some more info on GP4

this is taken from alpha F1



Big thanks to executive producer Nick Court and Infogrames for inviting me to play Grand Prix 4 at Seaside Hotel today. After a long anticipation, I got my hands on the both PC and X-Box versions of the game. They had the latest alpha version of the game, first beta is expected to be ready after couple of weeks.

Nick Court started by showing us the Xbox version of the game. I believe it was a normal PAL version with fixed framerate 25fps (50Hz in TV) with 640x480. Like already seen in the demo movie, the graphics looked amazingly good and smooth altough it was running on a normal TV screen.

After it, he showed us the PC version which was excatly the same the Xbox version. It was running with Pentium 4, Geforce3 Ti 200 and Windows XP. The resolution was set to 1024x768 and framerate to 24fps. Unfortunately they had some problems making the wheels and pedals to work, so only keyboard play was available.

So I finally got my hands on the game and I was positively impressed! I took 'quicklaps' mode to drive Suzuka. Since I was playing with keyboard I can't say how much they have improved the physics, but it felt excatly the same than with GP3 2000. The whole Suzuka track feels completely different than seen in GP3. Thanks to GPS modelling each corner is now realistic as it should be. The new helmet view looks very realistic since it's dynamically rendered, but the T-Cam view is more fun to drive. You can change between helmet and T-Cam view between the 'left arrow' key.

Then I tried the X-box version which was a big positive surprise! The pad feels very nice since all the controls are analog and it has rumble effects as well. It tought it'd be some crappy arcade conversion, but driving the car felt very good and I can recommend the X-box version everyone who was the console.

There are still lots of work to be done until the game is ready. The game sometimes crashed which could be very annoying if you are driving a long race. They also need to work with the tracks and graphics until it'll be ready.

I'll now explain each detail of the game. I also had a chance to do full interview with Nick (thanks for your patience) which I'm not going to put here word to word, just the most interesting things.

Release date - The release date for both PC and Xbox version is 14th June 2002. According to Court it's the final date and there won't be anymore any details.

Physics - Like seen in the previous Geoff Crammond games, this is the best thing about the game. I can't say how much it has been improved. According some previous reports, each team would has its own physics, but according Court it has not been implement, but they are considering the possibility of adding to the final version. It'd mean that winning races with Ferrari is much easier than with Minardi.

Season 2001 brought some new driving aids to F1 drivers, traction control and launch control. Traction control has seen in the previous GP games as a driving aid (F7) and this game won't change the situation. However it has been changed to be more realistic. You can turn on/off the launch control by pressing F9. I didn't test how it's working in the game, but according to Court you can actually damage your by using the launch control in wrong way.

The keyboard play is excatly the same than in GP3 2000. According to Court, the force feedback has been changed as well, but they are going to finetune it for the final version.

The damages are exactly the same as in GP3 2000 (at least I didn't notice any difference), so no improvements in this area.

Graphics engine - The major improvement since GP3 is completely new graphics engine. As seen in the screen shots it allows much smoother and nicer looking graphics. However, they are still using the old "2d" track format seen in all the previos games. Good news is that you can export all the GP3 tracks to GP4 with little effort and easily edit the existing GP4 tracks as well. Bad news is that the format is "old-fashion" and does not allow all possible 3d tricks, such as deep safety areas (eg Melbourne, Monaco, Montreal), making the track's old layout driveable (eg Hockenheim, Barcelona) and 3d fences and tyre barriers. Pretty all the graphics bugs seen in GP3 exist also in GP4.

I asked Court the explanation for this kind of solution and he said that the reason for this is that they must be backwards compatible; Simergy and Microprose are working in different locations doing different things based on the format and therefore changing the format wasn't possible. All the tracks and objects are however made with 3d studio max, because it's the best tool available.

In GP4\Circuits directory the tracks are now called as S1CT??.dat files instead of the old F1CT??.dat. The filesize is between 120kB-200kB which proves that they are still using the old format.

The new engine doesn't anymore support software rendering, so you'll need a 3d card for this one.

Also it was quite disappointing to see that they are still using the fixed frame rate system. You'll choose a frame rate between 8-60fps and you cannot change during the action itself. It means that you'll still have to monitor the "processor occupany" during the game by pressing the 'o'-button. Court however said that they'll probably add an option to the final version that it automatically changes the frame rate so that the occupany is always the ideal 100%.

The minimum screen resolution is 512x384 and maximum 1280x1024. You can turn on/off these options: arcade overlays, TV overlays, cockpit visor, mirrors, video walls and heat haze. These settings can be adjusted from low to high detail: car geometry, trackside geometry, texture detail, pitcrew, advanced lighting, environment maps, bump mappings, reflections and shadows.

Graphics - The textures aren't any superior, but it's not a big deal since I can't see any reason why we sholdn't be able to edit. They aren't however anymore using the 'JAM' extension for the graphic files since it's now called "TEX". However the objects are extremly well detailed and they look exactly the same as seen in real life. There are also helicopters, aeroplanes, trucks and normal cars outside the track. Also light poles and all the less important objects are included.

The only track which had crowd included was Melbourne. Of course, it'll be added to all the others tracks before the release. You can see that the crowd are actually waving national flags and taking photographs (lightings from cameras). Also the flags in the big flagpoles are animated as well tough they looked very buggy. TV screens are animated as well altough it looked more like a slideshow than following the actual race. Also the 3d marshalls are animated and you can see them walking on the track.

Tracks - As I mentioned earlier the tracks are modelled with GPS data. According Court some company somehow involved with F1 did the recording last year. 3d coordinates were recorded about every meter and the all other points were interpolated in the studios. They also took several thousand photos during the race weekends to help making the textures and objects.

Car setups - There aren't any new car setup options since GP3 2000. However each team has it's unique gearbox, 6 or 7 gears as seen in real life. In the gear setup screen you can choose if you want to use 6 or 7 gears. When I asked about possible including changing the steering lock to the setup screen, Court answered that they are considering the possibility.

Sounds - My first impression was that the sounds haven't been changed since 3d sounds very introduced in GP3 2000, but according to Court, all sounds are new recorded with Arrows F1 team. The in-car sounds are quite similar, but the TV-view sounds have been improved a lot and it really now sounds like it should be, amazing! Radio messages are still the same, but they include some new. They have asked Arrows to tell them which messages are actually used and in which situations.

Pits - GP4 finally introduces motion captured pitcrew. Together with Arrows F1 team, they recorded the animations in a studio using real mechanics doing what they are supposed to do. In the pits you can actually see the mechanics walking in the pitlane, and when you exit the box, a guy will walk in front of you to check and then give you the permission to leave. Unfortunately I forget to test what happens during practise when you return back to the pitbox. As seen in the screen shots, you can follow the races from the pit monitor. Altough the pit cameras are in the screen shots and the demo video, they were disabled in the game, but will be enabled back in the final version.

You cannot change the speed limiter manually and pit exit lights won't work, because penalties aren't implemented.

Helmet view - According to Court they got an idea for the helmet view when one of the Microprose guys went sitting on the Arrows cockpit when nobody was watching and he sketched the view he could see later. Crash helmet was then added later. Court admits that the visor covers the steering help section from the cockpit and they are probably going to do something for it.

Weather - The reason why we haven't yet seen any wet weather screen shots is that the have some big problems with the reflections and they need to sort them out first. Also in heavy rain the processor occupancy goes very high. The rain effects and options are excatly the same as seen in GP3. The only new feature is that you can see the water drops squirting to the camera lens and helmet. You won't be able to see the sun in the sky and there won't be any detailed weather forecasts.

Artificial intelligence - It has slightly improved since GP3 2000. According to Court you can push the computer car drivers to make mistakes and according to my personal experience overtaking is much harder since they keep constantly blocking the driver. Practise/qualifying/warm-up tactics will not be included.

Missing features - There won't be any new extra features such safety cars, red flags, jumps starts, penalties, warm-up lap and extra practise before the race, because they don't have any time to implement them. Since they'll be using the same graphics engine for their next game, they'll then possibly add some new features. Note, if some new feature isn't mentioned in this article, it won't be included to the game.

Multiplayer modes - Internet play won't be included, because FOM doesn't allow it. All the other options are exactly the same as in GP3. Split screen mode for Xbox wasn't yet implemented.

Steering wheel - Every team are still using a generic steering wheel with big LCD display, because according to Court this is the way they wanted it to be. Adding unique 100% realistic wheels for pro users could be a possibility in future games, but they need to work out some things before doing so. Hands on the steering wheel will not be added, because they'd look like piece of woods and block the LCD screen all the time. I pointed out that it'd then be very realistic, but Court didn't like my idea and didn't promise they would consider it at least as an alternative for the current view, bollocks.

Drivers in the game - In the screen shots have been seen several drivers in one team, but according to Court in the final version the line-up will be the same than seen in the final GP (Suzuka) of the 2001 season.

Help from F1 drivers - According to Court, Jos Verstappen and Pedro de la Rosa helped with GP3, but so far none F1 driver has tested the new game.

Geoff Crammond - According to Court, GC is doing just fine and has still the passion to continue with future Grand Prix games.

I also took a look at the readme file at the GP4 main directory and it was basically the same GP3 file with just name changed.

This was pretty much the all I can remember. Unfortunately no photos/videos due to licensing issues. If you have any questions, go to our discussion forums instead of mailing me directly. If you are from Finland, check out SubTV and MoonTV channels for their own Nick Court interviews. Please do NOT copy-paste this article to any other site.


27th March 2002

First of all, BIG thanks for producer Nick Court for inviting me to have a free dinner at Hotel Kämp on Wednesday night. I'll make the full interview tomorrow, but he already explained few things from the game.

There will be no safety cars, stop and go penalties, warm-up laps or any new features like that, because they have only have limited time to work with the game and they wanted to concentrate on the new graphics engine. They'll add more features to their future releases.

There will be no Internet play, because the FOM license doesn't allow it. They also don't know how to implement it properly, so they wouldn't add it anyway. Nick also reminded that their competitors don't have the Internet play support neither, so it isn't a big problem for them.

When asked about the Playstation 2 version, the official comment is "no comments". It means that they don't confirm it, but they don't deny it either. My personal guess is that they are at least considering the possibility of making such version, but nothing has yet been confirmed.

I'll get a chance to play the game tomorrow (Thursday) and after it, I'll post a full review.






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

Pretty all the graphics bugs seen in GP3 exist also in GP4?

Brilliant! At leats I know what to expect. I really hate surprises.

If it is really out June 14th, I already forsee that all hell's breaking loose right here in this forum by June 15th the latest

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REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS

You cannot change the speed limiter manually and pit exit lights won't work, because penalties aren't implemented.


oh just @#$%& great, we've been waiting for a non computer controlled pitlane since GP2 and we're still waiting

and what a suprise no penalties again, which we've been waiting for since GP2


sorry about the bad language but i'm pretty angry at the moment






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

Holy @!#$, so am I. Sorry for the language, but this is @#$%&E.D.

"The damages are exactly the same as in GP3 2000 (at least I didn't notice any difference), so no improvements in this area."

That is OK, but still it isnt the greatest. Why are they carrying things across from GP3????

"However, they are still using the old "2d" track format seen in all the previos games."

This is SO out of date it isnt funny! It chews up processing power completely, and is frankly awful looking!

"There aren't any new car setup options since GP3 2000."

Groan....... it is getting worse by the minute. You cannot change camber settings, the gear ratios are stuffed, you cant do a final drive ratio either. The wing settings are unrealistic from 1 to 20, you need bigger.

"You cannot change the speed limiter manually and pit exit lights won't work, because penalties aren't implemented."

For @#$%& sake, what is wrong with them? It is so unrealistic driving without speed limiter and exit lights. They are saying that they are trying to recreate the 2001 season in full detail. So they just leave penalties out?

"There won't be any new extra features such safety cars, red flags, jumps starts, penalties, warm-up lap and extra practise before the race, because they don't have any time to implement them.."

Why the @!#$ then dont they hold the game back, so they can improve it???? GP3 was unfinished when it came out, and it looks as though it was going to be the same again. Unrealistic.

"According to Court, GC is doing just fine and has still the passion to continue with future Grand Prix games."

Yeah, cause he doesnt have to do anything. All he does is the bloody physics, which are unchanged.

I am really, really disappointed by this. Why? Because I bought F1 2001 yesterday. It was the best decision I made in my F1 gaming career. Why? Because it has so many 'little things' that add up to make a good game.

- A training mode in two and three seater cars at certain tracks, which is good to learn the game.

- Different carshapes and steering wheels for each team.

- Very good feedback via an LCD display on the steering wheel. You can change your pitstop strategy, change wing values, choose if you want to repair damage at next pit stop, etc. You can get info on each tyre temperature. You can see the certain damage aspects of the car.

- You have a speed limiter in the pits, that you can activate manually. There are pit exit lights. You have lots of radio feedback from the team, which is good.

- The graphics engine is ultra smooth, and you rarely get frame rate drops. You have a wealth of camera options, like T-Cam, and the on track cameras are amazing.

- You have many other car setup options, like changing camber settings for tyres, you have a final drive ratio which you can change, you can even set the ratio for reverse gear! There are seven gears....

- From in the cockpit view, you can see the suspension moving, which is a cool little addition.

- The tracks are very detailed, just as much as Larry's Canada track. There is lots more camber changes in the tracks. The bumps are very realistic. For example, Brazil has always known to be bumpy, and it is. You dont just drive over the bumps, you feel them. And they slow you down.

- The physics are quite good, maybe not as good as GP3's, but still good. In slower corners the cars sometimes suffer from chronic understeer, but that is about it.

- The game modes are quite good, the same as GP3s, plus the driving school. And you Test Days, (practice), you can have the option of having other cars there as well. You drive out of the garage.......

- You can adjust steering lock in the car setup menu, you have all of the flags implemented, you can be disqualifyed for driving carelessly and backwards. There isnt traction control, but there are lots of aids for rookies. You can have steering assistance on low, high or off.
Opposite Lock Assistance, on or off.
Braking point distance, low, high or off.
Stability assistance, low, high or off.
Spin recovery assitance, low, high or off.
Invulnerability, low, high or off.
Shifting assitance, on or off.
Throttle assitance, low, high or off.
Anti-lock braking assitance, low, high or off.
Pit lane assitance, on or off.
Clutch assitance, on or off.
With clutch assitance off, you can stall your car on the grid or anywhere around the track.

I have only been playing it for a day, so I am yet to drive on all the tracks or see all of the features fully. I have to pinch myself, saying is this an EA game? It is, and it is brilliant. And more than brilliant is the GT Mod available, which turns it into a brand new game.

I wont buy GP4, I will buy F1 2002, and I will laugh at you people stuck with 2D tracks, no red flags, no stop/go penalties etc.....


Do YOURSELF a favour. Buy F1 2001, or 2002 when it comes out, and stay away from the GP series because frankly, they dont know how to make games.


Have a nice day.

Rupert

Ozzy in many ways I agree with you, but it's wasted in here. This is an EA Sports free zone

Notice how they stated that GP3 already had Traction Control Vader?

Hehe.

EA Sports Formula 1 2001 sounds great, but honestly, even without a @!#$ load of features, I still prefer the Grand Prix series just because of the fact that the A.I is great, the physics are great and now the graphics are gonna be great too. Its one of the only games that actually makes me feel like I'm racing other cars instead of racing the clock with other cars in there as hazards.

Notice how they stated that GP3 already had Traction Control Vader?

This is what proves that I am right. These guys obviously don't no sh*t about games and F1, so when they say F7 is traction control, you can be sure that most definitely it is NOT.

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REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS

F7 is definetly not traction control because traction control should make the car faster not slower!!!

Ah F**K it Warez seems more and more tempting

I AGREE CHRIS..
Just a few weeks ago, I started saving up to buy this game.
Now that I've read that preview, I'm not so sure whether the game is worth my money...

Marc



Marc
-=-=-=-=-

Well obvioulsy im not gonna get it from warez but, why cant crammond pay attention to the god-damn community the people who bought his god-damn games in the bloody first place. Mind you it'll still be a good game

I am really, really disappointed by this. Why? Because I bought F1 2001 yesterday. It was the best decision I made in my F1 gaming career. Why? Because it has so many 'little things' that add up to make a good game.

SOME KNOWN BUGS IN F1 2001

We have found the following bugs and are proposing the following solutions:

For some unknown reasons it happens, that the LCD display shows the wrong tyre type (soft/hard) in the LCD display at the start.
We recommend to make the following procedure your usual habit prior to accessing the starting grid. Based on our tests this should solve this bug once and for all:
1) Select the set up you want to use for race (it might be good to save it, even though you did not modify anything).
2) Make this set up your favorite set up for that track.
3) Click back arrow and you will be back to the race screen.
4) Click back arrow again and you should be back to the main menu.
5) Now accept all the way through to the race screen.
6) You may view vehicle setup, but there is no need to now, as the setup is the "favorite" for this track.
7) Double check prior to getting off the grid whether the second LCD display shows the correct tyre.

Be aware of the blue flags when you are about to get lapped. It appears, that you can be given several stop and go penalties and you will be disqualified by the game, if you do not return to pits for each of these penalties. We cannot switch the Flag Rule off, because stop and go penalties for cutting cannot be eliminated for obvious reasons.
We strongly recommend to always give way to the faster cars whenever you get lapped. You should realize that total race time is not an important factor anymore once you are lapped, since main criteria for lapped drivers remains their own finishing position.

Avoid using "Season 2001 grid positions" for testing in Quick Race mode. The introduction of new car liveries to your game can provoke multiple Ferraris and other cars appearing in your game. This problem disappears once you select a specific starting position.

When entering pits, do not open the 2nd LCD screen on your wheel (the one showing type of tyre, wing, fuel etc) because mechanics not do anything until you re-select another LCD screen.

And how about this?

1mn 08s 776ms pole times for Brazil??? WTF?!? Last time I checked the real pole for 2001 was 1'13.780. 5 seconds difference per lap? You call that realistic?!?

Both excerpts are taken from the ISR/FSR, formerly known as GP3 Global league @ [www.gp3gl.com]

So much for F2001!

I think we should stop shouting "Armageddon is upon us", and start looking at what we KNOW about the text that presents GP4.

Like how sober is a statement like this:

[/i]Notice how they stated that GP3 already had Traction Control Vader?

This is what proves that I am right. These guys obviously don't no sh*t about games and F1, so when they say F7 is traction control, you can be sure that most definitely it is NOT. [/i]

When the interview clearly states:

However it has been changed to be more realistic.

Come on you crybabies! If you want to scream about how disappointed you are, then at least moan about issues that are REAL!

And none of you even bother to mention stuff like this:

You can turn on/off the launch control by pressing F9. I didn't test how it's working in the game, but according to Court you can actually damage your by using the launch control in wrong way.

Get some balance in your point of view, and talk some sense around here. Nobody needs all the whining, cause at best it won't change squat, and at the worst you are destroying your own credability. If you really already hate the game so much, then just don't friggin buy it. How hard can that be?

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

Well i dont hate the game, i think itll be the best F1 simultion and i am looking forward to it, but it gets a bit annoying having to keep paying for the best F1 games, when each time its just better graphics and a few changes, all i want is that geoff takes into account our views (which he wont) and maybe adds in the features which other games have.

but dont get me wrong, i am still waiting eagerly for the game

But when that is said, these two real are @!#$:

1) Pretty all the graphics bugs seen in GP3 exist also in GP4.

2) There won't be any new extra features such safety cars, red flags, jumps starts, penalties, warm-up lap and extra practise before the race, because they don't have any time to implement them.

I think it would be nice if they actually checked the features list for GP3-2000 on the official homepage [www.grandprixgames.com]

quote: (bold by me)

New Features:

...

All 2000 FIA rules including the implementation of "stop go" penalties.

...

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

I agree Chris, that Geoff and his team really should get their cat together concerning understanding and consulting the fan base. When he was interviewed for the release of GP3, he clamped down on all the unofficial modders, patchers and util programmers as thieves! At least they made importing of old tracks into GP4 pretty easy, but there sure still is a long way to go. A good starting point would be to release an email adresse or something, so that we at least could express our wishes for further developments to them.

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

if geoff crtammond has put the fate of the GP series in the hands (or should that be paws) of a cat, then i am worried






LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

And you would have good reason the be worried, since that cat get miceimum contact with those that feed it.

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

I am dreading how GP4 is gonna turn out, but thats in terms of our expectance levels! There is no doubt GP4 is gonna be a great game! I am gonna buy it, and most people in this forum is gonna buy it! Now i'm not made of money, and neither are most people here, but I would suggest getting both of them... I am considering it!

You never know!!... maybe some bright spark out there will be able to create a masterful patch that can implement penalties and other 'small things'! Here's me dreaming!

Wouldn't it be great, if we actually had the opportunity to talk things over with Geoff? I am pretty dure that if we explained WHY it is so necessary to have:

quote: All 2000 FIA rules including the implementation of "stop go" penalties.

including such things as a safety car and jump starts, he would reconsider his position, and maybe even agree that they should be added ASAP. Of course that can only happen IF we can actually exchange points of views in a mutual forum for the development of the GPx series. Something that they have yet to provide...

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.