Virtual Motorsports GP2 Season 2 Race 1 Road Atlanta Action
A quick clip of the action in the first race of the Virtual Motorsports GP2 Season 2 meeting at Road Atlanta, which proves that 3 into the final chicane can sort of work. ORDC driver Badger Gravling was racing in the orange Seat Leon Supercup, and having started in last due to mistakes in qualifying, he managed to climb back up to eventually take 5th place, despite a hard fought battle with the blue Seat of F4H Castrol, who pulled off this audacious overtake on 2 cars into the chicane and lived to tell the tale!
F1 2012 Promo Video
How Turn 10 sources cars for Forza Motorsport
F1 Online: The Game – Closed Beta Applications Open…
If you’re intrigued or eagerly awaiting the browser-based F1 management and racing game from Codemasters, F1 Online: The Game, then you’ll be pleased to know that you can now apply to be part of the closed beta.
Visit the F1 Online site to sign-up and be one of the first to try the free-to-play game which will let you create your own team and take part in multiplayer online races. And we already know the game will feature licensed drivers, cars and tracks, and that you’ll be able to take part in championships or individual events. You can see more details here.
F1 2011 confirmed as Playstation Vita launch title
Codemasters has announced that F1 2011 will be a launch title when the Playstation Vita handheld is released on Februaru 22nd, 2012. As with the existing versions for Xbox 360, PS3, PC and Nintendo 3DS, it will include all the official teams, drivers and circuits from the 2011 season, including the new track for the Indian Grand Prix. It’s a co-development between Codemasters Birmingham, and Sumo Digital, who also created the Nintendo 3DS version.
Currently a work in progress, you’ll be able to race in a full season, including practice and qualifying sessions. Alternatively, you can enter an individual GP, set times in Time Trial, or make use of the Challenge Mode which appears in the handheld versions for those on the move, with objectives such as checkpoint, gate and overtaking challenges.
As with the Nintendo version, multiplayer includes four player Grand Prix racing, head-to-head Time Trials, or team up in two-on-two co-operative career mode either online or via the Vita’s WLAN connection. And you can adjust the race distance, tune your car, select driver aids and set your tyre, fuel and weather options. Although the game doesn’t appear to be available to pre-order yet, the Wifi version of the Playstation Vita is currently available for £229.99, with the Wifi + 3G version costing £279.99.
F1 2011 Nintendo 3DS Trailer
F1 2011 arrives for Nintendo 3DS on Friday, November 25th
We’re fans of F1 2011, so we’re intrigued to see how the game transfers to 3D on the Nintendo 3DS this Friday in a version developed by Sumo Digital.
It’ll still features all the official teams, drivers and circuits, including the Indian Grand Prix at Delhi’s Buddh International Circuit. And you’ll be able to compete across a full season, race in an individual GP, or compete in Time Trial mode, and there’s also an additional and extensive Challenge Mode which will be perfect for racing on the move when you might not have time for a full race. It features objectives such as checkpoint, gate and overtaking challenges.
And you’ll be able to adjust race distance, tune your car, choose various driving aids, and be able to select tyre, fuel and weather options.
And of course portable gaming now always involves multiplayer moders. In F1 2011, you can compete with up to four players in a Grand Prix, or go head-to-head in Time Trials. Most interesting is the two-on-two co-operative career mode. It’ll also be interesting to see how this version stacks up considering F1 2011 has also been confirmed as a launch title for the Playstation Vita, which will again see Codemasters team up with Sumo Digital. That version will arrive with the new Sony handheld in February 2012.
It’s available for £32.99 via Amazon, £34.99 from Game, or £32.99 again via Play. There’s no confirmed date for a release in the U.S at the moment.
And here’s the video Codemasters have released to publicise the launch:
F1 2011 patch makes game playable online again
Despite being a fantastic game, F1 2011 has felt incomplete until now due to a bug that ruined the online racing. Thankfully though, it has now been fixed.
For the uninitiated, players could set up their cars’ springs at a certain stiffness (called the 11/11 bug, you can probably work out the ratio) and receive stupid levels of downforce, enabling them to dominate online races at the expense of those who were unaware of how to cheat. This video is an excellent demonstration of just how much advantage could be gained.
Thankfully Codemasters have now released the excitingly-titled ‘Patch 2‘ for the game, meaning players that previously joined a server only to think they were the worst player in the history of racing games were not so bad after all. They can now return to the online arena on a level playing field, and no longer will a player resisting the set-up cheating and not using driving aids be six seconds a lap off the pace. With leaderboards also being wiped in the coming week, it’s a new start for all – but it remains to be seen if players will flock back to playing an online mode which would have felt impossible for many to compete the first time they tried it.
Patch 2 aims to fix the 11/11 downforce bug in F1 2011 online play
Whilst some have made good progress through the career mode in the meantime, many have been put off and feel something should have been done sooner to remedy the issue. I am not a developer, but I would suggest something such as banning set-ups online in the interim might have helped. It is also still not possible for players wanting to play without driving aids (such as traction control which can be worth a regular 2-3 seconds per lap) to filter the online lobbies to find like-minded players – a potentially small fix that could make a huge difference to players’ enjoyment.
Codemasters have now released an effectively unfinished/untested product for two years in a row, which has detracted from the success of the award-winning and highly playable game engine. Fans will be hoping F1 2012 does not suffer a similar fate.
Codemasters have also fixed further issues in the game, such as the A.I being too fast in wet conditions, details of which are below:
F1 2011 Game Improvements for Patch 2:
o A connectivity rating display has now been implemented for each player in an online session lobby. This appears as coloured bars (red, amber, green) to indicate the expected online performance of the player in the game session.
o More network bandwidth is now reserved for game-critical systems in online sessions. This may result in low-bandwidth users having their voice chat restricted to fewer players, but should result in a smoother online experience.
Strategy & Setup:
o Fixed 11/11 car setup bug.
o Fixed issue where your race strategy uses the same tyre compound three times in a row & the final set are worn.
o Fixed issue where wear-based punctures would occur too often.
o Fixed various issues with the race engineer speech logic.
AI:
o Fixed an issue where the AI run on Intermediates for too long.
o Fixed issue where AI cars would be too fast in the wet.
o Fixed an issue where AI vehicles pitted too often during dry, online races .
o The AI has been tuned on several circuits to provide smoother and faster driving.
o Fixed issue where the AI’s sector 1 times in Malaysia were too slow
§ Co –op Championship:
o Fixed an issue with the save becoming corrupt / not able to invite the other player when playing long race weekends.
o Fixed an issue where AI difficulty was reset to “Amateur” level when resuming a Coop game.
o Fixed an issue with tyre wear in Practice/Qualifying not being carried over to Race.
o Fixed an issue with the penalties accrued in Practice/Qualifying not being applied to the Race.
o Fixed an issue with the Race Results where lapped AI are causing player to drop positions.
Online:
o Vote to Skip in Qualifying now requires 100% vote.
o Various Penalty system improvements have been made.
o Quick Race countdown timer is now set to 60 Seconds and no longer resets when a player joins the session.
o Fixed issue where host and client machines would report different qualification results during online games
o Fixed an issue where online players would sometimes see other players or AI cars using the wrong tyres.
Graphics & Performance:
o PS3 – Improved frame rate & performance.
o Xbox360 & PC – Numerous performance improvements have been made to increase frame rate and reduce stuttering.
o All Platforms – Numerous graphical improvements have been made.
o All Platforms – Fixed various issues to improve general game stability.
PC-specific:
o Fixed several functionality issues experienced when using DX11 cards.
o Fixed issue where users could hack specific files to increase car grip.
Other:
o Fixed a very infrequent issue where some sessions would be skipped over when progressing to the next session during a Long Race Weekend.
o Korea tyre compounds have been changed to those used in the 2011 race.
o Fixed an issue where in career where the “on the bounce” achievement was awarded after 11 race wins instead of 9.
o Fixed an issue where all users would be awarded the fastest lap XP and stat during some online races.
o Fixed an issue where driver’s hands & head popped in a few frames late when switching cameras.
o Fixed issue where players were able to post extremely quick Time Trial times
o Introduced option to have 30%, 40% & 75% races.
F1 2011 review 9/10
First of all, an apology. This review is late in comparison to a lot of other sites around and there are two main reasons for this: Firstly, we didn’t get a preview copy of the game, and second, it has taken a while to get used to.
I didn’t want to rush out a review until I had the chance to play the game properly – I wanted to be able to say what it’s really like and to do so I had to spend a couple of weeks playing it. I hope you’ll forgive me.
So first things first – it takes a while to get used to. And as I said, it takes a while to get used to. Got that? Good. For someone that played 2010 to death, the changes initially appeared terrifying and dislikeable. The handling model feels very different, and I felt like a really bad/incompetent/pitiful driver when starting a new career (now set to a default five seasons in length) and when the rain came down I was ready to throw my controller across the room in frustration.
The reason for this was F1 2010 had an amazing ‘bug’ where one could grab hold of the brake as soon as they started spinning and the car would automatically right itself. I don’t think I realised how much of a difference getting rid of that would be, or how much I had come to rely on it. F1 2011 truly punishes you for being too early on the throttle or turning in that bit too fast, and is all the better for it.
The car now feels ‘alive’ and is so much more satisfying to drive. Take it for a few laps around Monaco and you’ll see what I mean. The ‘groove’ and rhythm you can develop is astonishing, and whilst there is a steep learning curve to F1 2011, it’s well worth the climb.
The rules of F1 are again implemented excellently, including the new safety car. When an incident occurs and a car is left stranded on the racing line (see Carlo, Monte) the Safety Car gets deployed. In practice, this means being part of a ‘snake’ behind it where you can weave to keep up your tyre pressures but don’t have full control over acceleration. The game will ‘auto brake’ if you get too close to the car in front, and ‘ghost’ you if you fall too far behind. I think it works pretty well and is a nice addition to the game, especially your engineer coming over the radio reminding you to “save fuel” and turn your engine mix down to the lowest of the three available pre-set options.
Having previously featured only in the Wii version of F1 2009, split-screen racing makes a debut on PS3, Xbox and PC. It works very well too, and is a long overdue addition to the series. There’s no official ‘championship mode’ in split-screen however, although you can create your own custom season where points will be added up. It seems a little strange when you consider the inclusion of the spangly new ‘online co-op championship’ mode where you and a friend can play through a season as team-mates. I don’t see why this wasn’t made available offline, but then I’m not a games developer so I probably wouldn’t understand.
It’s another good addition to the series, but the largest disappointment of F1 2011 and the thing that stops it scoring a full 10 is the lack of the promised online revolution. You can now race a full grid online, with 24 cars (16 human, 8 computer-controlled), the safety car is available and it generally feels good, but it still suffers from the same problems it did last year – let me explain:
I race without driving aids (ok, sometimes I use automatic gears, shut your face) and the online experience was ruined for me last year by constantly racing against people using traction control. It makes the game much easier (and less fun) but people that want to ‘win’ all the time rather than ‘race’ all the time will always do everything they can to take the chequered flag first. Codemasters promised a penalty system for F1 2011 where players using driving aids would be penalised by carrying extra ballast, but from my first few forays online, nothing appears to have changed.
This could also be sorted very easily, perhaps with a server search filter to get rid of specific driving aids, instead of the standard ‘allowed’, ‘banned’ or ‘custom’ – there’s not enough choice. A ‘no driving aids but automatic gears’ filter would probably earn the game another point in this review, but as things are I spend more time refreshing the ‘available servers’ page than actually playing the game. I know this is a personal thing, but I truly believe it would make a big difference to players who don’t wish to be four seconds a lap slower than those playing with ABS and TRC turned on.
So it’s not quite perfect, but only a couple of gripes stop F1 2011 getting top marks, and it is still a positive step forward from F1 2010. The general feel of driving, speed and danger (I’m presuming no-one plays with damage off? If you do you are an idiot) is second-to-none in the racing genre and it’s a worthy addition to anyone’s games collection.
To be good you have to learn the tracks and spend time getting used to controlling the car on each corner and in different weather conditions, but the more you play the more rewarding it is – and that’s the mark of a great game.
It’s available to order at:
Urban Stages unveiled for WRC2
WRC2 is the official game of the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship, and is due for release in October, 2011. Building up to the launch date, Black Bean Games has announced that in addition to 78 Special Stages from 13 official locatins, and five Super Special Stages, the game will also feature Urban Stages.
The first Urban Stage is Berlin, and will be included at release, with a recreation of the German capital city centre, including the most memorable and well-known buildings and monuments. More Urban Stages will be released as downloadable content following the release of the game. And it’ll be available for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
