#Titel Hard- & Software / Software / F1GP #Logo gadget17:pinsel/AG.Hard&Soft #Font Losse 16 #C31 Test : Formula One Grand Prix #Font topaz 8 #C30 PRODUCT NAME #C21 Formula One Grand Prix ("F1GP"). Also known as "World Circuit." #C30 BRIEF DESCRIPTION #C21 A 3D simulation of Formula One racing, using the tracks and teams from the 1991 racing season. #C30 AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION #C21 Name: Microprose Limited Address: Unit 1 Hampton Road Industrial Estate Tetbury Gloucestershire England GL8 8LD Telephone: (0666) 504399 FAX: (0666) 504331 #C30 LIST PRICE #C21 The list price is 16.99 (UK Pounds) for the re-released version. The original version may still be available at a reduced price. I am using the original release for this review. #C30 SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE #C21 1MB RAM required (0.5 MB Chip RAM, 0.5 MB other). More RAM is recommended if you want to multitask this program from the Workbench. If you run the game from floppy disks, a second floppy drive is recommended. Runs just fine on a standard 1MB A500, and also works on accelerated machines like the A4000. #C30 SOFTWARE #C21 None. #C30 COPY PROTECTION #C21 Manual keyword protection. Before the program will start, you are required to turn to Page XXX and enter Word YYY from Line ZZZ in Paragraph PPP. Only a total incompetent would fail to pick the correct word from the manual; the directions given are that clear, unlike other games I could mention. It may be the case that the budget version has no protection, since the box the budget version comes in looks too small to fit the original manual in. This is speculation however, as I have not seen what the budget version provides. #C30 MACHINES USED FOR TESTING #C21 Amiga 4000/030/882 - 25MHz, 2 MB Chip RAM, 2 & 4 MB Fast RAM 1 Internal 1.44MB floppy & 1 External 880KB floppy Seagate 120MB IDE internal hard drive Microvitec 1438 multisync monitor AmigaDOS 3.0 ForceMonitor Amiga 500/000 - 7.14MHz, 0.5 MB Chip RAM, 0.5 MB Slow RAM 1 Internal 880KB floppy & 1 External 880KB floppy Philips CM8833 15KHz monitor AmigaDOS 1.3 #C30 INSTALLATION #C21 The program will run from floppy disk or hard drive. A custom hard drive installer program is supplied. No problems occurred during installation, although the installer does not add some required ASSIGNs to your startup-sequence. The installer creates a small file in the S: directory that must be present in order for F1GP to run from hard drive. #C30 REVIEW #C21 This is a fantastic simulation, and you should all go out and buy a copy. Right, that's over -- let's get on with something else. Oh, you want more? Very well. Imagine mounting a camera on the helmet of a racing driver and filming him driving round sixteen race tracks. Now imagine being able to take over and control the car at any time. F1GP allows you to have a driver's eye view of virtually all aspects of a race, from initial practice through qualification and into the race proper. You have the ability to alter your car setup, changing the tyre compounds, gear ratios, brake balance and wing settings. The first thing to do is to replace the default drivers and teams with the real drivers/teams, since for some odd reason the default data is entirely fictional. For those of you without an encyclopedic knowledge of drivers and teams, a full list of the 1991 drivers/teams is provided, and it is simply a matter of typing in the data yourself. Once this is out of the way, you can select which driver you would like to be and then go burn some rubber. There are five difficulty levels, with the computer controlled cars becoming progressively faster as the level increases. There are also five driver aids that are made unselectable as you increase the difficulty. #C10 Level 1 - Auto Brakes. #C21 This aid will trigger the brakes in order to bring the car to the correct speed for corners. Thus, all you have to do is keep the throttle wide open and steer. #C10 Level 2 - Auto Gears. #C21 The computer will change into the correct gear for a given part of the circuit. It will not, however, change down in the event of a crash or spin, leaving you to change down before driving on. #C10 Level 3 - Self Correcting Spin. #C21 Using this will not prevent a spin, but it will make sure that the car is pointing in the right direction after a spin, so that you do not have to turn the car manually. #C10 Level 4 - Indestructible Mode. #C21 Yes, you read that correctly. Your Williams/Ferrari or whatever is now more robust than a main battle tank. You can now drive off, crashing into anything or anyone you like without worrying about bits falling off the car. Although it may be fun for a while, you soon begin thinking about real Formula 1 drivers who have been injured or killed, and crashing into other cars somehow loses its appeal. #C10 Level 5 - Ideal Line. #C21 This mode paints a white dotted line on the track to show what the game thinks is the best line to take. Bearing in mind that the program was developed with the help of the Footwork team, the advice is probably pretty accurate. There is a sixth aid which is also available, Suggested Gear, which displays the gear you should probably be in at any point in the race, assuming you aren't in any sort of trouble. So, if you are racing at difficulty level 3, you will not be able to select auto brakes or auto gears. Once you have selected a difficulty level and driver identity, it is time to go racing. There are three options. The first is to practice on any circuit without any other cars being present. This is probably the best mode to begin in, since it allows you to get the hang of the controls. Once basic control is established, it then allows for as much altering of the car setup as you like, as well as getting used to the circuit layout. After practising, you'll probably head for the single race option, which sets you up with a full race scenario, but which is totally independent of any race season you may be running (see below). This option allows you to race against the other 25 cars and it provides a useful introduction to such important aspects as qualifying, grid starts, overtaking etc., none of which can be practised in the practice option. The final option is to begin a full, 16-race, championship season. This is the ultimate option, since you must race on every circuit, not just the ones you happen to like. Points are awarded as in the real sport, and a running tally is made of all driver points and finishing positions. Championships can be saved to disk for continuation at any time, and it is possible to run multiple seasons simply by having multiple season data files. One final "difficulty" option I should mention is the race length option. You have the ability to select any race length from 10% to 100% of the real distance; so if you just want a quick race, you could go for a 10% race, which on most tracks would be about 6-7 laps. A point to note, though, is that race lap records will be recognised only when set in a 100% length race, although qualifying lap records will be recognised regardless of the length of race qualified for. An interesting point is that you may skip any of the pre-race options, such as the two practice sessions and even the qualifying session. If you skip qualifying, you are placed in 26th place, which is not exactly realistic, but at least you can jump straight into a race, even if it means starting at the back of the grid. Control of the car is handled by either a digital or analogue joystick, or the keyboard. Personally, I prefer the keyboard, since changing gears is a bit difficult to achieve smoothly on a stick. Changing up requires the stick to be pressed forward and the fire button pressed, and changing down requires the joystick to be centred and the fire button pressed. If your stick has a long throw between centre and forward/back, the time taken to move the stick to the required position for gear changing can be critical. At least with the keyboard, you can change up or down very quickly. I also think that the analogue stick code does not decode the stick position entirely correctly. Even though there is a stick calibrate option, once calibrated, the motion of the car does not feel right, especially steering. Note that the key controls are non-definable, but the preset keys are not too bad at all. The game screens are all in NTSC resolution. Anyone with the necessary hardware to run in NTSC mode should do so, since the game looks much better when filling the entire screen. For multisync users, the menu screens are promotable but the 3D display is not, so you will still need a 15KHz display to play the game. Note that the menu screens are system friendly and can be flipped with the Amiga-N and Amiga-M commands. If you have Workbench 3, the screens can also be dragged around with the mouse if you have Screen Drag enabled in Prefs/IControl. Whilst the menu screens are displayed, the game multitasks, although it seems to do a busy wait, since Workbench is far too sluggish for the program to be multitasking perfectly. Having said that, this entire review was written with F1GP sitting in the background. It makes review writing so much easier being able to flick between review text and reviewed program without having to reload the programs all the time. All I'm saying is that you probably should stop any graphics rendering or MPEG encoding before running F1GP (unless you have a very accelerated machine). If you are running on a slow machine, like a 7MHz 68000, you'd probably want to reduce the graphics detail. There are three settings which progressively remove background detail without affecting the track detail. Unfortunately, on the Monaco circuit, reducing the detail means removing the tunnel roof, which looks really sad, especially when the tunnel is possibly the most famous single section of any circuit (and certainly the most inspiring section to drive towards). The graphics themselves are rather good considering the age of the game. Although there is no texture mapping, bitmapped graphics are used to good effect on things like the trackside marshals and corner countdown markers. The polygons are used well, with the cars looking quite detailed, and they don't turn into undefined blobs as they recede into the distance either. If you have the processing power to run in full detail, the trackside detail is rather well done too, with grandstands, camera positions, trees and bushes and background buildings, especially on the street circuits like Monaco. (I like the Monaco circuit. :-)) The manual states that the circuits were modelled partly by examining in-car video footage from races, and it shows. If your TV stations show Formula One races, you should try racing the circuit in F1GP before you see it on TV and compare the in-car footage from the TV. It is quite pleasing to know almost instantly where the real car is on the circuit simply by looking at the circuit ahead and the trackside objects. There is no simultaneous multi-player mode; i.e., no split screen or serial link up. There is an interesting option, however, whereby as many drivers as you like can be marked as being human controlled. During practice and qualifying, each human driver is given his/her own sessions. During the race however, each human driver is allotted X laps, where "X" is the total number of laps divided by the number of human drivers. Thus in a 50 lap race, with two human drivers, the first driver will drive for the first 25 laps, then the second driver will take over for the last 25 laps. When a human designated car is not being controlled by the human, the computer takes it over. This is somewhat of an odd mode of play, since only one human can take part in the start of the race, which is generally the critical part. Then just as the first player is getting settled into the race, the computer announces that the next player is to take over, meaning not only does one driver have to leave the game, but the incoming driver is dropped into their car in the middle of the race. I don't think Nigel Mansell would put up with it. Basically, I'd avoid the multi-player option at all costs unless you want fights when its time to change over drivers. Note that all the game data refers to the 1991 season. Thus, not only are some circuits in the game no longer used in real life, but also most of those that are used have now been altered in some way. And now, to round off this section of the review, a list of the circuits provided in the game: USA - Phoenix Brazil - Interlagos San Marino - Imola (RIP Ayrton Senna, Roland Ratzenberger) Monaco - Monte Carlo Canada - Montreal Mexico - Mexico City France - Magny Cours Britain - Silverstone (Yeah!) Germany - Hockenheim Hungary - Hungaroring Belgium - Spa Francorchamps Italy - Monza Portugal - Estoril Spain - Barcelona Japan - Suzuka Australia - Adelaide #C30 DOCUMENTATION #C21 The primary manual is a typical Microprose affair: 165 pages of information split about half and half between program detail and general information about Formula One racing. Some rather useful diagrams of all the circuits are included. Secondary manual is a technical supplement for the Amiga. It is six pages long, deals with installation and controls, and lists the actual drivers and teams from 1991. A keyboard guide is included, which is a small piece of card with controls printed on both sides. An even smaller bit of card held a message pointing me in the direction of a README file on Disk 4, containing the latest news about the program. Note that this all refers to the ORIGINAL release of F1GP. Based on my experiences of budget releases, I would be surprised if the budget version included all or any of the above. Having said that, the re-release is being handled by Microprose rather than a third party budget distributor, so maybe the documentation will be of a decent standard. #C30 LIKES #C21 I like the amount of detail in the circuit models and the fact that the computer controlled cars don't drive perfectly. They crash, spin and drive pretty much as you would expect given the driver and car in question (for instance, Alain Prost is a far better driver in the game than Pedro Chaves -- I hadn't heard of him either). I also like the ability to multitask a certain amount and the ability to use the program on my A4000 without having to resort to all manner of "degrader" programs. #C30 DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS #C21 There is no simulation of mechanical failures at all. In other words, you cannot run out of fuel, have an oil or water leak, blow your engine, have a sticking throttle etc. etc. The only problems simulated are damaged front and rear wings, and damaged tyres. I really hate the multi-player mode. Why Microprose couldn't just have done a serial link I do not know. Microprose seem to have shelved the idea of releasing a data disk containing new circuits, as they are now working on an all-new version of F1GP. Unfortunately, some rumours are circulating suggesting that F1GP 2, as we shall call it for now, will be a PC-only game. If this is going to be the case, then I will be very annoyed. #C30 COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS #C21 The only other circuit driving simulator I have used on the Amiga is Indianapolis 500. Whereas Indy 500 is faster and does simulate more mechanical aspects of the car (like fuel loads, etc.), it is just a one circuit simulator. F1GP offers the ability to race on sixteen circuits, all of them different. I'd say if you like racing, get both, since they are now both available on budget release. F1GP is more of a playable simulation, whereas Indy 500 is more of a realistic simulation, but is consequently not quite so enjoyable unless you are very interested in racing. #Seitenende #C30 BUGS #C21 There is only one bug I am aware of, and even that may not be a bug as such, rather a poor implementation decision. When approaching a corner, the car tends to turn automatically into the corner even if you are not activating the steering controls. The effect tends to be minimal and you soon get used to it. Though not a bug, you should be aware that the introduction sequence is not AGA compatible. Since this sequence can be ignored entirely, this is not a major problem, although the hard drive installer assumes you want to see the sequence all the time. You will have to alter the startup script manually to load the game rather than the introduction sequence.Running from floppy requires no such action, as you simply boot from disk 2 instead of disk 1. #C30 VENDOR SUPPORT #C21 Any support that may have been available is now long gone, as I bought F1GP when it was originally released in late 1991. #C30 WARRANTY #C21 Unknown. #C30 CONCLUSIONS #C21 F1GP is a most excellent and playable simulation that does not require a well-equipped Amiga to run. It is especially tempting in its new budget release form. If you are interested in driving simulations,then it is a most worthwhile purchase with many months/years of gaming contained within. #C30 COPYRIGHT NOTICE #C21 Aw heck, you can do what you like to this text. Fold it, spindle it, mutilate it, read it even. But spare a thought for two drivers, killed this season after so many years of fatality free racing: Ayrton Senna, Roland Ratzenberger - rest in peace - Chris Coulson e-mail: c.j.coulson@ncl.ac.uk #C10 --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews