4PGP

If you have an itch for some Virtua Racing-like action on modern platforms, and why wouldn't you, this F1 arcade racer slots in nicely. Of course it doesn't have the style of a Sega arcade classic from back in their heyday, but what does? The controls are tight, the pace is fast, and with 20 cars and 3 modes with 14 real world tracks (28 if you count reverse mode) there's a fair amount to do. It's vaguely simcade but leans much more heavily to the "cade" side of that term, put the hammer down and let 'er rip. You'll need to hit the brakes around hairpins but otherwise speed is the name of the game; not finesse or clean lines. There's not much weight or momentum to worry about, just make sure to stay off the grass/sand and off the walls. There is a boost with a pit stop mechanic to refill it that works kind of like F-Zero: drive over the designated slow lane to refill the boost, which starts a meter spinning and hit the boost button while it's in the green of that meter to get an instant refill and get out of the pit. It could desperately use some anti-aliasing, the roadsides are jaggy and fences are nothing if not shimmery. But to this game's great credit, it is extremely well op…

This is good, but you've got to come into it with the correct understanding and judge the game on what it is, not on what it hasn't tried to be. This is an arcade racer in the early 90s coin-op sense. Perhaps more accurately, the "home coin-op conversion with additional tracks" sense. In my 2.2 hours of play, I've completed all of the championships on Novice, Veteran and Expert difficulty, this totalling 36 races of which I won 34. I did all of that using the best cars available to me at the time, unlocking a couple of tracks on the way that I can try in single race mode down the line. I've unlocked a lot of cars but there are still 2 or 3 left to get, and I'll re-do the championships to win the couple of races I didn't quite win. It might take a couple of hours longer to mop up the championships than I've needed, depending on how well you gel with the game immediately - the Expert AI is quick, the game deliberately keeps races close at that level and so those races are never won by more than a second, usually much less - but only a matter of a couple more hours for an experienced arcade racing fan, I'd have thought. There's no career mode, no progression through eras, no Create …

This is a very unrealistic but really exciting racing game. The reviews and comments that cite its similarities with old SEGA arcade titles and the Senna Forever DLC of the now unavailable Horizon Chase Turbo are very accurate, in my opinion. I really like it! After you finish the short championships, though, there's not much to do. I'm also a fan of the amount of cars in this. It's not groundbreaking, but they really included as many classic teams as they could. "Fairsteel" and "Handcraft" are standout parody names. Overall, 4PGP is kind of like a micro-sized (GBA-like, in the gameplay sense, though not the graphical) version of F1 Challenge on SEGA Saturn. I do recommend it, if that description interests you.

Dudes in there 30s with nostalgia for Virtua Racing and other Sega racers love this game. This is a legitimate Modern Arcade Racing Masterpiece. It's hard to really appreciate how great it is until you play it. The control is so dang tight it's crazy. Gonna have to buy a wheel again just for this game lol. I would love to see Time Attack get unlimited laps, or the option to select as many laps as you wanna do. I don't mean to be one of those people who say how great a game is and then leave their feature requests, but I really do just wanna vibe on one track for like 20+ minutes. Great work devs!

Gameplay too simplistic. Too few things to spice up the driving and the races. Nice art style and sense of speed but that's it

Hell yes! If you're still holding onto fond memories of Daytona USA, V-Rally, and their ilk, check out 3Goo's arcade racer 4PGP! Recently released on Steam & PS5. Four cups to play (14 circuits + reverse mode), great in single and even better in multiplayer. It's fast! Want to know more? Check out my Bite-Size review here: https://www.cshpicone.com/gaming/bite-sized-game-reviews/bsr-4pgp For more niche curation, follow me at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27440015-CSH-Picone/ Want more honest niche & indie reviews? Check out: https://www.cshpicone.com/gaming