Kohl Kirland’s indi: Rain is F1 2010′s best feature (sound familiar?)
After 4 long years of waiting F1 fans are thrilled around the globe to be getting a new widely-produced game. F1 2010 from Codemasters (the folks responsible for TOCA, Dirt, and Grid) was the first F1 video game since the final edition from Sony in 2006 so the crowd here at F1B has been chattering about it since its release last week. This week though I thought it time to put together a proper review of the PS3 version of F1 2010.
Driving Engine/Physics
Overall Codemasters new physics engine isn’t bad for a first generation untested one. There is a strong tendency to spear off track with only minimal application of the brakes. Shifting the balance to the full rear setting and using ABS doesn’t seem to help much either so those of you that like to brake all the way to the apex will need to adjust your style a bit. One thing that should have to simulation junkies excited it the varying pavement grip. The car’s feeling will change as you transition between old and new tarmac and the curbs are absolutely brutal, often sending you far from your intended target on track. It is also nice to see that effort was put into making these cars feel different from those before the formula change last year.
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The rain really sets this game out though, the car feels brilliantly realistic in the wet unlike games past when it just was a cheap low-downforce drift. The puddling, drying lines, and differing conditions in each sector are the highlight of the game.
Graphics
I’m not normally one to nitpick about how a game looks, for me it’s more about the driving experience. But with F1 2010 it seems like the graphics (with a few other areas) were worked on tirelessly but lack some simple things. The 3rd Gen console and brand new engine mean that circuits are incredible detailed and the cars look spectacular. Conversely the humans in the game are a bit cube-like, even the animated Holly Samos looks to be made out of about 4 pixels. When on track the shadows and reflections around the car share the same problem while the bounce, and I mean bounce(one step away from being a rally car bouncing), round’ the circuit.
4 Year Gap
One unique challenge to the new game is the big gap between the last version and this one. There has been a big change in circuits since 2006 which makes for a fun time at places like Bahrain and Catalunya where I was incessantly forgetting that the layout was altered and found myself flying off-track at the new sectors. Valencia and Singapore has me lost as well. 26 turns that all look identical is rather difficult even after a 30 lap race.
Race Weekend
Another bonus for the sim-racing types is the car setup. When arriving at the track the car is set to a basic setup that requires either a lot of tuning or the use of the quick setup feature which works fairly well. The other realistic features like in car tweaks and the use of Todd’s favorite tire rule are respectable too, but the qualifying sessions need some work along with the penalties which are given at random and don’t have any sort of scale.
Career
F1 2010′s major feature was supposed to be the option to “live the life of an F1 driver” and while this game lets you do that more than any other, it does need refinement. The setup will remind many of the old F1 Career Challenge, a game I was very impressed with. The difficulty level is adjustable each week which helps on the new tracks where surviving the length of the race is the goal. I did find it odd when the STR’s took a 1-2 at Australia the first season with both HRT’s in the points.
Online
Online racing in F1 2010 is still a bit rough, the game runs a bit slow and the cars have a tendency to run into each other because of that. The varying levels of difficulty match you with people you can be comfortable with and that is a welcome sight.
Overall the game design isn’t bad. The multiple game modes were each designed with enough flexibility to suit all skill levels, something not seen much anymore. That being said it seems many somewhat obvious details were overlooked. Things like the lack of knockout qualifying in most levels and unrealistic car levels made it seem like the producers were not aware of what goes on in Formula 1. The producers are planning a patch that should solve the save-corruption and pit bugs that are hampering some.
On one last note for those of you that do have the game, be sure to check out the F1B competition in the forum. Andy is in the planning phases of a time trial competition and we are still looking for drivers!
