Pardon me for bumping an old thread, but I just found this and thought I'd jump in.
Got both F1 2010 and 2011 for Christmas. I only asked for 2010 as I wanted to play that first before moving on to 2011/12. Never mind, we can compare them side by side now 👍
So I dive into 2010, and I started to really enjoy myself quite quickly. I must state right off the bat I'm no hardcore 'no assists' gamer - I admit to running medium traction control and ABS on, but no other assists. And with these settings Im having great fun in career mode. At the moment with tyre simulation OFF (but fuel sim, damage etc ON) and Professional AI, I'm 4th in the championship in a Lotus having got two podiums in Melbourne and Monaco and my first GP win in Istanbul last time out
I've tried running tyre sim ON and though I like the realistic element, I'm enjoying battling up front too much right now
So I may switch it ON next season to return the Lotus to it's more natural home at the back of the grid! Will definitely move it up to Legend AI in the coming weeks I think 💡
What's most enjoyable about 2010 for me is the handling, which is crisp and precise, and I can really feel the limits of grip - just how I'd imagine a real F1 car feels. It demands that I push as hard as I can, and I really do, but at the same time I can build confidence in the car because I know where it's limits are. It's the old 'easy to learn, hard to master' chesnut. The cars are quite easy to drive and learn how to drive fast - it's then up to you how hard you can push them to shave those crucial 10ths of seconds off laptimes. Compare that to Shift 2, for example, where I spent most of my time trying not to crash as even the tiniest mistake at any speed would send me careering off in a super-slo-mo barrel roll
Not that I don't enjoy Shift 2, I just think it's aggressively difficult. F1 2010 is tough, but you still feel like with enough hard work and bravery, you can master the car and tracks 👍
So I try F1 2011 for the first time last night, and I wonder 'surely if 2010's handling physics were so good, 2011's won't be much different?' They were. To me anyway. Firstly tyre sim is set ON all the time, so I was stuck at the back whether I like it or not
Fine, don't mind that. But the handling feels...soft. Lumpy even. Which is NOT how I expect an F1 car to handle at all. It's much more difficult for me to find the limits of adhesion, but what amazed me the most was attacking Turn 5 at Melbourne in career practice flat out like I did all the time in the less-developed Lotus in 2010 - and wiping out lap after lap. WHAT?!
I just didn't get it! And what made it worse was that I could barely tell when a slide was coming on. Granted, I could save the slide more easily than in 2010, where if you got a slide on you were pretty much guaranteed to be facing the wrong way seconds later, but still. Turn-in feels soft and soggy, not crisp and sharp like 2010. Also the graphics for me look worse, almost like a PS2 game sometimes. 2010's graphics were pin sharp, smooth and gorgeous. 2011 looks like it's had a used teabag sitting on the screen the whole time. It just isn't as smooth, and it's noticeable to me. as dj_hazardous said, the little details like frame rate just aren't as up to scratch
👎
Conclusion: I'm willing to stick with 2011 mainly due to having the chance to race the 'real' Lotus further up the grid later in my career, and also to give me the more realistic challenge of being in a backmarker car than I have so far on my 2010 career. But at the same time I feel myself gravitating back towards 2010 more as an overall game just due to the handling - it feels much better to me in the little details. So 2010 for me