World Circuit

The Good
When first released, this game blew away all comers. It was the first serious Grand Prix simulator on the market, and even today, is only bettered by its sequels.

16 accurately modelled tracks and 26 cars are just the start - free practice, Friday and Saturday qualifying sessions, and a full distance race complete the accuracy of this simulator. A race weekend can easily take a real-time weekend to complete.

You have the ability to setup your car for wing configuration, gear ratios, tyre compounds, brake balance. A good setup will win you the race, whereas a bad one we have you spinning in the grass before you know it. Fortunately for novices there's a whole range of driver aids, including auto-gears, auto-brakes, auto-recovery, etc.

Formula One racing was a little different in these days - pit-stops were optional - tyres were slick - overtaking was allowed - and the season began in Phoenix, USA. This game reproduces these heady days of Mansell, Senna and Patrese, and is a must for all racing fans.

The Bad
This game actually is perfect. It may have been superceeded by GP2 and the brand new GP3, but in 1991 this was state of the art.

The only problem with Grand Prix games, (and it also afflicts football games) is that they become dated quickly due to the annual rule and personnel changes.

The Bottom Line
Absolutely phenomenal. Given the fact that this game is almost a decade old now, it's almost an histroical game. The quality and gameplay are still there, but you'd be racing in a bygone age - great for those of us who remember Formual One in the late 80's/early 90's.

The Good
The graphics were truly mind-blowing at the time, although ironically the plainly-filled polygons don't look as pretty as some of the sprite-based racers. The speed was impressive as well, especially considering everything else that was going on. The engine, tyre and contact noises were just right as well.

Every little detail about F1 cars was recreated. The computer cars behaved realistically, and the difficulty levels and driving aids allowed anyone to have a level they could play competitively at.

Car setup was a new feature for F1 racing, with minute control over gears, brakes and wings, which made a very clear and well-defined difference to the handling.

Unlike GP2, wet weather racing was recreated, impressively on a technical basis, and the wet races created suitably unpredictable action.

Races and qualifying sessions could be realistic lengths, in which case tyre choice and strategy came into play, or just short sprints for those of us without a long attention span.

Most importantly, the handling was spot on and felt exactly like the real thing.

The Bad
This was a very different genre to arcade racers of the time, such as the Lotus series. You had to race strategically and carefully, using the brakes frequently, thinking about car set-ups (often using a lot of trial and error practice laps), learn the tracks, and couldn't just smash everyone out of the way. If you weren't into motor racing, this may've been too much.

The damage model was a little unrealistic as well, with the cars being too strong in all areas except wings. This meant that pileups often resulted in a bunch of cars limping to the pits, often having to queue behind their team-mates

The Bottom Line
Magnificent. It's hard to imagine how to better recreate F1 on the hardware of the day. No wonder it got so many massive review scores.

The Good
This was a game to be played again and again. The later release, including modem play, was an unbelievable game, and one that became a staple in our "LAN" gaming sessions.

The game was great in itself, having wonderful graphics, great sounds, and all 16 tracks from F1 at the time, but what made it exceptional was the way you could change the car. That took it up from being a decent game to a war zone. As you got better at racing round the tracks, the pits became of extreme interest to you. What would help get that extra 5 mph out of the long straight? How could you get around the chicanes slightly faster?

If that wasn't enough, the multiplayer option added even more fire. Instead of simply racing and comparing times, you could actually race each other, using those ultra-secret car setups you'd spent the last three hours tweaking. We actually raced each other during actual races (broadcast on TV), using the 100% time option!

MicroProse got players racing quickly by giving you all the help you needed without actually steering for you - although they helped if asked. As you became more proficient, you could increase the difficulty rating yourself by removing whichever help system(s) you wanted. This made for a game that could have beginners and experts alike on the same track, racing each other at comparable levels.

The Bad
At the time there was really nothing to complain about. Even the names were configurable, so Senna could (unfortunately) be removed from the racing schedule.

The Bottom Line
Everyone I knew was racing this game. It was the definitive racing game of its time - there is no other way to say it.