Last year we were blown away by F1 2010 from Codemasters. After kicking off the franchise last year, this year the team is upping the realism and bringing features many gamers wanted. To start, they are revamping the F1 series for the latest season and rules, obviously. The biggest series change is the move from the Bridgestone tire to a Pirelli tire which performs much different. The next change is the addition of KERS and DRS systems which allow racers to get extra boost and passing power. Those are the changes to the core of the game that are due to changes in rules and F1 series in the real world.
As far as the game goes, the changes will be welcomed by many. First, there is split screen play now. Cool! Next, is co-op championship which allows you to team up with friends. And lastly, online racing now has a full grid of cars – 16 players and 8 AI. They also created new cinematics for after races which will see drivers celebrating or pushing cameras away after a loss. There is also an upgrade to the garage and paddock areas. Garages are brighter and have much more activity going on, and the paddocks change depending on the track and area you’re in – no longer the same trailer and same people standing around.
The last batch of changes comes in the game’s physics. Handling has been tweaked to offer a more realistic experience and driver AI has been
revamped so the AI drives smarter and closer to their real-life counterparts. And my favorite change: new damage and car failures. The damage effects are much improved and cars shatter into more realistic pieces. Failures will occur if you abuse your car, and if you don’t shift correctly, you’ll burn your engine and experience a blowout.
The game also got some nice visual improvements and tracks include much more lush vegetation and improved lighting. We saw some side by side comparisons and there are some major differences beyond the obvious new buildings on some tracks that they have added to the game.
I should also mention F1 2011 will be on the PS Vita, and an early build of the game looks very promising and actually is one of the better looking Vita games we’ve seen in action so far. No much as far as details on the game and it’s features in that version, but the look and feel of the game are solid and were quite surprising.
F1 2011 is a solid racer once again, and even though the Codemasters team thinks they are still a little studio in a world of giants, the truth is when it comes to racing games, they are the top dog. I hope they acquire the NASCAR license in the next couple of years.
