Game Review: F1 2012

Face it; you are never going to drive a F1 car. Unlike other racing games on the market featuring sports cars, hot hatches and the like, the chances you will squeeze your bum into the confined cockpit of the fastest competitive racing machine on the planet is highly improbable.  

Which is precisely where F1 2012 comes in to play, perhaps the closest experience most of us will get to driving a bona fide F1 car.

At the same token, a game such as F1 2012 can be a daunting prospect for those not up to the challenge. The game espouses that practice makes perfect, but if you are new (or like me newish) to the F1 racing style, regardless of your fan level expect to be spending much of your time at the tail of the field, even in the single player game. This is a challenging game, but to paraphrase a comic book superheroes, with great challenge comes greater reward.

However it's not so extreme that it'll turn gamers away. Developer Codemasters has gone out of its way to ease you into the global sport with the new 'Young Driver Test' mode, where budding F1 racers can take to the Yas Marina track in Abu Dhabi for a 30 minute tutorial that throws up a series of challenges to learn driving basics and systems such as KERS (kinetic Energy Recovery System) and DRS (Drag Reduction System).

Once the Young Driver Test is complete it's time to select a mode and tweak the difficulty settings.  It is here that much of your games enjoyment will be decided.  Set too many driving assists on (or at the other end of the scale,  go for too much realism) and much of the satisfaction can be sucked from your time on the track. Get it right however, with just the right level of traction control, racing line indicators and so on, and the racing can feel spot on.

One aspect of the game that left a little to be desired - even in total simulation mode - were the collisions. They are simply not as convincing in the open wheel F1 cars as they would be in sedan racing, though the spin outs are spectacular and the resulting black-flagging and pit-crew admonishing is kind of cool.

There is a 'Quick Race' option for instant action if you have 10 minute to spare, while the 'Champions Mode' allows players to take on challenges against the big names of F1 Racing. Drivers are thrown into the heat of the action with a number of scenario based situations to overcome, which are fun but really only diversions for the 'Season' and 'Career Challenge' modes will be where most players head for long term gaming goodness.

Career Challenge starts you off with a lowly franchise (depending on difficulty level), perhaps HRT racing, and players must race well and deliver strong results and perhaps be offered more lucrative contracts with more successful race teams along the way.

The Season Challenge in particular is interesting with ten selected five lap races offering the chance to pick and beat a rival driver. Do this and you take his team seat and move up in both prestige and reputation.

Though this may look like just another simulation, there's plenty of variety in the various game modes. Split screen and online multiplayer are welcome additions too, as the in-game artificial intelligence (while for the most part competitive and challenging) does have its odd moments, baulking at certain track configurations.  

All twenty circuits are present in the Career mode including the new USA Circuit in Austin, Texas. Each track features a lap tutorial from Formula One test driver and Codemasters' technical consultant, Anthony Davidson.

One thing F1 simulations must do in order to attract gamers is look good, and F1 2012 is a very pretty game. The graphics engine is very powerful and can generate billions of polygons on the run, the result being an impressive attention to detail and a convincing sensation of speed. At high speeds the game has that white-knuckle immersion we want in our racing games, and looks particularly good as changing weather conditions alter the outlook.

Indeed, one thing Codemasters has done superbly is the localised weather feature. Given that your choice of tyres and car set up is so crucially dependent on track conditions, this new standard in weather presentation in a video game is a welcome strategic addition. With the 'Active Track Technology' in F1 2012 it is possible for one part of a circuit to be wet whilst elsewhere it is dry due to a passing shower, and this adds to the unpredictability of race-day and rewards the bold.

For myself, I can attest to the authenticity of the Melbourne track at Albert Park, considering it is my daily bicycle commute around that track. Simply put, it is brilliantly recreated here in digital form. Though for laughs it would have been interesting for Codemasters to include the everyday idiosyncrasies of this otherwise magnificent street circuit; the distracting joggers, the aforementioned bike commuters, errant golf balls from the nearby driving range and of course the famous traffic-stopping swans. Can’t have everything I guess...

In conclusion, I can report that this iteration of the F1 series is both entertaining, and at times frustratingly hard as the realisation dawns that it is only through practice lap after practice lap that one becomes competitive in this sport.
Perhaps it is a good thing that we'll never actually drive an F1 car...