Microprose F1GP

Microprose F1GP is now over 20 years old!

MicroProse Formula One Grand Prix was the start of a racing simulator that gave a real 3d simulation for F1GP fans. This Game was a long way from the arcade games that had been churned out in the past. This was a full weekend racing sim and if you didn’t know better you were Carlos Sanchez (the name given as the default driver).

Microprose F1GP

Geoff Crammonds Microprose F1GP

Formula One Grand Prix was also known as World Circuit in the United States, it’s success led to three sequels, called Grand Prix 2, Grand Prix 3 and Grand Prix 4.

Microprose F1GP was based on the 1991 season and with data from the Footwork team, the game was released in January 1992 by MicroProse for the Atari ST, Amiga and PC. Mighty game designer Geoff Crammond built this single handedly and has been hugely influential on the racing simulators formats from that date on. Assistance tools like driving line, traction control, automatic brakes and driving help are still standard 20 years on.

MicroProse F1GP was accurately based on the cars and helmets, but due to licensing could not have the drivers names. So a fresh install required a quick editing of the names and then you were away.

Together with the 16 authentic tracks based on true data from the Footwork team and the atmosphere-packed rendition of complete Grand Prix weekends, it made F1GP a favourite with Formula One and racing sim fans for many years, and is still referred to occasionally in current reviews as a classic benchmark.

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Geoff Crammond is a computer game designer and programmer who specialises in motor racing games and broke into the gameing world with Revs and Stunt Car Racer. It’s easy to forget how dedicated Crammond must of been to this series of games. He claims to have had little interest in motor racing before programming his first racing game in 1984, but he holds a physics degree, which may explain the realism of some of his programming. As a consequence of that project he became a big fan of Formula One motor racing. At the end of the 80’s, this interest, plus the ever improving capabilities of home computers, inspired him to specialise in programming Formula One racing simulations on the PC.

Microprose F1GP Manual Details

Developer(s) Microprose
Publisher(s) Microprose
Designer(s) Geoff Crammond
Platform(s) PC (DOS) Amiga Atari ST
Release date(s) January 1992
Genre(s) Racing simulator game
Media Floppy disc
System requirements
PC: 286, 1MB RAM Amiga: A500, 1MB RAM Atari: Atari ST, 1MB RAM

F1GP races were accurately following the 1991 season below:

Microprose F1GP Round Race Location

1 United States Grand Prix Phoenix
2 Brazilian Grand Prix Interlagos
3 San Marino Grand Prix Imola
4 Monaco Grand Prix Monaco
5 Canadian Grand Prix Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
6 Mexican Grand Prix Hermanos Rodriguez
7 French Grand Prix Magny-Cours
8 British Grand Prix Silverstone
9 German Grand Prix Hockenheimring
10 Hungarian Grand Prix Hungaroring
11 Belgian Grand Prix Spa-Francorchamps
12 Italian Grand Prix Monza
13 Portuguese Grand Prix Estoril
14 Spanish Grand Prix Catalunya
15 Japanese Grand Prix Suzuka
16 Australian Grand Prix Adelaide
List of drivers manually entered due to FIA licensing issues:

Ayrton Senna
Nigel Mansell
Riccardo Patrese
Gerhard Berger
Alain Prost
Nelson Piquet
Jean Alesi
Stefano Modena
Andrea de Cesaris
Roberto Moreno
Pierluigi Martini
JJ Lehto
Bertrand Gachot
Michael Schumacher
Satoru Nakajima
Mika Häkkinen
Martin Brundle
Emanuele Pirro
Mark Blundell
Ivan Capelli
Éric Bernard
Aguri Suzuki
Gianni Morbidelli
Maurício Gugelmin
Thierry Boutsen
Johnny Herbert
Nicola Larini
Érik Comas
Gabriele Tarquini
Eric van de Poele
Alex Caffi
Olivier Grouillard
Michele Alboreto
Karl Wendlinger
Pedro Chaves

List of teams accurately designed in vectors in MicroProse Formula One Grand Prix:

McLaren
Williams
Ferrari
Benetton
Jordan
Tyrrell
Minardi
Dallara
Lotus
Brabham
Lola
Leyton House
Ligier
Lambo
AGS
Fondmetal
Footwork
Coloni

6 thoughts on “Microprose F1GP

  1. This was a classic. The very first game taking f1 seriously! I remember at school sharing this with my class mates on a day where we introduce ourselves and share any hobbies we do outside of school. This game was played vigorously by myself and 5 others inter- linked by 2 pc’s, on a weekly basis! My enthusiasm of. this game remained strong, despite standing up in front me 30 of my peers, describing how real this game was at the time, convincing everyone to believe how EVERY TREE was positioned in the correct place.lol.

  2. Tell me about it Bro

    With Steve Williams, Martin Burridge, Nathan Sanderson and Matt Guy, several trophies and 12 seasons of statistics, they were the days!

  3. Let’s see if codemasters can replicate the addictive nature of improving driving styles and getting quicker and quicker with f1 2010.

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