World Grand Prix

World Grand Prix is a 1987 Master System racing game in which the player takes the wheel of a Formula-style car and drives circuits inspired by the real world grands prix of the era, from European tracks to more overseas, exotic ones. Unlike the later Super Monaco GP, World Grand Prix offers a simpler, considerably more arcade-like take on racing, where the main goal is to keep the car on the track, skillfully overtake rivals, and reach the finish as fast as possible within a strict time limit, failing which means an immediate game over and having to start again.

The game uses a behind-the-car view and pseudo-3D track scrolling, a technique Sega was intensively developing at the time across several of its racing titles in arcades and on home consoles, from Hang-On to Out Run. The controls are simplified and adapted to the Master System's limited controller, so the game focuses more on a smooth sense of speed and overtaking than on simulation depth or detailed car setup before a race. The various circuits offer different weather and terrain conditions, from rain to fog to nighttime stretches with reduced visibility, adding a degree of variety to an otherwise straightforward structure and keeping the player's attention throughout the race and in the series' later laps.

In its contemporary context, it was one of a series of Sega's attempts to offer Master System owners its own version of the popular Formula racing genre, without having to wait for the more complex simulations of later generations of home consoles and computers. Today World Grand Prix works mainly as a showcase of the racing genre's early stage on 8-bit hardware and as a companion to Sega's more famous racing titles like Hang-On or Out Run, with which it shares a number of technical and gameplay elements as well as the overall arcade atmosphere of speed and lightness.

Why play it: For Sega fans curious about the racing genre's early stage on 8-bit hardware, who'll appreciate the kinship with later hits like Hang-On or Out Run.