GP500

GP500 is a motorcycle racing simulation for the PC developed by Melbourne House and released in 1999 by Microprose

The game represented the 1998 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, and is widely held alongside EA Sports' Superbike Series to be the one of the best motorcycle racing simulations available. It is still popular across the world, particularly in the UK, Australia, Spain and Italy.

Game Basics

After having been tested and approved by many of the contemporaries of the Motorcycle Grand Prix paddock (including Kenny Roberts Jr and Valentino Rossi, who would both go on to win on 500cc motorcycles), the game was released in 1999 and achieved popularity within the sim racing communities around the world for being the most advanced motorcycle racing game at the time.

The game contained 24 riders from the official 1998 GP500 season, including multiple world champions Mick Doohan and Max Biaggi - however the game did not include the various wildcards and replacement riders seen in the 1998 season.

Motorcycles & Circuits

The game included 6 different 500cc machines to ride

* Honda NSR500 & 500V
* Yamaha YZR500
* Suzuki RGV500
* MuZ - A machine built around a 500cc sidecar engine
* Modenas - Kenny RobertsSnr's team ran a Malaysian funded 3 cylinder bike.

The tracks included matched the calendar for the 1998 Season

* Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, JPN
* Johor Circuit, Johor, MYS
* Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Jerez, ESP
* Mugello Circuit, Mugello, ITA
* Paul Ricard, FRA
* Circuito Permanente Del Jarama, Jarama, ESP
* TT Circuit Assen, Assen, NLD
* Donington Park, Donington, UK
* Sachsenring, Chemnitz, GER
* Masaryk Circuit, Brno, CZE
* Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, ITA
* Circuit de Catalunya, Catalunya, ESP
* Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Phillip Island, AUS
* Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Buenos Aires, ARG

Fan development

From its release date, many people exploited the relative ease to create new paintjobs (skins) for the motorcycles, with many fans of the game replicating their heroes' bikes, helmets and leathers.

The first new 3D bike models for the game arrived in 2000 following the creation of an Aprilia V-twin model, allowing a 2000 season bikeset to be created. Many content creators now rely on 3rd party modellers to create improved models to be used in the game - notably for the annual MotoGP and Superbike World Championship mods, which have slowly and surely increased in detail with the progress of PC technology. Modified rider and helmet models now also mean that a high detailed realistic representation of popular riders can be created - Valentino Rossi being most people's favourite.

Until 2005, there had been a lack of ability to create new tracks for the game, which caused much frustration, as people were limited to the original tracks. However persistent co-operation between modders and comprehensive study of the original code and models have allowed the modding community to create many new tracks, including fan favourites like Brands Hatch and Laguna Seca

Many other features of the game have now been altered as well, ranging from updated physics to represent more powerful modern 4-stroke GP machines, to new sounds to replace the original 2-stroke engine noises.

External links

* [http://www.gp500store.co.uk/ GP500 Store.co.uk] - GP500 Store, one of the longest running fansites including many of the top modifications.
* [http://wxatgp500.co.uk/ Wxat's GP500 Site] - The premier Spanish language site for GP500
* [http://www.simbike.it/ Simbike.it] - Italian language fansite including the World Superbike 2007 game mod.