Grand Prix Legends

Grand Prix Legends (GPL ) is a racing simulation of the Formula 1 season 1967. It was developed by game developer Papyrus Design Group under the leadership of Dave Kaemmer and Randy Cassidy and published by Sierra Entertainment in 1998.

  • 2.1 driver
  • 2.2 routes

Gameplay

Simulates the Formula 1 season of the year 1967. Was voted by the developers because it is seen as a turning point in the history of Formula 1 with experts. The cars were very powerful according to the engine capacity doubling from 1966 to 3 liters with about 400 hp, but still had no aerodynamic aids, and even profiled tires with a relatively hard rubber compound. As a result, the vehicles were difficult to manage.

1967 was also the last year in which the cars were consistently painted in the colors of the nation of origin, before the appearance of the vehicles was changed by sponsors. In addition, in 1968, the first output- generating wings were added, with the other teams, some adventurous designs brought in every race at the start.

Simulated vehicles

The simulated in GPL cars are the Lotus 49, the Ferrari 312F1, the Eagle - Weslake T1G, the Brabham BT24, the BRM P115, the Cooper T81 and the Honda RA300. For licensing reasons, the Cooper was at the game's release as " Coventry " and the Honda called " Murasama ".

Many settings of the real cars are simulated in GPL with its effects. Among other things, camber, toe, the hardness of the springs and shock absorbers, tire pressure, brakes, and the transmission ratio of each gear can be adjusted.

Depending on the setting in the game, the cars can be damaged in collisions where the impact of the damage to some extent on the driving behavior.

Simulated racetracks

There are eleven historic routes in the simulation include (listed in chronological order of the racing season, behind in brackets indicate the driven there racing event ):

  • Kyalami ( Grand Prix of South Africa)
  • Monaco ( Monaco Grand Prix )
  • Zandvoort ( Dutch Grand Prix )
  • Spa -Francorchamps ( Belgian Grand Prix )
  • Rouen -les- Essarts (Grand Prix )
  • Silverstone ( Grand Prix England)
  • Nürburgring ( Grand Prix of Germany )
  • Mosport Park ( Grand Prix of Canada )
  • Monza ( Italian Grand Prix )
  • Watkins Glen International ( United States Grand Prix )
  • Mexico ( Grand Prix of Mexico)

Deviations of the simulation compared to the 1967 season

Driver

The composition of teams remains constant throughout the season. Some of the drivers included in the simulation went into the 1967 season only sporadically in Formula 1, the Frenchman Jean -Pierre Beltoise continuously running in the simulation a BRM, while he steered in reality a Formula 2 car ( Matra ) and only of three races throughout the season took part (then it was customary to fill the formula 1 field with formula 2 cars).

Stretch

Except for the Grand Prix of France found in the game, the race held on the original tracks of 1967. For France, the developers chose the driving skills and visually appealing Rouen in place of the 1967 Le Mans - Bugatti - driven course.

Modes

In races in single player mode, the opponents simulated by the computer. The GPL contained in AI adapts to the player's driving skills. This is to ensure that the players in terms of performance is always approximately in the middle third of the entire field. The AI ​​is from today's perspective only of average quality.

System

As GPL in 1998 came on the market, it took the most powerful hardware that was available. Only above a Pentium II CPU with at least 400 MHz and a Voodoo 2 graphics card into the game with a constantly high frame rate.

With updates the developer has ensured that GPL and can still be operated on today's hardware ( see the following section ).

Updates and Patches

To adjust the GPL progressive technical development, the developer brought out some updates and patches have been implemented by the following functionalities:

  • Direct3D rendering
  • OpenGL rendering
  • Force feedback support
  • Dedicated Server

The current version is 1.2.0.2. Since there is no longer the company Papyrus, this is the official final version of the game.

Modifications

Because there is no official software development kit ( SDK) for the GPL, the need to edit the game files software had to be written even after the contents of the files had been analyzed by consuming reverse engineering before. Therefore, it took nearly six years to complete the first modification ( Mod) appeared.

Other modifications

The graphics of the original tracks and cars has been updated again and again over time. The original sounds have been edited or completely replaced in order to get as close as possible to reality.

Video game publisher Publication Single-player video game Multiplayer video game 1967 Formula One season 1966 Formula One season 1968 Formula One season Eagle Mk1 Toe (automotive) Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps DirectX Haptic technology Mod (video gaming) Can-Am Racing slick
277147
de