Finally got my hands on this, and is the legendary cult status justified? Absolutely. Geoff Crammond's physics engine is one of the best I've ever seen in a driving game, the wet weather driving is realistic, the sense of speed can be wonderful and you really feel like you've got your hands on a F1 car. Be warned, it wouldn't be unfair to say that the game needs a bit of modding to show you its best, fortunately though, the modding scene around GP4 is still highly active.



The tension and excitement of leading a race with Kimi Raikkonen on your back setting fastest lap records and closing the distance as the penultimate lap of the race comes up. The occasional fluke crashes that either leap-frog you ahead or leave you trailing behind like David Coulthard that remind you that yes, you are racing. Coming through with pole at qualifying requires great skill and daring, giving me a greater appreciation for the drivers who can fly into a corner and brake at the last possible instant; I'm just risking a crash, they're risking a life. Orders from the pits come through telling you when to lap, etc. There really is a fantastic element of realism here.

This is a straight up simulation, one of the best I've ever played. The learning curve was a bit steep, maybe an hour or so until you get a good handle on how to control the car. I prefer the camera view just above the driver's head, but there are a ton of options. Don't worry, the graphics are more than passable, and at the speed you're going, there's little reason why you'll be paying inordinate amounts of attention to the scenery.



Again, the modding scene for this game is hugely active right here in 2008 for a game that was released back in 2002. A patch is required, and there are a large number of season mods with tracks, drivers, cars and more, from classic seasons like 79, 88 and 91 to the modern 2000-07 seasons, as well as non-F1 series such as CART, Champ Car, DTM 2005 and (Beta) Le Mans.

Downloads Guide:

Official Patch - Needed to fix initial game bugs.
Decrypted GP4.exe for the official 9.6 patch - Needed for most editors/mods of GP4
GPxPatch - Needed for most editors/mods of GP4 and enhances game features
ZaZ Tools, including CSM 1.6 - Needed for user-friendly season mods which contain track, driver, car and more modifications for specific season/championship.
There is a ton more stuff at the highly-updated GP4DB.

Reviews:

Eurogamer - 10
Gamespy - 8.8
GameSpot - 8

Videos:

Youtube - GP4: Michael Schumacher, Chinese GP
Youtube - GP4: Kimi, Hungary (Wet Race)
Youtube - Alonso, Sepang (Solo)
Youtube - Kimi Chasing Alonso's McLaren, Brazil GP
Youtube - Kimi, 2007 Mod (Solo)
Youtube - Katayama, Adelaide GP, 1995 Mod

I hear the game might be a bit hard to get a hold of these days, but it's definitely worth it to any fan of Formula One and motorsport. I might be biased as an Australian, but I now understand why many of the drivers love the Melbourne circuit.

I would say so. I miss you Crammond.

Easily one of the best F1 games out there. Any fan of F1 or racing games of any sort should owe themselves to play this.

Yup.

Needs screenshots.

will always hold a special place in my heart.

Man Stunt Car(/Track) Racer is one of my fondest memories of golden-age PC gaming.

dk_ said:

Needs screenshots.

Click to expand...

Wish I could do more. The game is quite pretty, actually.

I lack this game in my collection. eBay, here I come.

Does this game have any good graphics update mods?

GP3
GP4
GP Legends

Best F1 games ever, F1 Challenge 99-02 is also an amazing game, and rFactor too, but I always stick with the Geoff games.

After that, all the F1 games are a joke, the Sony ones are just embarrassing

Edit: A GPL video, just because it's amazing: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=CMZJZzWn7ZM

Yea, nothing comes even close to GPL. Not even GP4.

The first PC game I bought was the first GP game. It was pretty expensive compared to the C64 games I was used to buying at the time - $50 compared to the usual $30.

Then I discovered that the game needed a whole megabyte of RAM to run. A whole freakin' megabyte! Unfortunately my PC only had 640k. That's enough for everyone! So I took it to some dodgy hole in the wall PC repair store and was told after a few hours of waiting that I couldn't upgrade the RAM in this machine, so it needed a new motherboard. And then we found out the new motherboard needed a new power supply. And then a new case. And then before you know it we had to basically replace the entire machine.

Final price of the first GP game? Fifteen hundred dollars.

Worth every. God. Damn. Cent.

Anyplace to buy and download? I've been looking for a good pc racer.

If you liked GPL, you might like to think of joining iRacing.com, a hardcore online subscription-based simulator for real-world racers and racing simulation enthusiasts from the same guys who made Legends. Granted, it's pretty expensive at MMO-level prices.

czartim said:

Anyplace to buy and download? I've been looking for a good pc racer.

Click to expand...

Did a search and couldn't find anything outside of Amazon, eBay and other postage sites. Sorry.

Anyone want to try a little time-trial based competition for best lap times?

my favourite racing game of all time.






they should re-release it on psn and live, drop the liveries and driver names to aviod any licensing issues, spruce up the graphics and audio.