F1 Pole Position 64 #22 Officially acknowledged by the FIA

A Formula 1 racing game, officially acknowledged by the FIA F1 World Championship, containing the 16 World championship circuits of the day, ranging from Monza and the old Hockenheim to Monaco and the Hungaroring.

Car setup is highly detailed, reflecting real Formula One and the game's simulation basis. You will have to race in the wet, which means further setup modification to cope with the reduced grip. You can also edit the level of car damage, the pit-car radio, and whether the CPU cars can collide. There are also Battle and Time Trial modes, with your best laptimes recorded.

Formula 1 racing comes to the Nintendo 64 with F1 POLE POSITION 64. Based on the Japanese racing game Human Grand Prix, this FIA licensed variation adds real drivers and tracks to the mix.

Jump into the cockpit of an F1 racer and face the best teams in the world for a breathtaking race! Incredibly exciting: Official game of the FIA, the latest game from HUMAN will make your N64 roar through the 16 world championship circuits. From Monaco to San Marin, challenge the best drivers and feel the excitement of the World Grand Prix in 3D. 100% adrenalin! 2 arcade modes and a world championship mode which will help you experience a very realistic F1 simulation: settings of your vehicle, audio contact with the pit, changing weather conditions, collisions, retirement...

Introduction

Released on March 28th 1997, this is the 5th and final release in the F1 Grand Prix series by HUMAN Entertainment. It is a pretty boring game and was later eclipsed by F1 World Grand Prix. The the simulation of F1 was somewhat impressive for the time. However contemporary reviews complained about the abundant popup and lack of multiplayer. I noticed the resolution dropping when the game lagged.

This game requires 70 free pages on a controller pak to save.

There are several game modes as follows

• Championship Mode - The main mode
• Battle - A one off race against the computer
• Time Trials
• Roster - Allows you to move drivers between teams
• Record - View your best times
• Configuration - Change AI and damage settings here

The easiest difficulty you don’t need to use the pit lanes, and crashing into other cars or walls has no effect on your car whatsoever. Doing qualifying laps is also not necessary.

Controls

The game allows you to play the game by holding the N64 controller in three different ways. This shows that as an early N64 game, developers were still trying to work out which would be the most comfortable and popular method. These are the controls of the standard way, holding the middle prong with your left hand the and the right prong with your right hand.

• - Steer
• - Accelerate
• - Brake
• - Change the panel
• - Change the camera angle
• - Look behind you
• - Upshift
• - Downshift
• - Pause

Tracks

Championship Mode has 16 races, based on the 1996 F1 Grand Prix.

Australia Albert Park Circuit

Although it is the first course it is not an easy one. The ninth and tenth turns feature a lot of gravel and it is easy to slide out there. Before the final straight there are two 90 degree turns and very tight left so you really want to go slowly at the other end of the lake.

Brazil Interlagos Circuit

This course is famous for being quite hilly despite having three very long straights. After the third corner there is a very long straight followed by a left turn. After the next long straight is a horrible chicane section that you should take very slowly. After getting through the chicane you can really open up your engine and blast down the rest of the track to the finish.

Argentina Autódromo Oscar y Juan Gálvez

You cant really start passing cars on this track until the 6th corner and even then you should probably wait until the home stretch, after the 15th corner to really try and gain positions.

Europe (Germany) Nürburgring

This famous course have several short straights but no back straight. The fifth corner is a hair pin and its especially dangerous if you are going to fast. You can start attacking on the 9th corner but bare in mind that there in no back straight and the finish line is behind a right hand bend.

San Marino Imola Circuit

This is a fairly gentle course. You can try and overtake other cars until the seventh sharp bend at the top corner. Then you want to wait until after the 10 bend when you can attack on the straight again. The straight is broken up by a tiny right bend and ends in two 90 degree turns. After which you a pretty much free to burn rubber all the way back to the seventh corner again.

Monaco Circuit de Monaco

Easily the hardest course in the game because it dares you to drive an F1 car around tiny hilly streets. Rather than trying to win this race you should ensure your car is fitted with durable parts and just try to survive it. The first corner, a 90 degree right is very dangerous if you have just flown up the back straight, so be careful after you pass the finishing line.

Spain Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

This course features a long straight at the beginning and end. After the first corner is a wiggly section, which ends after the 9th corner. After 4 more tight bends the back straight opens up. Be warned that the starting straight is longer than the back one so you should try to pass cars after passing the line.

Canada Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

This track marks the halfway point of the Championship. If you haven't built up a comfortable points lead by now you might want to think about restarting. The 10th and 13th corners on this track are probably the worst. But otherwise this track features several long straights and gentle bends compared to the previous tracks. Just be careful of the devil's hairpin that is corner number 10.

France Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours

This a track with lots of long straight but few bends, meaning that it can be quite hard to catchup on this course. The most dangerous area is the hair pin on the 5th corner. This is a track where you can definitely favor max speed over acceleration.

Britain Silverstone Circuit

The first part of this course is a little twisty, but after the 6th corner it turns into a oblong style route. This means that you can build up a lot of speed on the middle parts of the track. However like Nürburgring there in no back straight and the finish line is behind a right hand bend.

Germany Hockenheimring

Running through a German forest this is my favourite track in the game. It is almost an oval, apart from a sharp couple of bends just before the finish line. Because of the lengths of it's straights you can really blast along it with max speed parts.

Hungary Hungaroring

The start/finishing line is on the longest straight of the course so make sure you make good use of it. The first and last bends are also quite long so it is possible to overtake there if you get a good line on them. The 12 corner is a 90 degree right turn which gives me Monaco flashbacks.

Belgium Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

After a very sharp first corner, the track develops into a very long up hill straight which ends in a sharp corner (number 7). After wiggling around, you will be free to open up your engines after the 16th corner. Just do not forget about the tiny sharp right and left bend before the finish line.

Italy Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

An infamously fast circuit in Italy that begins and ends with a nice long straight. The 6th and 7th corners are quite sharp so don't get too speed crazy. After slowing down for them you can speed through most of the rest of the course, only slowly down for the last long bend before the finish.

Portugal Circuito do Estoril

This course resembles the one in Spain in that it has a start/finishing line on a very long straight while the rest of the course is quite bendy. After the 4th bend this are two pretty long straights in a joined in a V shape. The last bend is quite long so make sure you get a good line in order not to lose position before blasting down towards the finishing line.

Japan Suzuka International Racing Course

The final course, and one of the most difficult! Well done for making it this far! This is an unusual track in that it features an overpass which turns the track into a figure of eight. After the first corner a series of s curves slows the pack down before the sharp right 9th corner and the hairpin 10th corner. After rounding the 14th corner you can speed up along the straight overpass until you reach the tiny sharp right and left bend before the finish line.

Drivers

These are the drivers from the 1996 season, which was won by Damon Hill. As far as I know your choice of driver has no effect on how the car handles. However your driver is attached to a team, and their car has it's only settings.

• Michael Schumacher
• Eddie Irvine
• Damon Hill
• Jean Alesi
• Gerhard Berger
• Mika Häkkinen
• David Coulthard
• Olivier Panis
• Pedro Diniz
• Rubens Barrichello

Jacques Villeneuve who came second that year appears in the game as "Driver-X" as it was not possible to obtain his licence. Similarly Driver 2 in the Roster screen actually has the data of Ralf Schumacher, Michael's brother. He did not start his professional racing career until after the game was released.

Selecting Car Parts

The Ultra 64 Podcast joked in their review of N64 F1 games that the car part selection screen is impossible to understand for non-motor heads. But after reading through the manual it seems that you mostly want to use the most balanced parts. Depending on how you like to drive you may want to focus on max speed or handling. Certainly for some tracks such as Monaco, max speed settings will only send you smashing into walls.

Just finishing a race is sometimes better than trying to win, particularly on the dangerous tracks like Monaco. Many other racers will end up crashing out of the race, so it would be worth your while to choose parts which can take a lot of damage on the more dangerous courses.

There are 2 types of tires, Slick and Rain tires which come in 4 different grades A-D. A grade tires last a long time but have poor grip. D grade tires are the opposite, they grip well but wear out quickly.

Steering, Transmission and Gear types are all dependent on how hard or soft you wish the steering to be, and if you prefer to change gears manually. With Manual or Semiautomatic Transmissions you can start at maximum speed by up-shifting as the 5th lamp turns off and your engine rev reaches the red zone.

Soft Suspension means the car is hard to turn, but it is also hard to spin out. Hard Suspension has the opposite effect, easy to turn, easy to spin out.

Your wings have a similar effect Top Speed wings make the car hard to turn but increase it's maximum speed. Down Force wings make the car easy to turn but decrease it's maximum speed.

The car's handling is also effected by how much fuel you have in the tank, what tires you have installed and the current weather. If it begins to rain, and you are playing on a higher difficulty, it would probably be a good idea to get your tires changed. Only put in enough fuel you need for the remaining laps.

Hints and Tips

Crashing into other cars will not only stop you dead, but it will also damage your car on most difficulties. You must avoid hitting other cars and barriers as much as possible if you want to win. The only exception to this is if cars hit you from behind. For some reason your car seems to be equipped with rear armor as being hit by other cars only pushes you forward. Use this to your advantage and block other cars if they seem to be trying to pass you.

In order to pass other drivers safely do so on straight sections of the course.

If you are about to spin out, a warning sound will play. Release the A Button of let the 3D Stick go back to a neutral position to prevent the spin.

When refueling your car in the pit lane you can adjust how much fuel is put in your car using the L and R Trigger buttons. Using the pit lane obviously takes a lot of time and should be avoided as much as possible. You can save time by having your tank filled and parts replaced at the same time. If your car gets damaged you should bare the following data in mind: A tire change takes 8 seconds. Filling your tank to full takes 12 seconds. Replacing a wing takes 15 seconds

The condition of each part is displayed in the bottom left of the screen, next to the fuel bar, in the following order:

• Wings
• Tires
• Suspension - Cannot be replaced in the pit lane
• Brakes - Cannot be replaced in the pit lane
• Gears - Cannot be replaced in the pit lane

Your engine will blow out if you do not change gears fast enough when it is in the red zone.

Points are awarded for positions in the following way:

• First - 10 points
• Second - 6 points
• Third - 4 points
• Fourth - 3 points
• Fifth - 2 points
• Sixth - 1 point

If you beat the Championship mode and save your data, you can unlock a secret car. When you turn on the game hold the A and B buttons when the "Please wait 4 seconds" message is shown to unlock the car.

Cheats

• Up Down Down Up Left B A B B
  Unlock the super car as a vehicle
• Down Left Down Down B B B A B
  Unlock the water jet as a vehicle
• B B A B Left Down B A
  Unlock rocket ship as a vehicle
• Down Up Left Right A A B A
  Unlock UFO as a vehicle
• Down Up Up Down Right A B A A
  All cars at max speed and acceleration
• Up Down Right Left B B A B
  Unlock bananna car as a vehicle
• A A B A Right Up A B
  Unlock boat as a vehicle
• Down Up Down Down A Right Left Up
  Unlock N64 as a vehicle
• Left Left Right Right Up A B Down
  Unlock NES cartrige as a vehicle
• Right Up Down Left A B
  Unlock fish as a vehicle
• Down Down Up Up Left Left A B B A A A
  Unlock a toilet as a vehicle

Unlockables

Engine Select

HOW TO UNLOCK

Beat the game as World Grand Prix Champion, then restart, highlight a driver and press Left-C or Right-C to change engines

Secrets

Extra Car

After you have become World Grand Prix Champion, turn on the system and hold A and B when the screen "Now loading the data from controller pak..." appears. Go to the Driver Selection screen, and the '96 Forti drivers will now have an Ubi Soft Original H-RA V12 Car.

Glitches

Unlimited Fuel

In Grand Prix mode, set the fuel to 10 percent