By Team SimRacingWorld
8 July 2001

October 1997

First rumors that Grand Prix 3 is under construction, a post from Microprose employee in a forum stating that Geoff Crammond has been working on GP3 for the last 6 months.

November 1997

Microprose spotted at Silverstone testing with F1 and F3000 drivers, Microprose still denied that they were. PC Magazines said that they were given a preview of GP3 and it was on 4 cd's and was as good as F1GP and GP2.

December 1997

Rumors that Grand Prix 3 will be released by December 1998 - how wrong they were!

February 1998

Rumors that Grand Prix 3 would support Voodoo 2 cards that were just being released at the time.

June 1998

Microprose still denies anything about Grand Prix 3, and start to face financial problems. Geoff Crammond is reported to be looking for somewhere else to publish his game.

August 1998

Microprose finnaly announces Grand Prix 3, but only in the yearly report, other games mentioned are GP500 and Grand Prix manager 3 (GPworld).

November 1998

Microprose spotted at Silverstone testing with F1 and F3000 drivers, Microprose still denied that they were.
PC Magazines said that they were given a preview of GP3 and it was on 4 cd's and was as good as F1GP and GP2.

November 1998

Hasbro buys Microprose.

December 1998

Fake screenshots of Grand Prix 3 are flying about on the Internet.

February 1999

Hasbro/Microprose official announce Grand Prix 3, and say they will show it at the E3 Expo in May.

May 1999

The game was not shown at the E3 show, with no explanation why, Microprose says the game will be released in late October 1999.

May 1999

Hasbro/Microprose make a five year deal with the FOCA to release games based on the seasons 1998 - 2002.

June 1999

First screen shots of GP500, and rumors that Grand Prix 3 will use the same graphics engine as it.

June 1999

Grand Prix 3 becomes delayed to 1st quarter 2000, and Microprose say that Grand Prix 3 and GP500 will not use the same graphics engine.

July 1999

Hasbro/Microprose official announce Grand Prix 3, and say they will show it at the E3 Expo in May.

July 1999

Hasbro registeres domain names, rumors that Grand Prix 3 will have official patches. Advert in autosport magazine, for GP3? Hasbro denies that Autosport magazine ad was for Grand Prix 3.

August 1999

Ultimate PC preview Grand Prix 3, and Hasbro announced that they will show Grand Prix 3 at the 1999 ECTS show.

September 1999

Grand Prix 3 finnaly shown at the ECTS, new screenshots, official site launced.

October 1999

Grand Prix 3 not available in US, however this was a mistake and was later corrected, rumors that release date is delayed until August 2000.

November 1999

Rumors state the the release date has changed to April 3rd 2000. PC-Gamer promise to have an interview with Geoff Crammond.

December 1999

No Internet play, Grand Prix series in trouble as Hasbro cuts 19% of workforce, say they are no longer interested in games, but won't sell Microprose. Official sites go down...

January 2000

PC-GAMER stick to their promises and interview Geoff Crammond, releasing new info about the game, and new screenshots as well.

February 2000

20 new screenshots, Grand Prix 3 played at German 'Toy Fair'. PC-GAMER interview Nick Court the senior producer of Grand Prix 3, and the official release date is finally announced as June 30th 2000!

March 2000

Grand Prix 3 is shown at Melbourne Grand Prix.

April 2000

Release date is pushed back to July 28th 2000.

May 2000

GP3 Adverts in Dutch PC-ZONE, lots of screenshots including Melbourne and Hungary. New Information about Force Feedback, physics etc. Grand Prix 4 is announced to be a seperate game, not a patch, and GameSpot run Grand Prix 3 week.

June 2000

Grand Prix 3 is shown at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and the official system requirements finally come out!

July 2000

Warez version of Grand Prix 3 surfaces on the Internet and Grand Prix 3 is released! Editors come out almost immediately, record pre-orders for the game are reported by Hasbro and Amazon. Hasbro showcases the game at various events in Italy, Brazil, Germany, London and more!