F1 2011 Review

Posted on 19. Sep, 2011 by Freak_c in Games, News, Reviews

It has been an entire year since the previous game was out where Codemasters took the challenge and brought us a successful F1 game which fans were craving since Sony’s launch 2006 game. It was met with open arms and received well in the community and critics alike. Does F1 2011 have the car to stay in pole position?

First off let me just say that F1 2011 is F1 2010 with upgrades, as are all these sports games which grace us with there presence each year. Each year updating to follow the current years teams and drivers and this year its is made up of the full F1 licensed 12 teams and all 24 drivers. It is also made up of all the new tracks including the new Singapore track which is raced at night time.

F1 2011 takes a huge confident step forward and corrects all the wrongs from F1 2010 and improves others. Fans of F1 2010 will note the various changes to the handling of the cars and for the better. The cars in F1 2011 feel far less twitchy and glitchy, fixes to the suspension and aero models have helped greatly. F1 2011′s updates makes it feel as close as it can to actually driving a F1 car and the there have been some other tweaks which have improved the handling of the car at slower speeds making more responsive. Though there have been improvements to the simulation part of the game the cars and game still has that arcade fun feel that only Codemasters know how to deliver.

Action packed F1 racing

F1 2011 has also made the learning of the cars a little easier making it so that new comers will be able to play from the get go. You may start testing the car and tempting more daring manoeuvres and mastering the car gives you a great sense of achievement. For the real daring you can attempt adjusting you car to see if you can improve it per track, this may be for the purest and real hardcore F1 fans. You can adjust every little part of the car from tyres, the nose, shocks, back wing and more.

F1 2011′s AI is more adaptive and seems to better respond to your actions on track. They’re aggressive, quick but they won’t attack at you if there’s a chance damaging their own vehicle. Depending on your choice of difficulty the damage varies and the new safety car will make an appearance. As mentioned before all the new tracks are in the game for you to race around on and what is nice is that you can select the order you wish to race them in the grand prix season. But playing the game with all the assists off is how it’s meant to be played, however it will take you a long time to achieve this.

The all new safety car

As mentioned a little earlier Codemasters have added a safety car this year, which is a fantastic feature and one that seemed strange to leave out of the previous game. The safety car will come out if there is a bad accident, for a few laps causing the whole pack to bunch up and get ready for a new re-start. The leader doesn’t have that comfortable lead any more and it changes your strategy with regards to fuel stops and tyres. You have partial control while behind the safety car as you will still have to steer, accelerate and brake but the game will autobrake for you if you go too fast. The safety car is a great addition this year, but if you are looking for a past paced racing action even in the course of an accident you can turn it off if you choose.

One of the biggest and newest features of the game is the introduction to of the KERS and DRS systems. KERS is a mild power boost you can use once per lap, and DRS changes the angle of the car’s rear-wing, reducing drag and increasing speed. The impact of KERS and DRS on your lap times and the race are minor but in qualifying you may use the DRS whenever you want. Using them properly will be important to learn and it may just give you that 1000th of a second edge you have been looking for.

Racing in the rain

Multiplayer in F1 2011 now supports up to 16 players, a vast improvement from F1 2010 oh and you can fill the rest of the pack with eight AI bots. What was also nice to see was the option of a LAN, which could be fun at a friends house with 166 of your buddies racing against each other. Splitscreen has also made an appearance and puts you head to head against your couch buddy. There’s also an online co-op feature where two players can race for the same team. We were unable to test this feature however it is a nice welcome and can have some great potential.

The presentation of the game is great and the nice little attention to detail makes the driving experience that more of the real. During races in the rain your visor gets slightly fogged up, the drops on the car move around on the body, little spits of water from your tyres, basically everything really looks wet and real. The cars look as they should, with all the real life sponsors and cockpit views for each car. The tracks look as they do in real life, with the correct hills, bumps all in the right places and if someone was watching from a distance they may mistake it for the real thing (that’s if you have all the visual assists turned off of course).

Conclusion
F1 2011 is a great improvement from the previous games and you can see that Codemasters made the game for the real hard-core F1 fans as well as taking into consideration the casual guy looking for a different racing game. New additions to the game are very welcomed and the new offline multiplayer options makes it a great option for saturday braais with friends. An overall pleasing and great game which stays in the lead and is pulling away from the rest of the pack.