F1 2011 Review

SGGamingInfo takes a look at Codemasters latest racing game F1 2011 and see if it lives up to surprisingly successful F1 2010. I personally played the windows PC version of F1 2011.

F1 2011 is the official game of the 2011 Formula 1 season which means the game will feature all the official rules, cars, drivers and tracks of the season.

For a game that is released a year after its previous incarnation you may not be expecting many changes, but with new rules in F1 some great additions have arrived. The 3 main additions are the inclusion of DRS (this stalls your rear wing and reduces drag, increases top speed. This can only be used in certain section of races and if you are less than a second behind the car in front), KERS (which is a speed boost which can be used for a limited time per lap) and finally Pirelli tyres (while it sounds like a nothing change just like in the real 2011 season the tyres affect your car more than you expect.

The game has multiple modes which include: Career mode (single and co-op), grand prix, time trial, time attack and multiplayer (online, LAN and split screen). These modes are self explanatory apart from career so I will delve into a bit of that.

Career mode sees you create your own driver and take part in 5 seasons of F1 as you work from the bottom to become driver world champion and answer a few interviews along the way. Co-op career mode which is the same as career mode, but sees you working with or against a real life player team mate instead of an AI one, both your goals are the same to be the driver champion but you don’t want to lose sight of the constructors title.

Online multiplayer sees the number of player controlled cars has been increased to 16, but you can add 8 AI cars to make a full 24 car grid.

Of course all this is important, but this is a racing game how do the tracks feel. The answer is all 19 tracks feel amazing. They behave like you see them on TV and what you would expect a real track to handle like. This is likely down to former F1 driver Anthony Davidson (was test driver for BAR Honda (now known as Mercedes GP)) who is the advisor for the company on F1 games. If you make a mistake in a corner you pay for it, lock up and you are going straight on and hope you don’t retire. The corner that really showed how great the tracks felt was 130R in Suzuka, Japan track which can be taken at flat out speeds if taken right, but if you go in at full speed and make a mistake you are going head on into a barrier and retirement. Of course for newcomers don’t fear there is breaking assist and more to help you get to grips with the track.

Now what is almost as important as the track is the car and well F1 cars handle like a brick which is basically like real like F1 cars, so they have that down well. But if you want to improve it you better get used to learning car setup which is arguably the most important part of any grand prix weekend. Don’t take the route of skipping practice and going straight to qualifying because that will likely end badly for you.

Car setup has 7 major sections which are: aerodynamics, braking, balance, suspension, gearbox, engine and alignment. Get all 7 of these right and you will be untouchable, get it wrong and you will be walking back to the paddock.

One of the last things I found interesting and something I usually do is the achievements in the game (PC version uses games for windows, so Xbox achievements). One achievement caught my eye and that was Have you considered DIRT 3? (Drift for 10 meters+)(DIRT 3 is anotherCodemasters racing game) Honestly when I got it I couldn’t help but smile. There was also 2 other interesting ones which were Is Jenson going to pass or not (win the Turkish GP as Lewis Hamilton) and Senna Esque (Take the lead on lap 1, in heavy rain, starting 5th or lower).

Now no game is truly perfect and F1 2011 is no different.

One issue for me was the character animations which felt dead and lacking. There are a few characters that seem to be never blinking and have no expression.

Another issue is with the rigid enforcement of the cutting the corner rule (black and white flag). Cutting the corner is when all 4 wheels are off track and you miss the corner and gain a place, but at points when only 3 wheels are off you still get a warning (luckily in race they are nice and takes a while for a drive through penalty, but when you are on a pole position lap and you go 3 wheels over and you get this penalty your time is not counted and your chance of pole may be gone).

Driver AI is a bit of an issue too. Some drivers just drive into you and force accidents and so don’t behave like there real life saves.

My final issue is with what some may not consider an issue and that is no mouse interface on the menu screens, now I know this is a port, but it left me somewhat dismayed to see this left out.

Overall F1 2011 is a great game despite some issues. For any racing game fan or Formula 1 fan this is a must buy. It is easy to pick up and difficult to master.

Score: 80% or 8/10