Grand Prix Challenge (PS2)

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I remember the first time I saw this game. I was at E3. I was absolutely blown away by this game's visuals. However I was not so blown away at the horrible frame rate issues the game had. I left Sony's booth thinking "Well, that's what you get when you have graphics too detailed for the console to handle." Little did I know that by the time the game was released it ran at a screaming 60 frames per second and NEVER drops a single frame. It wasn't until many years after of the game's release that my attention was turned on to Grand Prix Challenge. A few years ago I decided to get more serious about collecting the games I wanted for all my consoles, so I looked at several websites that review and rate games and this one was always close to the top. Being a racing fanatic I had to check it out. I picked it up for like 7 bucks at Gay Stop. What I ended up getting is a game considered by many to be one of the finest F1 racers ever to grace a console.

I admit that I am not a huge F1 racing fan. I don't watch Indy Car racing, and normally don't care for F1 games. However this one is special. It's special because it's nice and accessible for novices such as myself who don't wanna fool with a ton of overly complex adjustments to tweak your car's performance. You basically have suspension, down force, braking balance, and gear ratio sliders. Easy to understand and quick to adjust. You have two levels of traction control that you can switch on and off on the fly. The menus are nice and simple so you can navigate through them swiftly unlike most F1 games.

The graphics are awesome. The attention to detail here is astounding. The car models are absolutely perfect in any view you choose. The tracks are wonderfully detailed as well. While the game's resolution doesn't seem to be as high as say Gran Tursimo 3 or 4, it still looks fantastic. After all this game is pushing a perfect frame rate along with 21 other vehicles on the track with good A.I. Compare that with Gran Turismo's 5 cars and absolutely no A.I. Then there is the sound which is spot on. As you can hear, your car couldn't sound anymore like Formula 1. On top of that the ambient sounds of the crowd, fellow racers, tires and tunnels are spot on as well. This game sounds great on a well adjusted system. One might notice in this video that you cannot see the rear view mirrors. However you can see them when you run the game in widescreen mode which most TVs now are anyway.

The controls are where the game might fall a little short. If you're using a controller, it's mighty hard to keep your throttle in check which is a must if you're racing with no traction control. The problem is that even if you use the right analog stick to accelerate and brake, there is still almost no way to control either. Just the slightest push forward on the stick will send you into full throttle and the same for the brake. You can either tap the throttle using the buttons or turn the traction control on at least low to help keep your car under control. However if you're using a force feedback wheel like I am, there are absolutely no throttle or braking issues. The game does in fact support force feedback. Don't expect Gran Turismo 4 force feedback, but more like GT3. The best way to play this game is no doubt with a wheel.

Lastly I want to point out that just because this game is more accessible to novices such as myself, don't think for a minute that this game is easy. Far from it. The physics are very accurate and trying to whip around turns with no regard for speed and technique with send you into a spin and into a wall real quick. Track memorization and tons and tons practice are still needed to master these tracks and win races with 21 other cars on the track.

Bottom line is this is a serious racer. It is not as elaborate some other sims, but still requires much skill and dedication to complete the game.