F1 Fanatic

@magnificent-geoffrey at people who don’t really understand F1 really. They said as much in their first developer diary (the one talking of the young driver test)

I’m fine with a “qualifier” session like what GT has. THat’s what it is, really. You do tests, and after a series of successful tests you unlock a new Tier.

But I don’t like the patronising nature of the YDT. It’s meant to be a tutorial (they’ve said as much) and I know very well how to use the throttle and brakes, thank you very much.

@prisoner-monkeys I know what you mean. But there are people who’ve been racing F1 games without ABS/TCS for years. THIS crowd will not enjoy the YDT

I still don’t like it. And I’m positive I won’t be the only one. Sometimes you just wanna get on with the primary stuff, you know?

I’m going to get on my soapbox here, so please forgive me. Anyway, this is the problem with only having one developer, and I apply this to all official sports games: a lack of choice. Going back to the late 1990s, you had several developers with the F1 license, who worked on various types of game. This ranged from hardcore sims for hardcore fans like Micropose Grand Prix 3 on the PC, to more arcade fare like F1 Racing Championship on the N64/DC/etc, with the likes of F-1 World Grand Prix straddling the divide between the two. The result was player choice and real competition between developers to make the best F1 game.

Now, though, it’s sim or bust. If you want to play a somewhat realistic game with an F1 licence, you’re out of luck. Heck, I often boot my ancient copy of F-1 World Grand Prix II because I want to race without having to devote the mental energy F1 2011 requires to compete in a practice session. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy playing F1 2011, but not after a long day when I don’t want to think too much.

Just a quick personal aside, it was F1 games which got me into F1. If it were only F1 2011 available at the time, that might not have happened.

I think they did Maldonado’s Melbourne crash in the wrong place though – that looks like turn ten instead of turn seven.

Anoraky nit-picking aside I like the video a lot, though!

I hope that the demo version will tell us whether the performance issues on PS3 were resolved this year. I still can’t play 2011 for more than 20 minutes without going berserk about the frame rate.

I read that Codemasters have taken the Grand Prix mode out of the game. The only reason for them to do this is to ram that lame career mode down your (not mine, since I won’t be playing it) throats. Well done.