Spirit of Speed 1937

Broadsword/Hasbro · released 2000 · discussed in 485 posts, 1999-2005 · overall tone negative

Posts per month

Timeline

1999-05-14 At E3, MicroProse showed the pre-war grand prix sim Spirit of Speed and the licensed 500cc motorcycle game GP500. Grand Prix 3 was not shown. thread thread post
1999-10-28 MicroProse released the Spirit of Speed 1937 demo. The game was to be published only in Europe. thread post post

Key threads

Spirit of Speed 1937 prospects and track speculation 1999-08-15 · 44 posts
A provocative 'Spirit of Speed 1937 vs GPL' post led to speculation about the coming 1930s racer from Broadsword. Many feared it would be arcade-like, citing floating numbers in screenshots, while others listed confirmed and hoped-for circuits such as Brooklands, Avus, Monza, Tripoli and Montlhéry. Some saw it as a test of whether historic racing can sell.
Coys historic festival, GPL demos and Spirit of Speed 1999-08-02 · 39 posts
Richard Clegg reported on the Coys historic festival at Silverstone, where real 1960s F1 cars raced and GPL was on display. Attendees said MicroProse's 1930s racer Spirit of Speed was also shown and reportedly easier to drive than GPL. The thread became a discussion of how difficult 1930s Auto Union and Mercedes cars really were, with power and weight figures, and of whether GPL's difficulty comes from its physics or from PC limitations.
Missed release date for the Spirit of Speed 1937 demo 1999-10-21 · 32 posts
Fans complained that MicroProse missed its promised 20 October date for the Spirit of Speed 1937 demo, and debated whether the screenshots looked arcade-like. David Fisher objected to everything non-GPL being called arcade, and Meiji and Bruce Kennewell exchanged insults. Broadsword's David B. Harrison said the publisher ran the website and gave a 5 November UK release date.
Disappointed reactions to the Spirit of Speed 1937 demo 1999-10-28 · 30 posts
Players who downloaded the Spirit of Speed 1937 demo from MicroProse were mostly disappointed, describing it as neither a good sim nor a fun arcade game, with poor off-track physics and a choppy frame rate. John Bodin gave it some credit for its historic appeal. Several posters worried that Grand Prix 3 would also disappoint.
Spirit of Speed Monza banking screenshots and 'mobile chicane' 1999-08-17 · 26 posts
Screenshots of Spirit of Speed 1937 showing the Monza banking drew questions about an earth mound, which turned out to be a period chicane. Some doubted the game's historical accuracy. The thread then traced the origin of the 'mobile chicane' insult, with Clive James's F1 review commentary from the 1980s the likely source.
Spirit of Speed demo silently installs DirectX 7 1999-10-29 · 24 posts
Several users complained that the Spirit of Speed 1937 demo installed DirectX 7 without asking, which broke their Logitech force-feedback wheels in GPL. Others shared a DirectX uninstaller, Logitech driver advice and LiveWare 3 conflicts. Most agreed that installing system components without warning was unacceptable.
MicroProse's Spirit of Speed 1937 shown at E3 1999-05-14 · 21 posts
Jeff Veit reported from E3 on MicroProse's upcoming pre-war grand prix sim, which featured Mercedes and Auto Union cars, tracks such as Monza, Donington and Brooklands, and a planned autumn release. Fans of historic racing were thrilled, while those who had driven it said it looked good but aimed for the general feel of 1930s racing rather than GPL-level accuracy, with weaker force feedback. Posters also discussed pre-war racing history and mocked the press release's mention of solid tyres.
Bremgarten track for GPL and a 1930s sim wish 2000-10-16 · 36 posts
A user asked whether anyone was building Bremgarten for GPL and learned it was already in development. Discussion turned to recreating 1930s Grand Prix racing with tracks like AVUS, Masarykring and Tripoli, and to how poorly Spirit of Speed 1937 had served the era. Some felt the market for historic sims was too small.
Spirit of Speed 1937 made playable with a controller utility 2001-05-20 · 21 posts
After seeing pre-war Auto Unions at Donington, David Buttery lamented that Spirit of Speed 1937 wasn't better. John Bodin and others said the sim becomes enjoyable with the StickWorks CTFJ controller utility and recommended settings from a review, noting it was cheap in the UK; Test Drive Le Mans was also discussed.
Is Spirit of Speed 1937 worth buying? 2001-03-12 · 21 posts
Most respondents said Spirit of Speed 1937 had poor physics, though John Bodin found it enjoyable with a joystick dead-zone utility and praised some track accuracy. Others recommended a 1930s car set for Sports Car GT, and posters gathered historic car specifications to make its physics files more realistic.

Busiest threads

Disappointed reactions to the Spirit of Speed 1937 demo (16 posts about it)
Spirit of Speed 1937 prospects and track speculation (10 posts about it)
Is Spirit of Speed 1937 worth buying? (9 posts about it)
Spirit of Speed Obs3 (9 posts about it)
Coys historic festival, GPL demos and Spirit of Speed (8 posts about it)
SOS Demo Late Wednesday (8 posts about it)
MicroProse's Spirit of Speed 1937 shown at E3 (7 posts about it)
Missed release date for the Spirit of Speed 1937 demo (7 posts about it)
Spirit of Speed 1937 - Any opinions? (7 posts about it)
Spirit Of Speed Offline Challenge! (6 posts about it)
Spirit of Speed 1937 made playable with a controller utility (6 posts about it)
Re: SoS: The NFSPU of historic Grand Prix sims? (6 posts about it)
Second NASCAR 4 screenshot hints at new engine (6 posts about it)
'Spirit Of Speed 1937' - any good? (5 posts about it)
Spirit of Speed demo silently installs DirectX 7 (5 posts about it)

Sentiment by year

Each post that discussed the sim was rated from −2 (very negative) to +2 (very positive).

Year	Posts	Positive	Negative	Tone
1999	218	29	91	negative (-0.49)
2000	136	12	90	very negative (-0.85)
2001	96	28	39	negative (-0.21)
2002	23	5	11	negative (-0.52)
2003	10	1	4	negative (-0.50)
2004	1	0	1	very negative (-1.00)
2005	1	0	1	very negative (-2.00)