I loved F1 GP on the Amiga, it was a cut above the majority of games on the platform and there was nothing to come close to it in the racing game genre.
I've been hard at it in my PES 5 ML with Sampdoria. I left the last update in 2007, my third season and second in the top division. I ended up about fourth that season, not winning anything but having scored more goals and garnered a few more points. Next year, 2008, I spent loads- I already had Mancini from the previous year (he finished 2007 with 16 in the league), now I added Vialli, Gullit and Platt. Surely, with a team that at last could be compared in overall quality to some of the biggest in the world, I could challenge for the title? Well, things didn't quite go as planned. Consistency in the league was a problem, and injuries too; Vialli and Gullit (particularly the Dutchman) are prone to injury, and Vialli spent almost the entire second half of the season on the doctor's table. Gullit was in and out of the squad with shorter injuries. I finished well though, and won the European Cup/CL against Man Utd in the final, scoring a pleasing amount with a variety of players. AC Milan won the league by a few points ahead of Inter, I think. I do recall that the other leagues were all astonishingly close, I think they were all won on goal difference.
In 2009 I again failed to win the title, despite adding Cerezo (a Brazilian defensive midfielder who was at Samp in the late 80s/early 90s in real life) who proved to be a fantastic purchase- when he isn't playing his part in attacks, he is winning the ball back in defence- as well as a 17 year old Huylens (he had retired in 2008, I think) and a young Pagliuca. To accomodate Cerezo I changed from a 3-4-3 to a 3-5-2, with a DMF behind two CMFs (Platt and Cerezo) and two SMFs (Gullit and Ximilez), Mancini as SS behind Vialli. I added a few imaginative attacking directions for various players to move in, and it seemed to work great. I won my first six league games, but hit a bad run and out of the next six games won only twice. I recovered a little and ended the first half of 2009 by beating Juve, the league leaders. However my inconsistency never left me and I dropped more points in unexpected defeats, and to boot I was knocked out of the European Cup in the quarters by Newcastle (who have Eusebio) and out of the D1 cup by eventual winners Inter. I finished third in the league with a strong finish, just a point behind AC Milan who in turn were a few behind Juve. Chelsea won the CL, English D1 cup and Premier League! Inter won the Uefa Cup. Top scorer in the league was Ibrahimovic (I think this was the first year it wasn't Del Piero), with Vialli one behind on 15. Mancini got 12, Platt and Cerezo 7 each (most of the Brazilian's were pens). Among the other notable scorers was Valeny with 4! I have him coming straight forward with an attacking arrow, and he often seems to turn up in attack with a late run which is great. Ordaz got a few in the league, but more in the cups. Castolo has barely scored in his few league appearances in the last couple of seasons, but gets the occasional cup goal. I often employ him as an SMF late in games, one of his natural positions. Burchet doesn't get much playing time in this new formation because he doesn't fit, but I occasionally bring him on or rarer still start him as a winger if I have too many tired midfielders.
I had no spare room for new players, so cannot add Mijhalovic to the squad for extra 90s Samp flavour, so contented myself with training over the summer (I like to mix a bit of speed/stamina for a couple of weeks, then teamwork, then a couple of weeks on skills that each player is good at e.g. dribbling for Ximilez, with 'full rest' in between each two weeks of training). My first game of 2010 was against Lazio, a side that only escaped relegation on the last day of the 2009 season. I played well, but they were using a 4-5-1 formation and I was always getting the ball nicked off my foot when about to shoot, a lot of bodies at the back. Then they put a good low cross in, and Pandev leaped at it, stabbing it in from a couple of yards to beat me 1-0. I did quite well in Europe, thrashing Rangers 4-0 thanks to a dominant first half, though Cerezo missed a penalty (I selected him as penalty taker when I bought him in 2009 because I had been so bad with Vialli et al, thought I'd give him a try). My opening goal was amusing; Vialli smashing the ball at goal from a sharp angle, it comes back off a defender; he makes a bad pass back towards Iouga, and it is intercepted. The defender then turns and smashes it against Iouga, and it bounces in from ten yards!
I then played decently against lowly Siena in the league, only for them to astound me and the rest of Serie A by winning 3-0. They were clinical in their finishing, unlike me. Despite struggling in terms of league placing most of the time since Chiesa retired a few years back, they have a striker called Volpato who has been near the top of the charts in recent years, and he was one of the scorers (interestingly Parma also had a high scorer last year, Ewerthon, and like Lazio they were only saved from relegation on the last day of 2009). Not exactly the start I had hoped for, losing my first two games to some of the weakest sides in the league, knowing that the likes of AC and Juve will drop few points through the year.
My next Euro fixture was against Inter, but Cerezo missed TWO penalties this time, and Adriano stormed in two second half goals. However, I have won my following four league games and the next three Euro fixtures, so things seem back on track. Vialli already has 6 goals in the league, and I am playing quite well most games. AC Milan are currently top, Juve having lost to both them and Inter in the last two games, and I am third behind Roma. I play AC next, which could be a critical game in deciding the championship given that AC probably won't lose many matches.
Gullit has already been injured once, but is coming back to his peak (both he and Vialli were in a mid-career dip on their development graph when I bought them) and I am causing defenders problems with him. I still use Minanda often, either as a stand in for Mancini or as a replacement for either Platt or Cerezo in midfield, though I set him as an AMF and if replacing Cerezo I reduce his defensive attitude to low. He fits in well in this formation, with plenty of passing options around him. At 39 years of age though, I expect him to retire this year or next.
Oh, I forgot to mention- I sold Macco to Benfica years ago, I think it was at the end of the first season. Benfica are doing steadily better each year, and I've been checking on the Welshman's stats. He has been scoring a pleasing amount in the league, and last year I think he got 6! Not bad for a winger, and it makes me feel better about having sold him to a team that was still in the second division at the time.