1998 GP3's Minardis smoke more than they use to these days. In fact, despite the lack of results, Minardi is one of 2000's most interesting teams.
Smoke is trouble! But this smoke is as old as GP2's. 3D hardware acceleration is new, but GP3's smoke algorithms remain unchanged.
All the F1 cars share the same 3D model (no matter if it is a Prost or a Williams), and the smoke always burns out of the engine's center... F1 2000 features different 3D models and several smoke sources.
Benettons are as psychedelic as today's. But drivers were better...
Grand Prix 3: the four-years-in-the-making patch to GP2 (true!)
part one - background
More than four years ago, when Microsoft's DirectX was just beginning to spread over developers' studios, there was a DOS game that was king on most sim-racers' charts... that game was written by a single person - Geoff Crammond - who at the time delivered a piece of software that ran best on 320x240 VGA mode, although some power users could dare to try it on a spectacular SVGA resolution... That game was / is Grand Prix 2 (GP2).
These were the days when Monster Truck Madness rulled on graphics quality, and the first PCI graphics cards with D3D on hardware were popping out. I remember I had a Matrox Mystique card that needed a BIOS upgrade to run the low quality VGA mode that GP2 required to deliver its max 25.6 frames per second (fps)!
I enjoyed GP2 so much that I would become the world wide winner of several Internet based competitions, including some hotlaps events @ the International Racing Site (now extinct, or at least zero related to its old contents), and the still running Little Formula 1 Racing Series league (LFRS), where I would become Keybard World Champion on the top category (!!), in the year of 1997, racing for the team "Alain Prost Racing", which I still "manage", even if not active on any of today's sim events.
It was top fun, until the day some dudes hacked GP2 to achieve incredibly fast laptimes, messing around with the car's physics. There was no way to check if laps were honest, so GP2 leagues started to die.
GP2 was also the reason I bought my first steering wheel, that I would destroy some 48 hours after acquisition... I don't even remember the brand, but it was such a complete crap, that after being repaired it would collapse again, just a few hours later... Keyboard would reign as my input device, and some keyboards would collapse too... :)
By the end of 1998, most DOS games were crap. Top developers had converted to the Windows OS and to the DX API, leaving DOS to rot... Amusing reactions were being posted on the Usenet newsgroups, with many people stating that "it was impossible to have fast games on Windows, due to its much heavier architecture...". Yes, evolution always comes with a price, and always generates resisting attitudes, even from persons who find themselves "open minded"...With DOS dying and games looking way much better on high resolutions than @ 320x240, GP2 got erased from my playing list. In fact, GP2 would soon lose its edge on realism, with the release of the much ignored and still good looking F1 Racing Simulator...
Many, many racing games smashed the looks & feels of GP2, until today.
Nowadays' absolute crown, on every department, on every bit, belongs to Papyrus Grand Prix Legends (GPL)! This simulator is very, very hardcore on realism, and it is all about the 1967 F1 season, when cars had no wings and still reached the speed they do today... GPL itself is old, but age is not weighting on its shoulders... in fact, considering the current trend for arcadish software, it is not previewable that GPL will lose its #1 spot.
Sadly, the games industry is an industry... and this means that it is risky to develop software for minorities, meaning that REAL simulators that do show YOU how lousy your driving is, are probably NOT in publisher's plans. Better to release "you can crash all over the track" software that is fun to watch and not demoralizing... :)
Well, it is August 2000 and you can't miss that there is a NEW title on the shelves: Grand Prix 3!! Sold as a work of Geoff Crammond (not quite exact), publicized with catch sentences like "four years in the making", "the best racing game you'll ever see", "puts everything else to shame", "bla bla bla"... you simply MUST FEAR and expect the worst!
But wait! This is the GP2 sequel, so maybe, just maybe, the marketing ogres are right!, and not just trying to sell you dog for cat...
I bought GP3 and tried it... What you'll read next is my opinion. As always, I am reviewing something I payed for, not something I was given. I don't have to please any publisher, and if I dislike what I am testing, I will be admitting I did a bad acquisition - (just) my problem.
You can read the second and last part of this article on update 300800.
The steering wheel is loaded with info... not very realistic...
Red Williams! I hardly remembered Frank's vehicles used to be this colorful.
Jordan! Nice decoration! Now, go play GP2 (gp two, yes), then download one of the many free "season updates" and take a snapshot of a Jordan, or any other car... Shocking! The snapshot looks exactly like above!! Yes, GP3 is too much like GP2... but you must wait for part 2 of this review to get more of MHO on this one.