F1 2010 Review
Many developers have tried to recreate the hectic but glamorous world of Formula One. Most of the past games don’t really feel that complete and seem to be missing something. Now it’s the turn of Codemasters to see if they can immerse you into the fast paced world of a Formula One driver.
I really had high expectations for F1 2010 as it is being developed by Codemasters, who have a pretty decent back catalogue of driving games including the Colin McRae series, Toca Race Driver and Grid. Straight from when you load up the game for the first time you can see that a lot of time and effort has gone into making it as realistic as possible. The first “task” as a driver when you load up the game is to sit through a press conference where you will be asked to answer questions, like your name, nickname, country of birth and how long you intend to stay in the sport. The question about your intended time as a driver will determine what teams you can pick to drive for the first season. You have three choices about the length of time you want to stop: either three, five or seven seasons. The shorter the amount of time you decide to stay in the sport the better starting teams you can choose from. For example if choose seven years you will only be offered a drive from one of the three new teams, Virgin Racing, Hispania or Lotus. If you choose three years you will get a choice of the three new teams and Force India, Williams, Torro Rosso and Sauber.
I really had high expectations for F1 2010 as it is being developed by Codemasters, who have a pretty decent back catalogue of driving games including the Colin McRae series, Toca Race Driver and Grid. Straight from when you load up the game for the first time you can see that a lot of time and effort has gone into making it as realistic as possible. The first “task” as a driver when you load up the game is to sit through a press conference where you will be asked to answer questions, like your name, nickname, country of birth and how long you intend to stay in the sport. The question about your intended time as a driver will determine what teams you can pick to drive for the first season. You have three choices about the length of time you want to stop: either three, five or seven seasons. The shorter the amount of time you decide to stay in the sport the better starting teams you can choose from. For example if choose seven years you will only be offered a drive from one of the three new teams, Virgin Racing, Hispania or Lotus. If you choose three years you will get a choice of the three new teams and Force India, Williams, Torro Rosso and Sauber.
When you start your career you will first meet your agent who is waiting for you in your trailer, you can go and speak to her to find out information about your contract and see if you have any new offers from your current team or teams around you. When you go into the pits for the first time you will meet your race engineer who can get quite annoying after a while as he keeps saying the same thing like, no matter how far away from the car in front you are, you are always told that you are five seconds behind. While you are sat in your car ready to go out on track you will have mechanics constantly working on your car.
Like in most racing games nowadays the weather can change mid-race which could make or break your race - with Codemasters boasting that this is the best weather system in a game and it doesn’t disappoint. If it is raining at the start of the race and you have the race length set long enough then when the rain stops you will slowly get a dry line on the race track, when the line starts to appear, your wet tyres will lose grip and you will need to pit for new tyres. Also featured are evolution tracks where at the start of the weekend the track will be “green”, this means that the track will have minimum grip until it gets rubbered in, so when it comes to race day you will be able to throw the car round the track. Also if you go of the track and end up on the gravel you will be able to see the bits of gravel on your tyres and you will lose grip until your tyres are free of it.
While F1 2010 does cater for beginners to racing games with auto braking, ABS (anti-lock braking system) and traction control, don’t think that it will be a walk in the park with assists on as you will still spin out if you give it full throttle out of a corner and can still slide while braking even with ABS on. Even if you are a beginner at racing games you should turn off braking assist at the first possible opportunity, yes it will help you stay on the track on corners by braking to the right speed for you but it will halt your progress moving up the field in a race because it eliminates the chance to out brake someone going into a corner. If you see yourself as the next Lewis Hamilton you could try with all the assists off and turn pit limiter and pit box entry on manual, this game then turns into the nearest thing to a Formula One simulator you can get on consoles. The slightest mistake going into a corner and getting on the throttle to early on the exit of the corner will result in you spinning. The game is made even more realistic with the addition of needing to use both sets of dry tyres in a race, the option of prime tyres when on a race length of over 20 percent. Also you can turn on tyre wear, fuel consumption and racing flags. But with the flags on you will get a warning or even a penalty if you are involved in a collision even if it is not your fault. Also making an appearance in the game are “flashbacks” were you can rewind time if you make a mistake. They are always handy to have turned on even if you are trying to make the race as real as possible.
As with any new game that is released this is not with out its faults. As said before you will get punished for contact with other racers even if it’s not your fault and you will also get punished for cutting a corner if you are right up behind someone and there is no were else to go. In some races the leader doesn’t pit to change their tyres so win by a clear margin. On some tracks at certain corners the frame rate will slow right down and go a bit laggy, like at the swimming pool complex at Monaco.
All in all F1 2010 is a game that any fan should have. The game drives like a simulator as well as catering for beginners to driving games with the likes of ABS and braking assist. But there is nothing like the feeling of flying through Eau Rouge with all assists off and the thrill of racing around the tight streets of Monaco.
8.50/10
8½
F1 2010 (Reviewed on PlayStation 3)
This game is great, with minimal or no negatives.
Many developers have tried to recreate the hectic but glamorous world of Formula One. Most of the past games don’t really feel that complete and seem to be missing something. Now it’s the turn of Codemasters to see if they can immerse you into the fast paced world of a Formula One driver.
This game was supplied by the publisher or relevant PR company for the purposes of review
COMMENTS
GuNsLiNgEr-1428100755 - 11:39pm, 3rd April 2015
Ah double post :S
GuNsLiNgEr-1428100755 - 11:39pm, 3rd April 2015
I think the review is pretty much spot on. Although there are definitely some annoying bits in the game. The Pitting system is an absolute joke sometimes. I have been in first place with a 5-10 second lead before when I've gone into the pits. My pit manager then made me wait for every single car to leave the pits before I could exit. I went from 1 to 24 in one pitstop... The game is also quite easy once you get used to it. I'm still only on the first season and I'm driving for Lotus. with the highest AI and all the assists apart from pit control options and while at first I was only managing to place 10th or 8th I'm now in the top 3 for every race :( This feels great but has got pretty boring, especially when my team mate is placing 20th which shows where I should be placing. The tires are also a bit annoying sometimes especially when they happen on the last lap :u06 Anyway I would definitely recommend this game to any F1 fan.