Grand Prix Circuit Review - Was It Good Or Is It Just the Memories?

Accolade Grand Prix Circuit from 1988. I played this on my friends Amiga 500 (Amiga version was released in 1989) in the late 80s and remember how it was the most awesome thing ever! It's like driving a real F1! The graphics, the sounds, the realism! How is this even possible!
Of course back then we already had Revs by Geoff Crammond (that I had never heard of) that had realistic physics and vector graphics and all. But for the masses this was the real deal.
So was it actually as good as in my memories, given its age? Well, let's find out. We'll do a short review and then a full season with maximum realism. I'm a bit scared. Perhaps you just should stick with the memories?
We are playing the Amiga version. The game was released for multiple platforms, including PC, Apple, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. You can argue which version is the best but for me it's Amiga because of the nostalgia.
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[@pelimies1818]

Amiga version: Eargasm PC version: Eargas chamber

[@GrandPrixYannick]

Oh man. I have done hours in this game from elementary. Whenever I had class in the computer lab and was allowed some leisure time, I'd always play this game. Pretty nostalgic, have not played it for at least 16 years!

[@TedMeat]

Haha, for me it's double, haven't played it in 34 :D I was a bit surprised it was this good.

[@DarylLewis]

Looking forward to watching this video at the weekend!! Personally I play a lot of retro games for the nostalgia and the feeling of missing my youth. It normally goes one of two ways… Sometimes the game has aged so poorly that it’s a 2 minute experience and the memory is better left as just that, a memory. Sometimes it’s so f*cking awesome and I’m hooked all over again and feel like an excited kid playing his Amiga 500 at Christmas time! That second feeling.. it’s addictive and makes it all worthwhile! Retro Nostalgia forever!

[@Jani_Ikävalko]

In all of these Accolade/DSi games if you "over rev" it the engine blows instantly which was completely unrealistic and made games more difficult than necessary. One misshift and you're done. Not in real life though... These games were Test Drives, Stunts and this GP Circuit. What a fantastic way to simulate a car....

[@federicorizzi4189]

This was my very first game on the Amiga 500. Looking at it critically, graphic was bad, sound was bad, AI was terrible, no feel of speed. But I love it and class it as second best F1 game ever made on Amiga. Oh the memories...

[@TedMeat]

What would be your number one? F1GP?

[@federicorizzi4189]

​@@TedMeat On Amiga? yes definitely, I still play it any now and then. Curiously on the emulator it seems harder now than back in the days. Or it's me being older haha! At Ace level I used to overlap every driver till the third or second position.

[@jacekatalakis8316]

Now hopefully we get Ted to take a look at the Cycles one for bikes too, since that was somehow just as good, if not better EDIT: Oh there were a whole slew of GP games around this time, way more than I remember, I only remeber this, Cycles and GP Unlimited too. Cycles shares many of the issues of GP Circuit though but has some tracks, muc like this one, that haven't shown up in any racing game (Rijeka anyone?) again

[@TedMeat]

Yeah, in Cycles there were even elevation changes. GP Circuit I had forgotten, I think that's when Accolade dropped the ball for good. It was absolutely horrible to drive :D

[@PayasYouListen]

My friend had this game on his dad's PC and we'd sometimes play it when we were round his house. Didn't really know any better. When my dad finally bought a PC we bought Grand Prix 2. I never looked back. The lack of framerate makes this pretty unwatchable for me, which is a shame. But other than that it looks pretty decent for it's time. Not a fan of the 2D "infinite plane" type circuits though. Reminds me of F1 on the Game Boy Colour.

[@tommat86]

Oh, I had this in the dos version in the early 90s... was my very first racing game. Couldn't read any english back then, and a friend of mine told me the lap count setting was actually a setting for the speed of the car. I put it of course to 99, and was wondering why the race never ended... and those stupid cars didn't go any faster either... ;)

[@TedMeat]

Haha, that was hilarious :D 99 laps is a looong way to go!

[@petrinahkuri1005]

Hyvä jekku 😂

[@maurem]

I used to play a lot with this game on the c64 and loved it. When I got an Amiga I also made sure I’d get a copy of it, but I remember the huge disappointment when I played my first race: the 8 bit version was far superior to this: much more depth and sense of speed and easier overtaking, without that horrible fear of crashing with the car in front at any moment.

[@arekkusu888]

Where are the days. I remember that in Monaco, I could get below 1 minute (maybe 58 secs).

[@TedMeat]

Ahh, would require some hotlapping to get below 1 minute :D Don't tempt me!

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

The Ferrari is by FAR the fastest on all but a few tracks, in the DOS version at least and it is probably .... maybe not different on the Amiga.. People have been mislead by the straight line speed of the McLaren, but in corners and on the brakes, the Ferrari is miles ahead! :-)

[@TedMeat]

In the 80s we never raced anything else but the McLaren. Obviously bhp is everything for a 8 year old :D Also in Wikipedia it said that the Ferrari is the slowest but now that you mentioned it I think I did better when I drove the Ferrari (versus the Williams). Although could it be possible it's a skill related issue? :D I think the physics are exactly the same in Amiga version, it's just graphics and sounds that are different between Amiga and PC.

[@Ze_Joe_75_RG]

Thanks for this video.

[@TedMeat]

My pleasure! :)

[@stevengton]

One look at the jerky framerate and I knew you were playing it in 50fps PAL mode where 1 minute of game time takes 72 seconds in real time. Running it in 60fps fixes the timing and offers a far smoother and faster experience. I played this (both C64 and Amiga versions) and Cycles full seasons through a year ago on hardest difficulty and in one sitting (and won, though all the seasons were crazy tight and went down to the wire). Definitely good games, no doubt about it.

[@TedMeat]

Thanks! I'm new to Amiga emulation, I guess you can change the mode into 60fps. I should try that, the frame rate was indeed not the best.

[@Mikosyko]

Ted, have you ever played Johnny Herbert's Grand Prix Championship? I reckon it'd be a neat playthrough 😁 based extremely very unofficially on the 98 season 😁

[@apiFerrari]

I did with my brother. Split screen mode was very good 😀

[@TedMeat]

Nope, never have tried it. Actually I don't even remember hearing about the game, had to check it out on KZbin. How has this been under my radar all this time :D Might check it out at some point, but no promises. Thanks for the tip!

[@pelimies1818]

Looking these huge sprites after so many years, reminds me how big thing vector graphic revolution was. Not for console/arcade/platform players, but for simulator fan it was the shit.

[@TedMeat]

Yeah, after vector graphics these sprite things were forgotten really quickly.

[@rondee]

This was my very first PC game, but I played on a CGA monitor. 😂

[@TedMeat]

Ahh, glorious CGA :D

[@petrinahkuri1005]

Retropelit ovat mahtavia. Pelasin nuorempana tuota Geof Crammondin Grand Prix 1 peliä. Kyllä on nykyisin rallipelit kehittyneet.

[@FlyingDutch82]

Memory lane! This was for me THE F1 game until a classmate introduced me to a certain Geoff Crammond F1 game... That was the end of Grand Prix Circuit for me. But till then it was a lot of fun. Always played with Ferrari because the game wasn't that hard.

[@TedMeat]

Yeah, after trying Geoff Crammond games these sprite games were forgotten very quickly :D

[@christhjian9923]

Amiga version sounds really great, I had no idea. I used to play it as a kid. Pro mode seemed almost impossible then. Certainly a very well made game. Seems like the developers gave it all at the time. I'd like to point out mirrors, they work really well too.

[@TedMeat]

Yeah, most old arcade / sprite racing games just feel hastily put together but this one they gave love for sure!

[@ismaelgp2700]

Hello Ted! I never played this, although I have a vague idea that a friend of mine had it. Interesting details in this "two-dimension" game: the accumulation of damage, the deadly high-revving of the engine, and of course the sounds of cars around - all three absent from 'GP1' and GP2. I wonder if you ever played Super Monaco GP by Sega. The look/horizon of some of these tracks, namely Monza and Monaco, looks quite similar to the ones of Super Monaco those. If you're up to Quick Race seasons, you could give a go to Super Monaco GP, don't if there are plenty of that online... Cheers!

[@TedMeat]

Hi Ismael! Nope, never played Super Monaco GP. But it does come up in the comments every time I make a video on old sprite racing games, so I really should check it out! And I will at some point!

[@hatcher8930]

I don't remember having this game but we had a different one on this same engine: Test Drive 2. Did you play that too? I can hear the theme tune in my head.

[@TedMeat]

I have a faint memory of Test Drive 2. In that one there were elevation changes so it was slightly more advanced. I'm pretty sure I had a copy but I don't really have memories of playing it.

[@grandprixthree9862]

this was very nice. 88 , but good arcade.

[@anonymous-rj6ok]

I played that game so often back in the day. Loved it though I think "The Cycles" was even better.

[@taka-harvey9631]

The Cycles even has some very fictional elevation changes and full season of races. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nomthoCGgtmAqNU

[@apiFerrari]

The Cycles" were great too!

[@TedMeat]

Yeah I think in The Cycles there were elevation changes (kinda) as well.

[@Dannzt]

I probaby got more mileage in this game than in all the cars I've owned combined

[@herdarkshadow834]

Bangsel Man deserves a second season in the Ferrari. Glad you got it running and had fun… apart from the DNFs. 🙂

[@TedMeat]

We'll see, perhaps with the C64 version? Thanks again for pointing out Amiga Forever!

[@herdarkshadow834]

@@TedMeat You’re welcome ☺️ They do a C64 emulator too called C64 Forever if you run into any problems. 😉

[@apiFerrari]

i loved this game!!!!

[@soldieroffortune308]

This game looks a lot like Nigel Mansel’s Grand Prix for the Spectrum 48k.

[@TedMeat]

Ahh, I mistook Nigel Mansell’s Grand Prix for Nigel Mansell’s World Championship from 1992. Didn't know there was another Nigel Mansell game. I had the PC version of Nigel Mansell’s World Championship and it was absolutely horrible :D

[@pelimies1818]

Travis qualifies 12 sec faster. He must have used turbo. Press F1.

[@trohde]

My first racing game, copied from a school friend.

[@turrican4d599]

Please try the C64 version! :)

[@TedMeat]

I might at some point, that one should be at least as good as the Amiga version.

[@noonman8129]

hey man can you please help me with downloading grand prix 4 without CD i tried everything but it keeps telling me errors. Please help!

[@PayasYouListen]

This game was so ahead of its time. It even has Donald Trump crashing the podium ceremony.

[@timyo6288]

where is DC?

[@TedMeat]

In all the other cars with a fake name.