Monaco Grand Prix Racing Simulation 2

aka: Monaco Grand Prix, Racing Simulation 2, Racing Simulation: Monaco Grand Prix
Moby ID: 2766
Windows Specs
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Description

The sequel to F1 Racing Simulation recreates the 1997 season, featuring 17 authentic tracks, 11 teams and cars with their 22 drivers. The Monaco license is used, although the teams themselves are not licensed. A total of 22 camera views are provided.

Telemetry is stored and analysed in a similar way to Grand Prix 2, and physics are modeled to be realistic. There are eight different modes to race, the new ones being a career mode in which you start with a poor team and must drive well enough to earn competitive rides, and scenarios recreating key races for particular drivers. Returning from the first game are Time Attack, a full championship, and a 50s retro mode. There is also a track editor to create your own tracks.

Spellings

  • モナコ・グランプリ レーシング・シミュレーション2 - Japanese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

89 People (83 developers, 6 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 78% (based on 43 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.1 out of 5 (based on 21 ratings with 1 reviews)

A very good, but often overlooked, Formula One simulator

The Good
MGPRS2 is UbiSoft's second attempt at a Formula One simulation. This time, however, there is no official FIA license, thus included in the game are eleven "fictional" teams, each with two drivers (however the various colors of the team cars loosely represent the 1997 F1 season, the year the game was released). The player can edit the names and personnel of each team, and also the names, heights, weights and ages of the drivers. In this way the game is very customizable, and the seventeen tracks that are included are all official F1 circuits in real life, albeit presented in the game with different names.

The game is very open to drivers of all abilities, with four different levels of difficulty and various driving aids (automatic gears, etc) which may be turned on at will. For the very serious (and more technically minded) players, there is a rather complicated "garage" section in which the player can set-up various aspects of the car, from the height and angle of the wings to the stiffness of the suspension. There is, however, a handy self-help guide for those who don't know their dampers from their diffusers.

The in-game graphics are very good as well. Trackside objects are brightly-colored and abundant, and UbiSoft have come up with several fictional adverts that are posted at various points around the circuit. The cars themselves are also detailed; the cockpit view contains a "ticker" which displays the race order, as well as all the other typical information (speed, revs, etc). There are several nice touches to the graphics, such as small spurts of fire out the exhausts when changing down a gear, or the car's tires appearing greener after a trip through the grass. All in all the graphics are highly commendable, and impressive given the game was released seven years ago.

The sound quality is also good. There is frequent radio contact between the player's car and the team manager, telling him things like "new fastest lap" or "front wing broken" (for the slightly less competent driver). The engine noises are supposedly based on a real F1 car, and there are other sound effects such as gear changing crackles that add to the experience.

The main strength of the game is it's wide-ranging game modes and settings, as said before. There are two modes of particular note. The first is a "career mode", in which the player, rather than choosing a team, is offered a contract with a team, and then competes in the championship. If the player performs well, he is offered a contract with a better team for the next year. This mode was a novelty in racing games back in 1998 and is good to see.

The second special mode is a "retro mode". This is in effect a mini-game in itself as the player is transported back to the 1950s, and can choose a car from that era and go racing on a special track ominously known as "Green Hell" (this is in fact a representation of the infamous "Nurburgring" circuit in Germany). The 50s cars have completely different handling than the normal cars, and the retro mode adds yet another dimension to the game.

The Bad
The AI-controlled cars in both the modern and retro modes seem a little bit too timid. It is possible, in fact, to stop at certain points around a track and find the AI cars all backing up behind you because they "can't" find a way around. This also makes the AI cars very easy to pass as they jump out the way as soon as you go to the inside in a corner. Also, they never seem to make mistakes, which is obviously unrealistic.

The Bottom Line
The game has very varied game modes to suit most tastes, and has a reasonably shallow learning curve, so is suitable for a wide range of gamers. However, this game is very dated compared to the modern selection of F1 games available, and is very similar to its predecessor, F1 Racing Simulation. It's main strength over F1RS lies in the ability to edit the names and data of the teams and drivers, and the inclusion of the "career" and "retro" modes; features that, more often than not, are not found in more recent F1 games. Thus I would recommend the game to any racing fan.

Windows · by Adam McMillan (196) · 2005

Trivia

Licensing

Ubisoft did not have the official FIA license. Therefore they licensed only the Monaco track and named the game after it. All other F1 tracks are also included, but have different names.

Awards

  • PC Player
    • 1999 (issue 01) - named as "Best Racing Game in 1998".

Information also contributed by Patrick Bregger.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kasey Chang.

PlayStation added by Xoleras. Dreamcast, Nintendo 64 added by vedder.

Additional contributors: Rantanplan, Alaka, GP4Flo, Freeman, vedder, MediaCult.

Game added December 9, 2000. Last modified January 19, 2024.