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Grand Prix 3 This game has come under a lot of criticism, particularly from fans of the original game who complain that despite being in development for over four years, it is nothing more than a minor update to the previous version – more Grand Prix 2.5 than 3. But while this complaint may be justified, Grand Prix 2 was still far superior to any of the many, many F1 games which followed, so a tweaked version of Grand Prix 2 is not necessarily such a bad thing. So what exactly has been changed? One of the biggest omissions from Grand Prix 2 was that it didn’t have variable weather – it was always totally dry. This has been rectified for this installment, and is without a doubt the most realistic handling of rain ever seen in a driving game. As well as making the cars extremely difficult to handle (and giving you admiration for the drivers who manage to keep their cars on the track in these conditions in real life) it also behaves exactly like real weather. This means that in races, certain parts of the track can be dry, while others are wet. It can also start or stop at any point in a race or qualifying. As you would expect the graphics have been given a major overhaul. Compared to some modern games, GP3 is not particularly demanding when it comes to required specifications, so as long as you have a reasonably modern PC you should be able to run the game at a high resolution, in which case the graphics are extremely good. For those with slower PCs, the lower resolutions are pretty blocky, but then again this is likely to be the case if you tried to run any modern 3D simulator. Definitely the highlight of the graphics engine is how it handles racing in the wet, even down to including reflections of the trackside in puddles on the track. But while generally the graphics look very good, there are a few exceptions which seem to be hangovers from the previous engine of GP2. The marshals are 2D and look very flat and lifeless, in particular looking a little ridiculous when pushing your car off (particularly when once a marshal pushed my car off using an invisible rear wing, since it has been broken off during the race). More of a problem is that the detail level of the cars is not quite up to the same standard as the tracks – in particular the McClarens and even more so the Ferraris look extremely bland because they lack cigarette advertising (though if you look further down in this review, you’ll see there are ways to rectify this.) Force feedback has also been added, but in general wheel and joystick support is not great – certain devices have problems with handling (though a patch is due anytime), and the setup screen is also pretty poor - most modern joysticks or wheels have more than four buttons and there is still only support for two axis. In addition there has also been numerous other additions, such as the way your tires put down rubber, meaning that during a race, a racing line gradually builds up, or the way cars have real-time shadows. All things which you might not immediately notice, but as you do, you’ll become more and more impressed by this game. The handling of the car in GP2 was always what made it so great, but this has also been improved again for GP3 - the Arrows team have tested this out, and rated it very highly, which clearly highlights the level of realism we are talking about. All the customizable driving aids are still here (steering help, ideal line etc.), meaning that even newcomers will be able to pick this game up and play straight away, while more experienced drivers can turn these off and gain complete control. The car setup screens too remain similar, with various levels of detail allowing you to alter everything from ride height to dampers on the car - learning how to set-up your car is vital if you want success on the higher levels. With all this attention to realism, the problems with the game do seem slightly odd. For a start, your car does seem far too sturdy and as much down to chance whether bits will break in a crash than anything else. This does mean that it is a bit easy for the player to bump computer cars off the circuit in overtaking moves without being penalized, not something you really do intentionally, but you would be more careful if you knew that your front wing would be lost if you made contact. The AI of the computer cars is probably the best around, but while in general they act sensibly, it is still not perfect. Two examples - if a car gets stuck behind you after a spin, it will constantly try and ram you in an attempt to get past you; also computer cars tend to immediately pit for wet tires in the rain. A few more unforced errors from drivers would be more realistic too. While it is fun to drive and try and improve your times, the game also lacks a bit of structure in that there is nothing that really seems to make it worthwhile to race a full championship season. A definite improvement would be the addition of a career mode in which you worked your way up though the slower teams with the ultimate goal of getting in one of the front line cars and racing then for the championship. This does also remind me of another slight niggle – the performance of the player’s car always remains the same, whether that car is a Minardi or a McClaren, so you can’t increase (or decrease) the challenge of the game by picking a different car, even though the computer controlled cars have accurate performance data. Although it sets itself up as a true recreation of the F1 season, something which is bound to annoy fans of the sport is that the rules are not followed exactly. One example of this is that there are no proper ten-second penalties – if you jump a corner for example, your car is simply slowed down for a fixed length of time. In general the excuse given for these variations from the rules of the sport or reality is that they improve gameplay, but surely that is down to the individual to decide and really it should be a case that you choose to set up the game to be as realistic as you want it to be. Perhaps the biggest complaint people are going to have, is that the data is all based on the 1998 season, and with the teams and drivers constantly changing in F1 this is not really acceptable. In a cynical move, EA are promising to release season patches every year, but since the one set for November is still only based on the 1999 season, you’ll still be one year out a sync. Apparently though, this patch will also include other additions such as a safety car and proper ten second penalties. Unlike like most PC patches however, this one won’t be available free over the Internet - it will be an extra cash layout of probably about £15 - but I have to admit, if these extras features are included, I’ll be buying it. There is a cheaper way to keep the game’s data current though. Both the earlier installments had fanatical support from users on the Internet, the open architecture of the game meaning it was easy for people to modify the game. This has remained, meaning that even with the relative newness of the game, there are already complete sets which update the data to the year 2000, although most of these are still being tested. A few useful sites for people wishing to update: In this day and age, the omission of Internet play is also pretty poor. While a race full of human opponents may have been unviable, because of the speed of the Internet at present, even the option for four or eight people to race against one another would have been a massive addition to the game, and one that significantly increased its value. There is LAN support, but this unlikely to be much use to most people, and not having tried this myself, I can’t comment on its performance. To sum up, this is without a doubt, the best of the modern F1 simulators –
nothing else comes close for realism of driving. It is true that there are still
quite a few niggles here, particularly annoying since most of these were in the
previous installment, but when you’re racing round the famous streets of the
Monaco circuit, or desperately trying to overtake someone in an attempt to gain
the lead, all these problems are forgotten because this is simply one of the
most enjoyable games of all time. For fans of GP2 then, there is enough here to
make it worthwhile upgrading (once you get this game, you won’t be going back
to GP2). For newcomers, buy this and see what you’ve been missing!
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