GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT

 GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT is a racing simulation from Distinctive Software and
Accolade. GPC offers three events, three Formula One cars, eight racing tracks,
five levels of difficulty, nine computer opponents, fine graphics, a save-game
option, and keyboard or joystick control. The Commodore 64/128 version is the
basis of this review; Amiga version notes follow.

 GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT has an international feel and an aura of glamour. The tracks
are convoluted and terrifying, and the cars are fast, fast, fast! Despite some
unnecessary bells and whistles, GPC is one of the best racing simulations
around. It's also very difficult.

 From the Race Screen, you decide whether to Practice, drive a Single Race, or
make a run for the World Driving Title on the Championship Circuit; this last
selection presents all the tracks in succession. There are five levels of
Difficulty: Levels 1 and 2 have auto-shifting, and it's impossible to blow an
engine; Levels 3 and 4 dispense with auto-shifting, and allow for engine and
chassis damage; and at Pro Level, it's all-out war with the tracks, your
opponents, and your car.

 You can enter your name, set the number of laps (1 to 99), and select from one
of eight tracks: Brazil, Monaco, Canada, Detroit, Britain, Germany, Italy, or
Japan. From the Car Selection Screen, you can select to drive a Ferrari, a
Williams, or a McLaren. Each has different speed and handling characteristics.

 Practice lets you test drive a track. Single race and Championship Circuit
selections demand a timed qualifying lap, which is used to determine your
starting position in a field of ten cars. If you don't qualify, you can't rac
After you've qualified, you'll be crammed into your car, which then drives to
the track. The lights blink down and the race begins.

 The C64 screen display consists of your car's interior (all three are
identical), the scrolling track, and lots of scrolling scenery. The dashboard
includes a tachometer, steering wheel, damage indicator, speedometer, and rear
view mirrors on each side of the windshield. The Map Box, Stats Box, and Gear
Shift mechanism are optional displays, and can be toggled on and off.

 The track twists and turns and moves as you drive, as does the background
scenery. Turns are marked with stripes; yardage markers are placed at the
outside edges of turns. The damage indicator reveals chassis problems and tire
wear: Green means okay, yellow means caution, and red means trouble (at which
point you'll have to make a pit stop). Changing all four tires repairs all
damage; changing two tires does not. When the pit stop is complete, you'll
automatically return to the race.

 After every race, the Results Screen displays overall time, average speed, and
stats on the best lap. Should your average lap time fall into the Top 10, it'll
be recorded on the Clip Board, which can be displayed from the Track Selection
Screen with a keystroke. The first six finishers on the Championship Circuit
earn points that will be recorded on the Circuit Results Screen. Moreover, this
screen is the place at which one game in progress can be saved for later play.

 You can control GPC using either the keyboard or a joystick. The stick can be
pushed in eight directions for right and left turns, acceleration on
straight-aways and turns, and braking. Pushing the stick forward and pressing
the button upshifts; pulling the stick back and pressing the button downshifts.
When you're playing Levels 3, 4, or 5, the Visible Gear Shift is extremely
useful.

 The keyboard uses a mnemonic, diamond-shaped layout for the acceleration,
braking, and turning keystrokes, along with the "A" and "Z" keys for shifting.
Additional keystrokes start a Demo, toggle music, access the Map and Stats
Boxes, Gear Shift, select cars from the Track Screen, and pause and restart race
action. Both keyboard and joystick worked fine.

 GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT is a top-notch racing simulation. The graphic displays on
the Commodore are clear and bright. The Stats Box (upper right corner of the
windshield) -- and even more so, the Map Box (upper left corner) -- can be
distracting. However, you can toggle both Boxes off, so this isn't much of a
problem.

 The track circuits are grueling, and demand all your attention. Hitting a turn
is more than a test of driving ability; performed properly, it becomes an art
form -- one which GPC provides plenty of opportunities to perfect. The Ferrari,
Williams, and McLaren each have an abundance of horsepower, and demand as much
attention as the track you're on. You don't _drive_ the Ferrari or the Williams:
You have to become _part_ of it. It's unlikely that you'll be able to focus full
attention on both car and track, a factor that makes GPC one tough game.

 Accolade devotes most of its attention to sports simulations: The attention
defininitely shows in GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT.

 AMIGA VERSION NOTES

 GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT is clearly one of the best racing simulations currently
available for the Amiga. While it doesn't have the extensive configuration
features of FERRARI FORMULA ONE, or the smooth graphics of LOMBARD RAC RALLY, I
think it achieves an almost perfect balance of driving "feel" with Grand Prix
Circuit simulation.

 That being said, there are a few minor annoyances. GPC is one of those games
that not only has copy protection, but absolutely requires you to keep the disk
write-enabled when running. If you flip the write-protect tab, not only will
your scores go unrecorded (as happens with other copy-protected games), but the
program will completely hang: Whenever it attempts to write to disk, the screen
will blank out, offering you no recourse other than a reboot (not even the
system error message appears). This is not the place to hit the warpath with yet
another tirade against stupid copy-protection schemes. It's enough to say that
_any_ disk that can be written to can also be destroyed easily by a number of
random occurrences (not machine specific), e.g., power brownouts during a write
operation. There are no excuses for this sort of design failure.

 Another limitation is the game's sound. While the opening music is great,
Accolade seems to have given up on realism in simulating the noise of the cars'
engines. I think they digitized a recording of a sewing machine for the car
you're driving, and perhaps a vacuum cleaner for your opponents' cars. (Is this
carelessness, or do these cars really sound like that from the cockpit? I hope
the latter is true.) Well, at least you can fool your housemates into believing
you're cleaning up when you're actually racing around the track.

 However, as is typical with Accolade, gameplay more than compensates for the
above-mentioned deficits; the AI used to control the nine other drivers on the
track makes for an almost endless variety of racing situations. There's nothing
like carefully battling other drivers for the lead, and for the most part,
they're well-behaved (though not as well-mannered as their real-life
counterparts). Every now and then a driver will seem to actively block your
passing (and there's one fool in the bunch who insists on slowing _everybody
down -- watch out for him!), but primarily you'll be struggling to see who can
handle the turns most effectively, which is as it should be. Each of your three
car/team choices handles quite differently, and the range of tracks and modes of
difficulty insure that this game won't wear out fast on you -- unlike your car:
Be sure to pull into the pits when you have to!

 The best part about GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT is its "synergy" with Accolade's hit
game, TEST DRIVE II: THE DUEL. Play GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT a while and then go ba to
TDII: You'll begin to appreciate the difference between driving a real racing
car and an F40 or 959. Both games have identical vehicle-control
techniques/commands, so switching between them doesn't mean having to get used
to radically different modes of operation. My ability to control the cars in
TDII has improved drastically since I've had a little experience on the circuit,
and it sure is fun to dash off at 186 mph without worrying about the head-on
traffic or patrol cars!

 GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT is published by Distinctive Software and distributed by
Accolade.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253