Grand Prix Legends

Simulation Game, based around Formula One in The Sixties. One of the most realistic, and impossibly difficult, driving sims ever created.

Following the success of their Indycar and NASCAR games the Papyrus group decided to make a Formula One game... with a slight twist. Although historic Flight Sims had become a very popular genre, the Driving Game was always set in the present time, with contemporary cars. Although modern Formula One was a very high tech and glamorous activity, it had lost some of the danger and excitement it had in the 'sixties. Perfect for a simulation...

Notable for being an extremely difficult to master, and for being kept alive many years after its release by a modding community.

Tropes used in Grand Prix Legends include:

Collision Damage
Cool Car
Did Not Do the Research: Seems that the preset car setups are based upon modern Formula cars (low and stiff suspensions, for example). Not only it is wrong, but if you actually set up the cars with "true" setups they actually run better.
Difficult but Awesome: The Lotus. It's easily the fastest car if you can deal with the ridiculous torque.
Fake Difficulty: The simulation would keep the faster cars if the player reduced the number of opponents. A three player race would result in a race with the two Team Lotus AI cars of Jim Clark and Graham Hill.
Game Mod: 1965 carset, 1966 carset, 1969 carset, the Targa Florio track, the Isle of Man track, the Montjuic Park track, Le Mans etc, etc, etc...
Jack of All Stats: The Brabham, until the player becomes proficient enough to drive the Lotus and the Eagle. Then those become the cars to have.
Nintendo Hard: The manual even says something like "When you'll drive for the first time, you will spin out and crash. Because everyone spins out and crashes the first time they play this game".
Nonstandard Game Over: In cockpit view only, if the player barrel rolls and flips the car over by close to 180 degrees, the screen will fade to black. As in other situations, and uncharacteristically for the game, a car reset is available though.