From Japanese developer Kairosoft, creator of Game Dev Story, comes another surprisingly deep simulation game for the mobile market. Grand Prix Story (also available for iOS devices) drops you in the shoes of a business owner trying to make it big in the world of grand prix racing. You manage everything from your mechanics and drivers to research, vehicle repairs, engine upgrades, and driver training regimens, all designed to vault you to the top of the leaderboards. It may follow the same layout as Game Dev Story and Hot Springs Story, but this release offers a few improvements that make the simulation a more balanced experience from beginning to end.
As Grand Prix Story starts out, you've got practically nothing. There's just one car to customize, you have a skeleton mechanic crew, and your single driver is all you have to rely on to stay in the races. That's all you need to start your career, however, and even though you won't be winning races your first dozen or so times, you'll still be glued to your phone as you tap here and select there to slowly push yourself to the top.
Start by running your driver through a series of drills to increase skills from intelligence to reaction times. The driver's stats are independent of the vehicle's stats, but they do affect each other, so don't neglect either one during your game. Eventually, you'll unlock new parts you can research and upgrade to add to your car, outfitting it to race on any terrain and in any driving style you like.
Once you're satisfied with how your vehicle runs and how your crew performs, it's time to go race. Early on you only have a few races to choose from, but eventually you'll be able to browse a number of outings that feature tougher tracks, smarter drivers, and higher cash payouts. Watch the race as it unfolds, frowning and cheering your little driver buddy as he or she does everything on his own. When the race ends, collect your prize money and head back to the garage for some more fine-tuning.
Analysis: Grand Prix Story comes across as dry in description, but it's exactly the sort of game you can sink hours upon hours into. It's well-designed for the mobile platform, allowing you to pick up and play for as long as you like, stopping in to adjust research directions, hire new drivers, train old ones, or just run a race to see how things go.
Compared to previous Kairosoft offerings, Grand Prix Story makes several adjustments that make the game play more smoothly in its twilight. For example, you won't win races from the beginning, and instead you have to slowly train your driver and car to get better at what they do. This inevitably leads to some sort of specialization and lop-sided research point distribution, which the game allows you to fix by running through races you aren't equipped to handle. It sounds awkward in writing, but when you play the game you'll see how intuitive and logical the system is. No farming, just a little bit of grinding and intelligent stat adjustments.
The downside to Grand Prix Story is that it does share a lot in common with its predecessors, from the look and feel to the actual design of the game. You're racing cars instead of making video games, which is different, but if you close your eyes very tightly you can imagine the two are interchangeable. Even if you were a Game Dev Story addict, this copy/paste design isn't an issue, as once you get into the experience, you'll realize they aren't as interchangeable as they first appear.
Another fine mobile offering from Kairosoft, guaranteed to keep you busy using your phone for anything but making phone calls!
If anyone can make something that sounds dry on paper incredibly fun and addictive, it's Kairosoft. I better wait for exams to finish before I download it...
I was so excited to see this, until I read that it's Android-only!
I hope the iPhone version is on its way, I lost so many hours to GDS -amazing value!
*Reads review*
*joy and happiness*
*goes to check iPhone store*
*soul-crushing rage*
Oh wait
I don't have a soul.
I'm still pissed though. This game seems so awesome.
Not sure why Kairosoft went with Android this time. Market experiment? Easier to port games to Android OS? Android comes before Apple alphabetically? We assume it'll hit iOS eventually, but there's no telling.
As an android owner, I feel that you guys have nothing to complain about. The apple ios' ego had done nothing but explode. It's great to see a great game to come to android for once
I played the demo, and it seems very fun, just like their other games. It is indeed rather similar to Game Dev Story, but that is an awesome game, so I fail to see the problem with that. :)
It annoys me that their games still cannot be moved to the SD card, and that's currently stopping me from buying this and Hot Springs Story, since I just don't have enough free space on my phone. I've just written them an e-mail about this, but I have no idea if they'll even reply, since the only place to dig up an e-mail address is on their main, Japanese site (and while I know enough Japanese to navigate the site, I'm not good enough to actually write in Japanese).
Android also has a higher market share (an article I read in May this year had Android at 36% and Apple at 17%).
[Those figures are from sales in the first quarter of 2011 only. There are still almost 200 million more iOS devices in use today than there are Android devices. It will take Android at least a couple more years to catch up at that rate. -Jay]
Just so people know, from the Lite page:
"--In the free Lite Version of the game, you can play for one full in-game year.-- "
Still seems like a decent amount, just wanted to point it out.
Also, in the free version, I cannot find how you can "scrap" your first car and begin using one that you built later.
Otherwise, cute game. :)
Kairosoft knows the recipe for business sims!
I was actually addicted before playing: the game was crashing at the first race and I was frantically checking the Market 2 or 3 times a day to see if an upgrade was out. I eventually upgraded my phone from Android 1.6 to 2.1, which did the trick.
All in all I think there is more "challenge" and content than Game Dev Story. There are a lot of cars and items and you just can't upgrade it all.
The main drawback is that the races themselves can get a bit long. 2-3 totally passive minutes is bit much on my 20-min subway ride. The first time you race a track its fun to discover it, but after a while you just don't care.
There were plenty of passive moments in Game Dev Story, but somehow this bugs me more on GP Story.
Still... one of the very best android games out there!
PS: has anyone has found a good car/drive/items combination for off-road tracks (Egypt)?
For Egypt Track you can use
Proto Car / Super Car
Add on v8/v10 engines upgrade to full
Add on Knobby Tires upgrade to 60% and above
You also require good Mechanic to do the Add Ons
you should win the races comfortable with the above combination
Hope this helps :)
Can anyone tell.me how to unlock the mach 5 car used by the rodetrotter team plz comment soon
You need to upgrade the Aero Car (The last Open Wheel Car) and the Cigar Car (The second Dragster Car) both to 50% to unlock the Mach Car.
It's Rank S, able to equip 4 parts, and costs about 120,000 yen (or $1,200) to build with the FF drive.
Thnks man
I really like this game so far but i can not figure out how to scrap cars, can anyone tell me how?
Mattie2010. I used to think when I heard Apple cry and moan when PC only versions of things were out (90% of developed software) shut the heck up.. get a PC and your problems are over....
Now with things like this (Android only) and it is amazing... to see people left out; it sucks.
I hope an Apple version is on its way. They have proven that they can build for both. There are MILLIONS of units on the street of BOTH hardware framework so they need to develop for both platforms.
The game is really cool... I have to admit after winning the China Grand Prix Circuit the game keeps going but I am loosing steam on it. Not sure if much more will be revealed and for that reason I am beginning to loose interest (But still playing for now). To that end it probably took 10 hours to get to this point.
Entertainment value is off the charts in a major way. I too lost myself in GDS.
Once I compete in a race the next time it comes to a race a msg comes up saying Error & the game shuts down...annoying having to reload the game b4 every race....does anyone know a solution to this....ty.
To scrap cars... go to your garage, and scroll down... there will be an option to scrap/sell.
Anyway i need help.... my cars are dying...
My sonic car and wing car are crap....
should i go for the proto car?
i also don't have good parts, Knobby/Radial trs, v6 engine, smlss gear, wing & lt chassis
every combo i have tired just doesn't work.
Always upgrade to the next best car. Also, upgrade all your parts to 80% to unlock more powerful parts.
It's best to balance both when upgrading, because some parts only unlock when you upgrade cars and parts together. All car upgrades unlock at 50%, and all part upgrades unlock at 80%.
Later on in the game, it gets harder to collect Research Data for upgrading. At that point, you have to scrap your more experienced cars to get the data you need (a Lv 3 car with V.High data can yield about 100 RD if you scrap it). Unfortunately, you would probably need to have saved up a lot of money just to build a replacement, so use your judgement or time it so you can build a new car every payday.
Andy,
Upgrade ur proto car to 50-55% to unlock Super Car and use it.
also upgrade ur v6 engine to unlock v8, v10 and v12 engines (upgrade to 80-100% each)
also must use good-expert mechanic to build the Super Car and parts to get best result
Good luck :)
how do get better mechanics???
im trying to build a super car but mechanics arent good enough, and non can be hired that are any better?
you need 300 Tech points to build a super car.
Some Mechanics have more tech then any other stat, hiring those and leveling them up to 5 will make a huge boost at level 5, some having over 140 tech by themselves.
Its not on the iphone and its september 8
can you carry over the banana car? read comments that you can but its not available when i start a new game..
Does anyone knows how to win the race in russia im completely at a lost..
I reached the 'end' of the game where you can restart and carry over 2 items. I cancelled in order to look over the stats if all my equipment before commencing the restart. However, I can't find anywhere in the menu to perform the restart since I know what items I want to carry over now. From the title screen, it gives me the option for beginning a new game off of my saved slot, but I'm afraid it will simply overwrite my save with a new game and not allow me to carry over my 2 items. Help!
Goldmember. Go ahead and start a new game in the save game slot that's not being used currently. When it comes time to upgrade your first car - it will ask you what you want to carry over. Remember, though, that if you choose, (for example), the Spiral Car - you really can't develop it until your mechanics are able to use that level of tech - or it will be costly and significantly underperform.
Anyone know how to win Alaska?
how do you win the last race kario thing ?
Its a good game but I have no idea how to make a second crew ;( please help if can!
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