Why doesn't someone make ...

[Jonny Apex]

... a mid-1980s turbo era F1 game with all the old tracks: original Osterreichring, Zandvoort, original Silverstone, original Paul Ricard, Detroit (!), Dijon, Monaco with old harbour-front chicane, original Estoril, Rio etc.

I for one, would love it. Maybe I'm in a minority, however. Damn, and there's no copyright in an idea! But if you want anyone to check it for authenticity, PS/Microsoft ...

[Damon]

You can pretty much do all that with GP3. www.grandprix3.com/en has some great season packs going right back there. I've got a 1987 set with Senna in the old JPS lotus, its great!!

[DNQ]

Yes, but it's not really that good though is it - I mean, GP3 can't simulate turbo lag, proper physics (despite the phyics editor), individual carshapes, and third party add ons are never going to be that good.

[Jonny Apex]

For me it would have to be a properly dedicated game - the full nine yards or nothing at all.

The graphics and car behaviour would have to be pucka with proper realistic attention to detail.

It was my favourite era - best looking cars, best drivers, best circuits, great racing, plenty of different winners, especially 85. I'm sure I could help if you design it, PS/Microsoft. Now what a day job that would be!

[FastJoel31]

There is a petition going on somewhere for Papyrus to make a GPL 2...hopefully it works. Sorry, but I don't remember the site.

[f1manoz]

I reckon a game covering everything in the past 52 years would be better. Every (decent) car, every circuit, every driver (well, the ones worth mentioning anyway).

Imagine racing one season in 1954, then racing another in 1986, then going back to 1966. That would be fantastic.

But it would have to be a real simulation.

[Lee Janotta]

The problem with the hard-core sim a lot of real fans would want to see is that it's mass appeal would be nonexistant, as it'd be so involved, and more importantly, so difficult, that no casual fan could even complete a lap of Spa without crashing!

That said, what I'd love to see is a modular approach to making a racing game. Start with the world's best physics model of how a race car behaves. Then come out with theme-based packages of cars, tracks, and even opponents. A Group C/IMSA GTP carset, a more recent WSC/GT1/ALMS/SCC carset, carsets for every era of F1, a single one for CART, sets for Can-Am, Trans-Am, DTM, BTCC... Driver sets by decade, with at least a well-meaning attempt to capture the styles of Graham Hill, Fangio, Fittipaldi, Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve, Senna, Prost, and so many others... As for track packs, it could be done by decade or region... In the case of tracks that have been altered, they could be presented in several forms, if they're organized by region.

As your collection grew, you'd be able to set up races and entire seasons by picking cars, dropping in your favorite drivers, and dropping them onto the grid at a track of your choosing. Want to race against Fangio, Gilles and Senna in identical Lotus 79s on the combined Nordschleife/GP circuit at the Nurburgring? Why not?!

Of course, a basica package to start would be necessary, and a good idea would be to have the option of diving right into F1, or going thru karts and the minor Formulas, before being signed to an F1 team decided upon by your winning average in the minor Formulas (Williams if you're hot, Minardi if you _barely_ snuck in thru the back door). Perhaps, as you bought more add-on packs, you could choose other options in your career as you try to reach F1. If you're American or Canadian, maybe you'd run FFord, then Trans-Am, then CART, before hitting F1. Perhaps special opportunities could appear, like a guest ride in a vintage race, which could multiply the points you're earning towards moving up, or penalize you if you wreck a priceless vintage car!

As I said, though, the learning curve of a truly realistic physics model would turn too many people off. Since '94, the hardest part of driving an F1 car is, sadly, keeping it on the road and pointed in the right direction. As for the earlier cars, the average gamer can't really handle all the oversteer 1000+ hp turbo engines produce. And the whole thing'd just be too damn involved to justify making it for what it admittedly still a small audience for such a hard-core sim.

[DNQ]

GPL sold very poorly, just 40,000 copies - therefore the chances of anyone having a serious crack at a nostalgia sim are very remote.