Formula One World Grand Prix

Formula One World Grand Prix was developed and published by Video System and released in Europe on 30th November, 1999. A time when this gamer was fully immersed in all things F1 so this was like a chilled Jagermeister served by Dame Helen Mirren wearing nothing but high heels, but I digress.
To get straight to the point this is one of the best F1 games ive played (ive zipped around a fair few circuits too) and only the lacklustre commentary lets it down. Yes its the legendary Murray Walker, and yes all Formula 1 fans love him (probably) but you get the feeling he was only in the studio for one afternoon for this one. In the main all he tells you is the position you are in. But there is a funny part where dear old Murray tells you, 'try driving on the track!' Should you veer off it and the tone he uses is soaked in total distain for your clumsiness. Absolute class!
The game itself looks great, in fact I gave it a spin last night and was still impressed by it. The rain as soon as you hit Silverstone is pretty neat and proves a real challenge to stay on track provoking lots of outbursts from Walker. Cars all look fine in official livery and sponsor logos and there are 5 camera views to choose (cockpit view all the way for me.)
There are four modes in all: Single Race lets you drive any car on any track, Championship which is the full 1998 season, Time Trial pits you against the clock and Match Race is the multiplayers choice. One cool thing about playing the full season is the weather being the exact conditions they were on the actual race day all those years ago, so if it rained at Silverstone (as per usual) then you'll get the wet stuff in the game too. Neat.
If doing the full 72 laps on the Nurbergring isn't your truck of bananas then you can do 30, 12, 6 or 3 laps but be warned! Opting for anything less than 30 laps robs you of getting into the spirit of the game with all the pit stop strategies (you'll need those to win) and cursing like a rum drunk sailor as one of your cars wheels suddenly gives out.
Obviously the drivers on offer are the '98 breed so its Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen and Johnny Herbert you'll be seeing and not Lewis Hamilton and his chums. But this for me is a good thing as there were more characters in the drivers paddock back then.
The game should please petrolheads too as you are able to tinker with every part of the cars set up. Glad of this too because in default the car can be quite skitty if you're not used to playing F1 games.
All in all its a wonderful title and as I stated above, its one of the best F1 titles ive played. And best news is you can get a copy on auction sites for the same price as a Sunday newspaper. Better fun too. This ones a podium winner.