Ludography
F1 Pole Position 64 cover

1997 · Human Entertainment · Racing · Simulation

F1 Pole Position 64

Nintendo exclusive

The game featured all the tracks from that Formula One season, at a time when the racing began in Australia, and ended in Japan. Teams would be set up with relevant drivers, however there was a roster-feature included, which allowed the player to swap drivers from one team to another, and even removing a real driver and replacing him with unknown drivers named Driver 1-6.

Released
28 March 1997
Platforms
Nintendo 64
Genres
RacingSimulation
Developers
Human Entertainment
Publishers
—
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Third person
Themes
Non-fiction
Country
Japan
Age ratings
ESRB E
Languages
English, French, German

About

F1 Pole Position 64, released in Japan as Human Grand Prix: The New Generation (ヒューマングランプリ ザ・ニュージェネレーション, Hyūman Guran Puri Za Nyū Jenerēshon), is a racing video game for the Nintendo 64 developed by Human Entertainment and published by Human Entertainment in Japan, and published by Ubi Soft for North American and Europe. It is the fifth and final game in the Human Grand Prix / F1 Pole Position series (with the F1 Pole Position branding skipping over the previous III and IV editions), featuring Formula One branding.

F1 Pole Position 64 is based on the 1996 Formula One season, although the Japanese version did not have licenses from the FIA or the FOCA.

Keywords

  • high score
  • explosion
  • box art - real photos
  • sports cars
  • controller pak
  • nintendo 64 exclusive

Media

F1 Pole Position 64 screenshot 1

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The game features all the tracks from the 1996 season, at a time when the racing began in Australia, and ended in Japan. Teams are set up with relevant drivers (with Jacques Villeneuve being replaced with a generic driver named "Driver-X" due to Villeneuve not licensing his likeness), however there is a roster-feature included, which allows the player to reassign drivers to different teams (including assigning the same driver to more than one role), and even removing a real driver and replacing him with unknown drivers named "Driver <1~8>" (Driver 2's image, date of birth and nationality all match that of Ralf Schumacher, who did not begin his F1 career until 1997; in the Japanese version, the drivers are loosely named after Formula One drivers not racing in 1996). If the player finishes overall first in the World Grand Prix mode, they can change engines between teams as well. Both driver and engine swapping will significantly affect the performance of the car.

The car can be controlled with either the analog stick or D-pad on the standard Nintendo 64 controller. Weather is variable, and inclement weather can occur in the middle of a race. On the bottom left corner of the screen are different indicators for car conditions: a fuel gauge and five indicators, one for each part of the car (in order: wings, tires, suspension, brakes and gearbox), all of which change color according to the car's condition, from blue to yellow to red to flashing red. When an indicator reaches flashing red, the player risks retiring from the race if it isn't fixed in time.

Reception

F-1 Pole Position 64 received mixed reviews from critics. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 24 out of 40. Positive reviewers from GameFan and Next Generation recommended it to F-1 fans, the latter suggesting it may even appeal to fans of racing games in general. In a more lukewarm review, Kraig Kujawa of Electronic Gaming Monthly suggested no one besides racing simulation fans try it out.

Next Generation said of the Japanese version, "This a game for the starving, desperate Nintendo fan who simply has to have an F1 racing game, quality be damned. If you're not desperate, forget it." S. version, with less pop-up and overall smoother graphics.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Nintendo 6428 March 1997Worldwide

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Collections4 collections

Platform libraries

Genres

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.