Ever since Geoff Crammond managed to shoehorn an entire F1 season onto an Amiga I’ve been hooked on the sport’s videogame representations. Not so much the sport itself, which has long left me behind, but in terms of the high octane racing sims that come and go on a regular basis I’m usually there day one for my often annual fix of motorsport goodness. I even still have my launch copy of the PS3’s Formula One game that I bought on a whim with Virtua Tennis 3, Motorstorm and Resistance. Somewhere.
I don’t confess to be an expert, though, by any stretch, but I know we’ve got some hardcore F1 fans here on TheSixthAxis so I’ll try my best to be comprehensive with this preview and cover all the areas which I think I’d like to know in advance of the game coming out. If I’ve missed anything obvious that you’d like us to take a look at, drop a comment below and I’ll take specific looks at the game, within reason. What I’d hope you’d like to know first and foremost, though, is how F1 2010 plays.
Well, rejoice – it’s racing nirvana. Whilst the game takes much of its physics (and graphics) engine from Codemasters’ earlier racer DiRT the team have clearly made some tweaks to the handling here and thankfully ditched the drift heavy mechanics and opted for twitch-based steering that marries exactly how I’d imagine a car like the ones in the game to handle with what I’ve seen from in-car footage from the real thing. It’s precise, immediate and works at both speed on the straights and when navigating the toughest hairpins.
Speaking of hairpins, the courses in the game are, from what I can tell, as close as most of us will ever get to racing on them, let alone visiting them in person. From the night race of Singapore to the go-to circuit of Monza, every corner, every banking, every trackside detail is present and correct and the Ego graphics engine handles everything Codemasters can throw at it, albeit at 30fps. Still, that’s a locked tight 30fps that doesn’t falter regardless of how many vehicles are in view at any time, and yes – that includes the Monaco course.
F1 2010 also sports dynamic weather, with serious effects on both your pit strategy and your driving, not to mention your visibility. Probably the most impressive implementation of rain we’ve seen in a videogame yet, Codemasters have really pushed the visuals in order to create the right sort of sensations: uncertainty, panic and, when it all gets a little bit busy on the first corner, terror. The weather comes and goes, so if you’re taking your career seriously here you’ll need to plan ahead and keep an eye on your computer back at the pits.
Speaking of which, the way Codemasters have tried to keep everything in first person seems like the natural evolution of what they’ve attempted before with the DiRT and GRID series: all the menus are seen through the player’s eyes and the only time this fourth wall is broken is when the game needs to switch out to a loading screen. From the paddock, where you can choose your game time (from a fully customisable Grand Prix, through to time trial, multiplayer and career) to the onboard pit computer, everything is consistently presented, and very attractive too.
Once in the pits, you can check out the live race times, the weather and the race information on your computer ahead of you, or you can chat to the engineer to fix you up a pre-set car setup. Naturally, this being a sim you can tweak several aspects of your car’s mechanics yourself, from the aerodynamics and braking through to the suspension, gearbox and engine and you can load and save past setups too, so you can quickly swap out to another set of sliders should the need arise.
I haven’t yet had chance to test out the game’s full Career mode, only having sampled the Grand Prix and time trial options (there was nobody else online to test Multiplayer, either) but from what I’ve seen it looks like continuing the ethos behind the similar modes in DiRT 2 where you get a trailer and an agent and must fulfill certain criteria at each race event (such as finishing on the podium) to work your way up through the various teams and cars. All the racers, vehicles and brand are completely official, too, so don’t worry about any of that.
What did surprise me a little are the consessions to easing in players more used to arcade racers. A series of assists (braking, abs, traction control, racing line, gearbox and pit limiter) ensure that even if you don’t know the courses you’ll stick to the tarmac and not run off, and the flashbacks, again, another carry over from past Codemasters racers, offers the player the chance to correct a mistake should they make one, depending on how hardcore you make your race settings. Sure, it’s not a Forza III rewind (and it’s obviously limited to single player modes) but it’s something that some might find a little odd.
Still, F1 2010 is absolutely still a sim, albeit one that’s got a couple of arcade leanings. For me, that’s perfect, few of us could ever handle a car like this without years of training so it’s nice to be able to jump in and just fly around the courses without knowing them inside out. The in-car pit crew is a much better substitute for tv-style commentary, the game handles fine with a Dualshock and – yes – you’re looking at one hell of a good looking game. If F1’s your thing, your pre-order should already be in. Let’s hope the TSA community rallies behind this one and we can look forward to some great Meets down the line.
Dan Lee
Sold! This has looked amazing for a while now, but it’s nice to have it confirmed!
SpikeyMikey23
Very jealous of you right now, dying to have a go at this game, had it pre-ordered since it was available to on shopto. (via a tsa link may i add)roll on september 24th!! or sept 22-23, if shopto are on the ball! Thanks for the preview!
tatoemonkey
ditto
tatoemonkey
been waiting for this loved the last one cannot wait for this, can smeel the leather on my new stearing wheel already lol
tatoemonkey
smell even lol
Tanzil
you mean even smell?
Danza Di Fuoco E Ghiaccio
can’t wait!! I just hope that the online mode is lag free
aerobes
Been looking forward to this for ages. Thanks for a good detailed write-up, now it’s just a matter of counting down the days.
Hopefully I’ll be able to be competitive quickly and produce some rabbit-from-a-hat style performances.
Glenndog84
“The in-car pit crew is a much better substitute for tv-style commentary” –
So there’s no Brundle and Legard babbling away throughout the race??
SpikeyMikey23
beat me too it, although i like commentary
nofi
yep, no commentary.
SpikeyMikey23
-just re read it to make sure i didnt miss anything, and am i right in thinking there is no commentary at all?
‘The in-car pit crew is a much better substitute for tv-style commentary’
or is it just an option to tuen it off or something. I loved the commentary on the old f1 games, would be great if they’d got murray in to do it lol
Glenndog84
Murray would be a dream commentater, but alas, this is of the 2010 season, so unless he pops up at one of the future races, I don’t think he’ll be in the game :(
JesseDeya
“If I’m not very much mistaken, that’s Michael Schumacher coming into the pits”
“You are mistaken Murray, it’s Rubens Barrichello”
I think if Murray provided commentary I’d be laughing too hard to race properly :)
Manorhowze
I prefer to have an engineer in race but commentary on a replay of the race would be great but I imagine it would be a bitch to code that.
DJ Judas
Any word on how this is with a wheel?
nofi
no comment at this stage.
DJ Judas
no worries, looking forward to more info :)
Manorhowze
I think you covered all the bases nofi. Really enjoyed reading about this game from the viewpoint of someone who’s actually played it.
The only question I have is whether you can pick the length of an online race and how many you can choose but I dont suppose you have checked if theres no-one else online to test it with.
AG2297
You can pick the length of a race all the way up to full race distance online, and you can also have every track in a row one after the other setup in an online game :)
For sources, check the F1 2010 thread in gaming news in the forum.
Manorhowze
I was curious as to what the actual options are though. Can you pick your own no. of laps or is it a few presets like 1/4, 1/2 or full distance.
Sorry, I should have been more clear in my question but it was early in the morning (for me).
AG2297
Ahh I see. I assume it works in % e.g. 10%, 20%. When I asked on Twitter about race distances they replied with this “@AG2297 Online races can run from 1 lap, right up to 100% race distances”. So there you have a percentage for distance, but also as a lap! Maybe nofi can clear it up for us :)
nofi
it does.
Manorhowze
Thanks fellas
mcphatty
Sounds good so far! How would you compare it to Grid Nofi? I know its bound to be more of a sim, but I’d hope the handling in Grid is something they’d taken as inspiration. The way your car squeels and bounces slightly when you take a corner too fast is what that launch F1 game lacked and I think you need just that little bit of well designed feedback to make feeling your way round a track from your sofa enjoyable!
nofi
it looks and feels like GRID, so yeah, the slight bouncing and feeling that you don’t have quite as much grip as you’d like is still there and feels great.