MagpieRacer
Premium
- 17,861
- Wymondham, Norfolk
- Seagull_Racer
Platform - PS3
Controller - DS3
F1 game history:
Grand Prix 2, 3 and 4
F1 '97
F1 '98
F1 2000
Grand Prix Challenge
F1 2002, 03, 04, 05 and 06
F1:CE
F1 2010, '11 and '12
To me, a good F1 game has to strike a balance between fun, realism and immersion. There have been many F1 games and not enough of them struck this balance. Too many have also just been downright terrible.
As each Codemasters title comes out it's difficult to mark them down too much, they have all had glitches and bugs, some game-breaking. But each year has been an improvement. 2013 is no different in this trend. But in some ways perhaps it's the most important leap for the series.
The game starts with the Young Driver Test, like 2012, if you have 2012 save data on your system you can skip day 1 and go straight to day 2. Do well enough and the biggest range of starting teams so far in the series will be available; Caterham, Marussia, Toro Rosso, Williams, Force India, Sauber and Lotus all available if you do well enough. I plumped for Lotus.
The menu's are much the same as 2012 but with a nicer backdrop for the cars sitting in a wind tunnel. Very clinical looking and a nice place to look at the cars. F1 Classics, Grand Prix, Career, Scenario and the usual array of options and online modes are all in the menu.
I'll save classic mode for later. So firstly, graphics. This is a minor albeit noticeable step from 2012. Everything seems sharper, the textures more crisp on the cars and the track detail more noticeable.
There is definitely a more crisp look to everything, the blurry shine effect that was in 2012 is gone and everything looks better for it. The sunlight is one thing I noticed in particular that adds to the realistic look, hard to pinpoint but the light looks much more natural and real. I can't speak for the 360 and PC versions but the framerate on PS3 is much more stable and there are next to no drops, even on Monaco.
The tracks look more alive, more things going on trackside and again the textures just seem better all round. Little touches such as fist waving when there is some harsh contact and the different helmet shapes all add to the looks.
Along with the looks are improvements in the sounds. The cars sound very lifelike, rough edges at low revs and a beautifully real sounding top end. The sounds reverb off close walls, with startling accuracy and sound superb through headphones.
To play then. Its in improvement in that it has much more balanced handling. The cars dont have too much understeer as in 2012 but is still there if you coax it, as you would expect. Oversteer is more prominent, the cars move around more at the back end when the aero drops off at low speed but still planted when under load in faster corners. The AI are much more aggressive this year, though they still sometimes back out of overtakes you would expect them to stick but it also depends on the track, i.e. they are much more aggressive at Melbourne than Sepang for example. But racing them is definitely enjoyable and the frustration of not seeing them anymore when they pull away is gone as you can actually reel them in again unlike 2011 and some tracks on 2012. The new expert difficulty should please some people as that sits nicely between professional and legend, giving consoles players a nice inbetween as not all of us can be lightning quick with a wheel. Aside then from occasional lack of overtaking prowess the AI are more fun to race.
The tyre wear is as you would expect, more prominent, tyres degrade quickly and require a little more management than previous games. Some players on the official forums claim the AI lap times dont drop off as the players do but I havent noticed it as much as some people claim.
The cars feel and the AI mark the only real changes to the career mode experience but it is enough to make it exciting still.
Scenario mode has been evolved from 2012s Champions mode. 5 sections representing different stages of a drivers career each with 5 different scenarios to attempt at bronze silver and gold difficulties. I havent tried it properly yet but think an expanded champions mode and youre there.
Onto the classics then. If you didnt opt for the classic edition then it may feel bare. 5 cars, 2 scenarios and 2 tracks makes it feel over a bit quickly. Add the 90s though with another 6 cars, another 2 tracks and 3 more scenarios and you have more meat. You can of course still race grand prix with the cars but the mode would have benefitted from more scenarios. The cars feel and sound amazing though, screaming high notes of the 90s V10s and the chunky growls of the 80s as they slip and slide across the track. It is great to feel the progression of the cars from the 1976 Ferrari to the 2013 cars.
Overall after a few days playing it is a massive improvement in all the right places but next year will need to add a lot more to keep people interested.
Controller - DS3
F1 game history:
Grand Prix 2, 3 and 4
F1 '97
F1 '98
F1 2000
Grand Prix Challenge
F1 2002, 03, 04, 05 and 06
F1:CE
F1 2010, '11 and '12
To me, a good F1 game has to strike a balance between fun, realism and immersion. There have been many F1 games and not enough of them struck this balance. Too many have also just been downright terrible.
As each Codemasters title comes out it's difficult to mark them down too much, they have all had glitches and bugs, some game-breaking. But each year has been an improvement. 2013 is no different in this trend. But in some ways perhaps it's the most important leap for the series.
The game starts with the Young Driver Test, like 2012, if you have 2012 save data on your system you can skip day 1 and go straight to day 2. Do well enough and the biggest range of starting teams so far in the series will be available; Caterham, Marussia, Toro Rosso, Williams, Force India, Sauber and Lotus all available if you do well enough. I plumped for Lotus.
The menu's are much the same as 2012 but with a nicer backdrop for the cars sitting in a wind tunnel. Very clinical looking and a nice place to look at the cars. F1 Classics, Grand Prix, Career, Scenario and the usual array of options and online modes are all in the menu.
I'll save classic mode for later. So firstly, graphics. This is a minor albeit noticeable step from 2012. Everything seems sharper, the textures more crisp on the cars and the track detail more noticeable.
There is definitely a more crisp look to everything, the blurry shine effect that was in 2012 is gone and everything looks better for it. The sunlight is one thing I noticed in particular that adds to the realistic look, hard to pinpoint but the light looks much more natural and real. I can't speak for the 360 and PC versions but the framerate on PS3 is much more stable and there are next to no drops, even on Monaco.
The tracks look more alive, more things going on trackside and again the textures just seem better all round. Little touches such as fist waving when there is some harsh contact and the different helmet shapes all add to the looks.
Along with the looks are improvements in the sounds. The cars sound very lifelike, rough edges at low revs and a beautifully real sounding top end. The sounds reverb off close walls, with startling accuracy and sound superb through headphones.
To play then. Its in improvement in that it has much more balanced handling. The cars dont have too much understeer as in 2012 but is still there if you coax it, as you would expect. Oversteer is more prominent, the cars move around more at the back end when the aero drops off at low speed but still planted when under load in faster corners. The AI are much more aggressive this year, though they still sometimes back out of overtakes you would expect them to stick but it also depends on the track, i.e. they are much more aggressive at Melbourne than Sepang for example. But racing them is definitely enjoyable and the frustration of not seeing them anymore when they pull away is gone as you can actually reel them in again unlike 2011 and some tracks on 2012. The new expert difficulty should please some people as that sits nicely between professional and legend, giving consoles players a nice inbetween as not all of us can be lightning quick with a wheel. Aside then from occasional lack of overtaking prowess the AI are more fun to race.
The tyre wear is as you would expect, more prominent, tyres degrade quickly and require a little more management than previous games. Some players on the official forums claim the AI lap times dont drop off as the players do but I havent noticed it as much as some people claim.
The cars feel and the AI mark the only real changes to the career mode experience but it is enough to make it exciting still.
Scenario mode has been evolved from 2012s Champions mode. 5 sections representing different stages of a drivers career each with 5 different scenarios to attempt at bronze silver and gold difficulties. I havent tried it properly yet but think an expanded champions mode and youre there.
Onto the classics then. If you didnt opt for the classic edition then it may feel bare. 5 cars, 2 scenarios and 2 tracks makes it feel over a bit quickly. Add the 90s though with another 6 cars, another 2 tracks and 3 more scenarios and you have more meat. You can of course still race grand prix with the cars but the mode would have benefitted from more scenarios. The cars feel and sound amazing though, screaming high notes of the 90s V10s and the chunky growls of the 80s as they slip and slide across the track. It is great to feel the progression of the cars from the 1976 Ferrari to the 2013 cars.
Overall after a few days playing it is a massive improvement in all the right places but next year will need to add a lot more to keep people interested.
