A legendary name is returning to the sim racing sphere, as MicroProse has announced a renewal of its partnership with Geoff Crammond to relaunch their original collaborations on Steam.
For the younger racing gamers among us, the names might not mean all that much, but “Sir” Geoff Crammond (knighthood still pending) can be considered one of the creators of simulation racing as a gaming genre. To give you an idea of how far back this goes, Crammond’s first title — Revs — launched on the BBC Micro B computer in 1984, utilizing a whole 64kB of RAM and an 8-bit 2MHz CPU.
At about the same time, MicroProse was created in Maryland as a simulator-focused developer/publisher. Co-founded by Sid Meier — yes, the same one behind the Civilization series — the studio released several seminal flight simulators including the highly regarded F-15 Strike Eagle. Although we were always more partial to the later F-19 Stealth Fighter.
They were a natural fit, and perhaps the best-known early collaboration between the two was Crammond’s Stunt Car Racer. This was an outrageously difficult and punishing title to play, but featured impressive graphics and realistic physics for a title in its day, and even allowed head-to-head play on linked devices — including cross-platform play between the sworn enemies on Amiga and Atari ST.
The Grand Prix games were the landmark though. First launched as Formula One Grand Prix in 1991, the series was the first authentic simulation of the Formula One world championship, featuring the cars and tracks from the 1991 calendar — although with some interestingly renamed drivers in a style recently mimicked by Formula Legends.
It was a groundbreaking title in many ways, setting the stage for a lot of features we expect in modern titles. F1GP modelled tire wear, damage, allowed for manual or automatic gear selection, offered a driving line display, and gave options for steering, brake, and throttle assistance. That was largely to compensate for the almost exclusively digital input devices of the era, but all are forebears of current driving assists.
F1GP was succeeded by three sequels, but all were exclusive to PC having left behind the Amiga and Atari platforms. Grand Prix 2, Grand Prix 3, and Grand Prix 4 all simulated contemporary seasons of the F1 world championship, with varying degrees of officiality (looking at you, Jacques “John Newhouse” Villeneuve), replicating tracks, cars, teams, and drivers, other than tobacco and alcohol sponsors.
With the last of the four titles arriving in 2001 and all four being physical releases only, the beloved titles are pretty hard to find other than on ebay. That makes their return as Steam downloads a significant moment for fans of classic simulator racing.
The four titles are being re-released in 2026 with new names and what looks like a step away from official liveries (at least in terms of sponsorship) judging by the screenshots provided by MicroProse. Each of the four titles will now be known as Geoff Crammond Racing, with a numeral to represent their release orders: GCR1 will thus be the new name for F1GP. MicroProse states that this is to represent a “separation” from any official licensing — a routinely thorny issue, particularly for a small, reborn brand.
Otherwise though, the titles will be identical to the original games, retaining the engine and physics of each release, but with one key difference: Steam Workshop support. This will allow for third-party modding, with custom tracks and cars among the more obvious possibilities.
MicroProse hasn’t yet given a more concrete launch date than “2026”, but the four titles are now available to wishlist on Steam. If you’re a fan of sim racing, the titles are an important look into how things got started and — depending on price — well-worth the look.
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