F-1 World Grand Prix is a demanding race sim that puts you through your 300 kph paces on the most recognisable racetracks ever to grace an N64 game. Thorough familiarity with your car and careful planning for each race are vital if you don't want to spend your motoring career skidding through the infields of the world's most glamorous tracks.WGP's full Formula One license sports 22 drivers from 11 official teams, authentic cars and faithful recreations of 17 internationally celebrated tracks. Some of the most legendary names in motor sports are here, including Ferrari, McLaren, tracks such as Silver Stone, Monza and Monaco, as well as ace drivers Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard and Damon Hill.

No team or driver is perfect enough to clinch the pole every time, though: even the top-rated Williams team suffer from a mediocre pit crew.Developer Paradigm Entertainment built its reputation with military flight sims before co-developing Pilotwings 64 with Nintendo and teaming up with Video System on 1997's AeroFighters Assault, a jet-fighter sim built around an alien-invasion story line. With WGP, Paradigm and Video System have clearly mastered the fine art of balancing down-and-dirty realism with arcade action. The authenticity begins in the paddock, where you'll optimise your car for the track, race length and weather conditions.

Increasing your fuel supply reduces the need for pit stops, for example, but results in more sluggish acceleration.In sharp contrast to many racing games, you'll immediately notice that braking is a key tactic in WGP. When you're gutsy enough to choose a manual transmission, you'll learn -- probably the hard way -- that these precision cars have a low tolerance for ill-timed shifts. Out on the track at 400+ kph, the game shakes, rattles and zooms with a jaw-dropping realism. The developers maintain smooth visuals even with the impressive detail on the cars. Savvy drivers will glean key information from tiny details like the sparks thrown out when a car accelerates or downshifts.WGP offers three difficulty levels: Rookie, Professional and Champion - the last of which is very challenging.

At the advanced levels, rival AI increases dramatically and the control becomes even more realistic. The globe trotting Grand Prix mode takes place in 17 courses on four continents, beginning in Australia's palm-fringed Albert Park and ending at Spain's season-capping Grand Prix of Europe. In between you'll have to master the narrow chutes of Brazil's Interlagos, the long straightways of Canada's Montreal, the tortuous hairpins of Luxembourg's Nuerburgring and the treacherous shoulders of Japan's over-and-under Suzuka. Most challenging of all, perhaps, is Monaco's legendary Monte Carlo, a white-knuckle race that bucks and dives through the twisting streets of the seaside resort.Challenge Mode skips the preliminaries and drops you into the middle of a nail-biting scenario from the 1997 season.

In offence scenarios, your goal is to leapfrog the field as quickly as possible. You'll have to master your left, right and rear-view mirrors in Defence scenarios, in which your goal is to block cars trying to sneak past you. Most demanding of all are Trouble scenarios, in which you'll have to overcome engine problems, rain-slick tracks and other conditions that will make lesser drivers faint. If you do well on the 15 challenges, you'll open up a hidden Ultimate Challenge. With its myriad options and astounding attention to detail, F-1 World Grand Prix is one racing sim that grabs the solid-gold trophy.

Original N64europe review

So far, the N64 has yet to produce a ground breaking racer. Sure, there's Mario Kart and Diddy Kong Racing, but the only game that's come close to a proper SIMULATION is Top Gear Rally. But now, from almost out of nowhere, comes Paradigm's F1 World Grand Prix. Can it compete with the PlayStation's F1 games? You're about to find out...............

As you can guess from the game's title, F1 WGP is an accurate recreation of the 1997 Grand Prix. All of the teams, cars, and drivers are in the game, albeit with their '97 teams, NOT their '98 ones. There are 5 different game modes to choose from: 1. Exhibition- A one off race, which pits you against all of the other 21 drivers in the league.

2. Time Trial- Your average time trial mode, with a ghost of your best lap.

3. Challenge- These are kind of like the Scenarios in ISS 64, where you take control of one of the drivers, in a real-life situation that happened in 1997. There are 3 categories of scenario: Offensive- Challenges like "Gain places in a certain amount of time." Defensive- "Try to keep first place." Trouble- "You've sustained damage to your car, but must keep 1st place."

4. 2 Player- The screen is split in half, and 2 drivers can battle it out on any track they wish. There are no computer-controlled cars on the track, but this doesn't matter if both players are of a similar skill level.

5. Grand Prix- This is the ULTIMATE Grand Prix simulation. You have Friday and Saturday practice runs, then the Qualifying, a warm-up lap before the actual race, and then the Grand Prix itself. If you switch the "1997 Events" to ON, the season will simulate the 1997 season. This means that cars crash out, drivers retire, and the weather changes EXACTLY as it did in 1997.

There are so many options you can fiddle around with, in an attempt to try to get the absolute maximum from your cars performance. You can choose how much fuel you want to start with, change the angles of your aerodynamics, and more. The controls are your basic driving game controls- A=Accelleration, B=Brake, but there is a neat little option which does the braking for you as you approach a corner. I know this sounds like it's totally defeating the purpose of actually playing yourself, but play without it first, and you'll be flying off the track at almost every corner. Once again, the analogue stick provides precise cornering, and the Rumble Pak, erm, rumbles with each crash/skid.

The graphics are absolutely stunning, with no pop-up at all. The cars are accurately modelled on their real-life counterparts, with noticable advertising and all. All of the courses are extremely accurate, and have to be seen to be believed. My only gripe is that the frame rate sometimes slow down a little when there are a lot of cars in view, but it's only a minor complaint.

Unlike the PlayStation version, F1WGP doesn't include Murray Walker's annoying ramblings. Instead, you have communication with your crew, who let you know about useful things like how far/close the nearest driver is to you. They also let you know when drivers crash out of the race, and how many laps you have left.

GRAPHICS:

Amazing graphics which makes it look like you're watching the real thing on the telly.

10/10

SOUND:

Nice, clear speech. Alright sound FX. Crap music.

8/10

PLAYABILITY:

Once you get into it, you'll love it!

9/10

LIFESPAN:

The GP mode is long, the challenges are hard, and the multiplayer is excellent.

9/10

COMMENT:

The best racing game on the N64 by miles (:-) and the best F1 racing sim on any console! Stunning graphics, awesome speed, and great fun.

- by  Vincent Coyne