F1 Pole Position 64

The Good
The up-close graphics are fine

The Bad
Terrible draw distance, controls are stiff.

The Bottom Line
A racing simulation game about Formula 1. This features real racers and tracks, and a lot of options in terms of customising your car. You can play through a entire Grand Prix (10 laps per race, with qualifiers to improve your start position), individual races or time trial. It was the N64’s first racing simulation game.

The biggest problem with F1 Pole Position is the draw distance. You can never see much of the track, so you can’t see upcoming turns at all. It’s also very distracting as stands and buildings appear out of thin air. The up-close graphics are well detailed for the N64, but it doesn’t mean much when it hampers the gameplay severely. To make matters worse, your icon on the minimap is not very clear and blurs in with all the others.

The driving feels a big sluggish and unresponsive, too. It doesn’t feel broken, it just isn’t a lot of fun. I’m not very familiar with the history of racing simulation games (all I know is that this was shortly before Gran Turismo), so I can’t comment on how this fared for the genre, but it’s not really a game that needs to be looked back upon.