DiRT Showdown 8 Ball Trailer
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 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 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:
F1 2011 Developer Diary Co-op Mode
The five most exciting things about F1 2011
We here at ORD love F1 2011, which is impressive considering it’s not even been released yet. But with the game’s launch less than two weeks away, we thought we would share with you the top five reasons our collective pants are so wet.
1. Revised handling model
Don’t take this the wrong way, F1 2010’s handling was great but there were a few glitches. For example, you could magically correct oversteer by simply grabbing hold of the brake and the car would somehow right itself again. This time around the handling model has been re-built from the ground up, giving racers a chance to really drive the wheels off their cars in search of those extra tenths of a second. If you push it too far and lock up your tyres will get worn and you’ll be forced to pit early and compromise your strategy. Sounds fun.
2. In-game strategy
F1 2011 features more dynamic in-race tactics, such as showing how much fuel you have left available and a great new feature revealing where you will emerge back into the race should you decide to take a pit-stop. There will be no more ‘gambles’ on pitting as you’ll know exactly how fast you need to be in order to keep that vital position. Woop.
3. The Safety Car
Yes, it’s in. The Safety Car’s inclusion has been the subject of much speculation, mainly by myself, but it has been given the green light and could revolutionise the way the game is played. The SC is available in races of 20% distance or more and online, huzzah! Codemasters’ communications manager Andy Gray revealed players will “have control behind the safety car but there’ll be some restrictions.” It remains to be seen exactly how this will work, but players won’t spend long periods behind it as the red flag, another new inclusion, will be brought out for major incidents and the race be re-started. Exciting.
4. Co-Op Championship and online re-vamp
Yes, you heard. Co-Op Championship mode. This is a little teaser for it. The basic premise is you and a friend battling it out to be your team’s number one driver over the course of a season. If you’re in front, you’ll get upgrades first. If you’re behind, your friend will tease you cruelly. Plus you can save your game after each session, meaning if one of you has to rush off and can’t finish your current game you won’t be penalised – the last person to exit saves automatically. The rest of the online experience has had a re-vamp too, and Steve Hood (the chief designer of the game) has revealed that using driver aids like Traction Control and ABS will now carry weight penalties, so as not to disadvantage players with more skill that race without their hand being held. If the balance is right, it will make online mode playable again for a lot of demotivated online racers. Watch out, noobs.
5. Two player split-screen
The ability to battle a friend in the same room and on the same machine is a long overdue inclusion that so many modern racing games miss out. It allows gamers to be social again and enjoy racing each other without the need for broadband and Bluetooth headsets. Sure, you can’t itch your crotch as much as you would otherwise, but it’s a small price to pay for the return of the shared gaming experience. The only drawback is there won’t be an offline championship mode, which seems bizarre, but at least split-screen is in there and you can do your own pretend championship on pieces of paper like the good old days. Retro.
And that’s it. Kers and DRS didn’t even make it onto the list, which shows just how wet our pants are. We’re praying the game lives up to our own very inflated expectations and of course we will bring you a full review as soon as we can. Washing machine.
F1 2011 Developer Diary #2 Handling
Codemasters confirm free-to-play F1 Online: The Game for 2012
Codemasters has confirmed it will release the free-to-play F1 Online: The Game in the first quarter of 2012, as hinted at by their recruitment for developers at the start of 2011. Now we know that the browser-based game will be a top-down racer which lets you be both the driver and team boss as you can create and manage your own team.
F1 Online: The Game will feature all the official drivers, teams and circuits from the 2011 season, and aims to offer a persistent world for players to join at any time, racing in online multiplayer game modes. You’ll be able to compete in a full world championship, or one-off Grand Prix events with practice and qualifying. There will also be a range of challenges and time trials, and you can track and share your progress via leaderboards and social networking features.
You’ll get to create and run your own team, from choosing a name and designing the livery to sorting the commercial, research, production and race crew functions. It’s being developers in-house at Codemasters and will use track data and assets from F1 2011, and gets into browers via the Unity game engine.
“FORMULA ONE is a proven major games brand that resonates with players on a global level and is recognised as one the biggest sports licenses in videogames. As the worldwide gaming market evolves, 2012 is the perfect time to extend this series to the free-to-play market,” said David Solari, VP, Codemasters Online.
“Building on the commercial and critical success of our high-definition FORMULA ONE games, this is an exciting opportunity to bring our passion for the sport and our expertise in racing to a new audience. With a bespoke design for accessible browser play, F1 ONLINE: THE GAME is a perfect complimentary experience to the HD series and will appeal to a broad spectrum of FORMULA ONE’s millions of fans worldwide.”
The ORD team are already thinking about our team and livery, and whether we’ll be able to combine our lack of talent in one outfit. We’ve also binned our third article in our series on racing games that should be revived as our hope for a modern F1 Manager game appears to have been answered – we can only hope that Codemasters manage the tricky balance of allowing for casual racers and the hardcore fans in something which could appeal to both.
