This months PC Gamer has a 4 page review of GP4. Im not gonna type it all out here but i'll give some extracts on the box outs (Ive not read the entire thing yet). Warning though, there is quite a lot of detail, so if you don't wanna know, don't read
For those who want to get to the point here is the score:
92% - Consummately executed and ultra-realistic driving experience. Another masterpiece.
Grand Prix 4 is:
- The best F1 sim ever
- A visual treat
- A masterpiece of coding (Neil: Well done Geoff & Co)
Grand Prix 4 is not:
- Difficult (Neil: I suspect it handles like GP3 then)
- Reality, but its close
- To be missed
Other areas of interest are:
Setups: Like in GP3 2000 each track has a default setup so you don't have to lap Hockenheim at 180mph because the setup was designed for Monaco.
Quote: "GPS-created tracks are a quantum leap in realism"
Pitstops: Very realistic and they make mistakes which you can see!
Weather: Tweaked weather system. Rain drops can now form on the camera lens in external views (Neil: Why not on in in-car view?)
AI: "Drivers will react to the pressure you put on them"
Collisions: There are more detachable parts than ever, all having their own physics to how they slide along the track. Like in GP3 2000 you can collide with them.
And finally, how well does it run? Well here is what the system miser says:
- Supported resolutions: 640x480 up to 1200x1024
- Scaleable options: Lighting, enviroment maps, bump mapping, reflections (Neil: From looking at the screenies the car do have too much reflection of them), shadows, car and trackside geometry, texture detail, pit crew
Verdict: GP4 quite happily ran on our low-end PIII 500 system at 800x600, and the game has a very effcient auto-detail system that only draws elements your PC can handle. You can, of course, go down the manual route and switch off the effects one by one to get a big performance gain with little noticeable loss in detail to the tracks and cars.
Min Sys: PII 400
Rec Sys: PIII 750
So overall then it seems like it is a good game. PC Gamer also reviewed F1 2002, and like everyone expected it isn't as good. It still managed 80%, with the moral of the review being its a great improvement over the last game, but compared to GP4, well they just got their release date timing wrong. I'd say both are fair reviews really.