F1 2011 Review

It’s that time of year again and Codemasters are back with the next installment of their F1 franchise.  Last year when F1 2010 was released fans were presented with an ultra-realistic representation of the sport. There was obvious room for improvement, and this is where this year’s installment comes in.  But has Codemasters overhauled the whole game or just updated last year’s with this year’s rules?

When you first play the game you will be happy that Codemasters have kept a lot of the features that made 2010 the game it is. With the handling and menu set up almost the same, but the changes that are made aren’t that vast, they improve an already impressive game base that they made with 2010. As in last year’s game, your first job is to pick the team that you would like to race for, again you have the choice of the three “new” teams, Force India and Williams but you can’t choose the length of time that you would like to stay in the sport. When you have chosen a team you will appear in your trailer where you can view the race calendar and go to races, view e-mails on your laptop for upcoming events and your teams predictions.

When you finally get on to the track, players of last year’s game will feel at home with the overall game play not changing that much. Of course all the teams livery has changed so that it matches the 2011 cars, also the biggest change in this years game is that Codemasters have introduced the new rules, which introduce the use of DRS and KERS. Both give you an advantage when trying to overtake. DRS (Drag Reduction System) is where a part of your rear wing opens to give you less aero on the straights which will give you more top speed to overtake.  It’s allowed to be used on the designated straights to overtake if you are within one second of the car in front at the detection line, but you are also able to use it all the way around your qualifying lap. KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System). Is an extra boost of power that you can use anywhere on track for up to eight seconds. The boost comes from batteries that are in the car that recharge themselves when you brake.  KERS will give you an eighty BHP (Brake Horse Power) boost to help you get past the car in front. But, like the real world of F1, not every team will have KERS to their advantage, the three new teams of Lotus, HRT and Virgin will not be able to use KERS.

But the feature that has got everybody talking is the introduction of a safety car, if you don’t like the sound of being stuck in a massive queue of cars don’t worry, you can turn it off and it is only available on 20% or more races. The safety car will come out when there has been a crash when the car or cars are unable to be recovered quickly. This could help or hinder you depending on where you are in the race. If you are leading it will kill your lead to nothing but if you are struggling and needing to pit you will get to pit and then be right up behind everyone else with fresher tyres.

Apart from the introduction of the 2011 rules Codemasters have tweaked the game play so now most things that frustrated players in 2010 have been fixed. You don’t get a penalty every time you tap someones back end, you aren’t held in the pits until everyone has got past and AI drivers are now more consistent with their lap times and will try and overtake you whenever they get a chance and not hold back, so the proximity arrows are a must so you don’t turn in on someone and ruin your race. Also the tyres will drastically drop off if you over use them and you will not have any grip to stay on the track and you may loose a lot of places for trying to push too much and not pitting when your mechanic tells you. The fuel usage of the cars is realistic also to where if you turn your fuel mix up to catch an opponent and forget to turn it down you will run out of fuel and will have to roll to the finish.

Another new introduction is multiplayer spilt screen, so that you can play your friends without going online. Also there are now 24 players online which will let you have a full grid and then you will have an online teammate to compete against. Another new online mode is co-op career when you will play through the career mode but instead of having an AI for a teammate, your online friend takes their place, so you are always fighting fiercely against your friend for the position of first driver.

Overall F1 2011 is more of a tweaked and up to date version of 2010, if you are a F1 fan this really is a must buy so you can recreate the races of the season.The introduction of the safety car adds even more realism and the tyres are also realistic as when they drop off you will struggle to stay on track until you pit. Unlike 2010 the AI driver will not give up overtaking you and will make mistakes trying. All in all a step forward for what will be a fantastic franchise in a couple of years.