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Microprose Formula One Grand Prix

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9.0

9.5 (1)

Information

License: Commercial
Year: 1991
Hardware

Number of disks

Harddrive Installable

Language

Number of Players

Simultaneous Players

Game Developer's Credits

Publisher: MicroProse Ltd (Paul Himmard assisted by Pete Moreland)
Budget Publisher: Acid (Guildhall), PowerPlus (MicroProse), Amiga Format (Future Publishing)
Developer: Geoff Crammond
Design: Geoff Crammond, Jim Bambra (Intro)
Producer: Steve Perry, assisted by Martin Moth
Coder: Geoff Crammond ‚ Pete Cooke
Graphics: Mark Scott ‚ Artistix (Illustrations) ‚ John Townsend (Photography)
Musician: Dave Lowe
Sound Effects: Ten Pin Alley
Others(Misc): Norman Surplus (Circuit Topography), Alkis Alkiviades (Manual), Julie Burness (Packaging), Footwork Grand Prix International, Honda UK, Andrew Luckett, Steve Perry, Pete Moreland

Game Notes and Information

Also known as Formula One Grand Prix and as World Circuit
This game was later re-released on the CD edition of the Amiga Format magazine, Number 111, June 1998.
1 MB of ram is required to play this game.
To prevent screen corruption on the A1200: Run the game from Harddrive on the A1200 and set the A1200's boot menu settings to use ECS mode, and disable the cache.

Screenshots, Artwork and Media

Screenshots

Artwork - (Boxart, Diskscans, Adverts.. etc)

Boxart Front

Boxart Back

Diskscan

Media

Title Music:

Intro

Gameplay

Manuals and Downloads

Manuals and Support Material

Click on the book icons to view the files. Text files will open in a popup window. PDFs will open in a new browser window.

Technical Supplement (PDF)

Reference Card + Addendums (PDF)

Manual (text)

Downloads

No downloads currently avaialble for this game

Go to the pits, escape from the game and go to accelerate time. This should now finish the grand prix in pole position. It might be that you have to do this on the last lap.

Slip into the pits after your first lap and then simultaneously hold down the keys that make up the word "PALIR" and press the fire button. Not only will you be unable to crash but the game will not react as though you have pressed 'F4'.

Race a non-championship race and keep driving untill the last lap. Then enter the pits and drive to your pit-crew. Wait for the message "Race over". This way you will always win the race.

Tips

Car settings for each track

 Course         Front     Rear   Brakes       Gears (1-6)

     Adelaide        28        30      2       22 31 39 48 55 63
     Barcelona       31        33      8       25 31 38 47 56 63
     Estoril         24        26      6       25 31 38 46 55 64
     Hockenheim      02        03      11      30 37 44 51 57 61
     Hungaroring     30        32      5       23 30 36 42 49 56
     Imola           26        30      6       24 32 40 48 56 63
     Interlagos      28        30      6       24 31 37 43 50 57
     Magny           09        13      8       25 33 41 49 56 63
     Mexico          40        40      6       25 33 40 47 55 62
     Monaco          59        62      2       21 26 33 39 45 52
     Montreal        09        22      7       25 32 39 47 55 63
     Monza           09        11      11      27 34 42 50 58 66
     Phoenix         48        52      7       24 31 37 43 50 57
     Silverstone     17        19      7       28 38 42 49 56 63
     Spa             26        29      8       25 34 42 48 56 65
     Suzuka          18        20      9       24 33 40 48 56 64

Member's Reviews

Editor review

Formula One Grand Prix

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

For Amiga owners that are motorsport fans, one game stood out from the rest in the early 1990's.

Formula One Grand Prix, as suggested by the title, is based on the Formula One series. Car colours were based upon those competing in the 1991 season although the names of both drivers and teams were not included. However they were listed in the manual and the option to modify them was available. All 16 tracks were included from drivers' favourite Spa in Belgium to Monaco with it's famous tunnel.

The game was developed by Geoff Crammond, of Stunt Car Racer and Revs fame, and compared to other games around at the time was highly realistic. The physics and handling of the cars was excellent and the game uses 3D polygons with many camera angles including in-car, chase camera and even a TV style view. It's ability to pause the action at any time and replay an incident from several different angles and other cars' on-board cameras really adds to the enjoyment.

There is a choice of a single quick race, a full race weekend including practice sessions and qualifying or the full 16 round World Championship.

There is the facility for more than one player to race, although this occurs via. a 'taking turns' mode rather than split-screen with the players swapping during the race, and the computer taking over the other players.

The game has several levels of difficulty, with each progressing level the player gets less assistance, with braking, damage, gears, routes and direction becoming the players responsibility. In addition it was possible to adjust the set-up of the car to fine tune it for a particular track or to change the tyres for a wet race. This allows the beginner to get straight into the game while still providing a challenge for the more experienced player.

Formula One Grand Prix is not without it's weaknesses however. The AI of the computer drivers isn't great with backmarkers competing as if they were racing the lapping car or just trying to accelerate out of an accident without steering away from a stranded car. Occasionally some interesting collisions will occur, resulting in the car being stuck in a wall.

Sound is used well in the game. There are realistic engine noises as well as tyres squealing and crash sounds. Music is used only in the opening sequence, a reworking of the guitar solo from Fleetwood Mac's The Chain as used on the BBC's Grand Prix coverage at the time.

Overall this is a great game, whose realism and graphics make it probably the best racing game on the Amiga.

Overall rating:		9.0
Graphics:		9.0
Sound:		7.0
Gameplay:		10.0
Lifespan:		10.0

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Reviewed by AlexJ
December 29, 2006
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Last updated: January 18, 2007

User reviews

Average user rating from: 1 user(s)

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Overall rating:		9.5
Graphics:		10.0
Sound:		8.0
Gameplay:		10.0
Lifespan:		10.0

The first great F1 game!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

I've been a Formula One fan since the early 80's and have grabbed every F1 game as soon as it came out for whichever format I owned, but this F1 game was the first one that really captured the sport in all its true glory and blew me away when I first loaded it up.

It was the first to use a full 3D engine without any restrictions to movement. The tracks were realistically modelled (for the time) and the technical aspects of the sport were all present.

But best of all, it really captured the speed and skill required to race in an F1 car. Something all true F1 fans want to experience. This isn't a game you can just pick up and instantly play well. You have to learn the handling of the cars, the skill and patience required to drive realistically. These really do feel like you imagine an F1 car would feel to drive, being very easy to spin if you get it slightly wrong going through a bend, or causing crashes by trying to drive the cars like you would in an arcade racing game.

Its graphics may have aged and look quite blocky and old by today's standards, but at the time they were really cutting edge 3D, and regardless of that it still is a great game to play and enjoy.

I even bought the shareware editor for this game at the time that allowed you to edit every aspect of the game from the team names and colours, to the drivers helmet designs. That added a lot more to the game as it allowed you to update the game for new seasons, changing the car liveries and the racing drivers in each team. You could even update the team, car and helmet colour schemed so they were accurate for each season.