Grand Prix Legends

About Grand Prix Legends

Grand Prix Legends (1998) is Papyrus's demanding racing simulator of the 1967 Formula One season, with Brabham, Ferrari and Lotus cars on narrow, tree-lined circuits, some of them long gone.

Grand Prix Legends in Depth

Inspired by the 1967 Formula One season, it includes the Brabham, BRM, Eagle, Ferrari and Lotus teams, with drivers such as Jack Brabham, Denis Hulme, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Dan Gurney, Jochen Rindt and Jacky Ickx, while two fictional teams, Murasama and Coventry, stand in for Honda and Cooper. Players can race alone or against computer opponents, adjusting many parameters for the skill and aggression of the AI drivers, or race others over a LAN.

Inspired by the 1966 film Grand Prix, the developers chose 1967 because the circuits of the time were narrow and lined with trees, houses and other features that, in a game, heighten the sense of speed, and because the cars' primitive suspension made their physics more visually dramatic. As some of the tracks no longer existed in their original form, the team visited town halls to obtain blueprints of defunct circuits, and Papyrus co-founder Dave Kaemmer said licensing was difficult, though people helped them along the way. GameSpot called it the most intense racing experience ever seen on a PC.

Making Grand Prix Legends

Papyrus Design Group, co-founded by Dave Kaemmer, developed it over three years, and Sierra On-Line published it for PC in 1998 under its Sierra Sports banner. It received "favorable" reviews according to GameRankings: GameSpot said it offered the most intense racing experience yet seen on a personal computer, and Next Generation highly praised its graphics, its handling and its recreation of the 1967 season, with the cars and tracks of the era.