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Grand Prix Legends remains the state of the art racing simulation. Its game design is not perfect, and its sales were disappointing, but its core capabilities remain unsurpassed.
Even in the spring of 2000 new users are surfacing. Many users continue to race GPL long after its release, and many are passionately involved. Champcar Champion Juan Montoya says GPL is his favorite simulation.
A thriving community races GPL online. New utilities, tracks, sound and graphical enhancements, and other tweaks continue to appear almost daily.
See my Eagle Woman's Grand Prix Legends site for much more information about GPL; see VROC if you want to race online.
In my opinion, F1 2000 is the best modern-era racing simulation ever produced. Its driving model is excellent; its vehicle dynamics modeling, virtual cockpit, and a very good Force Feedback implementation make F1 2000's cars seem very alive.
Also, in general, the tracks seem to be modeled well. With Jensen Button, the orange Arrows paint scheme, and the Indianapolis F1 track, F1 2000 is the first racing game or sim that I know of that was released at the beginning of the season it represents!
If Geoff Crammond or Dave Kaemmer ever publish a modern-era F1 sim, I may change my mind, but until then, F1 2000 will do nicely.
See my F1 2000 page for more information.
I really liked F1RS when it came out. I preferred its driving model, which seemed a bit more forgiving and more realistic, to that of Grand Prix 2. Also it ran under Windows, although it gave me nightmares trying to make it run properly on a Hercules Voodoo Rush card.
I have only tried the demo of the sequel, MGPRS2. The driving model seems to be little changed, and the addition of two new tracks didn't interest me enough to justify the purchase. The historical cars do interest me, but it seemed unlikely that the driving model would provide an experience in the historical cars that would come close to that provided by GPL.
Force Feedback support in F1RS is poor, and in contrast to GPL and F1 2000, F1RS' racing model seems flat and lifeless. The menu system in F1RS is dreadful, and MGPRS2 seemed to do little to address its shortcomings.
Also, while some tracks, such as Monaco, are modeled beautifully, others (such as Suzuka) are disasters, totally lacking in bumps and meaningful elevation and camber changes.
In my opinion, F1RS has been eclipsed by F1 2000. See my F1RS pages for my original reactions and more detail.
GP2 is the classic modern-era F1 sim. I was very impressed with it when it first came out, although I never enjoyed it quite as much as IndyCar Racing 2. Its driving model seemed too unforgiving, and certain effects, such as spins, seemed canned.
GP2 has a fairly good game structure and a good spectrum of features, such as telemetry, that more recent F1 sims have not really matched.
On the downside, GP2 is a DOS game which doesn't run as well under Windows as newer sims. It lacks any kind of Force Feedback support, and does not use 3D hardware. It's a CPU hog, and because CPU saturation causes it to run slower than real time, it's possible to "cheat" by cranking up its graphics options so that it slows way down, making it easier to drive.
GP2's multiplayer capabilities are limited to 2-player modem or null modem connections, and even those don't work very well.
Despite these issues, there is a loyal cadre of hard core sim racers which still considers GP2 the best modern-era sim available (I'm not one of this cadre). User support has been fanatical; there is a truly staggering number of user-built tracks available, along with setups and many other enhancements and utilities.
See my GP2 pages for more information.
Like Psygnosis F1, this is one of the worst racing games I've ever tried. The SoS demo was so terrible that I didn't even consider buying it. Graphics are decent, but the driving model is dreadful.
The only redeeming quality I found was that the steering wheel vibrates to simulate engine vibrations.
SoS was a big disappointment because racing well-modeled cars of this era, on the wonderful tracks of the time, would have been fascinating and for sure would have been a terrific challenge.
This is one of the worst racing games I've ever tried. It lasted about 10 minutes on my hard drive.
Graphics were decent, but the driving model was a complete joke. The only good thing I could say about it was that the sound echoed when I went under a bridge.
I've avoided Psygnosis products ever since.