You might have seen my critical f1 2002 review. Little did I know that F1 2002 would set the benchmark for quality this year in terms of racing sims.
Grand Prix 4 is just awful. The cars are so ridiculously easy to drive, even with everything turned off, that it's just boring. The realism, in my opinion, took a step backward. Not only that, but the only thing which reminded me that I was racing on the same tracks as F1 2002 were the somewhat similar layout. GP4 has the most BORING track graphics I've seen in a while, and Australia looks just awful.
I'd say that the only strong point it has is the replay system, which is still dominant. F1 2002 should adopt it, add a couple of features and they could have a mega game.
I really can't express my disappointment - GP2 was such a fantastic game, and GP3 was so entertaining. They said they spent huge amounts of time on this, they said they made a new graphics engine, they said it would be realistic, but in the end, all it is is just plain bad.
Driving is hilarious, even with steering assistance turned OFF it still "helped" me through the corners, and on the straights I could barely turn the wheel enough to overtake people (in order to do so, you have to repeatedly tap the steering button like you used to have to in order to feather your way past). The turns can't be taken in an attacking style because you can't manipulate the racing line from what they want it to be.
As for the graphics, the in-car shot is, literally, laughable. I don't know HOW I could have been impressed by the screenshots, the Ferrari looks like something from 1998, the McLaren sounds like it’s running on a John Deer, and I haven’t even braved my way into a Minardi yet!
Let’s talk realism – in my first race, a Jordan led the pack into the first turn, whilst Jacques Villeneuve rounded it off having qualified last. Yeah….
In terms of racing, it literally feels like the TRACK is racing AROUND the car. As Lexiz put it, it’s impossible to be on the edge.
Admittedly the crash engine is still better – especially from the replay perspective, you can loose most parts of the car, have good crashes, etc, the problem lies in the fact that:
a) Crashes are usually caused due to the horrible handling and impossible maneuvering
b) The AI like to cause accidents
I really want to cry – I had already half-discarded F1 2002 under the vain hope that GP4 would just humiliate it, and it has done the opposite.
As some people have said, it feels like driving Grand Prix 3 – I can really see very little change.
I’m also incredibly pissed off about the way they marketed it – for example, one of the features was an interactive audience, none of this “cardboard cutout” audience as they described it.
Yes, they were right, because now it’s a bunch of cardboard cutouts, but on top of that is a couple of animations of monotone flags being waved. I could hardly contain laughter.For those of you who saw the promotional video and though “Hey! He looks like a good driver!” – you were right, the game IS a good driver, because you literally can’t control the cars as you want to (but I’ve already touched on that). You thought, “HEY, that crash at the start looks good!” – you’re right, but good look reproducing anything as cool.
You thought, LOOK AT THOSE marshals! Well done, that’s about the only new thing they’ve achieved.
Another thing – either I’m an idiot or you can’t do internet games, you can only do network games, which I don’t play on trying.
So all you diehard GP3 fans will say “What does this guy know, he’s an EA wh0re who doesn’t want to accept that Crammond makes sweet games”. That’s what I wanted to believe as well, but if you do one intelligent thing, do this:
DON’T BUY GRAND PRIX 4
It’s awful. It sucks. EA has won.
This sounds like the ranting of a 12 year old lunatic who plays too much Fifa 2001, but I promise it’s not (Read my F1 2002, it’s much more magazine-like).
In the end, GP4 is just a reworked version of GP3.
