Grand Prix

You’ve swapped paint and mixed it up with the good ol’ boys. But are you ready for a new challenge? The global stage is calling and now is your chance to step up into the big time. It’s time to race in the Grand Prix.

Grand Prix is the newest auto racing game from Jeff & Carla Horger and GMT Games. From 2-11 players can compete in the game controlling either one team of two cars or multiple teams. Players will score in two different ways; individual car scoring where first place is huge and only the top 10 places get any points, and team scoring where the placement of all cars in a race will determine the team score.

The courses of the Grand Prix are not simple ovals or wide open super speedways but tight tracks that will limit passing opportunities and require finesse and skill to make it to the front of the line. The game borrows heavily from the Thunder Alley movement classes so you will find a familiar combination of solo, line, pursuit and lead movement in this game as well. But the abilities are tweaked to maximize the feel of Formula 1 racing. It will be up to the players to learn how the courses and the cards work together on each track to optimize their play.

Yellow flag saves are not as common in F1 and pit strategy is even more important. The penalty threshold for wear is lower and pitting will happen more frequently. In addition to typical wear like suspension damage, tire wear and engine wear, Grand Prix incorporates “close-call” tokens for aggressive drivers. These do not count against speed but they do constantly pile up until an event card calls for the player with the most to pay the consequences.

Grand Prix comes with three Event Decks, one for hard tires, one for soft tires and one for wet tires. Each set of cards have unique effects on the race. Hard tires make the game a bit slower and tighter with less pure speed and handling to get past opponents. The soft tire deck allows everyone to open up the throttle and go. Racing on wet tires can make things much more hazardous for everyone as spinouts and contact becomes more frequent.

The game will come with four new Grand Prix tracks that each contains unique and challenging features. All of the tracks will be compatible with Thunder Alley and all Thunder Alley tracks will likewise be compatible with Grand Prix.

Let the racing… continue.