Grand Prix Driver by Britannia Software (1984)

[AMSDOS]

I remember wanting this game so badly when we first got our CPC464 mainly because it was in the AMSOFT catalogue and it looked like something I'd played previously on the Atari! Instead I got Masteronics Formula 1 Simulator!    Though this Grand Prix Driver is perhaps less complicated with no actual circuits (no turns, trees or other road conditions), though I still like it even though it's a fairly routine Dodge em car simulator and you have to pass 30 cars in 600 seconds (10 minutes), though I'm relieved to say I've finally done it by running my car at 96 (whatever - mp/h or km/h) and moving to the center of the road once you've passed a car and yeah not touch the edge of the green with your tyre or you'll crash!     But I'm guessing anyone who played this game in 1984, might have got through all 30 cars in under 10 minutes back in 1984!    Not the easiest of games and you have to keep focused as to where the next car is heading early, of course if you go too slow you'll go over 10 overs and loose. The funny part is when you complete it you get a very simple you have won message which is sort of overshadowed by the impressive "Game Over" sequence with flashy background!    The scrolling between the City Scape and the Road and Grass while playing this game is also quite nice!    Maybe it's a simple game though if you've got a spare 10 minutes and want to stay focused in that time, it's a rather neat little game! 

[Xyphoe]

Awww, it's kinda cute in a 'this is the kind of games we got in 1984' kinda way.
Looks like it's been programmed in BASIC

Strange bug or 'feature'? I found pressing the "END" key which I had mapped as my Joystick Down key in WinApe sends the game into overdrive! I thought I'd discovered the cars turbo boost or something, but no the clock speeds up also!

A better F1 game from the same period is 3D Grand Prix from Amsoft - http://cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=196
That's a pretty good racing game actually.

[AMSDOS]

Awww, it's kinda cute in a 'this is the kind of games we got in 1984' kinda way.
Looks like it's been programmed in BASIC

I thought that too until I examined the contents of "GDDRIVER.BAS" file and discovered it was a legitimate binary file which loads at &2710.

Strange bug or 'feature'? I found pressing the "END" key which I had mapped as my Joystick Down key in WinApe sends the game into overdrive! I thought I'd discovered the cars turbo boost or something, but no the clock speeds up also!

That's strange cause I'm using WinApe in the same manner and didn't encounter that problem, though I thought the clock might have sped up, though had it done so I still would have ran out of time perhaps. What I sort of found kind of annoying was whatever speed you crashed out at Game Over time, if you play another game your car would briefly start at that speed and occassionally there was another car to dodge around making it impossible to make it around it in time and loosing a life!    I guess that's the problem you've got if you don't do a KM RESET (&BB03) to clear the keyboard buffer.

A better F1 game from the same period is 3D Grand Prix from Amsoft - http://cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=196
That's a pretty good racing game actually.

Yeah I never knew about this one, though I'll check it out cause it looks interesting, though it's obviously looks more advanced (as it should). To me GPD though is interesting as well cause it's quite simple and short, good for those who want to spend a few monents focused on it.
I've tried 3D Stunt Rider a few times as well though the novelty of it wears off so quickly cause I never seem to land the bike properly - even when I land it up the right way the bike blows up!    Only thing good about that game is the nice Scrolling.

[milamber]

I got this game with my CPC 464 for christmas many, many moons ago. (i also got Space Hawks and Roland in the caves & Harrier Attack)I completed it once and wasnt impressed with the outcome of my 10 minutes of focused gameplay :)Me and my dad had more fun playing the later Mastertronic racers such as Speedking.

[Gryzor]

Ooh Speedking was great, and I used to play it with my dad, too. I think we may have destroyed a joystick or two with those bends... we used to lean to the side, trying to steer that sprite

[milamber]

Trying to steer that sprite used to make me laugh as my dad battled to control it It looked silly as it wobbled for the left to the right :DWe used to also work together on harrier attack - primitive graphics - but fun all the same.

[Gryzor]

How would you "work together" on it? It's hardly a 2-player game...

We had actually made Krakout into a two-player game: we were both so awesome in it that we would take turns in it, when one of us got tired... while in the same game, of course, never seen the Game Over screen after a certain point

[Xyphoe]

I've tried 3D Stunt Rider a few times as well though the novelty of it wears off so quickly cause I never seem to land the bike properly - even when I land it up the right way the bike blows up!    Only thing good about that game is the nice Scrolling.

That's a longplay vid I've been working on for ages... I've done it, but for the final jump you have to get up to a rediculous speed to clear which is extremely random - you manage it by somehow wiggling left and right and weaving the bike around and sometimes you hit above top speed. I've done it a couple of times in practice - then the game just loops round. I managed to get one video where I jumped the final buses but then crashed on the landing  I might just chuck that online as I've given up now!!

[milamber]

How would you "work together" on it? It's hardly a 2-player game...

We had actually made Krakout into a two-player game: we were both so awesome in it that we would take turns in it, when one of us got tired... while in the same game, of course, never seen the Game Over screen after a certain point

Well my dad was never the greatest video gamer so i fired and drop bombs whilst he moved around - oh i think i changed the speed too.Krakout was a cool breakout game and in many ways better than Arkanoid in my opinion.  I think you got to make your own levels if you completed it - i never did as there where a 100 or so screens, i think?

[Gryzor]

I *think* it was 100 tables, but it was bugged in that you were sure to hit a sort of "kill screen" on your way there. On many screens the ball would get stuck between indestructible tiles...

[Xyphoe]

I like Speed King, great little budget game.

But what's the fecking key for 'brake'

[milamber]

Speed king was in many ways far better than the £9.99 offerings of other software titles, watching the bike wobble when a older person struggles with it was fun .  Will replay the game in hope of finding the brake key.

I think masteronic did a F1 game too that was quite enjoyable even though it was in 4 colour mode.

[milamber]

I *think* it was 100 tables, but it was bugged in that you were sure to hit a sort of "kill screen" on your way there. On many screens the ball would get stuck between indestructible tiles...

...but the game had its own style of - graphics, sound effects and format which made it enjoyable even with its hang ups.  Unlike Arkanoid which often was impossible and frustrating -but nice graphics!

[AMSDOS]

I think masteronic did a F1 game too that was quite enjoyable even though it was in 4 colour mode.

Mentioned it earlier in my initial post - Formula 1 Simulator, it's okay, though it's bugged - you end up going from last to 1st position, and it just seems to go on forever!    Otherwise the variety of tracks, and tune are pretty good.

Getting back to the original game (as written in the title), it does appear that the clock speeds up when you accelerate, obviously it's better to accelerate early and not to speed up and slow down all the time, keep it to a comfortable speed and hold it there, occassionally I'm finding it very tricky to dodge around cars in time cause they come in faster than some of the other ones. There is also some sort of bend system in the game even though the track appears straight all the way, it seems to happen when the city scape is moving while you're not pressing any arrows/keys. This can happen both ways, and as well it makes it just a little bit harder to dodge around cars (interesting).

[milamber]

It was a good game for a quick play and worked better in comparison to those Mode 0 ones that where released.

The trick with Grand Prix Driver is to move as soon as a car appears on the horizon - i know that may seem obvious but thats how i managed it...once

Once you manage to beat the game, the ending doesnt warrent a return to playing again. But, its a good test of reflexes and quite a challenge that all loyal CPC fans should try to complete. 

[AMSDOS]

It was a good game for a quick play and worked better in comparison to those Mode 0 ones that where released.

The trick with Grand Prix Driver is to move as soon as a car appears on the horizon - i know that may seem obvious but thats how i managed it...once

Once you manage to beat the game, the ending doesnt warrent a return to playing again. But, its a good test of reflexes and quite a challenge that all loyal CPC fans should try to complete.

What I do as a rule is make sure you can get past the first car, speed up to 96 whatevers!    Once you've passed a car (which is when it's about to leave behind you), move straight to the center of the road, every car seems to start from the left (at the horizon), though can move to the right (this becomes obvious when the car is near the top), though the quicker you move to the center the quicker you can respond to which way those cars are coming down while retaining a speed of 96, only danger with this is running your back wheel into the passing car which hasn't quite cleared the road and it can become really tricky when your getting a sequence of cars remaining left and moving towards the right of the road, when there's a line of them coming from the same direction you can literally move quickly back to where you were. I've only completed it twice probably from out of 20 attempts, so it's not sound advice, though the hardest bit is moving to the center and avoiding the passed car. I love it for the concentration and responce aspect.