First impressions of F1 2011

[BlacqueJacques]

Is it me or are the races decided on luck on who gets out quickest in the pits?

I mean on my first race at Melbourne I was running first by about a second up to the pitstops. But then disaster because all the AI is pitting in at the same time all of the pitlane gets blocked up and I end doing a 10 second stop and losing about 10 places...

Luckily I only had it on intermediate difficulty for the first race and was able to race my way back up to first. But it seems like AI is affected as well, as on the next race at Malaysia I had a lead of about 5 seconds before the stops (stopped a lap early this time!) on Vettel but after the stops were done somehow Button was 14 seconds behind me and when I looked in the final classification Vettel was 20 seconds behind Button.... I reckon Vettel got unlucky in the pits like I did.

sometimes a good reason to change your pit stop is so that you don't pit with the majority of cars; pit early, or pit late, and avoid the ai traffic jam

 

[Green]

Tried one of the time attacks after the race, the Williams in the wet at Spa. How an earth those at the top of the leaderboard managed 1:46:xxx's I'll never know. I know there are a lot of very fast people out there but to be over 10 seconds in front of the gold time

The wet time attacks I believe people are using the walls In order to achieve these times as there is no damage.Not sure how they are doing it on spa but you can do it on monaco and montreal. When you hit the wall on the exit of corners it seems to straighten your car up also in monaco you can wall ride alot of corners. I spent ages try to figure out how someone got 1.15 on monaco then I did a few wall rides bingo got a 1.16 I refuse to do time attack anymore got gold don't care anymore.............I'm sure there's some guys who have done great laps out their but there's no point when everyone else is cheating.

 

[DoomtrainUK]

I Did my second race in Co-op today and it was amazing...racing malaysia 50% distance with ai on legendary but tc and driving line on, it was raining hard most of the race but me and my partner took first and second at the first corner, as in real life strategy was paramount, by lap 10 ish my partner decided to pit for another set of inters and i followed next lap for inters, the rain was expected to stop within 15 minuites but i didnt want to take the risk of options. We must of overtaken each other 7 or 8 times during the race, after stop 1 vettel webber alonso and schumacher were ahead but they eventually pitted for more inters while it was still raining so maybe the ai does experience tyre wear? Towards the end i realised i switched to fuel mix 3 to keep the pace and forgot about it, i ran out of fuel and finished 18th, partner 4th

 

[TiZzla]

Yeah the pitstops do seem random as to who gets out first, I pitted just ahead of Sutil yet he got out just in front of me and I didn't get held up by anyone except him. I never caught him again either

 

[Cjm845]

To be fair he said nothing about GT5's looks. It is plainly obvious that F1 2011 does not compare to GT5 far as graphics go, but this game does have something that GT5 does not: a career that will test you to the max of your abilities. That is what I think the major appeal of this game is.

I think the 24 hour races will test a gamer to the limit of there talent and endurance.

 

[Mr. S]

I think the 24 hour races will test a gamer to the limit of there talent and endurance.

I've gone through Le Mans and it took me 50 hours - starting on Friday evening and finishing on Sunday afternoon (7 hours - 11 hours - 6 hours). It's not so much about talent, honestly, but about how much you can physically and mentally endure. I had a pillow stuck behind my head (using a PlaySeat) for the last stint (hours 18 to 24). It was painful (literally), especially hours 16-18. Now that I think about it, I wouldn't recommend doing that to anyone, seriously.

 

[DA__dogg]

I think the 24 hour races will test a gamer to the limit of there talent and endurance.

That could test a drivers talent if say they used a less powerful car than the AI but it definitely tests their endurance to say the least. I have neither the time or desire to have my ps3 on for days just for one race, especially when I am in a few racing series on GT5, where it would be nearly impossible for me to complete at 24 A spec race and compete in those series.

In F1 2010 and 2011, driver skill is tantamount to having any success in the single player or online. That is why I believe F1 2011 and 2010 are a better test for driver skill rather than GT5, where anyone can get an overpowered car and blow away the AI. In the F1 games on hard difficulty or on expert, one mistake and your done. I like that and I hope to win a lot of races on those difficulties. 👍

 

[Strata-R]

This game is great I'd say 9/10.

I feel F1 2011 and GT5 are very similar in both look and feel. I think of F1 as an extension of GT5. I actually think that the steering with the G27 is more precise in this game than in GT5. The sense of speed and the screen shakes are similar as well in both games. Yet F1 2011 has more "body roll." You also have to turn the steering wheel a little more in tight corners. The graphical style is also similar but not as good over all. This F1 looks amazing in the rain and at high speed, but in slow speed in the dry, not so much. Personally I think the graphics are good enough and don't really distract me from the experience. I feel the physics are similar to GT5 as well. They are realistic enough without making this game too difficult to play. Having said that, I feel F1 should really be considered a simulator instead of a game. The presentation is pretty lame, and the game doesn't really have a sound track. There is no music playing during the race, and as far as I can tell you can't import your own tracks. Besides career there are time trials and time attacks (where you have to beat lap times with certain cars in certain conditions) a multiplayer mode and really nothing else. It does feel a little bare bones as a total package, to a casual gamer.

So again if you guys enjoy watching F1 in GT5 then buy this game. I actually am a huge fan of the actual Formula 1 racing and it is really cool to see all the season's tracks, teams, and drivers represented. The tracks are very accurate, down to the sponsors on the advertisements. Also each track has various weather conditions available from sunny, cloudy, and various forms of rain. Oh, and the online mode is pretty cool, the system reminds me of Need For Speed as it is really convenient to find a quick match and launch right into a race.

 

[Lambob]

^ Sold! (PC)
and in game music, what's that?

 

[MagpieRacer]

Why would you want music while racing?

 

[BlacqueJacques]

In game music is the first thing I turn off!

 

[Akmuq]

I think the 24 hour races will test a gamer to the limit of there talent and endurance.

More endurance, unless you're using an R10, you won't be having an interesting Le Mans 24 Hours on GT5. Crappy AI.

What would be an even bigger challenge then before is the 'championship in a HRT' challenge, formerly the 'championship in a Super Aguri' challenge.

 

[Dennisch]

I played it last night for the first time, at a buddy, but OMG, those graphics, you can't bring something like that out these days. So bad.

 

[Crispy]

One thing I don't like is Buemi. 🤬 Buemi wont get penalized, even if he sets off a god 🤬 nuke! I got pit maneuvered, shunted, and destroyed by Buemi and only Buemi! Everyone else is a respectful driver, letting me through if I'm passing, but Buemi will defend his position like his life depends on it!

I started out with the Lotus, is it a moderately good car? I know I have no chance against the big players like Hamilton, Weber, Button, Alonso, Vettel, and Massa, but what about Virgin, HRT, Force India, teams like those?

Besides Buemi, I'm fairly impressed with this game. The cars are great fun to drive, and there's an actual sense of speed. I'm running it like semi-real the first time around. Corner Only Driving line to learn the tracks, moderate TCS, and Hard AI difficulty. Next time round I'll go no driving line, and TCS off. I find ABS to be too easy with it on. Oh and is 100% Race length a good idea? And what about any tips for racing?

 

[TiZzla]

I started out with the Lotus, is it a moderately good car? I know I have no chance against the big players like Hamilton, Weber, Button, Alonso, Vettel, and Massa, but what about Virgin, HRT, Force India, teams like those?

I also started with Lotus, I'm using Professional AI and I can out qualify my team mate, along with both HRT and VIRGIN cars.

I can sometimes finish as good as 14th so thats not bad for lotus. This is my first time playing an F1 game and I only know 2-3 of the tracks

 

[Spagetti69]

How many laps do you run Tizzla?

Ive run 2 100% races so far in a Lotus.
Melbourne finished 18th. Rubens in the pits a lot according to the race director.

19th at Malaysia. Easily beating my equivalents. HRT, Virgin and Lotus.
Miles off 18th though. The others were out running me.

Played on professional. Would liked to have run expert to make the cars around me more competitive but I have to finish 18th. Bah.

Both races in the dry.
One DNF would give me 18th and I would run expert against my nearest rivals.
Not had any DNF's though.

Malaysia forecast is heavy rain. Not sure what difficulty to set that on.

I won't do the 11/11 set up and like to run no assists.

Hmmm.

 

[TiZzla]

I'm only doing 20% races for the moment. Which probably explains my race results

And you are in for a difficult race in Malaysia. My first wet race was China I think and qualified 19th in the dry but the race was wet and I was the slowest car on the track and ended up crashing and finishing a lap down.

 

[Crispy]

I seem to race a little faster in the wet. I think for Melbourne the first practice was in the rain and I managed a 1:39:xxx. Sadly in Qualifying I was qualifying for 15th at the 6th lap and spun a little, managed to get the yellow flag to Caution Entering Track, so I just stayed put because if I did start up I would be penalized, and ended up getting suspended anyway.

I really like the FFB though. I like the way the wheel pops when you change gear.

 

[tonderai]

3 races plus practice sessions in career , 80 plus laps in TT and practice mode. Wow! what an improvement over 2010. I use a DFpro and the feedback is amazing. I have started career with virgin on professional. I'm not the quickest but on this I am performing realistically for the car. This game is far from perfect but boy oh boy is it a brilliant racer. I am not even bothered by the deficiencies that much as the racing is brilliant and the information fed back to the driver during the race is very good too. Missing telemtry in TT unless its in there and i've missed it. The replays are nonsense which is a shame as most races are worth watching . I would recommend. Oh and those tyres are so different!👍

 

[worduphomes]

I notice that when you use quick car set-up your wing angles are the only thing that gets adjusted. You still have to adjust all your other settings.

In real-life the engineers will set up the car for the track and refine the set-up as the weekend progresses. The driver will just give feedback and request tweaks. It would be better if your car was pre-set for each track and you could make minor adjustments as you go through the race weekend.

Also, the AI cars are still unreallistically slow in the first few corners of the race.

Apart from that I am really enjoying the game so far

 

[Mutu20]

Shaggy, this game worth buying?

 

[toolo4sno]

you can't judge the physic with a pad and giving the game 4/10. an insane grade, i mean if this is 4 than you have to use negative number for games like wrc or gran turismo 5.

In my opinion overall is 9 (with a 0 for framerate and AA on ps3.)

Let me get this straight. You think F1 '11 is better than GT5 by a few points. That's insane. I can't say much anything in F1 '11 is better than in GT5. Graphics (720p! Are you kidding me?), physics, and general game play are all massively better on GT5. Granted GT5's AI sucks, but the feel of the wheel while driving in F1'11 is very poor. Maybe my settings are bad for the DFPGT. What about the interface for online races? What the hell is that? As of right now, I am pissed I bought this game. I bought into the hype and decent reviews. I should have waited for more user feedback before dumping $60. Maybe my opinion will improve over time, but when it comes down to what I want to play when I have free time; it will be GT5 in the PS3 and not F1 '11.

 

[Mr. S]

I have to say, it's even better when the races are set to 100% during a long race weekend. It's been quite thrilling to come up with a 3 stop strategy whilst the CPU used the normal 2 stop strategy. It felt like quite an achievement when I saw Massa coming out of the pits, overtaking him and taking my lead back. Yet...not a single DNF, no safety car, no yellow flags.

 

[Imari]

Let me get this straight. You think F1 '11 is better than GT5 by a few points. That's insane.

I dunno. I only have the PC version of F1 2011 so it's not really fair to compare graphics in that situation, but even the rest of the game I find far more appealing. The career structure, the AI, the race weekend formats, the sounds and atmosphere, the excellent tyre dynamics, the strategical nature of the racing. There's a lot to like.

Being such different styles of racing games there's not a lot of points where F1 2011 and GT5 overlap, but I can certainly see how at the points that they do someone might prefer F1 2011.

 

[Sach]

F1 is light years better as a racing game. GT5 is better as a car-collecting game. But I do love the race cars that are in GT5 as well.


However, this is a conversation for another thread.

 

[toolo4sno]

All I know is that I feel more connected to the car in GT5. I drive one of the two Ferrari F1's in GT5 90% of the time I play the game; so I am trying to compare GT5 apples to F1'11 apples. I think the things I don't like about F1'11 are fixable, but I am not sure they will be as diligent about patching as PD has. Feels like my wheel could use some more weight and resistance.

I'm bummed about the graphics because the pictures/video I saw in reviews looked so damn good. I got sucked in. Now on my TV there are massive blocky pixels all over the place. If I didn't have my new TV I'd be playing in 480p mode and super pissed.

To be honest, if GT5 had Spa, and maybe one other F1 GP track, I wouldn't have even thought about F1'11. KERS and DRS are way cool, but still wouldn't have persuaded me in that situation.

 

[mu22stang]

All I know is that I feel more connected to the car in GT5. I drive one of the two Ferrari F1's in GT5 90% of the time I play the game; so I am trying to compare GT5 apples to F1'11 apples. I think the things I don't like about F1'11 are fixable, but I am not sure they will be as diligent about patching as PD has. Feels like my wheel could use some more weight and resistance...

To me, I rank the feeling of connection to the on screen car for a virtual Formula 1 racecar as follows:

PD F1 (GT5) < F1:CE < F2007, F10 (GT5) << F1 2010 <<<< F1 2011

We do "get used" to particular game physics, but it took me about 2 hours of play time (flipping back and forth from G25 and T500RS) with F1 2011 to start laying down fantastic laps. I'm not saying record breaking - as I don't really mess with settings to optimize lap times - but immersive, clean laps. I feel too disconnected with the GT series F1 cars. They are too good and communicate too little.

The difference between wheels is huge. For equal FF feel, the G25 is set to 100%, while the T500RS is set to 20%.

 

[Bigbazz]

My opinion on the best feel from an F1 car.

Ferrari Virtual Academy > iRacing/Rfactor > F1 2011 > F1 2010 > GT5


F1 2010 had some things right, but some things painfully wrong. Though GT5 had more things painfully wrong, as good as i think the road cars are in the game all of the F1 type cars (F10, F2007 and FGT) are simply just wrong, they feel wrong and they drive unrealistically. F1 2011 fixed many of the things that F1 2010 got wrong, and while it isn't entirely realistic it does give a fantastic feel for the car and a believeable (toned down from a proper sim) experience.


If I could have Ferrari Virtual Academy physics but slightly tweaked, with the telemetry and proper replay feature thrown in, with the rest of the game being F1 2011.... It would be the ultimate racing game for me, near perfection.

 

[buggs1a]

Just got 2011 last night ps3. It is a major let down. Graphics suuuuck in the tv in the paddock garage. Text is utterly disgusting ugly and flickery compared to last year where it tells you about the track. This is my biggest issue. It's terrible in the tv.

Graphics as a whole seem worse then 2010 in some ways. Audio name ducks cus it has far less to choose from and once chosen you can't change it. It's stupid.

Control is worse with dual shock. Have to adjust. Haven't tried my dfgt yet.

I like being able to know more stats from time trial. It keeps stats for several things like avg speed, top, crashes etc. It counts going off track as a crash which is stupid. I have 9 it says but I have not crashed once.

I've only tried time trial just to see how it drives.

 

[toyotsupra]

Playing this game in a red bull makes me think I'm vettel going for one of his superb pole lap