Grand Prix Review hipp:www.inter log.com/-gardiner/gwp.htm
Grand Prix Wizard
Published by: Wizards Games
For Too long now racing simulations have been largely ignored. Apart from the graphics type games like NASCAR Racing and Indycar Racing. But with the release of Grand Prix and Grand Prix 2, Wizard Games introduced us to the world of auto-racing simulations. With the recent release of Grand Prix Wizard, racing simulations have reached a new level of detail and excitement. Again in this version you are the owner of a Formula One racing team and your goal is to manager your team to victory. Clinching the driver's championship and the constructors' series is the ultimate goal of your team by building cars, hiring and firing drives, getting sponsorship, signing on staff and testing your cars.
The first thing you have to do is select the team you will own. If you want an advantage right off the bat sign on for good and rich team like Ferrari or Williams or McLaren of if you really want a challenger join Celtica, Fiction, Ecosse or Arrows. The Level that you start at will determine the amount of difficulty you will have winning the constructor's championship at the end of the season.
After you have selected your team. the next job is to look over your staff and see if you want to make any changes in the drivers, engineers, designers or your assistant. If you are on a tight budget to start you may want to stay with what you have got but if your money is plentiful then you may want to upgrade. Once you are happy (or reasonably happy) with your team it is time to hit the race track. You can start with a test run of any track to see how your cars and drivers will perform but the races are where you really find out what your team is made of.
Once you head out to race you get all the sessions you see in an actual F1 race, practice sessions, warm-up session, qualifying sessions and the actual race itself. After some sessions your crew will suggest changes to the cars like a new setup for the brakes or the engines, this kind of tinkering allows you to use your crew to the the best if of their abilities to help you gain a competitive edge. Then comes race day, but do not think your job is done, you have to tell your drivers how to run the race. Will they drive flat-out? Push hard? Preserve the car? Will they protect their teammate who is running ahead of them or will they drive to win? These desisions are up to you.
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In addition to the usual mishaps that can occur during a race like accidents and mechanical failure, you can experience the joys of stalling in the pits, being delayed by crew error and being disqualified for a myraid of reasons. Nothing is more annoying that haveing your racer who is in the top 5 being delayed for two minutes in the pits due to crew error.
While the season is running, it is your task to prepare for the next season. In June when the new parts catalog comes out you must start developing the car for next year. You must buy engines, chassis, bodyshells and every other part that comes with a Fomual 1 racer. The better the rating of your crew who is in charge of purchasing the better the parts you will get. If you are lucky you may be offered free parts as a promotional deal or you can develop you own parts but be warned this is more expensive and time consuming than buying ready made parts.
Once the season is finished you must still work hard during the close season. First you must re-sign the drivers that you want to keep. Then you may start looking for available drivers to sign on. Of course the better the drivers the more money they'll wabt, Uf tiy are reallyin a financial mess you may even a driver who will PAY to race for your team. It is also during the close season that you can hire and fire staff, make sponsorship deals, test your cars and prepare for the next season. Grand Prix Wizqard covers just about every aspect of F1 racingand covers it very well! The business side as well as the racing side is very nicely done and the detail is amazing even including driver deaths during races. One small thing I'd like to complain about isn't even game related. At one point in the game a new team emerged, it was called HIT-Wall Racing...the owner name, A. Senna. Just kind of bad taste I thought. Grand Prix Wizard is a great game for racing fans and likely to win over those of you who are not fans of F1 racing. A grest simulation.
After writing this review, it came to my attention that I was in error. In my remark about the HIT-Wall Racing team being owned by A. Senna being in poor taste I found out that the game had been dedicated to the memory of Mr. Senna.I was unaware of this at the time of the writing and now that it has come to my attention I humbly withdraw my view. No disrespect was meant to the author or Wizard Gamess of Scotland.
Yours truly,
Scott Gardiner- Editor
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