F1 2010 First impressions #f12010

After a couple of hours with F1 it's pretty much business as normal. After some very positive reviews I expected the new F1 to be better than previous ones, and it is. I also expected it to fall short in plenty of areas, and it does. I bought the PS3 version so I could use it with my G25, so different versions may have minor differences from this.

First off, graphically it's a reasonably pretty game, but not as pretty as those preview videos make out. There's TONS of aliasing and the frame rate drops very often. It feels not quite finished. Physics are moderate, but with decent force feedback. I enjoy GRID and DIRT 2 more, which tells me half the problem is the F1 formula itself. You see, and read this bit twice...

F1 cars are pretty crap to drive.

Yes they are fast, but that doesn't mean they are fun. And fun is what I'm after. GT5 feels better, as does pretty much every 'proper' PC sim. Yet again the track feels like glass due to there being no proper surface modelling.

Single player career looks very polished and full. If that's your bag then you won't be disappointed. The tracks themselves look nice but all seem a bit anonymous. The problem here is the actual F1 calendar and the more modern sanitised race tracks. I miss tracks like Brands.

Multiplayer is the usual console experience, with poor gameplay, griefers and plenty of dropouts. Not a patch on iRacing at all.

Sounds are OK but feel a bit sanitised. Not crackly and poppy like good F1.

I'll probably put a few more hours in and give the career a proper pop, but if it doesn't grab me soon its going on eBay.

Dont get me wrong though, this is the best F1 game in years. The problem is that F1 is boring to participate in because the cars are too extreme.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad