Why Grand Prix 4 is the Best Racing Game of All Time

[MonteCristo]

Discuss.

I don't remember enough of GP4 (apart from feeling rather disappointed by it...?), but I have to agree with his broader points about racing "simulations" not advancing as much as they could or should have in the last 20 years.

It annoys me no end to see so many games that come out with single cars as part of a set, instead of a whole grid of different makes, each with their respective advantages and disadvantages. It comes down to the modding community to patch things together - and that takes years to happen (and to varying quality).

Meanwhile, Codemasters is just horrible. My computer can't handle the most recent games - and I'd be keen to try out career mode in the current generation of F1 games - but everything I've ever seen and read about them makes the recent F1 games out to be the slightest updates on the previous year (career mode being the biggest change in recent years).

I mean, it's similar for other genres like football management games. They're always the smallest evolution each year, but sometimes just drop previous features that hollow out the game over time.

Sigh.

I remember spending far too much of my life playing GP1, GP2 and GP3 though. Good times.

[DoubleFart]

If I could only ever at one racing game ever again, it'd be GP2 with GP2edit and Gp2 lap

[MonteCristo]

If I could only ever at one racing game ever again, it'd be GP2 with GP2edit and Gp2 lap

At the time as a kid, it felt like the progression from GP1 to GP2 meant we just landed on the moon when it came to computer gaming. It was so damn good.

Seeing those Automobilista mods for GP2 and GP3 makes me feel like that would be the best of all worlds.

But in terms of the original video, I don't know if Automobilista allows for championships? And who knows if it has all the 1994 tracks.

[John]

The thing that bugged me with these games was that everything was pre-decided when you started the race. If Fisi would retire with a blown engine on lap four, and you restarted the race, he would still retire for the same reason on the same lap the second time.

Pissed me off to no end when I realized this.

[MonteCristo]

The thing that bugged me with these games was that everything was pre-decided when you started the race. If Fisi would retire with a blown engine on lap four, and you restarted the race, he would still retire for the same reason on the same lap the second time.

Pissed me off to no end when I realized this.

Hehe, yeah.

I remember trying to help other drivers that I wanted to do well in a season, and punt off their rivals.

It wasn't fun when the driver you were trying to help would DNF though!

[DoubleFart]

I never knew that, as I don't remember restarting a race and noticing it.

What annoyed me however was that the Ligiers etc would be blistering around Hockenheim, and they used to get in my way all the time!

[MonteCristo]

I do like the idea of a new GP5 though if Microprose really is back, though I doubt it will happen.

It would be great to see a game with a modern season car set and then one from the 60s or 70s . As long as it was moddable, it doesn't matter if all the driver/team names were wrong (you could just add them in later).

And I wouldn't care if the graphics weren't the greatest - use the rF2 engine, and I wouldn't care if the tracks weren't 100% real with laser scanning. I'd just love to have the fun I had as a kid.

[PTRACER]

Good memories of this game. I owned GP3 and my best friend owned GP4. We used to go to each others' houses to play hot seat races, usually as team mates (and inevitably I would lose my front wing in T1 and we would have to restart). These days I guess kids go home alone and play with their friends over the internet.

Also I've found, even now, that GP3 and GP4 piss all over Codemasters games. Maybe there isn't any hand waving during a collision or penalties for bad driving, but there are still things about the Crammond games that the F1 games haven't yet topped like decent wet weather physics, proper damage, even just realistic handling. AI racing is definitely better than most of the Codies games too.

[manny]

I had all the GP games. I still remember some time in 1992, visiting a Computer Retail Shop and looking at the Amiga section with my father. You find your usual games like Turrican, Shadow Of The Beast & a game with a Yellow F1 car on the Cover. My Dad looked at it, and for some reason i didn't understood back then he was blown away by this cover. He knew he must have this!
So going home & yes my father is amazed, i'm: "Naahhhh, to real. Give me some Zelda"
But getting older and a bit more interessted in F1, i understood the game better. And i was very hyped when i read in magazines back then the upcoming of GP2, which was set for Christmas 1995. And got delay until May 1996. With this installment i was happy from the 1st second, and i still check it out from time to time even today. GP3 & 4 never got me that hyped again. Specialy GP4, i started to get fed up with those Geoff Crammond F1 games, who really didn't made progress since GP2 in 1996.

So what you guys say about the Codemasters games, i could say about the GP Games. They where always the same games, just with new graphics & a new rooster. But without a doubt, Geoff Crammon's F1 games had a big inpact in virtual racing games, and where the 1st computer-games who could simulated a real F1 Weekend. In Retrospect, yes i admit we wouldn't came so far without them & the AI is something really special. They make mistakes, they are agressive and yeah somehow feel real. And this is really something GP3 & 4 made better then the prequals, those virtual drivers they... They acted like drivers!