4PGP

Fittingly, I mentioned last year with Formula Legends that I was missing a split-screen mode there. Now 4PGP offers me just that. Admittedly, this unfortunately can't quite match the quality of the aforementioned title, yet it's solid enough that I find it perfectly fine for multiplayer.

4PGP plays really well. Even in handheld mode on Switch 2, the performance is impressive. It's a challenging arcade racer and incorporates the multiplayer aspect well, and I appreciate the devs implemented game share. I wish the same amount of effort was put into the level designs and customization. The environments were lifeless which made the game feel flat. The lack of any car customizations, even just providing cosmetic options, took away any agency I had over the game.

4PGP delivers exactly what it promises. It's an uncomplicated, fun arcade game that clearly has a passion for 90s racing games.

4PGP is a fun F1 arcade racer that took me back to the 90s and visits to funfairs with a real sense of nostalgia. Although it doesn’t have any official licences, F1 fans will no doubt recognise all the cars and circuits straight away. This also shows that the developer is passionate about F1. On your own, the game will get boring quite quickly, but with a few friends, 4PGP is an ideal party game. The game’s name is certainly well-deserved.

4PGP strikes a great balance between capturing the look and feel of the elder racers without looking and feeling too like them.

There’s no shortage of modern indie arcade racers chasing the ghosts of the genre’s ’90s golden era, each tapping into nostalgia in their own way. Few, however, commit to it as purely as 4PGP. 4PGP is unapologetically simple. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel or overwhelm with features — instead, it locks into a very specific vision and executes it cleanly. Even so, I feel it could’ve offered more.

In terms of content, this game is straightforward. The Championship Mode throws a few circuits together but is unfortunately not customizable. You can unlock cars and tracks, including a track in the Sandpit and in the USA. Essentially, you drive three quick laps, and then the race is over; that is about it. You don't actually do much braking either, and tracks like Australia involve driving almost entirely in a straight line, with the occasional moment of lifting off the gas. The car sounds feel a bit like the old days, although they are sometimes incredibly annoying and loud. Graphically, the game looks playful but certainly not special, with flat textures that can barely be called 3D. It is fun, however, to simply play the game on the couch with friends. The game lends itself perfectly to this, as you can easily get in each other's way. However, the game is just a bit too sparse in terms of content to truly excel.

Fun old-school-inspired 3D arcade racer

What it lacks in overall polish and fine-tuned steering it makes up for in a reasonably-good sense of speed and pretty arcade-friendly racing

It is an interesting game if you are looking for something that resembles the Sega arcade racers from back in the day, but to be fair, you’d be better off just sticking to the excellent remastered version of Virtua Racing available on the eShop. It’s not a bad title, but it just simply failed to make any sort of impression with me, be it positive or negative.