1. What is F1GP?
F1GP is MicroProse's first attempt at a car racing simulator and is
based around the high-speed world of Formula One races. You take the
place of a driver and compete at all 16 races in the 1991 series, with
results counting towards both the drivers and constructors
championships. The game features practice and qualifying at all events
and you are pitted against 33 other drivers. It is one of the few proper
racing simulators to use polygon based graphics, Indy 500, being the
only other major one at the time of its release.
More recently an IndyCar and a NASCAR game have been released by Papyrus
and they both feature more complex graphics and physical models,
although they do not seem to be as much fun to play. Also, they require
some serious processing power to run well.
There is a demonstration available,
ftp://ftp.microprose.com/pub/mps-online/demos/wcdemo.zip via FTP, which
features the Monaco circuit and has only keyboard (not joystick)
support.
1.1 What system does it require?
According to MicroProse the PC version of the game runs on a 286 or
higher with at least 1mb of RAM. Of this you require 600k base memory.
The game should be installed on hard disc, and it takes up 6mb with all
animations, 3.2mb without intro animations, and 2mb without any
animations. This can be cut down further if you delete a few of the .DAT
files! [GB: I have managed to get the game onto a single 360k disk,
although with only one course.] The only other requirement for the game
is a VGA/MCGA graphics card. Mouse and joystick are both optional.
The Atari ST version comes on 4 double density disks, and the first can
be skipped on start up.
The Amiga version comes on 4 DD disks, the first of which can be
skipped. It can also be installed to hard drive.
2. What support programs are available?
Like most modern games there have been many support products released,
mostly as shareware or public domain software. It appears that NO add-on
utilities are available for the ST version, though quite why this is the
situation is a mystery!
2.1 The PC updates, 1.04 and 1.05
These two update disks were supplied by MicroProse, both being sent out
by the company. They were supposed to add the facility for modem play,
plus a few other features. 1.05 is the most recent update, and both are
compressed to 1mb and 1.05 is available via most FTP sites. Recently
MicroProse have themselves gotten on the Internet so you can download
the patches below.
=FA ftp://ftp.microprose.com/pub/mps-online/new-versions/f1gpe.zip
European version
=FA ftp://ftp.microprose.com/pub/mps-online/new-versions/f1gpit.zi=
p
Italian version
=FA ftp://ftp.microprose.com/pub/mps-online/new-versions/f1gpus.zip
World Circuit, the US version
1.05 also adds proper support for wheel units like the Thrustmaster T1
and the AutoRacing***pit.
What other features were added with the updates? And are there Amiga
updates?
2.2 PC editors
There are two main editors are available. The first,
ftp://didnt.doit.wisc.edu/PublicFiles/Racing/F1GP/Editors/GPed20.zip via
FTP, is a MicroSoft Windows-based editor which allows car and helmet
colors, AI grip, AI & human horsepower, computer driver ability, and
name files to be edited; it's very easy to use and has a very
professional front end. The second,
ftp://didnt.doit.wisc.edu/PublicFiles/Racing/F1GP/Editors/F1ed21.zip via
FTP, is a DOS-based editor which does most of the same.
There is also a patch,
ftp://didnt.doit.wisc.edu/PublicFiles/Racing/F1GP/Editors/qtyres.zip via
FTP, which allows unlimited set of qualifying tyres, both during
qualification and practice.
Please note that this site is actually Peter Burke's Macintosh. Please
try to avoid using it too heavily during his work hours (he's in
Wisconsin). Additionally, if you're trying to access this site through a
WWW browser and having no luck, try using a normal FTP client. Some
browsers seem to have trouble with the site, probably because they're
badly implemented; the site is not at fault.
2.3 PC add-ons
There are lots more utilities; most of them are wrapped up in the
WcLaunch package,
ftp://didnt.doit.wisc.edu/PublicFiles/Racing/F1GP/Editors/wcgped42.zip
via FTP, which is ostensibly a launcher program, but doesn't work under
4DOS so I (DG) couldn't try it out. However, most of the programs inside
do work for all 1.05s and others. SplitTim is a split-section timer
(like they show on TV during qualifying). GpLap is a lap-time logger and
authentication utility. GpPerf is a performance data recorder, very
useful in conjunction with a graph plotting program.
GpPerf is also part of the anaylsis pack,
ftp://didnt.doit.wisc.edu/PublicFiles/Racing/F1GP/Editors/anylpak.zip
via FTP, which also features a very nice analyzer. You have to unzip the
full analyzer first, and then unzip an update into the same directory
(this isn't at all clear in the documentation). It's not 100% stable but
for beta software and for free it's hard to say no to!
These programs all add a huge amount to the original, especially the lap
analyzers. Used in conjunction with the Hall of Fame they add new life
to the game as you can easily see how different setups alter the car and
affect lap times.
2.4 PC cracks and password removers
The best crack is one which details changes for all PC versions of the
game and makes the manual word requesting routine always ask for
"monza". It's available as
ftp://ftp.uwp.edu/pub/msdos/romulus/cracks/f1gp_all.txt via FTP.
Soapbox: I'm not going to insult anyone by whining on about piracy, but
I will reiterate that the game has been rereleased on Digital
Integration's PowerPlus budget label (a mere 15 quid or less in the UK)
so there's really no excuse for not rushing out and buying it if you
haven't already. End soapbox.
2.5 Amiga editors
There are a couple of editors for the Amiga and a patch program. Check
it out as [link lost in import]
via FTP from most AmiNet sites.
3. Where can I compete against other people?
There are a number of championships:
.
lson.
A championship for version 2 of the game is already being planned. There
are also two Halls Of Fame:
jer
or as [link lost in import]
[link lost in import]
-- Dave "Gizmo" Gymer Telephone +44 (0)1268 534228
-- General DataComm Advanced Research Centre Ltd, Basildon, UK
...snip....
F1GP and Indycar are *games*. The fact is, IMHO that Indycar's model of the world
is not accurate. It seems to neglect mechanical grip in favour of grip from
downforce. Witness what happens when you go into a low speed corner. IC says
you're going very slow => no downforce => no grip => hello wall.
F1GP isn't totally accurate either but it does model the world significantly better than
IC. It's also more fun. I hope F1GP 2 is even better. I'm worried the better graphics
might ruin it. We'll see.
..snip...
You're over-estimating the intelligence of the software in dealing with these
coefficients.
Each to his/her own.
Chris Melikian
Electronic Support
IBM Personal Software Marketing, Europe Middle East and Africa
[link lost in import]
"It's just a ride..." - Bill Hicks
"My postings are not necessarily the opinions of IBM"
