software

[fly944]

Does anyone know of any good F1 or racing simulator? I am looking for something that might be multiplayer compatable.

[JuiceMan]

Grand Prix Legends is great. It's a few years old however it still has great graphics and is rather realistic.

[jluetjen]

It's available at used SW stores and Ebay near you.

BTW - Don't expect to learn it over night. I really is like racing Jimmy Clark - and you're going to get "spanked" by him regularly. So don't get depressed when it happens. There are always going to be faster guys then you and I.

[emcon5]

Some older games with lots of Porsches are Sports Car GT and Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed. Both are probably hard to find, but may turn up in the bargain bin at your local software store, or on Ebay.

SCGT is similar to the American LeMans series, with 4 different classes and a bunch or real tracks (Laguna Seca, Sebring, Lime Rock, Road Atlanta, Las Vegas, more). There are also other tracks and cars that can be downloaded, everything from 917's to Winnebago's.

Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed is only Porsches, You get to race Porsches from the history of the company, all sorts of 356's, 911s up to 73 (S & RS), 930's, 914, 944 (including S and turbo), and a wide variety of 964/993/996. Race cars available are the 550, 935/78 Moby d1ck, and GT1. This game has come up a few times before, search the archives for details.

Grand Prix Legends is pretty cool, but it has a much steeper learning curve.

"Pro Race Driver" is supposed to come out in a couple months, and looks promising. Hopefully you can skip the soap-opera crap that it appears to come with. No Porsches, unfortunately, but many cool tracks.
http://www.codemasters.com/redirect/redirect.php?url=/proracedriver/english/front.htm

For Playstation 2, Gran Turismo 3 is supposed to be awesome. Played it at the store a couple times, almost a good reason to buy a PS2.

Electronic Arts makes a F1 game, but I haven't played it. Someone needs to tell them that they have another game 95% complete and don't even know it. Porsche Supercup runs as support races for the F1 series. They already have the tracks and physics modeling done from the F1 game, and they have an exclusive licensing agreement with Porsche. They could put out the Supercup series in about a month, just by making the cars and the AI, either as an add-on to the F1 game, or standalone.

Tom

[emcon5]

I was bored, so I found some good screenshots of Sports Car GT and some of the downloaded cars.

Chasing Derek Bell's Rothman's 962 in a Gulf 917K through the esses at Lime Rock


And in the uphill at the end of no-name straight


917's heading for Big Bend at Lime Rock


Getting passed in the esses by Mark Donohue and my Gulf teammate


Catching a 910 at Mosport:


Bump drafting the Hippie Martini 917LS at Mosport.

[emcon5]

Racing a Ferrari 512 at Mosport, I like the shadows from the trees.



Steve McQueen's 908 at night in the rain. Nice reflection on the wet track.


A mess in the rain at Road Atlanta's turn 1.


Bump drafting a BMW at Road Atlanta


Both feet in, here comes the pack.


Tom.

[David McLaughlin]

I have got to get that game! I'm getting bored with NFS-PU and I haven't the time to learn F1-2001. I need more Porsche stuff anyway. Is sports car GT still available and is it Win-ME compatable?

[EdHut]

I just have to recommend Grand Prix Legends.

Yep, it is dated October 1998, but as it turned out this simulation (don't call it a game please) could be extended with extra tracks and graphics.

Online racing is a blast as well. I run in three online leagues myself and I must say it is quite addictive.

Have a look at these links for more info:
http://www.vroc.net/
http://magnust.d2g.com/
http://www.racesimcentral.com/
http://gplea.racesimcentral.com/
http://gplpp.com/
http://gplrank.schuerkamp.de/php-pub/lc_ranking.php?option=showall

There are a lot more, but these should get you started.