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Generally good but overrated

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Okay it's better than GP3, I'll grant you that, but really, this game doesn't live up to it's reputation.

Having subscribed to PC gamer circa 2000, Geoff Crammond was regarded virtually as a god (he was referred to as Sir Geoff, Geoff 'God' Crammond etc) Meanwhile EA Sports F1 2000 was always seen as a puny challenger, reviewers saying things like "F1 2000 isn't in the same universe as GP 3" It all got a bit silly.

Personally I played the demo of GP 3 and liked it enough to buy the game. Initially I found it a lot of fun, but later some things grew annoying. The clutch was always mysterious, starting a race without a black flag penalty was never explained, and there were some obvious problems with the opponents cars. They made no sound, and actually looked pretty poor when moving; it all looked rather cartoony at times. Handling problems were there too. Although experienced at racing sims, GP3 had a habit of spinning you off the track in a flash. I had doubts about the realism too. After a while tyre wear becomes a problem, but the game always spun me off Spa's Eau Rouge after only about 15 laps. Even with my foot ony halfway on the acclerator, taking it very carefully, it always spun me off. With 15 laps of tyre wear?

Fast forward a few years and I bought GP 4. The shortcomings of GP 3 seem to have been largely resolved. I had mixed feelings about the graphics though. Although good to see the bitmaps go, the tracks all seeemed very bland and sterile looking.

But the main thing that bothered me about GP 4 was the handling. It all seemed too, well, *easy*. The cars never felt like they actually had wheels gripping the tarmac, there was a sensation of "floating " above the ground. It felt like driving some responsive futuristic hover vehicle. So races consisted lagely of memorising the track layout and driving your amazing hover vehicle around it.

About a year ago I bought EA's F1 2000, and comparing it to GP 3, I would have to say that, contrary to the Crammond sycophants, it's a more immersive and rewarding experience than GP3, with better handling. I might even say that F1 2000 is slightly better overall than GP 4. Perhaps GP 4 has better AI cars, but with F1 2000 I actually feel like I'm driving a car, not a hovercraft.

I feel that the EA series is often compared unfavourably to GPs 3 and 4 because of the fact that people associate it with a big company ( a Bad Thing), whereas GPs 3 and 4 have the image of a solitary genius sweating over his product.

So it's not that I hate GP 4 or anything, I had some good hours with it. But ultimately, it's cold atmosphere and boring handling eventually made me abandon it.

Buggy, not as good as F1 Challenge overall or rFactor

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have both the regular version and the modded 2007 version of this game and I must say I can't understand why some people think this is the best modern F1 sim out there. First of all just to get it to work on any normal PC is a pain in the rear at the very minimum if you are lucky. Setup of a joypad is non-intuitive and not very well developed. I can't imagine anyone playing a driving game on a keyboard with ease, you need a PS2 style gamepad or a wheel.

On my mid range system I can max out the graphics on F1 Challenge 99-02 using the latest HQ mods(RH or CTDP) (20+ F1 seasons) and it looks amazing, on GP4 regular I can do this as well and it looks like the original Grand Prix Legends game without any of the updated graphics mods: in other words like a 10+ year old game.

On my modded GP4 2007 version I have to play it in all low settings to get a playable framerate and I consider my Nvidia BFG 7950 GT, which is the highest 7900 series card, pretty darn good. I can play Crysis on 1680X1050 in all medium settings with no problems for goodness sake! Meaning this game is not developed very well for scalability of mods.

The tracks have some nice and in some cases better features like the marshals, crowds, cranes when compared to the non-modded F1 Challenge9902 game. Setting up the car is decent if you know how to setup a car, like if you have any idea what changing things like camber, gear ratios and spring rates would do.

F1 Challenge has this level of detail as well but also has quick setup to where you don't have to change every little detail manually which is much better for those who don't want to be a car setup engineer or are not familiar with the details of race car setup parameters.

I'm not a fan of the camera movement either, usually I play swingman arcade style and it feels like there is a rod stuck up the cars arse as I steer instead of the background being more or less static and the car moving around the track in F1C.

In other words if you want a game that is not buggy and is setup intuitively like modern games you should get F1 Challenge 99-02 or F1 2002 although GP4 has better damage modeling than the non-modded versions of F1C and perhaps better tracks, the graphics are nowhere near as good on an average system and the pain of actually getting it to work is not worth it!

Another note on the ridiculous prices nowadays for all those titles, unless you are desperate you shouldn't pay these prices, if you are that big a fan of F1/racing games in general you should have a friend that can help you out wink wink! Look at Grand Prix Legends for example, it was outrageously priced but since then a Sold Out Software version has flooded the market at around $20 shipped!

Also another highly modded game that has most F1 season mods is rFactor, this game is a reasonable price and the mods for F1, ALMS, Champcar, Nascar LeMans, GT, etc. with hundreds of free tracks/cars/seasons available as free downloads, get this game instead of any of the others mentioned here.

Best F1 Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is the best F1 racing game hands down of the pre boom systems have to be powerful to play it games that we have now. The cars look real, the tracks look real, the racing is smooth and flawless. I like the lighting better than EA F1 games, and there are still modders out there doing updates on tracks and teams today. YOu can download the new track in China and even compete online in racing seasons. This game was the best for a reason..its attention to detail. It didn't matter how powerful your system was. I ran this game for years on a weak 1.8 celeron system with a 64bit video card. I still ran it pretty high settings but not everything on full. Then I bought a P4HT 3.4 cpu and all my problems started. The game simply crashes over and over and over on my killer rig with a 256mb video card, 2gb ram, and enough power to run games like Doom3, Far Cry, and Halflife 2 on full. I can even run GTR2 on FULL specs with no craSHES, but I cannot run this game. I downloaded every patch to man, but the game still crashes. Do your homework before buying it to see if it will run on your system. Many folks have this issue but not everyone. Technical issues aside this is one great F1 game, and I still have to play it on the old celeron.

3/5

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is an excelent simulator for the F1 fans which want to feel the races. Negative point is that can not be played on line, it is possible only using some external patches and is also possible to upgrade for the last sesons from many sources on the internet.

If you like the challenge there are many off-line leagues out there also like www.gp4kings.com .. we have been running for about 2 years now and have been enjoying the game a lot.

Best F1 simulation so far

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I've had 4 F1 GP simulation in the last 10 years or so, and I have to say that this generation is the most realistic and fun to drive. After reading some reviews about configuration problems, I was a bit concerned, but did not have any issues getting the game up and running. However, did have problems configurating the game with Microsoft sidewinder USB, to get the paddles and brakes to work properly.

Best racing sim... ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I don't know why 'reviewer' J. Oglesbee goes on about F1 2002. This is a different game.

Anyway.. GP4 is simply THE best racing simulator I've ever seen or played. I don't know why people seem to have problems with the game. Admittedly you need to install the official patch to fix some of the bugs. But installation is easy.

The cars sits ON the track - it doesn't hover or float. When I first installed it, it was on my Athlon 750MHz with a GeForce 2 Ultra. Turning the detail down a bit gave me no problems, it ran well and gave a sense of SPEED.

With my latest upgrade, I've got an Athlon 2500XP-M with a GeForce FX 5900XT. The game runs beautifully with full graphic detail.

You can now buy this game in shops for around a tenner (around $15 I should think), and I highly recommend it. The only drawbacks are that they couldn't get the FIA licence to allow multiplayer over the internet (multiplayer over a LAN is possible though), and the fact that there will be no GP5.

do not buy it

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 13
Date: January 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This was the worst Running game I have ever seen.there is NO information on how to select any controller assignments.Options to leave a practice session would not work,it only returned me to the session.the patch was no help.tech support is worthless.After about 7 hours trying to get it to work I had no more time to waste and broke the cd in half and threw it all in the trash where this game belongs!

Grand Prix 4 - The best F1 Sim by a mile

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is not so much a review as a piece of advice. It's a real shame that so many people seem to have had serious trouble running this game. Up and running properly, its gameplay and graphics are breathtaking - it makes EA'S F1 series look and feel ten years old. However it seems to be only really happy running on Nvidia's Geforce 4 graphics. Next time you upgrade go for one of these, make sure you've got the latest drivers, fire-up GP4, and be amazed. If you want a full review, go to pcgamereview.com and see what I had to say there.

The only thing that beats this F1 game is the car itself !!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is awesome!! Accurate detail, and if you have a steering wheel with forcefeedback, you will be hooked to this game for days!! Has over 10 different views, and awesome radio and engine sounds. Some people say that it doesn't feel like your going at 200 MPH, but there is no way YOU could control the car at that speed. But if you insist, all you have to do is download the PC Patch. Has all drivers and circuits from 2001. Also has a section on F1 setups, pitstops and engines. Has video to back it up! If you are a true F1 fan, you must get this game.

Great potential, but has technical difficulties

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: March 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I got this game a while back after having eagerly awaited it for quite some time. Unfortunately, I couldn't really start playing it right away, because the computer I had at the time seemed to have trouble running it (or so I thought). I now got myself a new computer (P4, 1GB ram, Radeon 9700, 3GHz,...), but things didn't get much better.

Both systems had trouble with the graphics. With the Radeon 9700 for instance, the pit lane (the actual road) seems to hover 2 feet above ground, making the car look as if it was a submarine in surface mode. About 1 inch of the tire (the top) sticks out of the tarmac. So does the cockpit. I am always afraid that I might go over a bump, and the road might spill in, making the car sink entirely.

Seriously: These types of graphic problems aren't much fun. There seems to be some great potential. The pit crew seems to be animated great for instance, except they are in tar up to their hips. The cars themselves look great. The scenery and the road on the other hand appears to look better in F1 2002 (and I didn't like it much even there...).

For some reason, I also never get the impression that I am driving very fast. I can do lap times comparable to the ones I drive in F1 2002, but it still seems much slower. (And no, that's not because of the submerged mode... on the main course, I am above ground... I guess it works like water skis: Once you are fast enough, you surface...).

I also had difficulties on both systems to set up my steering wheel. Things just never seem right. There is not a lot of "direct feel" for the road here. In fact, the steering input seems to be translated in some weird fashion depending on the speed the car is driving at. While I could see why this is done, it appears to be done in a backward fashion. Going out of the pits, I can just barely turn out of the garage without hitting the far wall. On the road, it is very hard to "push" through turns, because the car always seems to have enormous understeer (no matter how it is set up... unless I am plain too stupid). Well, actually, I am not sure if it really is understeer, because although one can see the front tyres turn, they do not seem to turn quite far enough. But that might just be a graphics problem. Things get really weird in reverse: I can turn the wheel fully to one side, and see the tyres at an angle, but the car goes straight back! Hu?

However, all of this might just be configuration related. I see that other people love the game, and if I could make it through a lap without that damn understeer, I think I might like it too. Perhaps my other computer was too old, and my current one is too new (DirectX 9 and all...). Try it out for yourself, but make sure you can return it if you have to...

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