| Grand Prix 4 | 
 enlarge | Buy New: $61.50
Buy New/Used from $55.00
Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 21 reviews)
Sales Rank: 16333
Category: Video Games
Publisher: Atari
Studio: Atari
Brand: Atari
Label: Atari
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows Xp
ESRB: Everyone
Media: CD-ROM
Age: 5 - 20 years
UPC: 742725238480
EAN: 0742725238480
ASIN: B0000695H8
Release Date: October 16, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Super realistic and unbelievably exhilarating, Geoff Crammond's GRAND PRIX 4 on the PC takes this legendary series to new heights. Go ahead, test your nerves and experience the drive of your life!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Generally good but overrated January 28, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
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.
Buggy, not as good as F1 Challenge overall or rFactor January 28, 2008
I have both the regular version and the modded 2007 version of this game and I must say I can't understand why some people think this is the best modern F1 sim out there. First of all just to get it to work on any normal PC is a pain in the rear at the very minimum if you are lucky. Setup of a joypad is non-intuitive and not very well developed. I can't imagine anyone playing a driving game on a keyboard with ease, you need a PS2 style gamepad or a wheel.
On my mid range system I can max out the graphics on F1 Challenge 99-02 using the latest HQ mods(RH or CTDP) (20+ F1 seasons) and it looks amazing, on GP4 regular I can do this as well and it looks like the original Grand Prix Legends game without any of the updated graphics mods: in other words like a 10+ year old game.
On my modded GP4 2007 version I have to play it in all low settings to get a playable framerate and I consider my Nvidia BFG 7950 GT, which is the highest 7900 series card, pretty darn good. I can play Crysis on 1680X1050 in all medium settings with no problems for goodness sake! Meaning this game is not developed very well for scalability of mods.
The tracks have some nice and in some cases better features like the marshals, crowds, cranes when compared to the non-modded F1 Challenge9902 game. Setting up the car is decent if you know how to setup a car, like if you have any idea what changing things like camber, gear ratios and spring rates would do.
F1 Challenge has this level of detail as well but also has quick setup to where you don't have to change every little detail manually which is much better for those who don't want to be a car setup engineer or are not familiar with the details of race car setup parameters.
I'm not a fan of the camera movement either, usually I play swingman arcade style and it feels like there is a rod stuck up the cars arse as I steer instead of the background being more or less static and the car moving around the track in F1C.
In other words if you want a game that is not buggy and is setup intuitively like modern games you should get F1 Challenge 99-02 or F1 2002 although GP4 has better damage modeling than the non-modded versions of F1C and perhaps better tracks, the graphics are nowhere near as good on an average system and the pain of actually getting it to work is not worth it!
Another note on the ridiculous prices nowadays for all those titles, unless you are desperate you shouldn't pay these prices, if you are that big a fan of F1/racing games in general you should have a friend that can help you out wink wink! Look at Grand Prix Legends for example, it was outrageously priced but since then a Sold Out Software version has flooded the market at around $20 shipped!
Also another highly modded game that has most F1 season mods is rFactor, this game is a reasonable price and the mods for F1, ALMS, Champcar, Nascar LeMans, GT, etc. with hundreds of free tracks/cars/seasons available as free downloads, get this game instead of any of the others mentioned here.
 Best F1 Game May 16, 2007
This is the best F1 racing game hands down of the pre boom systems have to be powerful to play it games that we have now. The cars look real, the tracks look real, the racing is smooth and flawless. I like the lighting better than EA F1 games, and there are still modders out there doing updates on tracks and teams today. YOu can download the new track in China and even compete online in racing seasons. This game was the best for a reason..its attention to detail. It didn't matter how powerful your system was. I ran this game for years on a weak 1.8 celeron system with a 64bit video card. I still ran it pretty high settings but not everything on full. Then I bought a P4HT 3.4 cpu and all my problems started. The game simply crashes over and over and over on my killer rig with a 256mb video card, 2gb ram, and enough power to run games like Doom3, Far Cry, and Halflife 2 on full. I can even run GTR2 on FULL specs with no craSHES, but I cannot run this game. I downloaded every patch to man, but the game still crashes. Do your homework before buying it to see if it will run on your system. Many folks have this issue but not everyone. Technical issues aside this is one great F1 game, and I still have to play it on the old celeron.
3/5 November 7, 2005
This is an excelent simulator for the F1 fans which want to feel the races. Negative point is that can not be played on line, it is possible only using some external patches and is also possible to upgrade for the last sesons from many sources on the internet.
If you like the challenge there are many off-line leagues out there also like www.gp4kings.com .. we have been running for about 2 years now and have been enjoying the game a lot.
 Best F1 simulation so far September 14, 2005
I've had 4 F1 GP simulation in the last 10 years or so, and I have to say that this generation is the most realistic and fun to drive. After reading some reviews about configuration problems, I was a bit concerned, but did not have any issues getting the game up and running. However, did have problems configurating the game with Microsoft sidewinder USB, to get the paddles and brakes to work properly.
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