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A confession from me, first. I rather enjoyed F1 2010, and liked the experience despite some very sizable flaws and a borderline sense of being underwhelmed. That said, F1 2011 improves upon it in every measurable way. As a 'sequel', it far surpasses. Still 12 teams, 19 tracks, same top speeds of nearly 220mph, but the impact on the senses is much more enjoyable.
Some of this has to do with the sport itself-The rules in F1 itself have changed significantly this year, with 2 particular elements that a new player might well think was added just for the video game and could never really exist on the cars! Whereas the previous iteration was mostly "point and drive", this year we welcome 2 odd acronyms... names aren't important, but what is noteworthy is that they're both used as enhancements to the car that the player has control over. "KERS" is a small power boost allowed a certain amount per lap, and "DRS" allows higher speeds in a straight line. Sneaky, yes? Well, they've made the races of the real sport much more exciting, and it's great to see it reflected in the game.
The in-car HUD has gone through a total overhaul and is now very slick . Split times are always up and they've been color coded the same way the official F1 timing system uses them so that they're visually distinct. The pop-up info screen for tyres and damage has an awesome new tab-a short list giving you vitals such as when you expect to pit next, and expected exit position back on the track if you were to stop now. Since the sport requires players to change tyres in all races at least once, it saves a whole ton of thinking and lets anyone understand what the "big picture" for the race is. In the real sport, entire crews on the pit wall try to think this out to best help their position, so this is a godsend to have handed to you.
Sound like a bit much? You'll be glad to know that in the game's career mode, players are slowly shown more and more features so it's easy to learn each bit of the car. For example... didn't know that you have 4 types adding up to 17 sets of tyres for each race weekend? At career start on lower difficulty it's left out. AI seems to have an overhaul from last year-the drivers are smarter (less likely to run into you), difficulty is much more linear, career objectives are completely reasonable and are fulfilling to accomplish.
Graphics and sound are quite unchanged, but this isn't all bad. The Ego graphics engine is starting to show its age yet gets the job done. For unknown reasons, rain effects look less realistic, but I'll call it even for the import of each car's very unique exhaust note.
The main thing that holds back F1 2011 and I guess the series on the whole now is a lack of explanation to the player about all the specific (and often unconventional) rules the sport has and all the mechanical bits one can adjust. At the same time, it's not a high enough level of detail to please true simulator fans. The "quick tune" feature is abysmal even for racing against low difficulty AI, and unless you know the ins and outs of tuning from other racing games, you'll be looking up some terms. Actually, a "complaint" I had from last year is back-it's a game where reading the instruction manual is practically required, and without it even some of the basic game vocabulary will sound like gibberish.
In summary, there's a thrilling driving experience to be had which makes the game a totally different (and better) play from last year, and a lot of issues have been ironed out. Although there are no real glaring weaknesses, one still gets the feeling that the game doesn't quite feel complete... that there's just a little more in every area that a truly great game would have. It's a rare instance where an "annual installment" is a truly different (and better) experience... and is bendable enough for people who plan to put a few dozen or few hundred hours into it.
Note to renters and used purchases-The multiplayer features have a DRM feature, where the game is shipped with one code to unlock those features. Assuming it's been used already, accessing it will cost $9.99 via PSN. It does not have any effect on single player modes. This doesn't matter much to me personally, but I figure it worth mentioning so that no one ends up surprised.
UPDATE: After playing through 3 full seasons, I'm left very impressed with the AI difficulty scale. On "Professional" (one from the setting for hardcore players) the AI cranks out qualifying times and fastest laps within about a second of what the actual cars have managed on-track during this season. Better still, cars from each team have strengths and weaknesses that their non-virtual counterparts tend to have. Still could use a tutorial on DRS and KERS, though, and a terminology seminar. Something so that the phrase "I'm purple in sectors 2 and 3 after ricking a change to scrub options early from inters while on mix 3 to try to close the gap before the first activation zone" makes sense to you and can float around in your head at least a little. A few other minor gripes, but I stick with my bottom line from the original review.
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F1 2011 is here and it is a great step forward in the codemasters handling of a much beloved and intricate sport, but there are some caveats. Outside of the actual races, career mode is still a tad dull, it has been streamlined a little so answering reporters questions has a far more noticeable effect on you and your team, but overall it's nothing special...until you get to a race. Here things really start to shine, physics HAS been improved, there is a sense of weight and mass to cars that was a little off in 2010, cars feel less like friction less rockets and more like the grippy super cars they are. Your car will bounce and bob and is overall a better driving experience over last year. More surprisingly the AI is improved, it's hard this early to say where it's better, except that now AI opponents defend position, look for advantages when attacking yours, and basically are a real threat. On hardest difficulty it's a real nightmare, so much so that I don't think it can be played without a wheel setup if you're playing with no assists.To me F1 is all about strategy, and what's so great about this game is that you feel like that the only way to win is to have a competent strategy for each track and any of it's given weather conditions, and of course a fuel and tire strategy that will have you staying in the race, oh and the the new addition of the pace car only adds a layer. KERS is here and it's something I'm learning to use, but I like it and DRS is also added. KERS is a one lap use while DRS is useable anytime, with some exceptions.
Praises for the game aside not everything is perfect, the graphics are better but only ever so slightly and only on specific things, your car looks awesome, and when you race in cockpit view you actually see yourself hitting buttons and twisting knobs on your steering wheel while racing, this is all done on each teams custom wheel, no more generic cockpits! Weather effects look better too and really scare the $&@% out of you when racing. Tracks look ok, but they could be a little sharper, and why do we still get those rearview mirrors that display things in SNES graphics quality? It something that I was hoping would be fixed, but it's still here...
Multiplayer is more or less unchanged but the real highlight is the team racing, now you play with a buddy on the same team, and it's as fun as you can imagine, both working together to best everyone one else while simultaneously trying to beat each other, it's so good and so integral and basic to f1 racing I'm surprised it wasn't in last years game. In the end F1 is a niche game, if you are unfamiliar with the sport or think it's like Dirt or even Forza and GT5 this game will destroy any silly ideas you think you have of racing, it will humble you and make you adapt. Overall 8.5/10, it's a great game, most likely the best racing game on any console, (before I get flamed, while gt5 and Forza are great they are more car game then racing game).
In closing if you own f1 2010 then you owe it to yourself to pick up this game, if your interested in racing or the sport itself, buy the game, turn on all the assists and have fun, the start slowly ratcheting up the difficulty, you won't be disappointed. To everyone else, come check out the most exhilarating racing game around!im not the worlds biggest f1 fan but i do like auto racing and follow most... so anyways... i will judge this game based on NASCAR 2011 the game and from f1 2010
this game BLOWS AWAY NASCAR the game 2011 in every possible way... at first this game got me so mad because i picked the second hardest difficulty and limited assists and i couldn't complete a turn, unlike nascar i can put it on very hard and go from worst to first in about 2 corners... but then i thought hey its is actually fun, i actually have a challenge in a racing video game!
career
really havent got into the f1 career but if its anything like last year its 10xxx better than NASCAR... in nascar i put it on hard and won all the pole and races... not a challenge at all
multiplayer
this is the biggest for me... on nascar you pick a driver and go racing with no season or anything... but in f1 they finally have split screen, which is a blast! Me and my brother were teammates and had a great battle in the points. its such a positive to have split screen in racing games but the season makes it worth something...
graphics/damage
once again f1 has beautiful graphics and realistic car handling and damage... not the case in nascar where the graphics are ok and the damage looks so fake and the cars drive like they are on ice... at first on f1 i could not turn the car, because they actually were driving like a real f1 race car and not like a car on ice... also KERS and DRS are in the game and only on the teams that really have it.
i don't do online racing games because i feel that everyone is a poor sport and is only out there to wreck you so i have no comment on the online part of the game...
overall if you are somebody that is a nascar fan and wants to play a racing game that is not a glitch filled disaster... this game is for you... its miles ahead of nascar and has so much more to offer and is just about perfect in replicating f1 racing in all aspects... (hopefully codemasters gets a nascar license because if this is what nascar would be like i would pay double for it, im not kidding either nascar 2011 the game is that bad)
also if you are on the fence about this game trust me get it, it is worth it a great racing game
Read Best Reviews of F1 2011 Here
The graphics and the frame rate on the PS3 version are BAD--much worse than the 360 version. The frame rate clearly drops to 20fps or possibly less at points, and the entire game runs at barely 30fps, if that. The official forums are full of angry PS3 users, with many saying that the game gives them eye fatigue and/or headaches. I can personally say that trying to see what's happening on the screen at 150mph as frames flash by at such a low rate hurts my eyes as well, and I have no desire to play the game now. If you want this game (and it IS very good otherwise), either buy it for another platform or wait to see IF they decide to fix the PS3 version.It's a major racing game, like the other racing series (dirt, grid) developed by codemasters. Excelent simulation of the tracks, the cars and the F1 race physics. I recomend 100% for gamers wich enjoy grandprix style races.
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