French Classics GP

Even if the history of cars began in America with Henry Ford and his legendary company that still stands strong to this day, Europe was always a close contender, especially in the case of Germany and their renowned engineering prowess. However, France was and still is part of the market as well and they have managed to impress the world too, over the years.

French Classics GP is an arcade racing game in which you get to enjoy some of the most iconic cars that came out of France, as well as push them to the max out on the track. Various Renault, Peugeot and Citroen models are available, all of which have been modeled to resemble their real counterparts, both from an aesthetic and mechanical point of view.

To make matters slightly more interesting, the game puts a few different racing modes at your disposal, such as single events, or entire championships. Throughout these championships, you have to tackle a variety of tracks and get accustomed to the car you have chosen, since it is of capital importance to know exactly what the vehicle's capable of and how badly can you mess up without handing the race over to the opponents.

The actual game, on the other hand, does not really give you the chance to enjoy yourself too much, since there are many things that are just too distracting or annoying not to hurt the overall experience. Hence, the handling of the cars is very tricky, and not in the realistic sense of the word, while the mechanics themselves are downright laughable. Moreover, collisions don't mean a thing most of the time and they certainly do not hurt your chances of staying ahead, unless you hit a wall head-on and you cannot move for a few seconds.

Realism is also out of the picture entirely when it comes to how the cars react to high velocities, since corners can always be negotiated the same way, regardless of how slow or fast you are going. Visually, the game makes an effort to render the cars pretty well, even if they lack detail or any kind of reflection or shadow. The tracks, however, are incredibly boring and repetitive, not to mention the invisible walls that deny any kind of interaction with the surrounding landscape.

In the end, French Classics GP does not try very hard to be taken seriously, which is a good thing, considering what it's got going for itself. However, even simplicity can be made fun with a bit of imagination, but no effort went into making the game stand out a bit from the crowd.