Nintendo 64 Longplay: F1 Pole Position 64
104F1 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 1997 racing video game for the Nintendo 64 developed by Human Entertainment and published by them in Japan, but handled by Ubi Soft for North American and European releases. 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.
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 known as "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 game received mostly negative reviews. 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." However, they found that considerably more work went into the U.S. version, with less pop-up and overall smoother graphics. They reviewed that "All in all, the game will satisfy F1 enthusiasts and may even nab general racing fans as well. With all of its modification choices, tons of courses, modes of play, and real-life racers and courses, F1 is a game worth a look."