Geoff Crammond’s Grand Prix rereleases to be as ‘easy to modify as possible’ amid licensing issues
The first dev blog for the rereleases of Geoff Crammond's heralded Grand Prix series has been released, stating the game's source code will be updated to run on DX11 and will be modding-friendly.
Initially, the game was unveiled with a host of hastily cobbled-together screenshots featuring both real and fake brand names, displayed in a 4:3 aspect ratio, prompting fears about how polished the project would be.
The good news is that MicroProse is modifying each game’s source code to run better on modern systems, upgrading the Application Programming Interface (API) from DirectX 8 to DirectX 11. This will allow more advanced shaders to be used, which will also be modifiable.
For example, Geoff Crammond’s Grand Prix 4 is still eminently playable on modern machines today, but requires a series of community-made mods to function to an acceptable level. The rereleases should make the process much more streamlined and less janky (no word on modern steering wheel compatibility, though).
Steam Workshop support was also mooted when the games were originally unveiled, and there’s no reason to suggest that this has been dropped.
Bad
The bad news, and this shouldn’t come as a surprise, is that the rereleases are facing serious licensing issues. MicroProse estimates that there are just short of 300 brands in the original Grand Prix 4, and it’s nigh-on-impossible to include them all – and there definitely won’t be official Formula 1 team names and drivers.
With Formula One Management naturally being stringent gatekeepers of its intellectual property, MicroProse will make the rereleases fully customisable, so players should be able to swap in the correct driver and team names by editing .json files. Additionally, there’s no doubt the community will provide full livery mods soon after release.
MicroProse even claims that the game’s original files will still work with the new titles, so if you fancied the completely original and fully-licensed look, then it’s possible to swap them in.
New screenshots have also been revealed, showcasing the game in a better light. Interestingly, all brands are fake, except Japanese tyre supplier Bridgestone.
Ugly?
Since licensing is a problem, MicroProse has asked the community to help provide fictional names for the 2001 F1 grid in-game.
First up are the 11 teams for Geoff Crammond Racing 4; find more information on how to submit your entry here.
Anyone lucky enough to get their entry into the finished game will receive a credit, and all applicants will be entered into a prize draw for a copy of MicroProse’s Early Access slot car sim, Throttle Trace.
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