davidjwest's Full Review: Grand Prix 3 for Windows
Whilst all serious fans of F1 simulations are no doubt playing Grand Prix 4 by now, I am stuck with this dinosaur, all will be revealed why shortly!
This game is an addon pack for the highly and rightly so acclaimed Grand Prix 3 from Microprose, written by legend Geoff Crammond.
Grand Prix 3 itself has been slated from some quarters by merely being an addon itself from Grand Prix 2, my own opinion here is that GP2 was almost perfect anyway, very hard to improve.
This addon as you would expect allows you to race the cars and drivers from the 2000 season, Mika Hakkinen is present as are Jean Alesi and Juan Pablo Montoya is not included.
All the tracks are realistically depicted, in fact this is one of the big improvements over the previous game. The graphics are enhanced, seem to be quicker and smoother and generally nicer. Although when driving at 200mph the scenery doesn't get much of a look-in, except for that nice tree at Eau Rouge which is used as a reference point for my turn in!
The physics appear to be slightly better, but they were great anyway. Crashes are much more satisfying, now bits fly off the cars like wings and wheels, it is rather amusing to see the wheels rolling down the straights as you try to get back to the pits on three wheels!
In fact in my best crash ever I ended up with no wheels left at all, well worth the asking price for alone I would have thought!
Sounds are slightly improved, you get the pit crew cheering down the radio when you get pole position and they say "try to get back to the pits" after aforementioned crash, even when zero wheels are on your wagon.
The main reason I am playing this is that I am in an Internet based league for the game, competing with drivers all over the world. Unfortunately it's an offline league in that the game is not good if played over the net, but it does breathe even more life into this great simulation.
The simulation side of the game should not be ignored, setting the car up for each race is a challenge itself as you can change wing settings, gear ratios, ride heights, fuel loads, dampers, spring stiffness etc etc.
Have a look at the league website I am competing in - just type "gp3 champions" into google. Sorry but the URL evades me!
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