Codemasters hosted a big media event for their upcoming F1 2011 Formula One title in London yesterday, allowing various press and community members to try the upcoming title and its improvements.
Thankfully, quite a few people brought a camera as new moving footage of F1 2011 has surfaced on Youtube, showing off some new features like the new driver victory cinematics and plenty of racing action.
Among the lucky gamers getting to try F1 2011 was NeoGAF’s Lucius86 and here’s what he has to say about the physics & tire model improvements Codemasters promised:
I regarded F1 2010???s driving model as a flawed, but one of the most entertaining driving experiences I???ve had. But now after playing F1 2011, I see it as a very simplistic system and I???m not sure how I will be able to go back after tasting this. The game is still F1, but my god it feels like a different beast to drive.
This car is ALIVE. Coming out of the first corner on Silverstone I floored the throttle like I did in F1 2010, but you just can???t do that now (with TC off anyway). No longer can the game feel a bit on rails ??? you honestly can feel the difference in traction you have on each individual tyre. You can tell when the car is on the limit just through the interactions in the force feedback wheels and the visual clues on screen. Riding the kerbs is joy, not guesswork until you know which ones to hit and which to not. You honestly feel more in touch with the car and how it controls.
Tyres are such a big difference this time around. Options are options ??? they are sexy, they have grip, they fade quickly. But put on those primes, and bloody hell you are in for a ride. You really need to rubber them in like in real F1 during the practice sessions. I went out on cold Primes, went into a corner and it felt so twitchy. The car just wanted to snap away if I just pushed them a little too hard. Apparently they will last like this for 2 laps or so, so those first 2 laps are really going to bust some people???s balls. But I loved wrestling with the car in this situation, and it was already clear the new physics model was a win.
This game is more unforgiving too. Start losing control of the car, you really must have some skill and reactions to wrestle it back. No longer will smacking the brakes save you! The sound effects when you are skidding are so realistic ??? no longer just tyre squeal, but you can hear each individual tyre lockup. And the crashes, ooo there will be debris EVERYWHERE. FV, you will love it. Saw some awesome moments of cars going up in the air. Bits of wings fall off, parts of the nose on its own ??? a massive upgrade.
Tyres lockup properly under braking now (and again sounds amazing), you can intuitively tell which wheel is locking when braking, which is just another example of how good the cars feel now.
On the not-so-positive side, the replay system still seems to be very much limited and the safety car is absent for now as well, even though this feature was cited as one of F1 2011’s improvements when first info on the title surfaced. You can check out Lucius86’s full recap here.
F1 2011 will be released for the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on September 23, right in time for the final races of the real life 2011 Formula One World Championship season. The new title will come with improved graphics & handling, new features such as safety car and multiplayer splitscreen as well as a much more extensive career mode.
