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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent,
By Michael (Park Ridge, IL USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Grand Prix 4 (CD-ROM)
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.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great potential, but has technical difficulties,
By
This review is from: Grand Prix 4 (CD-ROM)
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...
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Generally good but overrated,
By Stratohoven (UK) - See all my reviews
= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Grand Prix 4 (CD-ROM)
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. 2115|R3PM0KL5UQPJ01;2115|R34BEC1V8JKMOH;2115|R1T3WV4RZ9Y47W;
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