There are some games in our retro gaming segment, Do You Remember, that I’ll be able to recount in exquisite or excruciating detail, depending on your point of view.
I could probably write a full walkthrough for Phantasy Star, in spite of not playing it for over two decades. I could take a pretty good stab at regurgitating the scripts of Final Fantasy VI-through-IX off the top of my head. I could tell you where every secret is in Doom 2 with a bit of time to get back in gear.
And yet, there are other games that are barely more than a fleeting glimpse. Where some carve deep gouges into memory, others barely leave a scratch. But sometimes, the little bump or scrape they did make? That can be more interesting than the ones that left a much broader mark.
One such game is Grand Prix Manager, developed and published by simulation specialist Microprose and released for PC in 1995.
It was obviously a very detailed game. Microprose’s simulations always were. And Formula 1 – while often boring to watch – has a lot more moving parts under the hood that are, generally speaking, more interesting than the deafening zoetrope of cars whizzing round in circles. Technical limitations of the time obviously played their part, but there’s a reason why Grand Prix Manager’s admin side was beautifully represented, but the race was relegated to a bird’s eye view of the track with barely legible cars and irritating, wasp-like sound effects – the backroom stuff was what Microprose found interesting.
You could, for instance, pick every single location that a sponsor could place their branding, from the top spots – the car’s wing, usually reserved for tobacco sponsorship in those days – to the patches on the driver’s suits. You’d also have to decide where best to spend your R&D time and energy, on a small incremental damper change that might help this season, or a full engine overhaul that’ll reap dividends in five seasons’ time.
Speaking of engines: that one thing I really remember about Grand Prix Manager was to do with engines.
You may recall that 1995’s Formula One World Championship was dominated by Michael Schumacher and Benetton, with Damon Hill and Williams in second place. It was the same that year as it had been the year before.
What’s particularly notable about 1995’s constructor’s championship is that both Benetton and Williams were powered by Renault engines that year (where Williams had been Ford-powered before that). That Renault engine was dominant, and it showed in the final standings:
- Benetton-Renault – 137 points
- Williams-Renault – 112 points
- Ferrari – 73 points
- McLaren-Mercedes – 30 points
- Ligier-Mugen-Honda – 24 points
That’s quite the gulf, and that gulf was just as apparent in the simulation which represented the 1995 season. If you chose to manage either Benetton or Williams, it made the game that much easier. The engine really did make all the difference. It’s like playing Football Manager as a massively wealthy club like Manchester City today.
What was also fun about Grand Prix Manager, which is less present in modern sims, is the ability to modify the game straight from the interface. (Without needing to, you know, actually develop and install mods.) That meant you could, for instance, replace the drivers with friends and family. And if you really didn’t like someone, you could make them drive for Minardi.
In mucking about with the rosters, on one occasion I inadvertently demoted or replaced Benetton-Renault’s test driver for the 1995 season, Emmanuel Collard. I forget the exact details, but before too long, I received a message from the boss of Renault saying they were upset that there wasn’t a French driver on the team. I ignored the veiled threat and, right before the start of the season, Renault pulled its engine from my team. The season was over, ruined before it even started.
It seemed like a weird occurrence, that Microprose would have even programmed that in. Perhaps it was an edge case, one of those random events to keep things spicy, like if a player punched the ref in Championship Manager. So in the name of science, I tried again, this time editing out the Williams-Renault test driver, Jean-Christophe Boullion, also a Frenchman. It was the same result; first a threat from the Renault premier, then, when I didn’t cave, the withdrawal of that world-beating engine.
I have no idea how realistic this was. There’s probably lots more to remember about Grand Prix Manager, and I’m probably doing the game and its developers a great disservice. But, through the mists of time, my key takeaway was this: in 1995, Microprose reckoned Renault was a bit nationalist.
