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GP4 - The Best F1 Racing Simulator

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 20
Date: June 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

...Now its GP4 time. And there are serious changes. For short, GP4 is, by far, the best GPx title of all times.
Most people will rave about the graphics, but I rave about the handling. Previous GP titles had a too strong feeling of railway driving - you never felt that there was absolute freedom on your hands. Sure you could shake the car to the whole left, and to the whole right, but there were occasions when the car just slightly snapped the other way. I am remembering Silverstone's first slow chicane, when you would always spin as soon as the car's rear glitched - now you can hold it, if you know how...

But graphics are the most obvious change. GP4 now renders the most realistic presentation of the real thing. Tracks are modelled on GPS data (a first!) and the sense of speed is awesome. I don't know if it is a "feature" or just a consequence of the LOD handling (LOD = Level of detail), but the horizon blurs or slightly narrows, as you reach extreme speeds. Silverstone is yet another great example: when approaching (190 mph) the initial fast left-right-left sequence, you won't see the curbs has defined as on previous racing games. But as you brake to the dive (left) to the inner straight, the curbs become perfectly visible. Please note that these are very subtle and natural nuances!
One graphical thing a bit too spectacular, is the car's reflections. For example, the Prosts (intense blue cars) will become cyan, under clear skies. There is a reflections option on the graphics setup, but it doesn't correct this. Somehow, the other cars seem less afected.

The changeable weather system is now usable; ie, it doesn't cause a tremendous performance hit. It is highly enjoyable to plan a wet qualifying session, as the time goes by, the sky clears and the track dries! It feels absolutely real and it doesn't cost you half of the frame rate.

Sound is superb and - for once! - you will tolerate the other cars' audio (set it to some 40%). Adversaries will buzz by, but won't silent your own engine :).

Back to the handling issue, the bottom line is that with a good steering wheel (I use and recommend Microsoft's Sidewinder), with everything set to analog and no aids, you'll have a damn responsive F1 that can be saved where it would previously spin, as soon as you learn that, to drive fast, there will be times to brake AND accelerate simultaneously. This greater responsiveness goes great with force feedback, and it makes it easier to lap fast with a poor setup.

Some will argue that the new GP4 handling, makes it harder to spot car's setup differences, but I see it has a bonus for the gifted drivers, who will have a true chance of using their skills to overcome a not so good F1.
The best of the best times will be scored by skilled and setup wise people. Now it won't suffice to donwload the best car setup from the Internet, to approach the king's league - you'll have to sweat a bit more...

Your CPU adversaries are a good opposition that will fight to hold their places, but won't be as good on overtaking maneuvres. The CPU boys are careful on not getting trapped, but aren't afraid to put you in a position where you'll crash, or not win their spot. Things become much harder when fighting for the top six.

Other "minor" changes are the 3D animated pit crew and marshalls, the waving spectators' flags, the black flag for false starts, and new camera angles.

GP4 is a superb racing title - the best F1 simulator I've ever played, except for Grand Prix Legends. However, the game physics is still a bit far from Papyrus' standards and I wonder what [they]could do with a F1 License. Just imagine Nascar 2002 (the current pinnacle of PC simulators) translated to the F1 world...

Excellent

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: December 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have been playing the GP series since GP2. They just keep getting better. GP4 didn't disappoint me. I have had no problems installing or running the game. For those who have, a patch and a FAQ are now available ...

The most noticeable improvement of GP4 over GP3 is that the tracks are now synthesized from GPS data. The bumpiness is more evident and the elevation changes very apparent. Use of a Force Feedback wheel adds a great deal to the experience. The focus of the Force Feedback in GP4 is on providing feedback on what the car is doing. For example you won't feel the wheel vibrate over rumble strips, but you will feel the back end of the car step out if you step on the gas too hard. It's quite amazing. Be sure to switch the "Centering Force" of the FF wheel off, or you won't feel this kind of effect.

GP4 is for people who want a racing simulation more than for gamers looking for a quick thrill. GP4 attempts to provide the skill challenge of driving an F1 car. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your heart condition) nothing can simulate the phyisical stresses of driving one. If you want to try driving an F1 car for little money, this is the one.

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...

F1 2002 EA Sports

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 19
Date: January 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

F1 2002 is probably the best and most realistic racing simulator available. If you can master it, you will be rewarded with an experience as close to the real racing experience as you can get. This is especially true if you can play in front of a large high quality wide screen HDTV and a good sound system. It will leave you worn out, just as the real experience does. After racing professionally for over 30 years, I find this game terrific. The learning curve is very high and the options are daunting. If you start slowly and progress systematically you can do it! The manual is poor in explaining what all the possible changes actually do or even how to do them. Setting up instructions for the controller, wheel- keyboard or pad, is especially lacking in detail. A good wheel is certainly necessary for any real effort. Would you try to drive your car with a left/right arrow key? At racing speeds? The two Logitech Momo wheel sets are excellent and most apprpriate for this game. The cheaper one is, argueably, even the best, although properly mounting the things may require a hammer and nails!

WOW! What an improvement!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: October 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

...

The graphics improvement characteristics are a great improvement over GP3 and I was astonished! The amount of menus to work with controllers, graphics and sound is excellent. The racing has never been better. The tracks are all here and the handling has improved over GP3. Most of all I was impressed with the graphics and the menus. The console/menu is very easy to navigate and seems a bit easier to follow versus the GP3 version. Testing, saving races, creating seasons, setups and other records are saved which is nothing different but is still carried forward from GP3. Again, with the graphics, I was most impressed. The amount of details at the tracksides where incredible and the computer never locked or shuttered with all of the cars on the tracks and was flawless. My system is a Windows ME 1 Gig Pentium with 512 ram and a 4400 NVidia G-Force card. The pixels disappeared and the graphics were very smooth unlike GP3 with the same system. The pixels or squareness of GP3 (which wasn't much anyway) certainly disappeared and I that's what impressed me the most.

As far as handling, nothing too new. The collisions and force-feedback wasn't anything new. It all remained the same. The designers want you to understand what 800 plus horsepower feels like in a 1300 pound car and they certainly have grabbed that. I highly recommend this new game and can't wait to see what GP5 turns to out to be. What gets me is the time taken to get all of the details at these tracks worldwide and most of all, the game doesn't have silly bugs in it like Papyrus' Nascar 4 or 2002. Now, if only these guys could make a Nascar game... 5 STARS!!

Confused

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: November 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Well I bought this game here at Amazon.com about 2 weeks ago. I only gave it 4 stars because I don't know anything about Grand Prix Racing. Once I get into the program it is very nice and certainly has a lot of different options and graphic settings.

My problem is this. Every time I play the game and go do something else-then come back it crashes. I have to go back un-install and then re-install it to get it to run. Then you have to configure the graphics, joystick,user name etc.. This is a real waste of time and makes for quite a bit of aggravation.

I've tried all the stuff in the manual and whatever I found on the web site and I still can't get it to go. Even called the Info games via land line. Well by the time you get through all those automated christmas tree answering options you've spent [money] on a phone call and you're still on hold.

My machine is fairly basic Pentium 4, 512 Ram, ATI 128 Rage, Sidwinder stick, etc.. I don't see anything here that would cause it to crash.

If anyone out there is having the same problem please let me know how I might fix this. I need some real basic instructions as I would like to play this but it's just to much hassle. Maybe if I get it to run I'll give it a place on the shelf with Nascar 2002.

Well I've had this game 2 months now and it still won't work. I downloaded the new patch from author and it still wont run more than one time. This is a rip to pay for something that won't work.

well...it's very jerky....

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: January 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

A warning - the recommmended system requirements for this game are grade A bullplop. I have a reasonable spec machine - Athlon 1 GHz, GeForce 3 video - but even then i didn't expect to be able to play GP4 at full graphics capacity. Little did I know how much below full graphics capacity I would be able to play it at. At a medium-to-high setting it was way past the "unplayable" stage of slowdown, and I tried reducing the graphics level to no avail. The only graphical level I could manage to play looked like Virtua Racing for the Megadrive. I do not believe there is so much improvement to AI, car physics etc to make for such an abysmal slowdown, as I can play similarly advanced driving games like Grand Theft Auto 3 or NASCAR 2002 on my PC with the graphics at full whack and get a very smooth frame rate. I can also play Grand Prix 3 on full whack, which I do, and I would suggest you purchase that older, cheaper but utterly fantastic game instead of Grand Prix 4, unless your computer is a truly top-of-the-line model.

CoyotePuma Races Grand Prix 4

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: November 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Grand Prix 4 disappointed me. Of F1 2001, Grand Prix 3, and Grand Prix 4, I keep returning to Grand Prix 3. Grand Prix 4 has a fancier look, but the setup lost me. Game play was about the same as Grand Prix 3. I was hoping for more. Internet play would have been a real plus, but the game developer apparently still hasn't seen the need.

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.

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.

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