Review: F1 2011 (PS3/360)
Go compete.
Published: 14:00, 16/09/2011 by Alex C [nofi].
20“We’ve had lots of Tweets from your fans,” claims F1 2011′s interviewer as you start up the main career mode. It’s a little cringeworthy, for sure, but it’s as good a method of getting the player to enter their name and nationality as any other, as the carefully chosen questions tempt out the required data to populate your save game. The man facing you (and his cameraman stood off to the side) forcefully demonstrate that Codemasters’ strength lies in modelling cars though, not humans, the lifeless figures that populate F1 2011′s more expanded off-track sections hardly L.A. Noire material.
They don’t have to be, of course, because F1 2011′s racing credentials more than live up to expectations, but it’s jarring to see a full pit crew and various press wandering around so poorly realised. If Codemasters were hoping that the increased pedestrian presence would improve immersion they only got it half right, the remaining list of new features thankfully much more substantial. 2011 is a more comprehensive game than 2010, but the question is whether or not enough has changed for the better.
The rain effects are as gorgeous as ever.
Your own personal area features a laptop (with emails and race information), the ability to change your helmet and the option to view the race calendar. It’s not an essential improvement, but it’s consistent enough with the garage viewpoint (where you can consult the in-car computer and engineer as before) that it’s worth having. It’s not terribly different from what you’ve been used to in past titles, but all this (and the post-race sequences) at least try to offer a more complete experience. Certainly, nothing else has ever attempted to be an all-encompassing title the way F1 2011 has, even if it doesn’t always get it right.
Loading times are still a killer though (and one track, Singapore, steadfastly refused to progress past the loading screen in our build, no matter how many times we tried) – this is something that all of Codemasters’ recent racing games have suffered with and it’s surprising that they’re still as long as they are. Once you’re in the garage it’s plain sailing, but until then you’re left staring at a screen full of slowly scrolling statistics, at least on the PS3.
The game looks at its best with a packed grid of cars.
The presence of KERS and DRS will impress devotees to the sport, too. KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) converts otherwise wasted energy from the brakes into acceleration (like a boost of power) and is illustrated via a little battery icon on the HUD. The speed increase is subtle, but can make all the difference if deployed tactically. The other new feature, DRS (Drag Reduction System) opens up the rear wing, losing downforce on corners but effectively giving a little more speed. Both are handled well (and mapped to a trigger and the Triangle button on PS3) but probably won’t be too obvious for casual gamers.
Other improvements over last year’s game include better, more realistic AI – although our build was marked as ‘work-in-progress’ in this area – which generally means that there’s less cheating in qualifying and the computer controlled drivers will be smarter with regards to tyre use. The race engineer communications are more useful too, giving you over-the-radio updates on your car and those around you, including information on fuel, pitting, pace and so on – this extends to online too, so in theory you can keep an ear out for what your opponents are up to.
- Released 23rd September
- Builds on last year's game
- Most comprehensive console F1 game yet
Offline the game now supports split screen, and there’s a two player co-op championship if you’ve got a buddy you can rely on. Finally, there’re two new tracks: India and Nurburgring, and some visual improvements, especially with regards to much improved lighting effects and enhanced track side detail. The framerate’s still not perfect, mind, and it’s not particularly a hugely impressive looking game even running at around 30fps unless you’re playing it in the admittedly rather fantastic looking rain, but fans will rest easy knowing that the developers have moved in the right direction, just a little incrementally.
Pros:
- Improvements all around to the handling and AI
- Better online lobbies
- KERS and DRS are nice for hardcore fans
Cons:
- The off-track stuff looks and feels a little basic
- Visually roughly the same, frame rate isn’t perfect
Now the tricky part – is F1 2011 worth picking up if you already own 2010? That’s a question that only the individual can really answer – there’s certainly a good, extensive and solid game here but then a good chunk of it is clearly based on last year’s code and visuals, even most of the menu interface remains the same. The improvements are all for the better – that’s for sure – but perhaps we’d have liked to have seen more of them. Anyone that bypassed 2010 and held out for this years can relax easy, though, this is probably the best Formula One game we’ve seen for years.
Score: 8/10
Disclaimer: the review code we had was marked WIP in certain areas. The AI wasn’t fully finished and some features, like the safety car, will be finalised with a later patch. We’re expecting retail copies next week, so we’ll update as necessary.
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16/09/2011 at 14:03
Member since: Apr 2010
It’s a nice write up Alex, but unfortunately I can’t trust a review that’s not based on final, retail code. I know you want to get the review done and out there, but still…
I’ll wait until your amendments so :)
16/09/2011 at 14:07
Member since: Apr 2010
Having said that, it’s good that you put the piece on the bottom letting us know that it’s not final code. Other sites, such as EG, didn’t.
16/09/2011 at 14:36
Member since: Apr 2010
So EG did get final code, which begs the question, why didn’t TSA? This is all quite strange. Surely Every publication should get the same code.
16/09/2011 at 14:59
Member since: Forever
It’s not that the car isn’t there, just that the implementation isn’t finalised. Sorry for any confusion. Same with the racer AI – it’s not quite done.
Once we get final (final) code we’ll take another look.
16/09/2011 at 14:59
Member since: Apr 2010
Cheers peter and my apologies to Alex. It’s just all a bit confusing :)
16/09/2011 at 15:01
Member since: Forever
No apologies necessary.
This happens – the disk is marked as ‘review’ but there’s accompanying notes that signal what’s not quite finished. It’s only fair that we point these out.
The car is in this build, but it’s not finished in terms of how it’s implemented.
We’ll take another look this weekend if necessary – let me know.
16/09/2011 at 14:06
Member since: Jul 2009
Cannot wait to pick this up nect weekend. cant wait to get back to racing with TSAsians and getting the awesome TSA F1 Champ back in swing. Enjoyable read. Shame you werent able to test the saftey car. Thats one thing im looking forward to seeing in action!
16/09/2011 at 14:07
Member since: Aug 2010
For sure this is a good review.
16/09/2011 at 14:16
Member since: Oct 2008
For sure, the comment of the week!
16/09/2011 at 23:33
Member since: Apr 2009
Ha, you beat me to it, for sure
16/09/2011 at 14:12
Member since: Jul 2009
Fantastic review. I’ve been looking forward to F1 2011 for a while now. 2010 was brilliant fun online and that’s mainly what I’m looking forward to in this one. I’m not to bothered if the game is similar to last year. If the game is as fun online and as many TSA peeps playing it this year, I’ll be happy.
16/09/2011 at 14:13
Member since: Feb 2009
Tempted to rent this first, then buy a couple of weeks later once its come down in price if its worth it. For me, Codies seemed to of focused too much on DiRT3, and so with F1 2011, they just re-released F1 2010 with new liveries on the cars.
It was odd how they always said they wouldn’t put in the Saftey Car as they said it would be “too much effort to code”, and yet just a few weeks ago, they must of found that effort and put it in.
16/09/2011 at 15:44
Member since: May 2009
F1 2011, and 2010, have been developed by Codemasters Birmingham, whilst the Southam studio developed Dirt 3. So there’s no real impact on either game from the development of the other.
It’s also bound to be an incremental update. It’s like the difference between each year of FIFA games. only fairly minor changes, with the odd big change each year. One of those this year is the Safety Car. That’s a feature which they had planned for ’10, but pulled because it wasn’t ready yet. The chief game designer, Steve Hood, said after the announcement of it for ’11, that it was part teasing people by pretending they knew nothing about it until that point, and part waiting until they thought it was ready to be demonstrated.
It’s like with Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One. They only just explained how it would work in Single Player a few days ago.
16/09/2011 at 14:16
Member since: Oct 2008
Had this pre-ordered for a while now. Sold 2010 about 6 months ago so I am raring to go again now.
16/09/2011 at 15:04
Member since: Feb 2009
same sold mine a while ago ready for this version, will no doubt do the same for 2012 version, looking forwards to getting hold of this.
16/09/2011 at 14:17
Member since: Jun 2010
still prefer the ferrari f1 car in gt5 for my f1 fix. im a massive f1 nut but hate the official games because it copies the tv coverage so closely and how i watch f1 and how i want to play f1 are massively different for me.
still looks significantly improved from the last game which can only be good for racing fans.
16/09/2011 at 14:17
Member since: Dec 2008
Good review, looking forward to next week :)
16/09/2011 at 14:26
Member since: Aug 2009
I know it’s asking a lot, but I’d have loved them to chuck a season or two of the lower tier racing, something like formula 3000 or another open wheeler class so you can learn the trade before you get chucked into a full F1 season. Can fully understand why they haven’t (models, licences etc) but would be a great addition
16/09/2011 at 14:36
Member since: Jul 2009
Awesome Idea. That would be great. So you have to win your way into F1. I enjoyed F3000 in Grid. Email it to them lol. Although im pretty sure that one of the codies community managers is registered on TSA. Perhaps he’ll spot this
16/09/2011 at 15:06
Member since: Feb 2009
no chance, as good as it would be i doubt the f1 licence would let them do it. id love to see some of the off season tracks they test at included and some classic f1 cars but again i think they cant because of bernies rules.
16/09/2011 at 15:03
Member since: Sep 2008
I did just scan the review – so apologies if I’ve missed it – at the top it states 360/PS3 – which version was this review done for? If it was performed on both it would be nice to have a summary displaying PS3 & 360 pro’s and cons e.g. if the framerate is a bit choppier on PS3 or the graphical fidelity is worse on 360 etc.
Just a thought :)
16/09/2011 at 15:08
Member since: Feb 2009
ps3
17/09/2011 at 11:49
Member since: Nov 2009
This comment is hidden.
16/09/2011 at 15:09
Member since: Forever
PS3. Sorry, we don’t have a 360 review version yet.