F1 Fanatic

I haven’t gotten into the 2nd season but regarding point 7, I believe Nurburgring and Hockenheim rotate each year. But not having Bahrain for the follow seasons seem a little wrong – maybe they’re waiting to release F1 2012 next year to also include Austin.

I think F1 2011 has improved over F1 2010. It sure isn’t easier than 2010 – I won the WDC in a Sauber on expert level, no assists and AI on legend. The tyres are easier to lock up in 2011 and there is so much going on with KERS and DRS. And they’ve also included the safety car.

I’m enjoying it, I haven’t gotten too far into it yet but my intial impressions are…erm….ok, I guess.

I am slightly disappointed in the driving feel of the game, the cars are MUCH easier to drive, especially over the kerbs and as a result the laptimes are far quicker and less realistic than F1 2010 which was pretty accurate.

The AI seems to have improved massively and the cars much more ‘fun’ to race against although they could be a bit faster.

KERS and DRS, who knows if I will ever master it but it has added another level to the game. Sorting the button configuration on my wheel has helped massively.

I spend the majority of my time in the game racing online, and am frustrated at the number of ‘in lobby’ races but hopefully this will improve as more and more people start racing online. I like the spectate feature and the fact that you can join a race mid-way through.

Overall I am happy at this early stage, but I do worry that the actual car performance has been made a little easy. Am looking forward to many long hours ahead though.

See you Online!

I don’t feel let down at all. I think it is much better then F1 2010, especially because downforce actually gives you grip and more control, unlike in F1 2010 where it only added drag with a small hint of downforce, so even high speed tracks were taken with a 3/1 DF setting.
The cars are also less understery, which I like a lot. Overall I just think that the setup physics are better then in F1 2010.
The menus are also better.
And the AI are faster and more challenging, which I think is great. Though they could easily be quicker.
And I think the performance gap between the cars should be bigger. Right now I am winning the championship in a Force India. I know it was the same in F1 2010, but I would like to have that changed.
Maybe they could just give the bad cars more drag pr. point of downforce and give them a smaller maximum DF setting.
Something like this:
HRT/Lotus/Virgin – 3/3 maximum
SRT/Williams – 5/5
FI/Sauber – 7/7
RB/McLaren/Ferrari – 11/11
And maybe give them less mechanical grip as well.

What I don’t like is that curbs don’t punish you if you take them with a hard setup.
And that you can’t choose a race distance between 20% and 50%. Now I just drive at 50 because I think 20 is too short, but 50% is also quite long for me.

According the pit calls, you can still pit when you want. You don’t call your crew, you just drive into the pitlane and the crew will come out and then you choose what tyres you want on.
I think they did it to free up buttons for the DRS and KERS.

I enjoyed F1 2010 a lot, and I think F1 2011 is a LOT better, so as you would expect I am having a lot of fun with it.

Responding to the OP:

1 – No ability to call into the pits? Isn’t that one of the fundamentals of race craft and race management?
2 – It would have been nice to be able to view practice and qualifying telemetry so you can see where you can improve?
3 – It doesn’t look as good as Forza 4!
4 – The paddock interviews with a rather chubby looking David croft are still a little amateur?
5 – Why limit the seasons to 5?
6 – Why isn’t Bahrain included? Ok so the race didn’t happen this year and it’s on the cards as to whether it will next year – but shouldn’t it be included?
7 – Nurburgring is obviously in as it was in the calendar – but if you go on to the next season, is Hockenheim the German GP instead?

1: When you drive into the pitlane the crew is there ready for you, no need for a button.
2: Agreed.
3: Harder to make a game with 24 cars look as good as one which will often have less, but yes, Forza looks amazing.
4: More of a gimmick to be honest.
5: Dunno. :)
6: License wouldn’t allow Bahrain to go in.
7: No, the career seasons all replicate the 2011 season.

1 – No ability to call into the pits? Isn’t that one of the fundamentals of race craft and race management?
2 – It would have been nice to be able to view practice and qualifying telemetry so you can see where you can improve?
3 – It doesn’t look as good as Forza 4!
4 – The paddock interviews with a rather chubby looking David croft are still a little amateur?
5 – Why limit the seasons to 5?
6 – Why isn’t Bahrain included? Ok so the race didn’t happen this year and it’s on the cards as to whether it will next year – but shouldn’t it be included?
7 – Nurburgring is obviously in as it was in the calendar – but if you go on to the next season, is Hockenheim the German GP instead?

1. You don’t need to call into the pits, you can just dive in and ask for whatever tyres you like. Easier than having to remember to let your pit crew know.

2. Yeah this would be a nice feature but the engineer does tell you where you need to pick up speed.

3. Forza 4 looks awesome, I think F1 2011 does though as well.

6. There was no race there so there shouldn’t be one in the game. F1 2011 is meant to be a representation of the 2011 season. Montreal wouldn’t have been featured in the F1 2009 game so it makes absolute sense to me.

7. Hockenheim is pretty much the same here. If they were to release a game that had next seasons tracks then they would only release a game every few years. Otherwise why would anyone bother buying the game with new graphics?

I personally really really like the new game. The handling model is far far better and you can actually control your car far better and you can feel when you are getting close to the edge with pushing your car.

The pirelli tyres really make the game great also and really add to the overall feel of the game.

Having played Forza 3 quite a lot recently and looking forward to the release of Forza 4 you can’t help but think how good the game could be if Turn 10 studios made the game. However having said that it does everything I want from an F1 game pretty much apart from things like liveries. I have Forza for the ultimate sim game.

5 – Why limit the seasons to 5?

Someone asked Codemasters this, and they said that they limited it to five because once you got to your sixth or seventh season, the gameplay experience nosedived.

My only real issues (most of my issues are just me being rubbish) with the game is the non-driving parts. For example, the targets you are sometimes set by the team, finish in a position which end sup being 5 places ahead of where your AI team-mate (on Legend or Pro) can take the car too.

Also, moving teams is like cracking the enigma code. It doesn’t give you any idea of what other teams are interested in you or even how to increase that interest. I got asked who my rival was in Season 1 and the lowest-placed option was 30 points ahead of me already. Some people say you should be horrible about your team, others say you should be positive, but I never get any good offers even after maintaining 7th in the championship.