Bergqvistjl's F1 Site 

Why GP4 is better than F1C

Grand Prix 4 (By Sir Geoff Crammond) is better than F1 Challenge 99-02 (By Image Space Incorporated). FACT. In this essay (My English teacher would kill me), I am going to explain why.

           So where to start off? A.I. The artificial intelligence of every modern F1 game needs to be spot-on. After all, you are supposed to be racing against the likes of Schumacher, Hamilton, Raikkonen and so on. With GP4, this is perfect. The drivers are risky enough to pull out when they think they have gained enough speed from your slipstream, and if you are in cockpit view, you can really feel them breathing down your neck as they weave from side to side trying to find the right moment to attempt to overtake (You can of course hamper their overtaking by trying to block them, which is challengingly effective in this). On the other hand, the drivers in GP4 are safety conscious, and know when to not overtake i.e. approaching a corner at high speed. In F1C, there’s none of the variety in the A.I.’s performance, they just seem to go straight past, no matter how you’re doing, without any of the ‘will-he-wont-he’ suspense of waiting for the driver to pull out.

            Handling + Physics next, and this is where GP4 really shines. As long as you turn steering help off (F8), you will be in for one hell of a ride! Grip really goes at high speeds so if you even make a tiny move of the wheel at 190 MPH you had better keep it together or you are going to go flying off into the barriers (something which will probably end your race). F1C seems to be a lot better from F12002, but it still feels vary arcadey (something emphasised by the unrealistic HUD and LCD display on the steering wheel). Handling in the wet is also much better on GP4 than F1C, although I will leave that for later on.

            Damage is critical in any F1 game, and in F1C, damage and its affects on yours and other cars are sadly either non-existent or diluted. In GP4 however, not only can damage and debris from other cars slow you down or even give you damage, there is also much more variety in the types of accidents you can have.