Old School - Formula One World Championship (Nintendo 64)

[JohnBM01]

GTPlanet, I'd like to do some show and tell. The year is 1997. Le Mans has some of my favorite sportscar race cars. Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Crystal Method, Future Sound of London, and such are some of the key bands in the electronica scene. CART was prosperous as Jimmy Vasser would be the defending CART Champion after winning the 1996 CART title in the Chip Ganassi era. And by playing one N64 game, I was learning about Formula One. This is where Formula One World Championship comes in. This was back when Michael Schmacher's main competition was Mika Hakkinen for McLaren Mercedes. What do I think about this game? Read on.

PROS: all venues of the 1997 championship from Albert Park to Jerez; all drivers; great racing physics; an excellent pracice mode where you can have a ghost car show you the way around; realistic, dynamic weather effects; you can actually enable a mode that you can race almost exactly to the 1997 F1 season; nice array of tuning options.

CONS: generic rock... go fig; somewhat slow frame rate; with split-screen play, it can be tough to tell which is you; all drivers from 1997... except Jacques Villeneue (if you wanted to create your own driver profile, you can with JV).

VERDICT: It may have been out around the time of Gran Turismo 1, but is perhaps one of the most realistic and most spectacular racing games even if you don't like Formula One. Got an N64 and love racing? Try to find this game. (My Score: 9.50/10)

 

[Pupik]

PROS: all venues of the 1997 championship from Albert Park to Jerez; all drivers; great racing physics; an excellent pracice mode where you can have a ghost car show you the way around; realistic, dynamic weather effects; you can actually enable a mode that you can race almost exactly to the 1997 F1 season; nice array of tuning options.

CONS: generic rock... go fig; somewhat slow frame rate; with split-screen play, it can be tough to tell which is you; all drivers from 1997... except Jacques Villeneue (if you wanted to create your own driver profile, you can with JV).

Pretty much sums up the PS1/PSX version of the game, too. (I always wondered what game "DriverOne Williams" went to instead?) I liked the "1995 version" of Formula One, because the reply option was fun, and the set-up options weren't as complicated as the '95 version. (Also, the original was what prompted me to buy a PSX in the first place!)

Chemical Brothers...Future Sound of London...

Still good.

 

[Race Idiot]

Pretty much sums up the PS1/PSX version of the game, too. (I always wondered what game "DriverOne Williams" went to instead?) I liked the "1995 version" of Formula One, because the reply option was fun, and the set-up options weren't as complicated as the '95 version. (Also, the original was what prompted me to buy a PSX in the first place!)


Still good.

Eh it was better in F1 97 Murray used to shout 'It's the Canadian!' like he was some sort of Criminal. Although the first game on the PSX used to let you garble up what Murray said, which was bloody hillarious. I think that's why I haven't played a modern F1 game completely since then was because of the lack of Murray Walker.

OMG I WUV HIM!!!! lolol!!!!!!!!!1

 

[ZAGGIN]

the original formula one by psygnosis was a blindinmg game. i can remember countless nights raced away in full season mode. my mates and i used to play the game religeously, because it was one hell of a game. the sequel - F1 '97, was formual one nirvana. the setup options, strategy, damage, and parts failure added to the tension, though it was a bar steward when your engine blew on the last lap of long race! imo, i dont think that F1 '97 has been equalled or bettered in any form since. F1 '97 is formula 1. what a game!

 

[Race Idiot]

the original formula one by psygnosis was a blindinmg game. i can remember countless nights raced away in full season mode. my mates and i used to play the game religeously, because it was one hell of a game. the sequel - F1 '97, was formual one nirvana. the setup options, strategy, damage, and parts failure added to the tension, though it was a bar steward when your engine blew on the last lap of long race! imo, i dont think that F1 '97 has been equalled or bettered in any form since. F1 '97 is formula 1. what a game!

Haha, Bar Steward. I remember we used to do link games on the first F1 game which was great fun at the time. Also, remember those wierd F1 Shaped city tracks?

I must admit the modern F1 games by Sony are probably the best on any console, but I don't have much interest in them. I dunno, maybe if they had a dummed down version of GPL for PS2 i'd be so gay for that.

 

[JohnBM01]

Before you go bashing on Race Idiot, I guess he means "gay" as in "happy." So was this N64 game a port of another game? It was because the publisher was Videosystems, probably known better for one of my favorite plane shooting games, the popular "Aero Fighters" series.

 

[Race Idiot]

Before you go bashing on Race Idiot, I guess he means "gay" as in "happy." So was this N64 game a port of another game? It was because the publisher was Videosystems, probably known better for one of my favorite plane shooting games, the popular "Aero Fighters" series.

Tee hee! Yes! Happy! Yeah! Actually I would.

As for the F1 game we were talking about, it was made by old English developer Psygnosis. I swear that was the game that imprinted the maps of most of the circuits inside my head. Which is why I was so good at Suzuka on GT4 instantly, managed to gold that Hotlap with the pacecar and the Integra. But that doesn't have much to do with anything.

 

[JohnBM01]

I didn't know that. By the way, when I was talking about Future Sound of London and other bands like that, I was talking about the older songs (that are still good), I meant songs like "We Have Explosive," "Firestarter," "Loops of Fury," and stuff like that. I think during this time, Underworld had a kickin' song called "Pearl's Girl" or something. It was on the soundtrack to the movie, "The Saint." It was 8 or 9 minutes long, but kicking all the way. I'd probably listen to it racing SSR11 in Gran Turismo 1.

Just a little musical post, and I learned something tonight. Thanks for telling me about Psygnosis making this game first. I best know Psygnosis for making the wonderful WipeOut series of games.

 

[Race Idiot]

I didn't know that. By the way, when I was talking about Future Sound of London and other bands like that, I was talking about the older songs (that are still good), I meant songs like "We Have Explosive," "Firestarter," "Loops of Fury," and stuff like that. I think during this time, Underworld had a kickin' song called "Pearl's Girl" or something. It was on the soundtrack to the movie, "The Saint." It was 8 or 9 minutes long, but kicking all the way. I'd probably listen to it racing SSR11 in Gran Turismo 1.

Just a little musical post, and I learned something tonight. Thanks for telling me about Psygnosis making this game first. I best know Psygnosis for making the wonderful WipeOut series of games.

Yeah at one point Psygnosis dominated the market for racing games on the PSX with Destruction derby, F1 Series and Wipeout. Then came Codemasters with the first colin McRae and first Toca game that was still purely a BTCC game. Then a few months after that the first GT game got it's Japanese release. And then Psygnosis failed to bring out anything decent barring Wipeout 3 which still wasn't as good as 2097. Which was another game that was hi-larious in system link mode, although I was the bestest at it I owned everyone with the Quairex ship man I could make that thing do (air) drifts.

 

[Biased turkey]

Yeah at one point Psygnosis dominated the market for racing games on the PSX with Destruction derby, F1 Series and Wipeout. Then came Codemasters with the first colin McRae and first Toca game that was still purely a BTCC game. Then a few months after that the first GT game got it's Japanese release. And then Psygnosis failed to bring out anything decent barring Wipeout 3 which still wasn't as good as 2097. Which was another game that was hi-larious in system link mode, although I was the bestest at it I owned everyone with the Quairex ship man I could make that thing do (air) drifts.

Can you believe, I still play Psygnosis F1 ( on the EPSXE emulator ) just to hear " Welcome to Spa francorchamps, the most beautiful track in the world, it has everything etc... and the legendary daunting Eau-Rouge " ( I have to admit I was born in the beer paradise: Belgium )
The physics is right on, not too arcadish but not too difficult.

Murray used to shout 'It's the Canadian!' like he was some sort of Criminal

lol
Now, the "Canadian" is so "has been " that he would be paying Murray to mention his name.