I’ve been playing this game for few weeks now, and have never felt the thrill of racing more nail biting and immersive than this. Like many others I’ve been waiting for a F1 game to come out on the Xbox 360 for too long, and it’s no surprise that this was hard to get hold of for the first week or two of its release. But boy has this game got some technical issues, which I’ll get back to later.
Story line?
Codemasters are great at making driving games, they’ve been doing it for a long time now, I admire them for trying to introduce story-lines in the game and interesting career modes, but they normally fall flat on their faces in attempting to do this. It’s normally such a half baked effort I wonder why they bother, but they should, because no one else does and I’m sure they will get the balance right some day. They’ve come closer to getting it right this time, but it was easier, because you were always going to introduce the contracts for new teams etc. I think racers lack any sensation of progression, working your way up the ranks with a balanced struggle is immensely satisfying for me and if I finish first in a race on the first go, something is wrong.
Wheel or Pad?
The graphics are brilliant and the sense of speed really does work, the twitchiness of the cars really do seem realistic as you accelerate out of the corners, only to let off and re-apply that split second later. How you are meant to achieve this with the joy pad and assists off I don’t know, the accelerator trigger on the pad only seems to register about a 8th of the range, which is disappointing as you’ll have to put the assists on to have chance, which makes it too easy; this is another area where I think a rushed job is evident. I borrowed a wheel of my friend, the official Xbox one, I’ve tried it before and it seemed more difficult than the pad, but after a few hours on it, I was putting in considerably faster lap times, and after ramping the stiffness up to 100% from 50%, they joy of struggling with the wheel out of corners is absolute bliss. I don’t think I can ever go back to the pad, at least on F1. It’s tiring though! I started on 20% race distance and half way through the season have moved to 50% and found that was about all I could handle. This works well because if you pit half way through a 23 lap race (20%), you will never get out of the pits where you entered. It’s not uncommon to go in first, and come out last, which for me makes the game unplayable at short race distances. The game has the most cautious lolly pop man ever!
Tyre wear
Another thing I’ve noticed is that tyre wear just doesn’t exist? I’ve checked the forums and I’ve heard that it does after set laps, but mine doesn’t? The sensation of losing grip really adds to the race tension and dynamics, and this is a major loss for me. I don’t even have the tyre strategy menu - I’d like to know if anyone else has experienced this?
The manual is thinner than a layer of cling film
I’d like to mention the in game menus and the lack of explanation, it’s not clear and again it shows a rushed job. The manual doesn’t even back up explanations of any terms, compare this to Geoff Crammonds F1 on the PC, there was so much detail about the sport, I learned all I needed to know and still use that knowledge in this game. It would be nice to have some background on techniques, I know it’s not a simulation as such (but it can feel like it), but they could have informed some newbies to the sport on the basics, possibly a training session with a instructor going around the course giving you tips on different techniques, not just a crappy green line.
Weather system
The weather system in F1 2010 is outstanding. It really makes your heart sink when you see the weather report (with a twinge of excitement) as you know unless you really concentrate and don’t take risks, you will crash a lot. Without flashbacks (I play hard and get 2) and with assists off, you will often spin out more than this and end up at the back of the pack. (I’ve heard the latest update on PC has reduced the rain effects and left them pixelated. I’m glad I left the domain of PC gaming for the ease of the console, no more graphics card upgrades!
Damage
With all these crashes it’s a shame that the damage modeling isn’t better, just a front wing, and the odd punctured tyre (though never happened to me) is all you will get, and if you think that the AI will drive slower with no wing, think again (apparently this has been updated in the patch).
Littered with bugs
So the bugs…I was determined not to let this ruin the experience, but it is difficult, they nibble at your consciousness tapping you on the shoulder, reminding you that this game is unfinished.
One glaring bug is that the third sector timings don’t exist, they are never up on the board, so you don’t know how you compare! The fact that the split timings in race, are against the lap that the leader sets, not of the car in front or behind, is odd, as this is of little use to the player. That fault doesn’t compare to fact that you can spend weeks doing full length races, then to have your save game corrupt, and lose all that work!!! It almost stopped me playing it, but then I read that you can avoid it by not going to the paddock after an R&D session - how wasn’t this seen and why they haven’t released a patch to fix it baffles me. (it’s been released and fixed now 10/11/2010. Just that one patch would stop so much suffering!!! If you are interested in the list of fixes that they are working on (it’s long and doesn’t address half of them!) then head over to the F1 2010 forum you will see information there.
The game has me hooked despite its flaws, when that patch comes out it will be my driving game of the year. At least Until F1 2011 comes out, with realistic simulation, which is what every true F1 fan wants isn’t it?
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