Formula 1 racing game sanctioned by the FIA, featuring the 2005 season’s teams, drivers, cars, and circuits. The player drives the car around the track, attempting to complete a lap in the quickest time possible or to race against computer-controlled drivers (or, in multiplayer mode, against other players) and finish first.
Quick Grand Prix, Event, World Championship, and Multiplayer modes are available. Quick Grand Prix chooses a car and circuit at random to race on. Time Attack (race against a ghost car), Single Grand Prix, and Scenario Mode are event modes in which the player must fulfill various racing tasks, such as finishing a lap with failed brakes and pitting in to mend them. Each scenario that is accomplished unlocks the following one. Different situations can be downloaded to the PSP.
The World Championship mode allows players to select a team to race for and the championship season difficulty. All 19 circuits of the 2005 Formula One season are run in order, and points are granted for finishing positions 1-8. The driver with the most points wins the championship at the end of the season. Before each race, players can drive practice laps to familiarize themselves with the track and car setup. The player can also cause a single-lap qualifying run, which determines the grid position at the start of the race.
The number of laps, weather conditions, pit breaks, and tire wear are all determined by the difficulty levels (easy, medium, and hard). To begin, just the easy level is available, and it must be completed successfully in the top three to unlock the medium level. Similarly, the medium level must be completed in the top three to open the hard level. In addition, completing the superficial level unlocks the Single Grand Prix Event.
Up to 8 players can compete in three different race kinds in Multiplayer mode. Like in single-player Time Attack, each car competes against the top-time ghost car. Both Head to Head and Single Grand Prix modes allow participants to race in a single grand prix, with the latter version including computer-controlled AI drivers to populate the grid if fewer than eight players participate.
F1 Grand Prix also contains a TV Mode Race in which AI vehicles race against one another, and the player has no control over anything except the camera angle.
All 2005 season cars are initially available. However, the game also includes unlockable F1 cars from previous years, such as the Lotus-Climax 25, the turbocharged Williams FW11, and the Cosworth Legends Lotus-Ford 79 and Williams FW08. The overall game style is more arcade than a simulation; for example, collisions do not inflict visible damage, the car is automatically turned in the right direction after a spin-out, and going off-track slows the car slower. A basic car configuration system has three presets: defensive, balanced, and aggressive. The player can optionally select Brake Assist, which applies brakes automatically in corners if the speed is too high.
