Mini Review – F1 2010

Racing Simulation

Probably has a cheat mode.

Mike

Formula One’s been on a long hiatus from the consoles since Sony and EA dropped the licenses during the last decade so there was some rejoicing back in 2008 when DiRT and GRiD developers Codemasters announced they were developing an official product for the Championship.  With such a gap, F1 fans will probably devour this purely out of starvation but just how does the Ego-fueled experience handle?

Generic promo shots may not be indicative of anything you see in the game.

Formula One marks something of a refreshing change in the genre as the focus has been more on the experience of being a driver, rather than the usual sterile approach of taking the license and giving us what 90% of other racing games offer.  As a result, you get a much more excitable experience and the racing itself, as well as looking stunning is packed with objectives to achieve.  You’ve got positions to aim for in each session and you’re constantly using your teammate as a yardstick as you advance your standing within the team.

Accuracy takes a back seat with the newcomers to the grid being rather competitive.  It means you’re not cut adrift from the pack and tend to always be part of the action.  Not to leave the hardcore F1 fans flustered, you can customize your experience to determine driving aids, damage and AI difficulty which gives the game a fair whack of flexibility.  This flexibility also extends to the car setup which can be simplified using your race engineer (whose in-race chatter usually involves him goading you into overtaking Michael Schumacher) or you can opt for the more complex tweaking of wing angles, ride-heights and everything in between.

Aside from the game’s impressive career mode you have the usual time trial and grand prix options with also plenty of multiplayer modes to get to grips with.  So far, online’s been steady with no real issues cropping up and an online ranking allows you to theoretically find players of your level so avoiding banzai mentalists are achievable.  With the lobbies now filling up considerably, this should come in handy.

However, the game’s not without its bugs.  You’ll notice you’ll start hemorrhaging positions when you hit a compulsory pit stop which, according to Codemasters is down to an overcautious pit crew.  They’re working on a patch to resolve it but other little things dampen the experience as well.  The CPU drivers will cope amazingly well with the loss of a front wing with little or no difference at all in their performance and the penalty system the game has in place for causing collisions and cutting corners is a tiny bit inconsistent.

This aside, though, the Birmingham outfit has managed to produce one of the most refreshing F1 experiences in years and it’s a very positive debut for them.

8/10