Microprose Grand Prix 2 With Windows 10, Racing Wheel And Pedals
Tutorial - Grand Prix 2 With Windows 10, Racing Wheel And Pedals
A tutorial on how to get GP2 working with modern sim racing equipment. I can tell you, it's awesome to play with a good wheel!
Posted by: Ted Meat
God I love this game! Played it for hundreds of hours in the 90's and now I've found it again! Getting it to work with Windows 10 and DOSBox was easy, but I knew it should also be possible to get it to work with wheel and pedals. So I put the time and effort into it and got a good result.
On my YouTube channel we are soon starting a hardcore season of GP2. Once that series starts, I know I'll get a lot of questions of how did I manage to make this very old game to work with a modern PC and a modern racing wheel. So, it's time to share:
You can watch the tutorial video, or if you prefer, read the instructions in this blog:
DOSBox?
First of all, we use DOSBox to run the game, but not the conventional one! Use DOSBox ECE instead. It's like the normal DOSBox, but it runs the game with the correct speed whereas the normal DOSBox runs it way too fast. Lowering cycles does not help with this issue so you should use DOSBox ECE.
The game is difficult enough, you really don't need to add any extra difficulty by running it too fast. If nothing else you'll get murdered in the middle of 25 AI death machines. On steroids.
Make sure you have following Joystick settings on config file located at C:\Users\Your Username\AppData\Local\DOSBox
joysticktype = auto timed = true (if calibration is jittery you should change this to false) autofire = false swap34 = false buttonwrap = false circularinput = false deadzone = 0
Note that on the tutorial video I talk about DOSBox SVN Daum. Forget about it, it's old information.
Wheel Settings in Windows
Next we'll check out the racing wheel settings in Windows. I have Thrustmaster T500 RS but similar settings should apply to other racing wheels.
In Thrustmaster control panel I have set the wheel rotation to 300 degrees. This feels good and natural to me but you can adjust it according to your taste. Pedal axes can and should be separated:
Auto-center settings must come from wheel, not from the game since the game does not have force feedback. Otherwise you get no resistance from the wheel and you can't tell how much you should turn it. The centering force of the wheel I have set to 100%.
Running the Game
Now I'm not going to teach you how to use DOSBox for there are many great tutorials out there if you're a noob. However, these are the joystick settings in the config file:
C:\Users\Your Username\AppData\Local\DOSBox
joysticktype = auto timed = true (if calibration is jittery you should change this to false) autofire = false swap34 = false buttonwrap = false circularinput = false deadzone = 0
DOSBox should recognize your wheel automatically when you start it and it should be usable in game.
Also make sure you have aspect correction on and find the best screen settings for your monitor. I myself run GP2 in full-screen mode. (alt+enter)
So let's start the game!
These are the control settings in game, copy these, calibrate your wheel and pedals and try it out!
The only problem is that the steering is very sensitive in high speeds in straight line. So you can add low sensitivity zone if you like. I personally don't like low sensitivity zones or deadzones with racing games that have no force feedback. Without FF you have no way of feeling when the deadzone ends and steering ”bytes” and you easily end up spinning the car in corner entry. Also I don't like speed-sensitive steering cause it makes the steering inconsistent. So I'll rather be a bit scared in straights :O
And that's it, you're good to go! In my opinion this game is a lot of fun to drive with wheel and pedals and the driving feels as it should feel. It's hard and you have to keep your focus, but that's how it is, it's Formula One! Physics are obviously not as detailed and fine-tuned as in modern sims, but they make sense and they feel right.
If you want to follow my full season with full-length races without any drivint assists, full damage and hardest difficulty, go and subscribe my channel! Races are streamed live and are of course you can also watch them afterwards in YouTube.
Hopefully you found this helpful. I'll be glad to answer any questions!
Terve! first of all THANK YOU REALLY MUCH for your blogs and videos, it's like jumping back in time and I go crazy with your "aaaaaaaaaaand" introducing a new video :D
Your dedication and love for the GP series made me willing to play them again, GP2 especially (which I haven't played that much to be honest) with my super ol... ahmmm.. vintage wheel: a Logitech formula force GP. I have a problem, I'm not sure maybe you can help me? I'm able to make the wheel steering working on DosBOX ECE (the version you suggested) but I'm struggle to make my pedals working properly: basically if I'm able to set my breaks I can't set throttle and viceversa. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you really really much anyway, I'll look forward for your next video (but comes first! :D)
Thanks for doing some grave digging and play these games. I've spent hundred (if not thousands) of hours playing the GP series and GP2 had been a marvel for me when it got out.
I'm following your tutorial and reinstalled the game, sadly I haven't been able to correctly calibrate my wheel (G27), I have sort of a dead zone in the middle that make it unusable. (3O° around the middle, GP2 doesn't see any movement). And GP2 cannot see the shift paddles as it can only use the first two buttons of a peripheral.
Too bad, your videos really made me want to do a full season. I consoled myself by reading the manual... :)
Hi Ted,
Happy to see you driving all the oldscool racinggames i played in the passed as well!
I tried to get GP2 working on my windows 10 laptop with DOSbox etc. The game is running, but the speed is terrible. I have to turn the graphics very low and then still everything is really struggling. Do you have some tips for me? The laptop i have is a:
- HP Z-book with windows 10 pro.
- Processor Intel Core i7-9850H CPU @ 2.60 GHz 2.59 GHz
- 64 bits / x64-processor
- Videocard/video adapters:
--- Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (standard?)
--- NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000
Thanks for you're help
Im sorry if this comment is a tad irrelevant, but i cant seem to even be able to set up the damned arrow keys for steering inputs. yes I've tried to keymap them to no avail. It seems to be clashing with camera controls. With no other guides on the internet I am left with asking experienced players such as yourself for help... any advice would be appreciated. Maybe one day ill even get the wheel. Thanks
Hey Ted, great blog and series. I heard you saying that you use GP2edit to simulate the performance of your Jordan. What settings did you change and do you need to run GP2 from GP2edit.exe or is this not necessary?
Hey Jacopo Nono! Indeed I missed your post on gp2 forum since I haven't been there for a while. I'm running on automatic cycles and I'm afraid it's more or less luck if the timed = true works or not. What racing wheel are you using? Try to replace the dosbox ece config file with mine, see if that works better. You can download it here: https://www.tedmeat.com/uploads/blog_images/dosbox-ECE.conf
Ted- I am running dosbox ece, and I'm trying to get the timed=true setting to work. I'm tired of playing gp2 where the gentle curves on straight aways are difficult to follow because the steering resolution is only 0-45 or so with timed = false.
I know I saw you post on the gp2 forum, that you are now using ECE and have excellent control resolution with your steering wheel. Mine is SUPER JITTERY when I switch it to timed = true, but I do get much more resolution. What CYCLES value are you running at? I was running with cycles = auto and this JITTERYNESS with the timed = true setting is much worse then. If I lower my cycles the game runs super slow but I do not have the jittery problem with timed = true. I also asked about this on the gp2 forum, but you must have not seen my post.
Hi, I have problem with my fanatec csl ps4 wheel when calibrating. Red dot is restless and I can't get it to settle down. I have tried almost everything. Nothing helps. I have windows10. Any ideas how to make it work so that I could play with wheel and pedals. Problem is only the calibrating. Thanks! awesome videos!!
Hi Mauro and sorry about the late answer!
Have you tried increasing CPU Cycles in DOSBox? You can do this by hitting CTRL-F12 (and lower it by hitting CTRL-F11)
