Nigel Mansell's World Championship THE GAME In World Championship you take part in the full 1992 Grand Prix season. Each country, and each of the sixteen tracks is represented. Obviously, your aim is to emulate the success of Nigel Mansell, and win the World Championship as fast as possible. On Loading When you first load World Championship, the first screen which you will encounter after the title screen is the Main Selection Screen. To move between the available options, use the relevant keys or the joystick, and each of the options will become highlighted in turn. The default keys to move around the screen are as follows: Up Q, Down A, Left O, Right P and Fire is the space bar. The Return key acts as pause within the game. How to alter them to a different configuration is explained later. To select an option, press the fire button when that option is highlighted. OPTION ONE: RACE A SINGLE CIRCUIT The Race If you choose to take part in a single race, then a screen will appear which will allow you to select which of the sixteen circuits you will race on. Moving the joystick or keys up and down will highlight each country in turn, and a picture of the track will appear to the right of the screen. Once the track which the player wishes to race upon is highlighted, pressing the fire button will take the player to the relevant Track Information Screen. Track Information Screen This screen offers a description of the circuit which you are about to race, and beneath this a weather forecast and the likelihood of rain given as a percentage. Underneath this panel you are offered the chance to Tune your car, Qualify for the race, Race the Circuit, or Cancel. Each is explained in the following sections. Tuning Your Car This screen allows you to configure your vehicle to suit a particular race. On this single screen the player has the option to set-up the car to suit the weather and track conditions. There are four parameters that can be changed. (Pressing fire will skip the animations.) Gears The choice offered here is between Manual and Automatic gears. Automatic is the default mode. When Automatic (Auto) gears are selected the player is relieved of the need to change gear thus making the game easier to play. However, there is a small penalty to pay as the point at which the gears are changed in auto is not the optimum setting. Gear Ratio Here the player must select from Low, Medium which is the default, and High. Low gears will improve the cars acceleration but reduce the top speed. Medium offers a balance of acceleration and speed, whilst High has slower acceleration, but offers a better top speed. From the track information the player has to assess which characteristic, whether speed or acceleration, is better suited to any particular track. Tyres The choice here is between Hard, the default, Soft, and Wet tyres. There are two parameters relating to the tyres, rate of wear and grip. Fast cornering and running off the track increases the rate of tyre wear; harder tyres wear slower. The tyres can wear out entirely, of course, forcing the player to retire from the race. In this situation the players car will be positioned last in the race results table. Soft tyres improve the cars grip and so improve cornering but require changing sooner. In a normal race the player will only need to change hard tyres once, however soft tyres may need to be changed twice. The player has the option to change the tyres any number of times in the pits, but entering the pits obviously results in a time penalty. If the track has rain on it then wet's will need to be used. When the track is wet these tyres wear at the same rate as hard tyres but in the dry wet tyres wear faster than soft tyres. If the track is wet both hard and soft tyres handle very poorly and the car will be difficult to control. The condition of the tyres is displayed as part of the control panel. Aerofoil For Aerofoils, the choice is between Acute, the default Mid, and Shallow. Setting the aerofoil to acute will improve the cars cornering in a similar manner to soft tyres; however in this position the aerofoil will increase the car drag and thus reduce its speed. Setting the aerofoil to shallow will result in the car having the best top speed but the poorest cornering. Once you have tuned your car to suit the forthcoming race, select the Exit button, and you will be taken back to the Track Information Screen. Qualify for the Race If the player selects Qualify from the screen the player has the opportunity to compete for grid position. The player has to do two laps and the time taken will determine how many cars are in front of the player's car at the start of the race. The actual position of the player's car will be determined by comparing the qualifying lap time achieved by the player with a reference time for each individual track. As in real Formula One racing, the player will have to avoid the other cars on the track, although the player is not directly competing with them. On completion of the qualifying lap the player will automatically go onto the race. Race the Circuit If you decide not to qualify for the race, then you can automatically begin the race from the back of the grid. This is obviously the fastest way to get into a race, but it will be a lot easier to finish amongst the leaders if you begin the race at the front of the grid. The choice is yours. Cancel This will take you back to the Track Selection Screen should you change your mind. RACING The player may enter a race directly from the track information screen or via the qualifying round. If the player enters the race without qualifying then the players car is placed in last position on the starting grid, thus qualifying for a race at worst has no effect on the players start position and at best will put the player in pole position. The player competes against eleven other cars of varying ability. The competitors cars are grouped into three classes, four good, four average and three poor. Each race will take place over several laps with the fastest car taking between fifty seconds and two minutes to complete each lap, this is dependant upon which track the race is on. The race sequence will end when the player has finished all the laps, unless all the competitors have finished, in which case the player is then obviously last. Pit Stops The pits are located near the start of the track in a fixed position for each circuit and the player may enter the pits on any lap. The only reason to enter the pits is to fit new tyres. When the players car enters the pits the screen will change, and the player will be prompted to select the type of tyres to fit, and the commands for up, down and fire should be used to select the particular option. The pit stop takes between 5 and 9 seconds, this time being random, and not under the control of the player. All the competitors cars make one pit stop. On the race tracks the pits will be identifiable as a separate lane or channel and prior to this location there will be a series of track side signs indicating the pits position. Race Screen display In addition to displaying the track etc. the in race screen display contains other relevant information described below: Speed Digital display, MPH or KMH (set from preference screen). Three digits wide. RPM Bar display. Gear Gear number (displayed even in auto). Position Position in race Tyre Wear Four tyres displayed each divided into two, giving eight levels of tyre wear. Race Map This obviously presents a map of the current circuit, with each vehicles represented by a dot. End Of Race Sequence At the end of each race a results table will display in descending order the times for all 12 cars; the time for the first car being displayed as absolute, the rest as relative to the winner. If the player finished in the first three then a reward screen will be displayed highlighting the players achievement. On the completion of this section, the game will default to the Main Selection Screen. SECTION TWO: FULL RACE SEASON If this option is chosen, then you will first be offered the opportunity to enter the password from a previously started game. In order to do this, simply follow the on-screen instructions. If you do not enter a password, then you will begin the full season of sixteen races. Obviously, your aim is to finish at the top of the points table once all sixteen races are concluded. You may enter an individual race by selecting it from the single race screen or, alternatively as one in the sequence of a season. In both cases the actual race format is the same, however, after the race results screen if the race is entered as part of the season an additional overall position screen is displayed. For a full explanation of the sequence from track selection to the results screen, see the section for a single race, featured above. If the race is part of a full season, then after the race results and reward screen (where appropriate) an overall points table will be displayed. On completion of each of the individual races the player is awarded points relative to position. The points awarded are as follows: First 10 Second 6 Third 4 Fourth 3 Fifth 2 Sixth 1 After each race the players total points are used to calculate the overall position. After all 16 races the players final overall position is displayed and if this is within the top three then an award sequence follows. The player may wish to stop playing during a season but retain his position and points. For this reason a password is given at the end of every race, which will, if entered, allow you to restart the game from the point where the password was given. In the event that the race is the last of a season, and if the player has finished in the overall top three then a screen will appear in recognition of the player reaching one of the top three positions. SECTION THREE: DRIVING SCHOOL This unique option is provided to enable the player to practice on any of the tracks without having to worry about any other cars. The optimum racing line will be indicated on the circuit. In addition the maximum car speed is controlled, and a lap time to aim for will be presented on screen. The player must beat that time before the maximum speed of the car will increase up to the next speed, and a new time to beat will be indicated on the screen. In this way the player will gradually build up speed and driving skills for a particular circuit. SECTION FOUR: CONTROL SELECTION This option will allow you to set the preferences for racing. You are offered the opportunity to change names and change the game controller. There are a number of different configurations for joystick, and in addition the keyboard option and the joystick are defineable, allowing you to select a control method that you are perfectly happy with. In the top left hand panel on this screen will be the currently selected control method (1). Beneath this are the four options offered, and on the right the configurations for each option. In order to create a user defined control method, firstly make sure that the control method you wish to use is selected. For example, if you wished to redefine the Joystick in port 0, then you would first select Joystick 0. Next, select User Define, and then enter the key or joystick move you wish to use in turn, as each item on the right hand side of the screen is highlighted. The next option, Change Driver, will allow you to select which team you wish to race for, and alter the name of the driver to suit yourself. If you select this option, you will be taken to a new screen where the first driver will appear. To move onto the next driver, press the fire button, and the next driver will appear. To alter the name of a driver, use Up and Down to highlight the Driver Name Option, and then press fire. A flashing cursor will now appear, allowing you to type a new name. When you have finished typing the name, press the Return key. To exit, highlight the Exit panel, and press fire. The next option, Choose Preferences, will allow you to alter a number of features. To alter each, simply highlight the option, and press fire, and the screen will toggle between the various options. The Level affects the difficulty of the game, primarily through altering the top speeds of the other drivers. Rostrum will turn the display of the winners podium at the end of each race on or off. NIGEL MANSELL'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP for Amstrad and Spectrum was programmed by Mike Chilton. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1992 Gremlin Graphics Software Limited.