Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge

Written by Tom Clare in MegaDrive Game Reviews, Friday 15 October, 2004

Never gets out of second gear

Here's a racer that few of you will have come across, as it was a rather low-profile release back in 1992 for the Sega Mega-Drive. It isn't the type of game you'll find easily of course, though given the current trend for companies to re-release all of their old 16-bit titles on the Game Boy Advance, it wouldn't be too big a surprise to see it resurface one of these days…

As the name would suggest, this is indeed a Formula One racing game with the distinguished honour of carrying the Ferrari name, though sadly the achievements of Flying Edge's racer can't hold a candle to that of the legendary team's.

Since the arrival of the 32-bit era of consoles in the mid 1990's, few genres have benefited quite so much from 3D technology as racing games. Before they could build convincing 3D environments, developers had to create an illusion of speed, motion and a third dimension when the technology would only allow for two. This had been the case for years, and had thrown up some mixed results.

Back to 1992, and the benchmark for Mega-Drive racers was Sega's own classic Super Monaco GP, a game that was clearly the source of much inspiration for Ferrari GP Challenge. But put simply, everything Super Monaco GP got right, Ferrari GP Challenge managed to get wrong.

Things start well enough - the array of options available is impressive; not least the ability to fine tune your cars setup, an option not offered by any of the games rivals. Menus are nice enough, and very easy to navigate, and it's up to the player to decide whether they wish to get straight down to the racing, or tinker around with the car settings to squeeze out some extra performance.

There is a good selection of modes to choose from too, with a two-player split-screen mode, practice and time-trial options occupying the title screen, although only the Championship mode provides any lasting value. The objective is simple; rise from lowly Class D to becoming champion of Class A in four progressively harder championships.

The gameplay is a completely mixed bag, though ultimately disappointing when you consider the potential the project held. The primary cause for concern lies in the 'illusion of 3D' I mentioned earlier - the sense of speed is fairly good, though the way the track and scenery move comes across as jerky and disjointed. At low-speed everything is ridiculously unconvincing; it seems that the circuit is rotating around your car and not the other way around! The handling is actually alright, though the racing is quick to punish any lapses in concentration or judgement, testing your patience to the limit; clipping an obstacle to the side of the road (usually some from of advertisement hoardings) sees your car coming to an immediate dead stop rather than merely losing speed, and strangely the cars take an age to accelerate considering they are 700HP F1 vehicles.

The computer-controlled opponents are very poorly programmed. There are only seven of them participating in each race (half that of Super Monaco GP) and their level of competence varies dramatically depending on the circuit, ranging from extremely tough to laughably easy - very erratic stuff. Qualifying is also rendered almost pointless thanks to your cars bizarre ability to drive straight through opponents!

Visually it really isn't anything to write home about, with some okay-looking cars let down by some pathetically basic backdrops, which feature only the bare minimum of scenery in trees, signs and the odd building if you are lucky. To be fair, the action moves along at quite a nippy pace, though it isn't very smooth.

The sound is atrocious even by Mega-Drive standards. The music is chirpy enough but quickly starts to grate, and you'll be muting the races in no time; engines sound like lawnmowers, and the drone of several cars is simply unbearable. Flying Edge should be ashamed!

Value-wise, it will outlast many racers on the format because of the lengthy championship campaign, but only if you can be bothered to write down the stupidly long password at the end of every race! The Two-player mode won't hold the attention for long, and your friend will probably hate you forever for putting them though a race so devoid of fun. If you can really motivate yourself to play it, there is a lot of racing to be done, but few will persevere past the first season.

As it was made back in the day when Disney games were still all the rage and Mortal Kombat was considered controversial, Ferrari GP Challenge does not contain a certificate. It contains no adult or violent content, and is given an 'E' rating by Epinions.com, meaning is suitable for all ages. That said, neither kids nor adults will get much enjoyment from it sadly, and so I can't really recommend it to any age group.

Overall, Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge is a mediocre Formula One racing game that blatantly apes many that came before it. Graphics and sound are both thoroughly underwhelming, gameplay is erratic and on the whole it fails to excite any enjoyment or sense of competition. It was horribly dated on release and time has hardly been kind on an already-backward racer. Die-hard F1 fans might find a bit of pleasure within, everyone else should avoid. Definitely not a golden oldie…

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