[{"TitleName":"Grand Prix Simulator","Publisher":"Code Masters Ltd","Author":"David Whittaker, James Wilson, Mervin James, Nigel Fletcher, Serge Dosang, The Oliver Twins","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0009353","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 45, Oct 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-09-24","Editor":"Barnaby Page","TotalPages":148,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Managing Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Richard Eddy, Lloyd Mangram, Ian Phillipson, Ben Stone\r\nPhotographers: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nTechnical Writers: Simon N Goodwin, Jon Bates\r\nAdventure Column: Derek Brewster\r\nPBM Column: Brendon Kavanagh\r\nStrategy Column: Philippa Irving\r\nEducation Column: Rosetta McLeod\r\nLondon Correspondent: John Minson\r\nContributors: Robin Candy, Mike Dunn, Paul Evans, Dominic Handy, Nick Roberts, Mark Rothwell, Paul Sumner\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nArt Director: Gordon Druce\r\nIllustrator: Oliver Frey\r\nDesign: Tony Lorton, Markie Kendrick, Wayne Allen\r\nProcess and Planning: Matthew Uffindell, Jonathan Rignall, Nick Orchard\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Andrew Smales\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow\r\n\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistributed by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return any written material sent to CRASH unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©1987 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Code Masters\r\nRetail Price: £1.99\r\nAuthor: The Oliver Twins\r\n\r\nYour stomach' s full of butterflies but now it's too late, you're sitting in a Grand Prix racing car and the green start light is just about to flash. With the strident countdown still rumbling in your ears and the smell of scorched rubber and the tang of hot oil burning in your nostrils, you blast away from the start.\r\n\r\nIn this simulation, your car must be taken successfully around a series of 14 circuits, shown in bird's-eye view. As you carefully accelerate and decelerate around the track, negotiating bends and avoiding obstacles such as bridges, careful steering is essential - misjudge a corner and you could go spinning off the tarmac.\r\n\r\nA clock shows each car's lap time, and after the race you're ranked as a 'fair' driver or a master.\r\n\r\nWhen Grand Prix Simulator was released for the Amstrad CPC this spring, Activision alleged a breach of copyright: the Code Masters game was too similar to the coin-op Super Sprint, Activision said, pointing out that it owned the license to that arcade game. \r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: colourful but small and poorly-animated\r\nSound: good tune, but the car engine sounds like it's about to seize up\r\nOptions: two simultaneous players, definable keys","ReviewerComments":["Grand Prix Simulator is terrible. If you can actually find your car - not an easy task, especially on a badly-tuned TV, as it's only about four pixels long - then there's about ten minutes of interest here. There's certainly none of the addictiveness of a good racing game.\r\nMike Dunn\r\n38%","Ever wondered what it's like to race in a Grand Prix? If not, this is the game for you because playing Grand Prix Simulator WON'T show you what it's like. The graphics are ultratrash, except for a bit of decent drawing on the borders; colour is badly-used because all the racetracks are mostly green and there's colour clash when you go near a barrier. Between games it sounds as if Donald Sinden has been bribed into doing some digitised speech. This won't be worth buying, even to the car-racing enthusiast.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n46%","I'd listened to too much hype about Grand Prix Simulator - now I'm very disappointed. The game is fiddly to control and has little of the addictivity of good arcade racing games. The characters are small - because the 'car window' screen is. But the speech is OK, if not quite up to I, Ball II standard! And I wouldn't be surprised to see this shoot to the top of the budget charts very soon - take your own risks...\r\nRichard Eddy\r\n41%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A below-average race-driving simulation.","Page":"23","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mike Dunn","Score":"38","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"46","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Richard Eddy","Score":"41","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Vrrroooom! Racing round the Grand Prix track - watch out for blood on the road!"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"38%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"25%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"40%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"41%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"42%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 24, Dec 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-11-12","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Peter George\r\nDeputy Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nProduction Editor: Lucy Broadbent\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nDeputy Art Editor: Darrell King\r\nContributors: Richard Blaine, Audrey & Owen Bishop, Jonathan Davies, Chris Donald, Mike Gerrard, Gwyn Hughes, ZZKJ, Tony Lee, John Minson, David Powell, Nat Pryce, Rick Robson, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Mischa Welsh, Tony Worrall\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Simon Stansfield\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nManaging Editor: Kevin Cox\r\nPublisher: Roger Munford\r\nPublishing Director: Stephen England\r\n\r\nPublished by Dennis Publishing Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England.\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinters: Chase Web Offset [redacted]\r\nDistribution: Seymour Press [redacted]\r\n\r\nAll material in Your Sinclair ©1987 Felden Productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Sinclair is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"Code Masters\r\n£1.99\r\nReviewer: Tony Worrall\r\n\r\nCue Murray Walker impression - \"And here comes the first contender in the highly controversial Grand Prix Formula One racing game stakes. Grand Prix Simulator, from the professional Code Masters team, takes the first corner and flies out in front narrowly missing the chicane. But the question on everyone's lips is will GPS make the flag, or is it really the pits?\" That's enough impressions thank you very much!\r\n\r\nThis long-awaited race game that's been packing them in on the Amstrad, has now made it to the Speccy and it's not bad either. The idea is to power steer your tiny pixelated Formula One machine to three laps victory over the computer (or second) player. That done, you have the chance to battle it out on a new track with a more experienced and finely tuned opponent. No easy task.\r\n\r\nCalling the game a 'simulator' is maybe stretching things a bit far. There is no chance to alter your car, you just have to drive it as fast and straight as you can. It skids and spins all over the place and often gets stuck in the barriers (unlike the 'bouncy' barriers in Super Sprint), bad news if you're behind!\r\n\r\nAs both cars look very similar picking your own out can be tricky, and the attribute clash doesn't help. But the excellent speech and addictiveness of play add brownie points to the value. Very similar to BMX Simulator in style and play, but then again that's no bad thing! Good value, good FX, good gameplay (good grief).","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"The game that tries hard NOT to look like Super Sprint. Good racey fun but a bit too much like BMX Simulator for comfort.","Page":"82","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tony Worrall","Score":"7","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"7/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 67, Oct 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-09-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: David Kelly\r\nDeputy Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nAdventure Help: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nContributors: Richard Price, Andy Moss, Gary Rook\r\nHardware Correspondent: Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Mike Corr\r\nProduction Assistant: Alison Morton\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Linda Everest\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Jerry Paris\r\n\r\nSinclair User\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1986 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 84,699 July-Dec 1986"},"MainText":"Label: Code Masters\r\nAuthor: The Oliver Twins, Serge Dosang\r\nPrice: £1.99\r\nMemory: 48K/128K (enhanced sound)\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Tony Dillon\r\n\r\nBroom broom. BMX's are out, racing cars are in. Why drive a silly pushbike round a dirt track when you can drive the real thing.\r\n\r\nA Formula 1 racing machine with 200 horses under the bonnet (or something like that!?!)\r\n\r\nAnd why wait for Activision's coin-op licence for Super Sprint when Code Masters gives you this now. Not that Grand Prix Simulator looks anything like the Super Sprint coin-op of course. Grand Prix Simulator is an entirely original game idea. Of course it is, ow! A flying pig just attacked me...\r\n\r\nAnyway, let's get this review on the road.\r\n\r\nIn Grand Prix Simulator you drive your thoroughbred racing machine through... erm... well, quite a few levels. Either against a droid car or, in two-player mode, you and a friend can race each other.\r\n\r\nEven in two-player mode, that ol' droid car is still present, just to add a bit more urgency to the race. And to move up to the next level all you have to do is simply get to the finish line in an allotted time? Alas no. To qualify for the next course you have to get a position better than the droid, ie you have to beat it. If you don't then you're out; in two-player mode this means that for you both to qualify for the next race, you both have to beat the computer generated car.\r\n\r\nGraphically this game is not what you'd call stunning, but the tracks are laid out well and are hard enough to provide challenge.\r\n\r\nUnlike BMX Simulator you are not just given bare dirt to ride on. GPS tracks have bridges to go over and under.\r\n\r\nAlso, narrow pathways are placed on some corners to be used as short cuts.\r\n\r\nAudibly though, the game is quite surprising.\r\n\r\nThe title music is by that musico supremo Dave Whittaker and is well up to his fine standard. What is very pleasing is the clear speech that counts down the start of the race and tells you the results at the end.\r\n\r\nWhatever the shortcomings of the graphic presentation, the one thing the Code Masters do seem to know all about is playability - it's really great fun and pretty flippin' addictive. Enough to drive ya crazy (joke).\r\n\r\nCracking stuff. Straight to number one, no probs, I'd say.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Superb follow-up to BMX Simulator with a look and feel reminiscent of Super Sprint. At the price, how can it fail?","Page":"86,87","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tony Dillon","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"PROGRAMMERS\r\n\r\nGrand Prix Simulator is the combined effort of a number of people. The original concept was the work of the mysterious Olivers, the Spectrum conversion was by Serge Dosang with graphics by Mervin James and music by the ubiquitous Dave Whittaker.\r\n\r\nThe Olivers have worked on a number of Codemasters' titles, both on the Spectrum and Amstrad.\r\n\r\nSoftography: Robin Hood (Codemasters. 1986), Ghost Hunters (Codemasters, 1987), Dizzy (Codemasters, 1987), Professional Skiing Simulator (Codemasters, 1987 [to be released])"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 3, Dec 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-11-05","Editor":"Peter Connor, Steve Cooke","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Advanced Computer Entertainment\r\nFuture Publishing [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted], Telecom Gold 84:TXT152, Prestel/Micronet [redacted]\r\n\r\nCo-editors: Peter Connor, Steve Cooke\r\nReviews Editor: Andy Wilton\r\nStaff Writer: Andy Smith\r\nArt Editor: Trevor Gilham\r\nPublisher: Chris Anderson\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS & SPECIAL OFFERS\r\nCarrie-Anne Porter [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOLOUR ORIGINATION\r\nWessex Reproduction [redacted]\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION\r\nSM Distribution [redacted]\r\n\r\nPRINTING\r\nChase Web Offset [redacted]\r\n\r\nCopyright - FUTURE PUBLISHING LTD 1987 - No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without our permission."},"MainText":"Code Masters, £1.99cs\r\n\r\nThe Oliver twins' Midas touch is bound to misfire occasionally, and here's a case in point. A viewed-from-above racing game, GPS suffers from small blobby car sprites and very unrealistic cornering. Cars crab desperately round bends, giving the game a distinctly Thrust-ish flavour (not to mention an air of silliness). Bright enough and quite enjoyable in its way, but even at five times the price Super Sprint's still worth a look.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"81","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"732/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]