New Star GP Review

thesixthaxis.com:

As F1 continues to ride high on the heady fumes of Drive to Survive, New Star GP is cannily set to draft effortlessly behind it. Bringing a retro-inspired take on the sport that focuses on the same crowd-pleasing action we’ve seen from the studio’s previous sports titles like the stunning Retro Bowl, New Star GP allows players to take their team through multiple decades of Formula 1 racing.

New Star GP is clearly influenced by SEGA’s classic Virtua Racing, and the chunky polygonal visuals have been scrubbed up to a modern sheen with both an eye for detail and the occasional nod and a wink to the crowd. There’s a wry sense of humour, and a clear passion for the sport it’s recreating, as back office staff like accountant Penny Counter and opponents like Niki Laube mean there’s always a smile on your face.

That smile will remain firmly embedded when you take to the circuit, with New Star GP offering its own take on a raft of real-life tracks like Silverstone and the Red Bull Ring, though here tracks appear with alternate names like Northampton and Vienna to avoid any licensing issues.

The single-player campaign sees you start off in the 1980s, with a suitably slower and visually different car to those we see whizzing around on track in the modern day. Each season features 10 grand prix races, but alongside these, there’s practice sessions, time trials and elimination races to put down rubber in as well.

Doing well in each event will earn you currency to spend on upgrading your car, and Star Points which unlock new back-office perks. These perks are all related to different members of your crew, whether it’s your pit chief, chief engineer or accountant, and you have to balance these relationships in order to keep them happy, otherwise they’ll complain to the press and potentially even leave. Perhaps you can succeed where real life figures have not – just make sure to keep the phone calls professional.

Racing in New Star GP is certainly focused on arcade thrills, but that’s