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.

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.