all.
The old track was most famous for the fact that the weather could be different at different points along it. In the 70’s, however, the high speeds reached were deemed unsafe, and the new track was eventually created. I believe it is still the longest (or close to it) track in Formula One. And, as you’ve probably guessed, my favorite.
I think I’m going to have to try this game out. Damn you people, making me waste my time and money on another addiction.
OK, I’ve been reading a few MB’s on this game, and rumour has it that it’s nearly impossible to play with a keyboard. Is this the moment where Coldy finally gives in and buys a force feedback racing wheel??
OK, lads. What wheel is best? What should I buy? I know naaaaaathink!
Coldfire, this game’s nearly impossible to play with a racing wheel. You will crash. A lot. It’s amazing how much practice it takes, but the realism’s supposed to be second to none.
I have a Logitech force-feedback wheel which I like a lot. I’m not wild about the pedals that came with it, though. The spring for the brake pedal isn’t firm enough and it’s hard to get the pressure just right (a shame, too, since I’ve been driving the Brabham and it’s supposed to have the best brakes in the field). I bought it a year ago, so I don’t know what the state of the art is today.
The original game, by the way, did not support force feedback, but you need all the help you can get to drive these things so they came out with a patch. Do a web search for the 1.2 patch, and if you can’t find it I can e-mail a copy.
My best time at Spa is just half a tick under 3:30, but it took practice. Monza might be better for the novices.
