Game:

Grand Prix (1982)

Duration: 23:53

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Grand Prix Unlimited is a kind of crappy Formula One racing game from 1992, published by Accolade. Back in the early- to mid-90s, I used to play this game quite a bit on our old 33MHz Cyrix 486DLC-based PC. It was a weird CD-ROM version where your name was always "Buffo the " which would make your name look like "Buffo the Ferrari" if you drove a Ferarri.

I used to spend hours in the Architect mode making ridiculous tracks, and trying to place camera men in strategic spots to get good crash replay footage.

I don't know how much anyone really cares about this game, but I thought it would be fun to throw together a little video comparing some of the different ways you can play back the music in the game. Which one sounds best to you?

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Timestamps:

0:00 Video Intro (obligatory timestamp)
0:19 Intro (PC Speaker)
2:13 Intro (SB Pro)
4:07 Intro (MT-32)
6:02 Intro (SC-88)
7:57 Menu (PC Speaker)
9:06 Menu (SB Pro)
11:16 Menu (MT-32)
13:26 Menu (SC-88)
15:37 Architect (PC Speaker)
16:33 Architect (SB Pro)
17:29 Architect (MT-32)
18:25 Architect (SC-88)
19:22 Race/Replay (PC Speaker)
20:29 Race/Replay (SB Pro)
21:36 Race/Replay (MT-32)
22:43 Race/Replay (SC-88)

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The audio and video footage were recorded on real hardware (no DOSBox, no MUNT, etc.) The Sound Blaster Pro you see in the intro is the actual Sound Blaster Pro in my computer, used for this video.

The Roland MT-32 audio was recorded from a Roland MT-100, which is basically a later revision MT-32 combined with a PR-100, meaning it sounds identical to a later revision MT-32. (the MT-100 actually has an MT-32 PCB inside it, so it's literally identical sounding)

PC Speaker audio was recorded through a Sound Blaster 16 connected to the motherboard PC Speaker header.

The PC I use is MUCH too fast to run this game properly. I slowed down the race footage so the seconds in the race time match real seconds, but even then it gets weird at times (especially around turns for some reason). I used to play this game on a 33MHz Cyrix 486-DLC, which it ran fine on.

I also looped the short intro thing, because who wants to stare at the code wheel copy protection thing while the music is playing?

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DOS PC / Hardware used:
Asus TX97-E
Pentium MMX 233MHz
64MB PC66 SDRAM
Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 (4MB)
Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 [CT1600]
Sound Blaster 16 [CT2230]
Music Quest MPU-401 Clone
Roland MT-100
Roland SC-88VL

Capture hardware used:
OSSC (to convert analog VGA signal to DVI-D and stabilize image)
StarTech USB3HDCAP (video capture)
Sound Blaster X-Fi USB [SB1090] (audio capture)

I tried capturing audio and video directly with the USB3HDCAP to mixed results (aka why I now use the OSSC and a separate device for audio):
https://youtu.be/nFUyPNktre4

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Get the Music Quest MPU-401 clone card here:
https://www.serdashop.com/ISA-MPU-Card

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For a fun little throwback, I decided to use the song we had in our first Kind Of a-lot-o Gaming intro for the intro to this video:

DSC - Terran 3 (StarCraft) Guitar Cover
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OGQjCFl4yg

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(Bonus points to anyone who knows what our channel name parodies)

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