F1 2010 Preview.

by Guest Tue 13 Jul 2010 - 15:26

If you've ever played Race Driver GRID (and you should have done), you'll know how the perfect balance between arcade gaming and hardcore simulation can be achieved. Like its Codemasters stablemate, F1 2010 deftly plucks the cherries from both gameplay styles to deliver an experience that's immediately accessible, but features plenty of depth for hardcore race fans. The result is an F1 game that's not only a great simulation, but an absolute blast to play.

Sitting down with a racing wheel and pedals set-up, the leap in quality between this build and the last time we saw the game is immediately evident. Back then it was a simple one-track demo around Monza with no menu screens. Here, we're greeted with not only the full roster of tracks but a taste of the 'live the life' presentation that has promised us so much. And it's looking suh-weet.

F1 2010 Preview. F1_2010_Montreal_0024--article_image

F1 2010 Preview. F1_2010_Montreal_0024--article_image

Above: Check out the droplets of rain on that Ferrari's bodywork. The detail level is through the roof

So what do you choose to do when you've got the whole F1 world at your fingertips? To get a better feel for the handling, I started with a time attack around Silverstone, which featured the new track layout for this year. Finding the racing lines and the new braking points didn't take long and I was soon racing my own ghost car. Working out just how close I could get to flat-out through Copse was fun (good thing these cars cost nothing to respawn - ahem) and the sensation of the tyres struggling for grip as you accelerate into Woodcote is tangible. Probably the best since the massively underrated F1 '05 on PS2.

Losing control

Perhaps my rear wing was set too low, or maybe it was that I couldn't feel the pedals through my New Rocks - not the best driving shoes - but I did find oversteer was my main enemy. Also, wheelspin on the exit of corners often left me facing the wrong way, but tellingly this was only when I was trying too hard.

How do I know I was trying too hard? Because Formula 2 driver Will Bratt told me so (check out our exclusive interview on the right). I had just challenged him to a time trial around Monaco and set a decent lap time. But once Will had gone faster, with a frankly obscenely fast line through the Swimming Pool section, the pressure was on. Whereas my initial lap had been calm and clean, I was pushing every corner and it actually made me slower.

Don't floor it

A real racing driver will never floor the throttle to accelerate from low speed and you'll need to learn that here. Exiting the right-hander before the tunnel, the car seemed to be straight, so I put pedal to the metal to get ahead of the ghost car. I kept waiting for the tyres to bite, but instead I snaked realistically for 50 yards or so, before finally spinning round. This focus on advanced throttle control is what's going to make the difference between good laps and great laps. In hindsight, it sounds like I made the most blatant rookie error, but it was my eagerness to get on the gas that was my undoing – so you're not only battling with the car, but with your own self-control.

F1 2010 Preview. F1_2010_Montreal_0022--article_image

F1 2010 Preview. F1_2010_Montreal_0022--article_image

Above: The track is made up of tiny individual squares, each with its own wetness and temperature data. As a result, you'll see a perfectly-simulated dry line emerging when the rain's stopped

The full Monté

There was one thing that softened the blow of being beaten by Will - this realisation of Monaco is the best I've ever seen. The feeling of speed as you hurtle up the hill towards Casino Square is sensational. You know you can go flat out, but it's still terrifying. I felt myself holding my breath every time I squeezed the brakes at the top, willing the wheels not to lock up and send me careering into the Armco.

The reason is undoubtedly because the cars feel much less glued to the ground than in past F1 games, most likely due to the new rules on stability management systems. It makes the decent Formula One Championship Edition (the only other current-gen F1 game) seem incredibly sterile and computer-generated in comparison.

The geek in me also noticed that there's no slowdown when you exit the tunnel and look out across the harbour – something that most F1 games trip over constantly. In short, the most processor-intensive track is already running like a dream, which bodes incredibly well for the rest of the game. I wish I could show you pictures, but the approval process for pre-release screenshots means we only have Montreal images to ogle.

F1 2010 Preview. F1_2010_Montreal_0021--article_image

F1 2010 Preview. F1_2010_Montreal_0021--article_image

Above: The 2010 cars are in and looking just like their real-life counterparts. They come apart nicely too...

Live the life

So what about that fancy new presentation style? The idea is that, unlike the rather matter-of-fact emails and news approach of Formula One Championship Edition on PS3, you'll really get to experience the hustle, bustle and glamour of the greatest motorsport in the world. Imagine the trailer area of DiRT 2, but with more interaction. It's all across the game, too - from the front end menu screens populated with mechanics to the fully-rendered pit crews in every garage down the pit-lane.

It blends into gameplay nicely too. In the time trial mode I tried, you start off sat in your car, looking at the computer monitor like a driver would do. You can scroll through the selections and see sector times for the track. There's a definite feeling of 'calm before the storm'. Then, once you feel the time is right to exit the garage and hit the road, you simply move your driver's head to the right, to where your engineer is standing, and select 'leave garage'.

To be honest, we would have appreciated a simple 'leave garage' button at any point in the pits, as it took a while to realise our mechanic friend would hold the elusive 'go' command. Fortunately, the game doesn't make you sit through the out-lap. Instead, you're given a rolling start approaching the line, and your flying lap begins.

Realism schmealism

So is it realistic? According to Will, the game looks exactly like real driving. However, he seemed reluctant to say it feels like real driving. He told me that his in-game lap was only a second off Vettel's pole-time lap and smack-bam in the middle of the grid for the day's qualifying session at Silverstone. So there's clear faithfulness in terms of the cars' speed around the tracks.

I'm guessing the experience is still quite far removed from the real thing. Despite force feedback steering wheels, every racing game around feels disconnected from the road in comparison to a real car - it's just one of the limitations of the medium. But as a life-long fan of racing games, and judged in the context of other racing games, F1 2010 plays like a dream. And that's good enough for me.

F1 2010 Preview. F1_2010_Montreal_0020--article_image

F1 2010 Preview. F1_2010_Montreal_0020--article_image

Above: The colours may look like GRID, but it plays very differently and looks way more realistic in-game

by **at5 77** Tue 13 Jul 2010 - 15:27

ohhhhh i cant wait for this

by **IXHIGHLANDERXI** Tue 13 Jul 2010 - 15:30

this is a must for my wish list.

by **FWG Plod** Wed 14 Jul 2010 - 1:03

i will have this, how much fun multiplayer will that be Wink

by **FWG Unky Al** Wed 14 Jul 2010 - 7:39

I used to hate driving games with a passion because I am so shit at them, but I am actually looking forward to it since my 3 year old has got me into watching F1 Smile