Fast Formula Racing Built for Everyone
4PGP Four-Player Grand Prix delivers exactly what its name promises: quick formula racing designed around local multiplayer. The game supports split-screen races for up to four players, alongside Remote Play Together for players who want to compete with friends online. Its structure is immediately accessible, with four difficulty levels named Rookie, Novice, Veteran, and Expert, plus an assist mode and a detailed tutorial. I appreciated how quickly I could start racing without spending time navigating complicated menus or adjusting dozens of technical settings. The controls are tight, acceleration and braking can be controlled through analogue inputs, and both keyboard and gamepad layouts can be remapped.
The pace is extremely fast, which creates a strong sense of speed even when the mechanical side of the driving remains relatively simple. The colorful art style, smooth animation, and wide selection of camera angles help every race feel energetic. 4PGP also targets 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, and the consistent performance makes steering through crowded corners feel responsive. From a presentation perspective, the game understands that arcade racing needs to look exciting from the first lap, and watching a full grid of cars accelerate together is easily one of its strongest moments.
Cars, Circuits, and Racing Modes
There are 19 playable cars based on recognizable formula racing designs, with grids containing up to 20 vehicles during races. Players can compete across 14 circuits inspired by locations from around the world, and every track can also be driven in reverse. This effectively creates additional layouts, although reversed versions do not always feel like entirely new circuits. The tracks offer a mixture of long straights, narrow corners, elevation changes, and technical sections, but the handling model allows most of them to be learned quickly.
The single-player content is divided between Championship, Quick Race, and Time Attack. Championship provides the main structured experience, Quick Race is useful when you want to select a circuit and begin immediately, and Time Attack lets players focus on improving lap times. There is a fair amount to complete when you combine the three modes, multiple difficulty settings, 19 cars, and reversed circuits. Multiplayer also includes an additional incentive, as playing with other people allows you to unlock the Safety Car. Still, the experience feels much more entertaining with friends than it does alone, because the unpredictable mistakes and competition between players add personality that the computer-controlled opponents cannot fully provide.
Enjoyable Controls, but Limited Racing Depth
My main problem with 4PGP is that the gameplay is too simplistic. The controls feel responsive and the cars react quickly, but there are not enough mechanics to make the driving evolve over time. There is limited room for advanced race strategy, vehicle management, meaningful car differences, or systems that could create unexpected situations during a championship. Once I understood the cornering and braking, most races began to feel mechanically similar. The game gives players plenty of tracks and cars, but it does not give them enough interesting decisions during each race.
I also believe the overall speed should be reduced slightly. The fast pace looks impressive, but it sometimes makes circuits feel more chaotic than technical. Corners arrive so quickly that players often react instinctively instead of planning their racing line, especially in split-screen where each player has less screen space. A slightly slower default speed would make overtaking, positioning, braking points, and track knowledge more important. Difficulty levels help adjust the challenge, but they do not completely solve the underlying lack of complexity. The game needs more elements to spice up the races, such as stronger car characteristics, deeper AI behavior, additional race rules, weather conditions, pit strategies, or optional simulation systems.
Summary
4PGP Four-Player Grand Prix is an accessible and visually appealing arcade racer with responsive controls, smooth 4K and 60 FPS performance, 19 formula-inspired cars, 14 reversible circuits, three single-player modes, and four-player split-screen support. I enjoyed its art style, camera options, and immediate sense of speed, and it works especially well as a game that friends or family can understand within minutes. However, the driving is too basic to remain engaging for long sessions, and the extreme pace leaves little space for strategy or technical improvement. It is a fun local multiplayer experience with a solid foundation, but it needs slower, deeper, and more varied racing mechanics to become something I would regularly return to.