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Τhoughts about F1 2012 (89 posts)

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Paul said 10 months ago:

They always seem to try and add some new major addition to get everyone excited(YDT) but fail to fix the small things that may not seem important.
The names issue for one, also as i only ever play coop in F1 2011 i was hoping to be able to choose a different team to my friend(i know it goes against the term “coop”) but that doesnt seem to have happened. also during coop all the driver markers on the mini map are yellow, including your teammate, i wouldve liked your teammate to be a different colour so i know when to get out of his way in Q or P etc. also maybe other colours for other drivers like a blue for the championship leader or your nearest rival.
With a lack of decent radio messages the minimap is sometimes vital.

Little things like those 3 can make a big difference to some people.

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Prisoner Monkeys said 10 months ago:

Bugs in the code are like loopholes in the technical regulations.

When Red Bull were running their throttles wide open in Germany, it was because they had found a gap in the regulations that they could exploit. When certain conditions were met, they got an advantage from them. The FIA certainly never itnended for them to have it in the first place, but they were unaware that that particular loophole existed until Red Bull exploited it.

In the same way, glitches in the F1 games usually come about when a set of conditions are met that the developers are unaware of until they are actually met for the first time – and they may not be met during testing, and so get included in the release build of the game. The problem is compounded by Codemasters’ release schedule: they have to produce a new game every year, which is asking a lot, espeically for a smaller game company. Consequently, the time budgeted for testing isn’t as great or as thorough as they would have if they were operating on a two-year release cycle.

Perhaps the only viable solution to this is taking a page from Call of Duty‘s playbook (which is ironic, given that COD has some serious flaws in its core gameplay mechanics that have really ruined the genre). The games alternate between developers; Infnity Ward developed Modern Warfare 2, while Treyarch worked on Black Ops. When MW2 was released, Infinity Ward moved onto Modern Warfare 3 and Treyarch started on Black Ops 2 ocne the first game hit shelves. In this way, they have been able to launch a new title every year with all the bugs sorted, but give the developers a full two-year cycle to work on their respective games (though the series is getting a little stale … hopefully, Black Ops 2 can address some of the issues that have haunted the franchise for a while now). The trick would be to find a developer that can work alongside Codemasters so that they can stagger their releases and the workload without having wildly different games. Perhaps Playground Games would be a good choice; they’re made up of ex-Codemasters and ex-Bizarre Creations staff (though I don’t know the circumstances of the split). They’re currently working on Forza Horizon with Turn 10 Studios, so they have experience in racing games.

Still, even if Codemasters stick to a yearly release schedule and remain the sole developer, I’d say they’re doing a fantastic game. This is Skate 3, which was developed by EA-Black Box around the same time as F1 2010, and as you can see, it’s loaded with glitches:

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Prisoner Monkeys said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

Just found some gameplay videos. First, the Young Driver Test mode:

And a three-lap race at Monza:

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Magnificent Geoffrey said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

Can’t help but feel slightly… underwhelmed by that Monza race video.

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the_sigman said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

Welcome to the FABULOUS YAS MARINA CIRCUIT

HAHAHAHAHAHA

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bag0 said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

The game might happen to be a step forward, but that Monza video showed little of it.
One thing that might be good, that I saw cars actualy trying to pass, not just waiting for your error opposed to the 2010 & 2011 legend AIs.

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Prisoner Monkeys said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

More gameplay footage!

YDT day 2:

Race 1 of Champions Mode, “The Iceman Returns”:

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raymondu999 said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

Please tell me that young driver test isn’t compulsory.

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ShaneB457 said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

@raymondu999 I think it is. Looks absolutely shocking..

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raymondu999 said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

Dear God almighty I hope not.

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Prisoner Monkeys said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

I believe it is, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to complete. ISR got through it in fifteen minutes, and experienced players should be able to blow through it just as quickly.

Besides, Codemasters have previously said that taking part in the YDT is fundamental to deciding the path your career will take. If you ace everything, you will get a better offer to begin with. So while it might be fifteen minutes that you would rather not spend doing an extended tutorial, you will be able to start your career with, say, a Force India or a Williams to begin with, rather than a HRT or Caterham.

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bag0 said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

My drivings teacher would say that ‘Grosjean’ in the video goes like an ox’s piss.

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Andrew81 said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

I won’t be getting this game when it comes out. They’re still putting far too much effort into graphics and cinematics rather than gameplay. There was so much of that in the YDT video, yet the gameplay videos look unchanged from last year. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was still full of bugs.

On the plus side, the champions mode is a step in the right direction.

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Stephen Jones said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

I can’t help but get the feeling that the Young Driver Test isn’t aimed at us..

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Magnificent Geoffrey said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

But who is it aimed at? Three year olds? I understand the point behind having an informative tutorial, but do players REALLY need to have their hands held through even the most basic of gameplay mechanics like ‘how to accelerate’ or ‘how to brake’?

I might not know a lot about Ice Hockey, but if I bought NHL ’13 and had to go through a tutorial where it took me through how to pass the puck to another player, I’d feel rather insulted. Even if you didn’t know, that’s something you figure out for yourself really easily by playing the game and seeing what happens when you press the button that is designated in the manual as ‘pass’.

I like the idea of the Young Drivers Test and I really like the way they’ve used actual drivers from the 2011 YDT like Rossi and Bird as the other AI drivers for it. That’s a nice touch. But this seems basic to the point where it’s almost patronising. What I think they should’ve done if they wanted to ease total n00bs into the series is have them treat it like a real first run in a car. Have them in the car in the garage while the engineer talks you through the basics of what to expect – like how you have to brake carefully for corners and be gentle with the steering and how powersliding is bad – and then let the player drive out of the garage, do some checks on the out lap like with KERS and DRS to help explain them to the player whilst letting them get the feel for how the car handles. Then you could give them a series of tasks, like beat a laptime target or run x number of laps under a certain time or use KERS coming out of the hairpin, etc. If the player goes off line or crashes or spins or whatever, then the engineer could give the player advice and help over the radio on things like locking brakes or understeer, etc. That way you teach the new player how to drive in a controlled environment while letting them figure it out at their own pace and not patronising them at the same time.

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