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Welcome to the MS-DOS game emulator. On this abandonware site you have an old game review every week, where you can play the freeware/shareware version of every game.
MicroProse Formula One Grand Prix
MicroProse Formula One Grand Prix
Date added: 2019-11-05
Tags: None
Rated the best by our players
5 out of 5 based on 4279 ratings.
Game Information:
MicroProse Formula One Grand Prix is an old Grand Prix racing simulator based on the tracks used in 1991.
The game supports both as fast races and full races. Full races include two practice periods, a qualifying period and the race itself, while quick races only include the race component. You can adjust the time of the practice and qualifying periods (from 5 min to 2 hours) and the time of the race (from 5% to 100% of the real life time), so you can potentially spend many hours on each race.
However you don't necessarily have to sit there all the time. You can abort practice sessions whenever you want, and if you don't want to go through the entire full qualifying or race time (for example you've used all the qualifying tires or crashed out of the race), then you can put the simulation into time speeding mode and let your computer give you the results. Races can also be saved.
You can configure a lot of things in the game. You can change your car (spoiler, brake balance, gear ratio) by pressing the brakes while you are in the pits during a practice. You can also control the weather conditions during fast races. Finally, you can change the names of the whole team and driver if you want. This means you can race against real Grand Prix drivers.
The game provides you with six driving assistants for different difficulty levels. These include gear suggestions for the best driving line, automatic transmission, automatic recovery after sharp turns, automatic braking and complete invincibility. You can switch between each of these during the race using the F1 to F6 keys.
Handling control is carried out using both the keyboard and the joystick. The joystick is the easiest method of driving in my experience, but it is possible to drive and win with the keyboard controls. Unfortunately the keys are not very configurable, but the standard ones are simple enough to get used to. You need to use A and Z to accelerate/brake, < and > to steer, Space and Alt for shifting and Enter to pit for the next lap.
The game also supports two-player mode via dial-up or modem-null cable modems. In this mode you can choose whether you only race against another person or include the entire field.
The game's VGA graphics are pretty basic when you look at them now, although I remember being impressed at the time -- the game needed a 386DX or 486 to run well. Remember, there was no such thing as a 3D accelerator card in 1992. The sound is pretty repetitive, but that's what you might expect when driving a car in circles. However you can hear the engine revving and the tires screeching.
This game is a classic. Now it's starting to look a bit dated, but the gaming action is still there, whether you want to spin for 5 minutes around the now unused Adelaide street circuit *sniff* or a couple of hours proving to Michael Schumacher exactly who's boss.
