Grand Prix II

aka: GP2, Grand Prix 2
Moby ID: 1493

Description official descriptions

All the circuits and drivers of the 1994 Formula 1 World Championship is recreated in Geoff Crammond's second racing simulation. The game is viewed from within the cockpit - external views are provided primarily for use in replays or demonstrations. Texture mapping and full detail in the rear view mirrors are available for almost every visible feature.

The game has 5 skill levels, 7 driving aids such as automatic brakes and a dotted 'ideal racing line' to follow available on lower skill levels, and variable race and practice session lengths. You will have to alter the car's setup to get the best possible car performance - this ranges from standard features such as brake balance and gear ratios onto more technical ones such as spring settings and the ride height. Multiplayer games involve either taking it in turns on a single computer, or on a linkup.

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Credits (DOS version)

51 People (42 developers, 9 thanks) · View all

Lead Programming
Lead Design
Menu Design & Additional Programming
Circuit Topography
Additional Circuit Research
Performance Analysis & Test Driving
Producer
Graphic Artists
Music
Sound
Guitars
QA Manager
Playtesting
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 90% (based on 20 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 39 ratings with 3 reviews)

A memorable, ground breaking racing simulation.

The Good
Everything. If you're a beginner you can step right in a race with the 1994 drivers at Monza and if you're a seasoned veteran, you can tweak your car just perfectly.

Grand Prix 2 is extremely good for MODs so you can modify it how you want.

The Bad
They didn't finish it, which is a shame considering there was going some extremely cool features in like rain.

The Bottom Line
It may be old but can beat some of even today's market games. If you own Gp3 or Gp4, take a look at what happened earlier.

DOS · by david hickling (3) · 2003

Still the best F1 game to date

The Good
As one of the reviews from magazines featured here states, and the disclaimer goes to them and so does the credit of doing the aforementioned review, "alles ist beinahe perfekt", which is German for everything is almost perfect. And this is what I think too. The level of simulation for a game which was launched in 1996 is astonishing, the car failures, the possibilities of set-up that the car has, the information after any race, etc.

The option to have different graphic modes to choose is a plus, because back when I was three years old ('96) not everybody could afford computers as easily as now and GP2 was relatively demanding in its SVGA mode, so a traditional VGA mode was included.

The Bad
The fact that the game came out two years later than the season it did represent is a contra for the game, but it does not take away its greatness, rather it reflects a trend among F1 games of the era consisting in releasing them after the season they simulated, but in this case, it took a bit too much. F1 '95 was available for PS and PC in the same 1996 year, but there was no F1 1996 for any platform except N64.

The Bottom Line
Even 26 years after being released, it keeps being awesome. Also, the game is still very active with all the mod community. Having mods as far as 2021.

DOS · by Carles Carlos (23) · 2022

The sun always shines on Geoff Crammond

The Good
Formula 1 Grand Prix / World Circuit was a classic simulation, bringing Formula 1 to life with unprecedented detail. The sequel basically does the same using later technology. Visually it's superb, especially if you've got a Pentium level system and can run the high-resolution graphics. The texture-mapped sky is especially stunning.

The range of difficulty levels and driver aids allow everyone from Schumacher to Delatraz to find a level they can compete at, with the process of gradually removing each aid as you imprve meaning that the challenge never stops.

The handling of the cars is precise, with car setup handled in amazing detail. By just using brake balances, gear ratios and wing downforce, you can get a setup capable of winning at a medium difficulty level, but the dampers, springs, roll-bar and the like allow astounding precision.

If you just want an exciting action game based around F1, this is more than up to the job as well - low difficulty with all the aids, 10% race distance, from the back of the grid. If you want the full deal - car setups, full length races with pitstops and tyre/fuel strategies, the chance of mechanical failures - you can get that too.

The game has an internet community beyond almost any other, with a myriad range of improvements available, including most of the world's great racetracks - Laguna Seca and Bathurst are especially nice.

The Bad
The lack of wet weather racing was a shame, but there was still plenty to master. Internet patches came along to have a similar effect though.



The Bottom Line
Not necessarily for the casual player, Geoff Crammond's aim was to recreate every detail of the most expensive sport in the world, giving something to sink your teeth into over a long period of time. And he achieved it.

DOS · by Martin Smith (81669) · 2004

Trivia

Amiga version

In late 1995 OTM, authors of technically impressive Amiga racer Virtual Karting, contacted MicroProse about doing an Amiga port of the game, but never received a reply.

Development

The game was being developed with the help of the Williams Renault Formula One team.

Mods

The huge GP2 internet community managed to improve the game in many aspects: F1 carsets from all decades can be included using GP2Edit; Thanks to GP2Lap it was possible to play the game over a local network; Using Paul Hoad's track editor over 200 racing tracks from all over the world were created. As on 2012 there are still people who build new addons for the game. They are all being published on http://www.grandprix2.de. There were various racing leagues being run using the game. The biggest was LFRS (www.lfrs.com) which had hundreds of drivers all using GP2 to race each other.

Reception

In 1996 F1 driver Jaques Villeneuve used the game to learn the tracks. One year later he received the FIA World Championship title.

References

The picture used after you crash out of a race features Irish driver Eddie Irvine surveying the scene after a crash. Also, in the background on the championship race screen is what appears to be a picture of the start of the 1994 Italian Grand Prix, seconds before Irvine collides with Johnny Herbert. If this appears to present Irvine in a bad light, this is unsurprising - as 'Irv the Swerve' himself once quipped "I got punched by Ayrton Senna after my first race, crashed in my second, wrote off 4 cars in my third and got banned form my 4th. People are going to think I'm some sort of nutter"

References to the game

Clips of the game can be seen in the 1998 film Taxi.

Weather

The weather modus was taken out of the game just weeks before the release, because the graphics did not look good enough. When some members of the internet community managed to activate parts of the weather code later on, they understood why it was taken out of the game.

Awards

  • PC Games (Germany)
    • Issue 12/1996 - PC Game of the Year

Information also contributed by GP4Flo and Martin Smith

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Oli Norwell.

Additional contributors: Accatone, tarmo888, formercontrib, LepricahnsGold, Patrick Bregger, BlaringCoder.

Game added May 28, 2000. Last modified February 11, 2024.