I returned today my copy of Team F1 and changed it for Grand Prix
Manager 2. Now a few hours after I installed it I think I should have
gotten Ultimate Soccer Manager 2 instead :) If you're still
interested, here are some first day impressions.
PLATFORM:
The game is for Windows 3.x, which means no real technical advance
since last year. It doesn't care about my DirectX3, does NOT run in
more than 256 colors, and I have to switch from my 1024x768 resolution
down to 640x480, which always messes up my desktop icons/folders
layout. Like all legacy applications it runs windowed at a higher
resolution but the graphics are too small, inducing eye strain.
THE GAME:
The manual is a standard Microprose FIA-approved manual - a big quick
start guide or a thin and superficial manual, depending on which way
you look at it.
The 1st page of the manual says, in a paragraph entitled "A brief
word for GPM veterans": GPM2 is not just an updated version of GPM. It
is a complete redesign taking into account your comments through
letters, faxes and the Internet" [...]. Well, it depends on what they
mean by redesign. The interface has somewhat changed, we now have more
nice pictures in the background (bit the foreground is harder to
read), when one clicks on an icon like "R&D" he does not get a
full-screen menu but a pull-down one with options like "Drivers Aids",
"Acquire Technology", etc. There is speech and drivers' pictures, but
that's all. The game is 95% the same.
As in GPM1, tho Edcom have tried to redesign the standard Win3.x
interface for menus in their game, some standard dialogs and boxes pop
up from time to time, like the standard Win 'File' dialog.
Take the bells and whistles away, the only difference I have found
(besides new sponsor names) is they removed 'Drivers Communications'
from the 'Drivers Aids' options :) Not, there are a couple more
actually...
There is still no way to start a new team from scratch a la Team F1,
beside taking the obvious backmarker Tsunami. I have started the game
on the 2nd easiest level - Amateur (out of 5 levels), and have taken
Jordan. There are more customization options, like I can give Jordan a
Renault engine from the start, and actually change my team in any way
I want from the start. Also I can even change details like make
Renault the worst engine, make Schumi pale in comparison with Lavaggi,
etc.
There is speech during the race (by Stirling Moss), and it is a lot
more useful than in Team F1, as SM says things like "Barichello goes
into the pits", i.e. says drivers names when something happens. This
has its problems too. For some reason in Williams JV is replaced by
another canadian driver, John Newhouse. If I rename him to JV, SM
keeps calling him Newhouse. But OTOH I learned that in English
Barichello is pronounced with a 'tsh' sound and not a 'k' :)
SETUP/TESTING:
The testing has been vastly improved. You don't get the track top-down
view anymore, but get interesting driver and chief engineer feedback
after every run. The driver can tell you to stiffen/soften suspension
(don't remember seeing this one in GPM1, but it was a long time ago),
raise/lower wings, etc., for every setup position. The CE says which
parts are the worst which helps focus in specific areas in
development.
Bug:It is still possible to replace a 100% new part by inadvertantly
press 'OK' instead of 'Cancel' and have the price deducted from your
funds as in GPM1.
You can save car setups for every car, like I had Barichello and
Brundle both happy with the same settings but Morbidelli needing
softer suspension all around to do his best time (they all tell me
what hey specifically need), and the drivers will use their assigned
setups until further notice. I have to check if the setup is assigned
to the driver or the car tho, who knows? :)
Since the game starts in the 1996 season, Edcom (which stands for
Edward Gabrowski Communications Ltd. BTW) have simplified the tyres
stuff: only Dry and Wet compounds are available.
The testing part was the one I liked the most in GPM2.
THE RACE: where we come closer to the bugs...
The race interface is basically the same. An extra view has been
added: full-screen, with no track top-down view, with cars positions
on the left half, a useless monitor on the right top quarter, and
abridged controls for both of the players cars on the remaining space.
Time flies in this menu (about 3 seconds per lap) with no way to
change it.
Another view has been added - Helicopter view. A small window opens
that zooms the top-down view on my selected car.
There is no way to change the drivers settings like fuel and tyre
conservation _before_ I send him on the track.
I have only ran the Melbourne race twice today (after work, tired,
sleepy, etc.)
A bug seen on my _first_ testing lap. When my Barichello went out of
the pits he got stuck behind a Ferarri he could overtake on the 3rd
lap only (yes, Schumi sucks big time:). There are no lap times given
on the first lap out of the pits, that's OK. But I didn't receive a
time after the 2nd. Then after the 3rd, finally free from Schumi's
embrace, Barichello gets a lap time of 3:24, which is about twice a
regular lap time.
OK, on to the first qual. My Brundle gets the pole, Barichello 3rd, in
Jordans. OK, I know I am playing at Amateur level, I have 3 more
difficulty levels before expert, but this is a bit too much. The next
two are Williams'es two seconds behind. Between my two drivers I got
... make a guess ... yes, the Boss, Jos Verstappen in his Footwork, on
2nd position. His mate Rosset got 18th position. Actually the superb
times of the first three qualifiers threw _7_ cars behind the 107%
wall, but the race stewarts allowed exceptionally 3 of them to
participate. BTW Jos finished 15th. Jordans finished 1st and 10th.
I understand many things can happen in real life, like the top
contenders DNQ due to crash or mechanical failure. I also understand
that the 2nd out of 5 level of difficulty might be too easy. But there
is NO WAY Jos (and in a Footwork) would outqualify both Williams by 2
seconds in 1996.
When I rerun this race, I got pole and 3rd again with this time
Hakkinen in between, all three 2 seconds from the 4th - the
Newhouse-Villeneuve dude. This is time _11_ cars did not got past the
107%, and again race stewarts saved the day. My cars finished 10th and
15th with same setups and strategy.
There is not much time in both free testing and qual, enough for about
two 4 laps runs. So pre-race testing on the track seems necessary.
Bug: as in GPM1 a driver would leave the pits with 0 fuel to DNF a few
yards away. The same in testing makes the driver retire, though I have
a spare car he can use.
Also reminiscent from GPM1: put driver's behaviour bars to max, give
him say 20 laps of fuel - out of fuel after 1-2 laps. I don't see how
one could drive as hard to burn 20 laps worth of fuel in just one lap.
I have yet to see the bug I hated the most - i.e. my car _loses_ a lap
when it laps someone on the start/finish line, happened a lot at
Hungaroring. But my cars are already 2 seconds faster than the rest of
the field, I didn't have to wait for mid-season to see that happen.
Suzuka is far in the season, so I haven't witnessed cars jumping over
the bridge... yet.
Two more runs of just the race at Melbourne, and in each one one of my
drivers crashes because of 'Reason Unknown'. They could be accidents,
there are wrecks that can be analysed, no, just 'unknown reasons',
nothing to assess and correct post-race.
There is one new interesting anti-bug feature: a save game option
during the race (you hear this, Papy? ;): save often and reload when
you see a bug.
CONCLUSION:
What I saw during the race ruined all my hopes. Whatever the box and
manual say, this is not GPM2 but GPM1.03 with an extra
graphics/video/speech pack (529MB on the CD). I don't know who has
been sending Edcom the "letters and faxes" they used to 'develop'
GPM2, but they have definitely spent their year on bells and whistles
rather than the core of the game (which I consider being a bug-free
race engine). I admit I have not tested the game much, but hey, there
are things that jump at your face (for someone who spent weeks trying
to love GPM1).
My advice: save your money. Perfect Grand Prix 2 instead and a
CD-movie could be a better placement :)
That's 60 bucks wasted on a Microprose game. Plus $60 for GPM1. Plus
$60 for Civ2. Plus $50 for Across the Rhine... Next time I'll give it
more thought (yeah, sure, we always say that :) At least that's my
last Edcom game for sure (the store will never let me return 2 games
in the same week:)
OK. Game shelved. Back to the T2 and GP2. Will a _passable_ GP team
management sim ever see the day? Please, someone, say something good
about F1 Manager.
Sincerely, Karim
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