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Grand Prix Legends

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Grand Prix Legends
North American boxart
Developer(s)Papyrus Design Group
Publisher(s)Sierra Sports
Director(s)Matt Sentell
Designer(s)Randy Cassidy
David Kaemmer
Brian C. Mahony
Matt Sentell
Richard Yasi
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release
Genre(s)Racing simulation
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer

Grand Prix Legends is a computer racing simulator developed by Papyrus Design Group and published in 1998 by Sierra On-Line under the Sierra Sports banner. It simulates the 1967 Grand Prix season.[2]

Gameplay

The game offers several modes in which the player can race alone or against AI opponents. The game also features multiplayer via LAN. Many parameters affecting the skill and aggressiveness of the AI drivers can be specified.

Development

Inspired by the 1966 film Grand Prix, the developers chose to base the game on the 1967 Formula 1 Grand Prix season because during that period tracks were narrow and lined with trees, houses, and other elements that in a video game can serve as backgrounds to enhance the sensation of speed.[2] In addition, the more primitive suspension of cars of the time meant that the car physics could be more visually dramatic.[2]

However, the amount of time that has passed since the 1967 Grand Prix season meant that some of the tracks the designers wanted to recreate no longer existed in their original form. The team visited town halls to get blueprints for defunct tracks.[2] Licensing could also be difficult. Papyrus co-founder Dave Kaemmer commented, "It's not a pleasant thing to call someone on the phone and say that you want to license their dead son's name, but people have been very helpful."[2]

Reception

According to Andy Mahood of PC Gamer US, Grand Prix Legends experienced "abysmally poor sales".[15] It ultimately totaled 200,000 sales by 2004. GameSpot's Gord Goble attributed its performance to the "combination of treacherous gameplay, sometimes glacial frame rates, and esoteric subject matter".[16]

The game received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.[3] GameSpot said, "Grand Prix Legends will reward you with arguably the most intense racing experience ever seen on a personal computer."[9]

Grand Prix Legends was the runner-up for Computer Gaming World's 1998 "Best Driving" award, which ultimately went to Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit. The editors wrote of Grand Prix Legends, "Arguably the most ambitious and realistic driving simulation to date—modeling the thrills and difficulties of Grand Prix racing circa 1967—it is also perhaps the toughest to play. It's an awesome game for those who can handle it."[17]

Grand Prix Legends won Computer Games Strategy Plus's 1998 "Sports Game of the Year" award. The editors wrote, "Racing games are always popular, and there are a lot of them, but few if any approach Grand Prix Racing's level of sophistication and uncompromising detail."[18]

In 1999, Next Generation listed Grand Prix Legends as number 47 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, "Not only does it have the most realistic physics model yet in a racing game [...] a brilliant premise, and the best drive AI we've seen, but GPL enables players to do something they simply never could in the real world. Many, if not most games do that, but few do it as convincingly or compellingly."[19]

Legacy

References

  1. ^ Gentry, Perry (October 6, 1998). "What's in Stores This Week". CNET Gamecenter. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e "NG Alphas: Grand Prix Legends". Next Generation. No. 29. Imagine Media. May 1997. pp. 66–69.
  3. ^ a b "Grand Prix Legends for PC". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  4. ^ Bauman, Steve (October 28, 1998). "Grand Prix Legends". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Strategy Plus, Inc. Archived from the original on May 23, 2003. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  5. ^ Goble, Gord (January 1999). "Blast From the Past (Grand Prix Legends Review)" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 174. Ziff Davis. pp. 340–41. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  6. ^ Edge staff (November 1998). "Grand Prix Legends". Edge. No. 64. Future plc.
  7. ^ Morris, Daniel (1999). "Grand Prix Legends Review for PC on GamePro.com". GamePro. IDG Entertainment. Archived from the original on June 23, 2004. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  8. ^ Cooke, Mark (December 1998). "Grand Prix Legends Review". Game Revolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on October 12, 2015. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  9. ^ a b Poole, Stephen (December 17, 1998). "Grand Prix Legends Review [date mislabeled as "May 1, 2000"]". GameSpot. CBS Interactive.
  10. ^ L'avis de lightman (October 21, 1998). "Test: Grand Prix Legends". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Webedia. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  11. ^ "Finals". Next Generation. No. 49. Imagine Media. January 1999. p. 100.
  12. ^ "Grand Prix Legends". PC Gamer UK. Future plc. 1999.
  13. ^ McDonald, T. Liam (January 1999). "Grand Prix Legends". PC Gamer. Vol. 6, no. 1. Future US. Archived from the original on December 22, 1999. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  14. ^ "PC Review: Grand Prix Legends". PC Zone. Future plc. 1999.
  15. ^ Mahood, Andy (December 2000). "Staying Ahead of the Game". PC Gamer. Vol. 7, no. 12. Future US. Archived from the original on August 27, 2003.
  16. ^ Goble, Gord (July 24, 2004). "History of Papyrus Racing Games". GameSpot. Archived from the original on August 3, 2004.
  17. ^ CGW staff (April 1999). "Computer Gaming World's 1999 Premier Awards (Best Driving)" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 177. Ziff Davis. p. 100. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  18. ^ CGSP staff (February 11, 1999). "The Best of 1998 (Best Sports Game)". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Strategy Plus, Inc. Archived from the original on February 9, 2005. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  19. ^ "Top 50 Games of All Time". Next Generation. No. 50. Imagine Media. February 1999. p. 73.
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