Grand Prix 2

In March 2012, for the first time in thirteen years, I began to play this notable motor racing simulation. I played four custom F1 seasons, one for IndyCar and a number of non-championship races. To view a race, simply click on the race result in the table below:

Formula 1

Year	Driver	1 BRA	2 PAC	3 SMR	4 MON	5 ESP	6 CAN	7 FRA	8 GBR	9 GER	10 HUN	11 BEL	12 ITA	13 POR	14 EUR	15 JPN	16 AUS	Pts	WDC
1988	Mauricio Gugelmin	Ret	9	2	Ret	5	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	4	1	1	1	2	1	2	63	3rd
1992	Ukyo Katayama	4	5	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	4	12	1	Ret	3	2	5	4	Ret	37	5th
1982	Gilles Villeneuve	13	Ret	1	1	5	1	Ret	2	3	1	1	1	1	*Ret*	Ret	1	84	1st
1995	Jean Alesi	*Ret*	3	1	1	8	2	2	1	3	1	1	13	*Ret*	1	*Ret*	1	90	1st

(Bold indicates pole position and italics indicate fastest lap.)

Jean Alesi in the Ferrari 412 T2, 1995

I ran GP2 on old machinery and used the DOSBox CTRL-ALT-F5 method of recording the races. Due to the limited performance of this hardware, all races were recorded in low-resolution VGA mode to maintain framerate. Although I had stopped playing Grand Prix 2 by late 2017, I ran one final race on upgraded hardware to showcase the SVGA mode. I used a $10 'PS2-style' joypad [picture]. The difficulty level in all seasons is Ace with no driver aids enabled and various levels of damage. The carsets were assembled using material from the GP2 website.

Points are awarded according to the system used during that year's real life season. For F1, up to and including 1990 offers nine points for a win; 1991 and after is ten points. 1988 and 1982 therefore offer nine points for a win, whereas '92 and '95 give ten. All possible car failures are enabled for every championship race, and the odds of failure depend on the car used. The frame rate for the 1988 season is approximately 1.5x real time; slightly slower for '82 and '92, and for 1995 I am hoping it is closer to real time[1]. Races are always run at full distance (according to the 1994 number of laps).

IndyCar

In January 2016, after enjoying some late '80s to early '90s IndyCar/CART, I decided to attempt GP2 emulation of this fine motor racing era. I chose to drive as Raul Boesel because in these three years he proved very consistent and hungry for victory, but was denied due to luck or the superior machinery of other drivers. Although oval racing is far from ideal in Grand Prix 2, I still wanted to include it. Yet, because a number of American tracks used in the series aren't available, I decided to create my own schedule of races, made up of tracks that are not part of the official game or my F1 seasons above. Therefore, this is a custom season made purely for entertainment and enjoyment. I've wanted to learn the IndyCar tracks for some time, and now I can, albeit within the limits of the GP2 engine.

Please note: I am well aware that this mod is far from ideal. GP2 purists might eschew the use of any mods, be they graphical or audio. As stated above, this season is for enjoyment and entertainment only. It is not claiming to be an IndyCar simulation[2], merely my own experiments with an old game. I am aware that IndyCar races commence with a rolling start or that the AI isn't specifically programmed to deal with oval racing.

Year	Driver	1 ZAN	2 MIL	3 RAM	4 DIJ	5,6 LAS		7,8 FON		9,10 VAN		11,12 LBH		13 CLV	14 MOH	15,16 DET		17,18 USA		19 PRT	20 POC	21 MNT	Pts	DC
1993	Raul Boesel	1	1	4	1	19	5	1	2	24	19	5	2	2	6	1	1	10	23	24	14	16	227	1st

Oval/Speedway/Super Speedway

Permanent Road Course/Airport

Temporary Street Circuit

Bold indicates pole position and italics indicate fastest lap.

The IndyCar points system for this era is as follows: 1st 20 2nd 16 3rd 14 4th 12 5th 10 6th 8 7th 6 8th 5 9th 4 10th 3 11th 2 12th 1. A point is awarded for pole position and the point for most laps led (see below) will instead go to the driver with the fastest race lap.

Raul Boesel at the 1993 Cleveland Grand Prix, Burke Lakefront Airport

Raul Boesel during 1993: Cleveland Grand Prix, Burke Lakefront Airport (above) and doing battle with Al Unser, Jr. at the Milwaukee Mile (below).

Raul Boesel battles Al Unser, Jr. at the 1993 Milwaukee Sprint

Here are the names of the 1993 IndyCar events:

Note - In Grand Prix 2, there is no system to allow:

Rolling starts
White Flag
Determination of most laps led
Full course caution or pace cars
Races above 124 laps
A field with more than 26 drivers

Non-championship Races

Mauricio Gugelmin racing the March-Judd 881 during 1988

The Ferrari 126C2 duo: Gilles Villeneuve battles Didier Pironi

Pierluigi Martini & Christian Fittipaldi, Monza 1994

The Larrousse of Ukyo Katayama pursued by the Minardi of Gianni Morbidelli, Spa 1992

Damon Hill leads the field at Road America, 1994

Jules Bianchi's Marussia, 2014

During my time playing Grand Prix 2 (approximately 2012-2016) I also raced these standalone events:

Miscellaneous Footage

Gallery

Feel free to browse my directories of Grand Prix 2 related pictures.

Acquiring

Grand Prix 2 is available as a free download if you search for it. Try to acquire the 'oldgames' installer with DOSBox included.

[1] It took a few attempts to tweak this. Disabling the 'sky' texture in the first season probably led to it running faster than actually desired, but I had to do this to prevent excessive slowdown, which due to interference with joypad input, makes driving more difficult. The speed of the 1988 and 1992 seasons may also have led to the development of reduced reaction times. Such is the age of the hardware that during the summer months the overheating to which it is prone caused a loss in CPU performance, resulting in slowdown. Round 8 of 1995 was the first race on the newer laptop, and it ran approximately two minutes shorter than real time over a 90 minute period. For the next round I reduced the frame rate from 12.8 to 12.1.

[2] The 'Indy' season of GP2 is meant to allow for some track familiarisation before the move over to IndyCar Racing II. ICRII will be the game I attempt to master, from scratch, once the final un-modded Grand Prix 2 season is completed.