GP500 is a motorcycle racing

Motorcycle racing

Motorcycle sport is a broad field that encompasses all sporting aspects of motorcycling. The disciplines are not all "races" or timed-speed events, as several disciplines test a competitor's various riding skills.-Motorcycle racing:...

 simulation

Simulation

Simulation is the imitation of some real thing available, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system....

 for the PC developed by Melbourne House

Melbourne House

Krome Studios Melbourne, originally Beam Software, was a video game development studio founded in 1980 and based in Melbourne, Australia. The studio operated independently from 1987 until 1999, when it was acquired by Infogrames, who changed the name to Melbourne House...

 and released in 1999 by Microprose

MicroProse

MicroProse was a video game publisher and developer, founded by Wild Bill Stealey and Sid Meier in 1982 as Microprose Software. In 1993, the company became a subsidiary of Spectrum HoloByte and has remained a subsidiary or brand name under several other corporations since...

.

The game represented the 1998 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

1998 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

The 1998 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 50th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.-Season summary:Mick Doohan and Honda continued to dominate the 500 class with the Australian taking 8 victories and Honda winning all but one race. Simon Crafar winning the British Grand Prix for...

, and is widely held alongside EA Sports' Superbike Series to be one of the best motorcycle racing simulations available. It is still popular across the world, particularly in the UK, Australia, Spain and Italy.

Game Basics

After having been tested and approved by many of the contemporaries of the Motorcycle Grand Prix paddock (including Kenny Roberts Jr

Kenny Roberts Jr

Kenneth Leroy Roberts Junior is an American motorcycle road racer who won the 500cc Road Racing World Championship in 2000...

 and Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi, , is an Italian professional motorcycle racer and multiple MotoGP World Champion. He is one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time, with nine Grand Prix World Championships to his name – seven of which are in the premier class.Following his father, Graziano Rossi,...

, who would both go on to win on 500cc motorcycles), the game was released in 1999 and achieved popularity within the sim racing communities around the world for being the most advanced motorcycle racing game at the time.

The game contained 24 riders from the official 1998 GP500 season, including multiple world champions Mick Doohan, Alex Criville

Alex Criville

Àlex Crivillé is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. In 1992 he became the first Spaniard to win a 500cc Grand Prix and, in 1999 he became the first Spaniard to win the 500cc World Championship....

 and Max Biaggi

Max Biaggi

Massimiliano "Max" Biaggi is an Italian motorcycle racer and winner of the 2010 World Superbike Championship. Throughout this racing career, he has won the 250cc World Championship four times, and finished as runner-up in both the 500cc and MotoGP championships...

- however the game did not include the various wildcards and replacement riders seen in the 1998 season.