Following the commercial and critical success of Grand Prix 2 in 1996, Grand Prix 3 continued the lineage of Crammond's Formula One simulation series under MicroProse. Development moved from the direct sequel of the 1994 season represented in GP2 to the 1998 Formula One campaign, featuring all teams and drivers from that year with one notable exception: Jacques Villeneuve was replaced in the game by a fictional character named John Newhouse. The reason for this substitution was not publicly elaborated upon by the developers.
In August 2001, Simergy — Geoff Crammond's own development studio — released an expansion pack titled Grand Prix 3 2000 Season, published by Infogrames Interactive. The expansion updated the game to reflect the 2000 Formula One calendar, adding the two circuits that had joined the schedule that year: Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 2000 expansion also included Villeneuve, rectifying his absence from the base game.
Grand Prix 3 received generally favorable reviews according to Metacritic. Critics considered it the finest racing simulation available at the time of release, even if it represented a more modest step forward than its predecessors had. Computer Gaming World nominated it for best racing game of 2000, describing it as a precisely tuned title, though it ultimately lost to Motocross Madness 2.
The game performed strongly in Europe. In Germany it sold 40,000 units in its first three days, debuting at number two on the Media Control sales chart for July 2000 before climbing to first place in August. The Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland awarded Grand Prix 3 a Gold certification, indicating at least 100,000 sales across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The game continued to appear in the German top 30 through early 2001. In the United Kingdom it earned a Silver certificate from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association, reflecting at least 100,000 regional sales. Across Europe the game sold 300,000 units in its first month.
Despite these figures, publisher Hasbro Interactive was reportedly disappointed in the game's performance relative to projections, with a product manager attributing the shortfall in part to strong competition from other titles holding the official Formula One license.
The game's introductory cinematic is set to an instrumental arrangement of Rob Dougan's song Furious Angels, overlaid with Formula One engine sounds.
In December 2025, the current incarnation of MicroProse acquired the rights to the Grand Prix franchise and announced plans to rerelease all four entries on Steam alongside original developer Geoff Crammond. Because the Formula One license is now held by Electronic Arts, the Steam version will be rebranded as Geoff Crammond Racing 3 and will feature fictional sponsors and names, with Steam Workshop support included at launch.
Grand Prix 3 occupied an important transitional moment in PC sim racing, bridging the gap between the watershed Grand Prix 2 and the series' final entry, Grand Prix 4. Its combination of meticulous physics fidelity and official season data helped maintain the Grand Prix series' reputation as the benchmark for Formula One simulation during a period of intensifying competition from licensed rival products.