Grand Prix 3 Developer: Microprose Publisher: Hasbro Interactive Category: : F1 Sim Racing System Req: P200, 32 MB RAM, 150 MB HD, Win 95/98/2000 Might look like: Grand Prix 2 Date posted: 3 October 2000 Written By: Dirk - This game was reviewed on Piii 600Mhz, 128 Mb 100mhz Ram, Geforce 2 GTS 32Mb, Win98 SE - We also test other games on "PlayDevil.com Game Machine" A Little Introduction Grand Prix 3 is the successor of 'Grand Prix 2', the bestseller race simulation from MicroProse. Geoff Crammond, who has a vast experience in developing F1 simulations has added some new goodies to the already very fine racing game that Grand Prix 2 was. The most important novelty is the possibility to drive a rain race and for the first time weather conditions can change during a practise session, qualifying or the race itself. The weather is forecasted by Grand Prix 3 so pitstop and tirestrategy will play a even bigger role in this new simulationgame. Never change a winning team Geoff Crammond kept himself to the same ingredients as he used conceiving GP2. Therefore Grand Prix 3 has the same logical menu built-up as GP2 did. You can choose between a practise run on a track of your choise, a non-championship race and a full championship with all 16 events. The menu's for changing game options, the controls and the graphic and sound options are done in the same way you were used to do it in GP2. The same goes for the normal and advanced set up of the car, which is in good Grand Prix tradition very accurate. One of the disadvantages of Grand Prix 3 is the fact that it brings you the F1 World Championship of 1998. This means you will have to settle for the cars, drivers and tracks of two years ago. So don't go looking for the brand new Indianapolis Grand Prix course or the Sentul track in Malaysia. Note: however, Microprose will soon release an add-on for Grand Prix 3 which will include the new teams and drivers.    GP2 vs. GP3! We have already made a lot of comparisons with GP2, the predecessor of the game we are reviewing today. This is not a coincidence. We spent a lot of time reading all the comments about GP3 on the forums of different specialized racesimulation sites and were surprised by the hard critics GP3 had to cope with. So we decided to get GP2 of the shelf, installed the game and gave it a testdrive. GP2 revisited just to get a better idea of the pro's and cons of GP3. The first thing we noticed was that GP2 is still a damned good game with very realistic car control, very accurate tracks and a gameplay that is still exemplary to a lot of other simulations. The fact that you can download a lot of stuff from the internet like carsets of practically every year there as been a World Championship (from 1950 until 2000), a lot of tracks which were made by GP2 enthusiasts and a lot of editors and add-ons contributes to this very strong position of GP3.    But we are sure that most of these add-ons, tracks, editors and carsets will also be build for GP3. So we don't agree with a lot of critics who believe that the editors won't like GP3. We are that optimistic because we have done a very deep study into both games and the conclusion is that GP3 simply is a lot better than GP2, but people just aren't able to see it right now. The main problem with GP3 is the fact that the system requirements are way to high for a average computer. Therefore the game won't run as it should on a lot of computers and that gives players a bad feeling. We tried it on a 600 Mhz PIII machine with a ATI 3D card and noticed a few interruptions while racing. When you compare GP3 with other sims there is a difference. When other games are to heavy for your framerate, they tend to go slower but you can still race on. GP3 just stands still for a very short while, every time the framerate gets to high. We can understand that these interruptions will be longer and more frequent on a slower machine, and we also understand the frustration this causes for players. When we go back some four years in history, we had exactly the same problem with GP2 when it was launched. We remember that we had to wait three months after buying the game before we were able to race because we had to buy a new computer first. So in a few months are years time most systems will be upgraded to GP3 standards and everybody will love GP3. Next Page Up Previous Page If you want to review your favorite game, or if you work with a computer game company and want your products reviewing, mail info@playdevil.com. All contributions are welcome. Any problems and/or suggestions are always appreciated on webmaster@playdevil.com Nothing of this entire Site, animation & logo's included, may be reproduced, stored, saved, transmitted, in any form or means, electronic, written or otherwise without the prior permission of PlayDevil. Other Logos & Names are Copyrighted Material of its respectful owners. All Rights Reserved. PlayDevil Productions © 199/8-199/9-200/0 "rip your own stuff"