Codemasters’ Formula 1 gets the job done

• I’m really impressed with F1 2010, except a) I’m rubbish at it (unless I use braking assists but then it’s no fun), b) the engine noise drives my wife insane and I can’t plug headphones into my TV. Bit of a problem!

• I have this for PC and its def not close to perfect..from the very get go there has been problems.. Starting with if you Pre orderd it with Steam expecting a midnight release…never turned up till 5pm that day…thers frame drops and frame rush theres no DX11 yet well not a stable edition..if your force it thers so much glitchs…even in DX9 yes 9….thers some gfx errors…not to mention the random Game crashs….now these are just a few things wrong with it… ill not lie its great and love it but i dont play it 24/7 atm its gets to a point when u get bashed of the course by the AI or the AI just blast off that you just “rage quit” lol i know silly but u do this…. you will not like this game if YOU are not an F1 Fan 7 out of 10 possible could get 10 if updates fixs some issues

• Can’t you turn the sound effect volume off in the options, Adam?

• Yeh there’s an option to reduce the engine noise specifically, but it doesn’t seem to turn it off completely, so you still get a constant mosquito-like buzzing. I don’t mind it too much but it tends to drive nearby people insane.

• I was a little frustrated waiting until 5pm on release day to finally play this, I’d taken the day off work especially!

  Pretty impressed overall. Haven’t had any crashes yet (at least of the badly written software kind) or noticed much in the way of slow down (very slight at Monaco but not enough to affect gameplay).

  The only trouble is I can’t find difficulty settings to suit me, I’m either running at the back of the field in a Ferrari or winning races in a Lotus. I’m hoping that when my G27 arrives tomorrow it will elevate me to the level of driving god and I’ll be able to compete on the hardest settings (unlikely I know but turning off traction control or ABS brakes is a definite no no when you’re playing on keyboard. Completing a lap becomes a challenge of epic proportions).

• I’m still wondering whether to bother getting the Logitech G27 wheel for this or not… might be worth it for GT5 too.

  I haven’t tried the hardest AI difficulty yet, but I’m not sure the AI here is the real competition. If I don’t spin off horribly, finishing on the podium is simple. That’s a reasonably big if though… but I’m getting the hang of things now. I can go forever on a track like Melbourne or Monza without crashing, but in Singapore (in the wet!) each lap probably has a 50% chance of a horrible spinout (of a 50% chance on every corner in the rain, if I turn off traction control… which generally I leave on all the time now).

  If anyone can do a full length Monaco or Singapore on this without crashing and finishing in a good position, I’d be in awe. I’m not sure I can even concentrate that long.

• Dabs.com have the G27 for £229 at the moment including postage, definitely seems to be the best price around.

  Mine arrived today and I have to say it’s very nice indeed, although I’ve had to convince myself that 200 quid is a worthwhile investment as I’ll make it all back once I turn pro…

• Just wrote a long and rambling post about my G27, not sure where it’s gone!? Brief summary of post: £229 delivered dabs.com, very nice, hasn’t improved my driving, have convinced myself I’ll make the 200 quid back when I turn pro…

• It hasn’t improved your performance? Hmm. I guess it’ll be more fun playing with the wheel though. I think it’s about £160 here, might be worth it… I hope it just won’t end up in a cupboard after a couple of weeks.

• Are the AI cars always cheating bastards? I thought they *had* to make at least 1 pitstop (the rules say both option and prime tyres must be used)… I went into the pits with a reasonable lead early in the race (lap 3 of a 12 lap race), then Alonso took the lead and never let it go, never once pitting. Got cheated out of 1st place. Mildly annoying.

• Alright, well, seems the game is bugged to shit and AI cars not pitting is a known issue among the player community. There’s also the issue of cars who are clearly behind you, potentially finishing ahead of you in the race results (assuming you don’t finish first).

  Oh, and the completely bogus AI qualifying lap times – like that time I was racing *alongside* Button, completely out pacing him and over taking him, only to finish my lap and then have him beat my pole position laptime by a second, despite me being able to see how slow he was going.

  Sigh.

• It’s a shame about the bugs as otherwise this is the best F1 game around, at least until Geoff Crammond dusts off his coding gloves for another game.

  Had a bit more time to adjust to the wheel now and I’m definitely seeing some quicker laptimes now. It certainly gives it a more realistic feel as I always felt it was giving you a fair bit of steering assistance playing on a keyboard.

  I’ve also managed to do some successful laps without traction control, an impossibility on keyboard as tapping the accelerator key out of a corner almost always led to a spin.

  I’m still not able to compete on hard difficulty though and the medium setting is easier than ever :(

• Codemasters confirmed a lot of the bugs the other day and said they’ll be patching some of them – such as AI drivers not pitting all the time. Some are just design decisions though, such as AI car qualifying times just being made up and not matching their on-screen performance. In the race itself though the times are all real, so they say.

  Still enjoying this, but got FIFA 11 yesterday too, so it’s tough giving either game the time it deserves.

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