Grand Prix 4

Grand Prix 4, commonly known as GP4, was released for the PC on June 21, 2002, is currently the last Formula One racing simulator released by the developer Geoff Crammond and the MicroProse label. Based on the 2001 Formula One season, GP4 essentially serves as a graphical and seasonal update of Grand Prix 3 which had been released in 2000. The game retained the series' legendary physics engine. However it entered the market at a far less hospitable time than its three predecessors, and the game faced stiff competition from an alternative Formula One simulation from studios such as ISI.

Grand Prix 4
Developer(s)MicroProse Chipping Sodbury
Publisher(s)Infogrames
Designer(s)Geoff Crammond
Composer(s)James Hannigan
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release
  • EU: June 21, 2002
  • NA: September 10, 2002
Genre(s)Racing simulation
Mode(s)Single-player, Multiplayer

Modifications from version 3

Grand Prix 4 featured a heavily revised graphics engine and updated physics including wet weather driving that even today is considered some of the best to ever feature in a motorsport simulation. Despite this, the game still showed Crammond's oft-commented dated approach to game design.

  • While it is possible to play the game on a LAN, multiplayer internet gameplay was not possible, due to licensing restrictions. Some individuals managed to circumvent this limitation later using the Free Tunngle Network.
  • The locked framerate and CPU-heavy graphics were still a big issue with the series despite a completely revised graphics engine. However, the graphics engine proved to be very scalable, supporting models and textures multiple times the detail of the original shipped materials.
  • The mod community faced similar frustrations with the track format and it took fully two years before the track format was truly "cracked". The first add-on tracks to be released for the game included Shanghai, Istanbul and Jerez.
  • When the game was initially launched, it had a large number of bugs. Many of these were addressed by a patch which was later included with the retail game, though the project was canned when Microprose closed and no further official fixes were forthcoming. To compensate for this some third party programmers addressed some of the remaining problems, and included enhancements which allowed the game to follow the updated rules of the Formula One championship.
  • Many claimed that the stated "minimum requirements" were set too low and that they could barely get the game to run on a significantly more powerful system.

Although the game could be considered a relatively modest commercial success the chances of a further entry to the series could be considered slim to none because MicroProse's parent company Infogrames dissolved the developer shortly after the game's release. Also, the Sony Computer Entertainment brand's exclusive licensing deal for Formula One games rules out an update with official stats. An Xbox port of the title had been planned for release in late 2002 before being cancelled in October of that year.[1]

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic77/100[2]
Review scores
PublicationScore
CGM[3]
CGW[4]
Eurogamer10/10[5]
GameSpot8/10[6]
GameSpy[7]
GameZone8.5/10[8]
IGN8.3/10[9]
Jeuxvideo.com15/20[10]
PC Gamer (US)73%[11]
PC Zone86%[12]

Grand Prix 4 received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggreation website Metacritic.[2]

The game won the award in the Sports category at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards in 2002.[13] It was also nominated for Computer Gaming World's 2002 "Sports Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to Madden NFL 2003. The editors called Grand Prix 4 "one of the better racing games in years past".[14]

References
  1. "In the chair with Geoff Crammond". Retro Gamer. No. 69. Imagine Publishing. p. 88.
  2. "Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 4 for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  3. "Grand Prix 4". Computer Games Magazine. No. 146. theGlobe.com. January 2003. p. 77.
  4. Smolka, Rob (December 2002). "Grand Prix 4" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 221. Ziff Davis. p. 124. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  5. Bramwell, Tom (July 7, 2002). "Grand Prix 4". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  6. Ajami, Amer (September 11, 2002). "Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 4 Review [date mislabeled as "September 12, 2002"]". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  7. Fryman, Avi (October 18, 2002). "GameSpy: Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 4". GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  8. Lafferty, Michael (September 16, 2002). "Grand Prix 4 Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on January 25, 2008. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  9. Magruder, Randy (September 12, 2002). "Grand Prix 4 Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  10. Jihem (June 21, 2002). "Test: Grand Prix 4". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Webedia. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  11. Mahood, Andy (December 2002). "Grand Prix 4". PC Gamer. Vol. 9 no. 12. Future US. p. 98. Archived from the original on March 15, 2006. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  12. Presley, Paul (August 5, 2002). "PC Review: Grand Prix 4". PC Zone. Future plc. Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  13. "Interactive | Games - Sport in 2002". British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
  14. CGW staff (April 2003). "Computer Gaming World's 2002 Games of the Year (Sports Game of the Year)" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 225. Ziff Davis. p. 94. Retrieved February 16, 2019.


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