Formula 1 game

[schmenke]

I have. I often receive the prompts to apply a patch to a game once I load it, but have yet to see the one for F1 2010 :mark: .

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I have. I often receive the prompts to apply a patch to a game once I load it, but have yet to see the one for F1 2010 :mark: .

Strange. One other way to get around the pit stop bug is to do longer races or do your strategy in reverse to the norm i.e start on primes and change to options.

Xbox live tag: JmatthewB If you want to race or challenge my time trial leaderboard times. I got a 1:41 at Spa yesterday which i was proud of :)

[kfzmeister]

they are adding a lot of things, including safety car. First i heard of that! Really?

[i_max2k2]

First i heard of that! Really?

Formula 1 (http://www.formula1-game.com/us/)

Yep.

[kfzmeister]

Ok, so the vid showed a safety car briefly, but nowhere does it mention that as being a part of the new game. Maybe i overlooked it.

[i_max2k2]

Ok, so the vid showed a safety car briefly, but nowhere does it mention that as being a part of the new game. Maybe i overlooked it.

I think they talked about in PAX in one of the interview or maybe E3 I cant remember, but its a definite addition, if you can find one of their dev talk video's, I'm sure you'll find it there + the part I highlighted ^ :)

[CaptainRaiden]

Wow, why are the graphics nowhere near as good as F1 2010 in that vid? Is it just the pre-release promotional vid or something?

They probably used footage from a pre-alpha build or a beta. It will be much more polished come release day. I think the graphics are an improvement, and they also have gotten rid of the yellow filter after the massive outcry over it last year.

I only hope they haven't made the handling easier, at least with all assists off, for this game to be a challenge.

[CaptainRaiden]

I hope the game has got harder too as you really shouldn't be able to win a WDC in a Virgin. I don't have a steering wheel and have to rely on automatic gears unfortunately but I race everything else turned off and I'm still finding it too easy. I thought the shading and rendering was brilliant in the last game and enjoyed the tones that took away the bright fake colours of previous racing games. You only have to look at Gran Turismo 5 to see how bad the graphics are in comparison to F1 2010 IMO. I waited 5 long years for Gran Turismo 5, bought it, played it, traded it.. So disappointed. :(

So far that Stephen Hood guy says the game AI and handling has improved tremendously, so that can mean only good things. Although I'll be patient and take everything with a pinch of salt. They said a lot of goody-goody stuff last year to hype F1 2010, and then released a heavily bugged game.

I got several podiums and wins in a Lotus on hardest difficulty, i.e. expert mode, with all assists off, and from then on pretty much blitzed the championship, again on expert mode. I really hope it gets mega difficult this time, and the handling provides more challenges. So far the developer diaries paint a good picture.

[bblocker68]

So, F1 2011 comes out tomorrow. I'm pre-loaded and ready to rock. Who's with me?? I'll be starting up a Co-op Championship with my buddy. Looking forward to it.

Steam ID:bblocker68
Games for Windows ID: bblocker68

Feel free to add me.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

So, F1 2011 comes out tomorrow. I'm pre-loaded and ready to rock. Who's with me?? I'll be starting up a Co-op Championship with my buddy. Looking forward to it.

Steam ID:bblocker68
Games for Windows ID: bblocker68

Feel free to add me.

We have to wait till the 23rd in the UK :(

[Jake Stephens]

I'm really looking forward to Friday, off work to collect it from HMV :)

[i_max2k2]

So, F1 2011 comes out tomorrow. I'm pre-loaded and ready to rock. Who's with me?? I'll be starting up a Co-op Championship with my buddy. Looking forward to it.

Steam ID:bblocker68
Games for Windows ID: bblocker68

Feel free to add me.

I have it preloaded too, I'll add you once I'm home, and I have to find someone for co-op :)

[Jake Stephens]

Let us over here know how it goes guys :)

[i_max2k2]

First impressions are that the game looks much better, high resolution textures do most of that. I could feel the car more and anticipate spins better, the cars are much harder to push, my wheel (G27) settings were completely off from the 2010 settings. The values have changed considerably for the wheel, and I still haven't found the best settings yet. With the DRS and Kers the game is much more fun, and if I used the DRS any more then a straight it would do the same thing as in life, I accidentally tried taking the eau rouge with DRS and landed up in the barriers :)

I have it on PC and with everything cranked up my system wasn't getting the framerates I was expecting, I have 2 6950's (unlocked) in crossfire for 1920x1200, but the fps was around 30-40 mark, so the drivers aren't optimized as yet.

[bblocker68]

Here's a preview from one of the lucky ones:

F1 2011 Preview - Singapore - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueOHRJ-xpW4&feature=player_embedded)

I think I'm feeling.....sick.....cough....cough. Man, I wanna go home right now.

Guys are saying the car is much more alive and you do a Maldonado if you hit the DRS in the middle of the turn, so it's encouraging. Setups are about the same. We get a fuel mixture button this time around. I have a dial on my Logitech DFGT just waiting for it :)

[Jake Stephens]

Looks great, thanks for the opinions guys.

[truefan72]

looks good
will probably get it in the next week or so

Have they added a proper replay system that look like a TV replay and inboards for 2011?
have they added a race save or lap save function that can export properly?

[Plan9]

Got it. Won Malaysia in a Williams. Stoked as hell already with this. I just wish they would have bonus cars from different eras of the sport as rewards.

[i_max2k2]

looks good
will probably get it in the next week or so

Have they added a proper replay system that look like a TV replay and inboards for 2011?
have they added a race save or lap save function that can export properly?

No & No, from what I have seen so far, but the car itself seems much more on the edge, its much harder to push the car. I drove a F2000 a couple weeks back, and I felt a lot of similarity in how delicate the cars feel in reality and in this game.

Btw this could also be because I still haven't found the best wheel settings yet :p

[Kevincal]

Unfortunately in F1 2011 people are finding tons of bugs and the laps times are way off from real life again. :( I guess they care more about making money off F1 than quality. Dont get me wrong, still a cool game, but just a slap in the face that they continue releasing games riddled with bugs etc.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Unfortunately in F1 2011 people are finding tons of bugs and the laps times are way off from real life again. :( I guess they care more about making money off F1 than quality. Dont get me wrong, still a cool game, but just a slap in the face that they continue releasing games riddled with bugs etc.

I've not played the game yet but all of the bugs I've read about aren't really bugs at all.

E.g. complaints about not being able to change setups between qualifying, ballast distribution etc. These are the rules in F1 this year...

[Allyc85]

Unfortunately in F1 2011 people are finding tons of bugs and the laps times are way off from real life again. :( I guess they care more about making money off F1 than quality. Dont get me wrong, still a cool game, but just a slap in the face that they continue releasing games riddled with bugs etc.

What bugs are they? Ive heard the AI really dosnt like to overtake you unless its using the DRS and then you can just out brake them at the next corner?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

What bugs are they? Ive heard the AI really dosnt like to overtake you unless its using the DRS and then you can just out brake them at the next corner?

Just like real -life :p

[i_max2k2]

What bugs are they? Ive heard the AI really dosnt like to overtake you unless its using the DRS and then you can just out brake them at the next corner?

Oh you mean more like real life :p

[Allyc85]

Well you two told me :laugh:

[Daniel]

Just bought it and played it for an hour. First impressions are that its harder to play than F1 2010 which is a bonus because the last one was far too easy IMO. The graphics on the otherhand are nowhere near as good as the last game. The environment renders lack texture and the colour looks false. I loved to be able to see the surface of the tyre in the last game as the sun lit up the surface but the Pirelli tyres look like solid black shapes that don't really look realistic IMO. The racing line indicator is set for 'corners only' and it appears to hover about a metre above the track surface and its difficult to see where to break and cars ahead seem to get lost in the colour of this ridiculous line.

I like the email system they have put back into the game which is similar to 'Championship Edition' from a few years ago. More helmet designs in career mode is also cool. But as I said I'm disappointed with the graphics so far and they look closer to the 6 year old Championship Edition than F1 2010 IMO. I'm going to have a play with the settings and see if I can optimize them for my system and hopefully this will improve.

What system have you got Henners?

[Allyc85]

Maybe we should all comment in the F1 2011 thread at the top of the page :)

[Daniel]

A ps3.

Ah :D

[CaptainRaiden]

The graphics on the otherhand are nowhere near as good as the last game. The environment renders lack texture and the colour looks false. I loved to be able to see the surface of the tyre in the last game as the sun lit up the surface but the Pirelli tyres look like solid black shapes that don't really look realistic IMO.

But as I said I'm disappointed with the graphics so far and they look closer to the 6 year old Championship Edition than F1 2010 IMO. I'm going to have a play with the settings and see if I can optimize them for my system and hopefully this will improve.

The graphics problem you're talking about is now a known issue on the PS3 for F1 2011. I read a couple of threads on the Codemasters forum. I have no idea why only the PS3 has problems so far. Lots of users are complaining about pixelated track, lacking texture, and oversaturated color.

Someone did a side-by-side F1 2010 and F1 2011 comparison for the PC, and IMO the F1 2011 just looks brilliant. With the brighter sunlight, it makes F1 2010 look dull and depressing. Plus PC users are reporting a frame rate jump, which means it runs smoother now.

zRaBleTt8gk

I have the game loaded and everything, will play it tomorrow. Can't wait! :)

[kfzmeister]

I noticed yesterday that while taking turn 8 in Turkey that with it floored, the rear easily breaks out. I managed to put the car in a violent spin that seemed to not stop. I bet i went around 3-4 times before finally crashing. That never happened with last year's game.
I took a little wing off the front and it seemed to help, yet boy is it sensitive with the steering.
I've noticed that i've had to run a stiffer suspension than before.

Anybody experience the safetycar, yet??

[Jake Stephens]

Yep, I found turn 8 was nigh on impossible too, tried it with traction control and it was manageable. Enjoying the difficulty & finding the right set up though. I went from F1 2010 on PS3 to Xbox for 2011, glad I did now when I hear about the issues with the PS3 version.

[i_max2k2]

2011 Lighting is much better then 2010, the car as I said earlier is much harder between long sweeping corners.

[CaptainRaiden]

This game is AWESOME! Looks a LOT better than F1 2010, the lighting, reflections, environment etc. at least on the PC. Runs a lot smoother too with the higher framerate. Haven't seen it on the PS3, but Codemasters will soon release a patch to fix the graphics there is what I read.

Now for the handling part. I'm glad this is much harder than F1 2010. Tracks like Melbourne and Interlagos became so easy in F1 2010, where you could just take the corners flat out. Not in this one. Also, the steering and force feedback settings are completely different. There's now much more force feedback, so much so that I had to dial it down. For example I'm using FFB at 70% in the Logitech settings, and 40% in game. It was rumbling THAT much. Took me around 2-3 hours to find the proper settings that I was comfortable with, but I'm still not completely confident. Also, the advanced wheel settings have to be put ALL on 0%, at least for the Momo.

After doing a lot of tweaking, I improved more than 6 seconds, and with basic setup did a 1:23.00 at Melbourne and a 1:12.477 at Monaco. Would be interesting to know how those times are compared to other folks here.

I did a 1:12.8 last year at Monaco on F1 2010:

_2qwOpXbeos

This looks SO easy compared to F1 2011. Guys who haven't played the new one yet, if you wanna know how F1 2011 is. Imagine a better looking, faster and twitchier version. The car is just on the freakin edge on every corner now, at least on Monaco. You've got to make a lot more corrections and be much more mindful and gentle on the throttle.

Another thing I like is how they've implemented DRS and KERS. The DRS deactivates once you hit the brakes before the corners, but if it's a fast sweeping corner and you forget to close the DRS, and you try to take it full throttle, there is no way in hell you're not spinning out. I also like the new career mode, definitely a big improvement. So far a big thumbs up. Haven't run into any bugs yet.

Also, being as unbiased as I can, I love the new India circuit. There's this particular left-right combination, where it's just so much fun to throw the car around. Love it!

Add me on Games for Windows Live if ya wanna race:

GFWL ID: CaptainRaiden

[Brown, Jon Brow]

After playing the game for less than a day I'm less than satisfied.

The handling is much improved and the cars are great to drive.

But, the A.I is far too dopey, they never overtake and just sit on the apex during in-laps. Plus, after selecting 'Return to Paddock' after my Malaysia qualifying I was skipped to China practice?? :confused:

[steveaki13]

Can someone answer these couple of questions.

1. Do the AI ever retire in less I run into them?
2. Do they ever have contact or spin?

[Daniel]

Unless you are playing it on a PS3 which is frustrating. As CaptainRaiden says the colours are over saturated and super bright giving it a more cartoon environment, and the cars don't show reflections very well at all. When driving the McLaren the detail around the cockpit is pixelated and the mirror effect render looks nothing like the real thing IMO. Is there anybody else here playing it on a PS3 and as disappointed with this edition? I was so looking forward to this game coming out and expected it to be an improved version of 2010, but grapically its appalling. I hope there is a patch in the pipeline and this is something that can be sorted.. :(

I have to say this is why I generally prefer to play on a PC. If the graphics aren't perfect then someone will usually come along and offer a pack to sort it out.

[Allyc85]

Ive just done a bit of time trial around Abu Dhabi at night and the graphics on the xbox 360 are terrible, yet on other tracks like Singapore in the rain they look amazing!

[woody2goody]

Unless you are playing it on a PS3 which is frustrating. As CaptainRaiden says the colours are over saturated and super bright giving it a more cartoon environment, and the cars don't show reflections very well at all. When driving the McLaren the detail around the cockpit is pixelated and the mirror effect render looks nothing like the real thing IMO. Is there anybody else here playing it on a PS3 and as disappointed with this edition? I was so looking forward to this game coming out and expected it to be an improved version of 2010, but grapically its appalling. I hope there is a patch in the pipeline and this is something that can be sorted.. :(

I'm a bit disappointed with the framerate on most tracks, however handling and racing-wise the game is fantastic. There are quite a few bugs but for me the game will be 10 out of 10 once they are sorted out :)

[CaptainRaiden]

After playing the game for less than a day I'm less than satisfied.

The handling is much improved and the cars are great to drive.

But, the A.I is far too dopey, they never overtake and just sit on the apex during in-laps. Plus, after selecting 'Return to Paddock' after my Malaysia qualifying I was skipped to China practice?? :confused:

What difficulty level are you running?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

What difficulty level are you running?

I've been playing on expert (no assists, Legend A.I) in a Lotus. My best race result is only 19th (altough is says I finished 16th in Malaysia even though it skipped the race for me) and I'm always faster than Trulli, Virgin, HRT's but around 2 seconds per lap slower than the mid-field teams which seems about right.

I took a McLaren round Singapore last night with 11/11 springs and it handles like a cartoon. This is putting me off from going online. 11/11 suspension , TC and ABS is going to make it a joke. It's about 10 seconds faster than real life. In F1 2010 the times with tyre sim where fairly close to real life.

Whilst the A.i race pace is good they still have really poor race-craft. They will never try to outbrake you and their pace for the first few corners of a race is embarrassing. I'm getting the Lotus from 19th on the grid to 11th on lap 1.


It's an odd game. A bit like owning an Alfa. When everything is working it is superb, but there are a few niggling issues that ruin the experience.

[steveaki13]

Well I had another go on it today after a break over the weekend and was shocked when I tried Singapore. The refresh rate is awful and looks worse than any other track by far. I tried a quick lap on Melbourne and thought I would film the replay on my phone. I couldn't believe my eyes when the replay renders absolutely fine and looks similar in quality to F1 2010!! Why can the graphics in-game look so bad but a replay be fine? I keep saying but this needs to be sorted out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxwqf4ajxhw

PS: Ignore my poor lap, I was just doing a quick demo and the lap was invalidated anyway.. :p


Its says this video is private.

If you don't want me to watch your video Henners just say so. :bigcry:

[CaptainRaiden]

I've been playing on expert (no assists, Legend A.I) in a Lotus. My best race result is only 19th (altough is says I finished 16th in Malaysia even though it skipped the race for me) and I'm always faster than Trulli, Virgin, HRT's but around 2 seconds per lap slower than the mid-field teams which seems about right.

I took a McLaren round Singapore last night with 11/11 springs and it handles like a cartoon. This is putting me off from going online. 11/11 suspension , TC and ABS is going to make it a joke. It's about 10 seconds faster than real life. In F1 2010 the times with tyre sim where fairly close to real life.

Whilst the A.i race pace is good they still have really poor race-craft. They will never try to outbrake you and their pace for the first few corners of a race is embarrassing. I'm getting the Lotus from 19th on the grid to 11th on lap 1.


It's an odd game. A bit like owning an Alfa. When everything is working it is superb, but there are a few niggling issues that ruin the experience.

Well, I'm also running no assists, manual gears and highest difficulty i.e. Expert here, and the AI seems a tad easy, but not too much. I'm playing with a Force India, and qualified 4th in Australia, finished 3rd in the race, after losing 2nd due to low fuel to Alonso. :mad: In Malaysia, I qualified 6th and barely finished 4th after being haggled by Buemi all throughout the race. I know unrealistic positions for a Force India, but I'm using an FFB wheel after a lot of messing around and tweaking, and also using race setups from F1 2011 Setups (http://www.racedepartment.com/f1-2011-setups/)

I literally drove the crap out of my car in both races, even suffering engine failure twice in practice during Australia, but the AI always managed to be faster. And they race like hell for the first 4 positions at least. For ex. Lewis passing me in the pits. The pole times with tyre and fuel sim on, all assists off on the highest difficulty i.e. Expert are about 2 seconds faster than reality, which is not much. But of course Time Trial is another story altogether. I did a 1:19.5 with a stupid penalty at Melbourne FFS! I can easily do it again. That's 5 seconds faster than my qualifying time in career and highly unrealistic, albeit TT is supposed to be that, unrealistic, especially with tyre and fuel sim off. That's essentially a car running on fumes with super grippy tyres.

But having said all of that, I haven't seen really brilliant AI in any F1 game I have played ever. They were always easily beatable, at least in this the frontrunners are a challenge. That's why we play online anyway, to get a bigger challenge. F1 2010 became REALLY easy later on, I have around 200 victories online over a year. I won a race in Lotus in career mode on Expert FFS! I'd say F1 2011 has been a bigger challenge than that! Even though the AI has been fairly easy so far, and I expect to win my first race in a Force India soon, it's still more fun, driving wise. But I'll probably get into a league to get some real challenge going soon.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Currently 17th on the Xbox Live leaderboard for Valencia with a 1.30.6 :D

I really feel I can get into the top 10 on a 1.29 but I can't hook all my sectors up. Not bad for a controller pad player!

[bblocker68]

Nice job! Not bad at all.

Started a Co-op championship with a buddy of mine. That's the most fun I've had since iRacing was new in 2008!

We're going to take Renault back to the Championship :)

[CaptainRaiden]

Nice job! Not bad at all.

Started a Co-op championship with a buddy of mine. That's the most fun I've had since iRacing was new in 2008!

We're going to take Renault back to the Championship :)

Nice! :up:

So, how does it work really? Obviously you and your friend have to be there at the same time for the race, but I'm guessing you can qualify separately whenever you have time? Or do the both of you have to be present for all sessions i.e. practice, qualifying and race?

[schmenke]

Good to hear positive comments, although I'll wait for the RWC to be over before I make my purchase ;) .

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I can't play a 16 car online race without lagging :( (Xbox live)

I have 6.5 mbps download and 0.4 mbps upload.......

[bblocker68]

Nice! :up:

So, how does it work really? Obviously you and your friend have to be there at the same time for the race, but I'm guessing you can qualify separately whenever you have time? Or do the both of you have to be present for all sessions i.e. practice, qualifying and race?

I set it up and then invited him. We did a short weekend and 20% race. I beat him out of the pits and won by a slip margin. It was great.

When we went back to the Co-op screen, it was all setup and ready to go for the next race. I think we're going to race at Malaysia tomorrow. It looks like either one of us can host the next race. pretty cool!

[Allyc85]

Found a nice glitch in the game yesterday where Barrichello's car was smoking for 4 out of 6 races I did in a mini championship, and after running my HRT too low at Suzuka the game showed it too low for the remaining 3 races. Do they not test their games before release at Codemasters?

[Allyc85]

Patches are out today for all formats, though im still getting penalties for my car being hit from behind and ive found that on Singapore the car monitor in the pits is far too over exposed!

Even with all the faults im still enjoying the game, especially all the overtaking aids and the great job they have done on car/circuit modelling.

[Bruce D]

Finally got the game last night. All I can say is compared to 2010 this is AWESOME! :D It runs much smoother on my machine and I like all the effects the updates. Very tricky in heavy rain with all assists off. Can't say I'm a fan of the India track, I think there will be little overtaking there in the race, even with that long back straight.

[Allyc85]

Quite happy to be in the top 350 fastest lap times around Korea with a 1.33.5 out of over 4000 people :)

I just need to stop taking too much kerb in places as I keep getting laps penalised!

[Allyc85]

Codemasters have confirmed there will be another patch for all formats with more info in the middle of next week.

[Phillrata]

In my opinion this is the best simulatio I ever played, probably because Formula 1 is my favourite sport since i was kid. Few days ago me and friend played it, and it was realy awesome, we played it like a 10 hours without stop at all, when you hear sound of formula, u just cant stop, probably most of you understand me :)

[heliocastroneves#3]

Well... I don't, have you ever tried rFactor or iRacing? THAT are real simulators, just give it a try. I'm pretty sure everyone here likes it. :)

Gotta try these things, worth every penny and will improve your confidence Heel lifts (http://pazintys.norvegijoje.eu/member/blog_post_view.php?postId=19050)

[FIAT1]

In my opinion this is the best simulatio I ever played, probably because Formula 1 is my favourite sport since i was kid. Few days ago me and friend played it, and it was realy awesome, we played it like a 10 hours without stop at all, when you hear sound of formula, u just cant stop, probably most of you understand me :)

Agree, there is nothing like a sound of Formula 1 car.

[Allyc85]

F1 2012 gameplay video of the new circuit in America!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWa2ZSZcUq8

[Bruce D]

Watched this the other day. I can still see all the issues I had with the last game, so no money from me.

[Allyc85]

What issues were they?

[Bruce D]

Well the main one for me was whether you're doing 60 or 260km/h it all feels the same. No sense of speed at all. Brakes seem very tricky again. And why would you adjust the brake bias rearwards when approaching a tight corner at top speed? Just shows the fronts lock too much.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Well the main one for me was whether you're doing 60 or 260km/h it all feels the same. No sense of speed at all. Brakes seem very tricky again. And why would you adjust the brake bias rearwards when approaching a tight corner at top speed? Just shows the fronts lock too much.

No sense of speed? Are you kidding me?

They were clearly showing the feature of 'adjustable brake bias'. Rearwards brake bias would be very helpful for turn 1 at China and turn 14 at Malaysia.

[Bruce D]

No sense of speed? Are you kidding me?

I do stand to be corrected. I know that two weeks ago I finally got some help on a steering issue I was having which means the game is much more fun. As for sense of speed, the game seems ok if you play it on its own but the one night I went from it to F1 Challenge and wow it was a massive difference. But F1 2011 does have it's strong points and is better than 2010 was.

Can't help but think looking at that video that their drawings they worked on didn't have all the elevation changes. Looking at this thread http://www.motorsportforums.com/f1/145813-austin-set-june-17-2012-a.html they look more dramatic than the game shows.

[lcd]

4goPW3A-6ac

[Bruce D]

Not a great review, but honest I think. Rant rant rant: My thoughts on the F1 2012 Demo and more » WTF1 (http://wtf1.co.uk/rant-rant-rant-my-thoughts-on-the-f1-2012-demo-and-more/)

[A FONDO]

Have they fixed the GTA-style NPC traffic?
Anyway I will try it but only for the new Austin track.

[rjbetty]

I just got the 2011 game last week or so. Is it just me or is the handling really weird and unrealistic (I wouldn't know if it was unrealistic)?

The car bounces around weirdly as you steer, like it's bobbing on water or something. Is this the way it should be...? :(

The presentation of the game however, was very impressive I thought.

[Bruce D]

Nope don't remember it bouncing around at all. Too much beer? :p

[rjbetty]

Nope don't remember it bouncing around at all. Too much beer? :p

It feels weird when I turn, even round a wide curve, like you're losing massive amounts of momentum, more than I feel you should. :(
Maybe I've just gotta be aggressive and stop pussyfooting around the track trying to "learn". :p

[Bruce D]

Looks like F1 2012 is getting very mixed reviews now. Some say it's the best, some say it's terrible. Apparently only one practice session and no tyre-wear in shorter races.

[steve_spackman]

Looks like i will be keeping away from the short races then. The game looks great...yet to buy it.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Looks like F1 2012 is getting very mixed reviews now. Some say it's the best, some say it's terrible. Apparently only one practice session and no tyre-wear in shorter races.

Do we really need 4 hours of practice every race? An hour is plenty time to get used to the track and set your car up. It's not that there isn't any tyre wear, it's just that the wear rate is no longer determined by race length but is the same.

I'm loving it so far. I can't wait to start my 100% racing league. It looks and sounds superb compared with last years game.

[Bruce D]

Do we really need 4 hours of practice every race? An hour is plenty time to get used to the track and set your car up. It's not that there isn't any tyre wear, it's just that the wear rate is no longer determined by race length but is the same.

Thanks for clearing up my understanding of the tyre wear situation :up:

The length of practice would only be an issue if they took into account the time needed to change settings, like Superbikes 2011 does when you ask your engineer to change settings and it costs a certain amount of time.

[Allyc85]

It's not that there isn't any tyre wear, it's just that the wear rate is no longer determined by race length but is the same.



And yet I still manage to spin a rediculous amount of times on worn tyres after 5 laps :laugh:

Good game though, still slightly spoiled by the penalties system where you can get one for being hit by another car! Or even better when you overtake through a corner you try and give the place back, but the AI wont pass so you get a penalty for that!

[darkos]

Because of the steering issues i can tell the same about it. Steering is everything and for me is messed up. Weird.

[rjbetty]

Because of the steering issues i can tell the same about it. Steering is everything and for me is messed up. Weird.

Hmmmm is the steering the same as in the other games? I don't know why, but for some reason I can't get much handle on it in F1 2011. It has a real Colin Mcrae Rally 4 feel to it, and I never really got into that game. I wonder who developed that game? Ah hang on...!

(Wow I sound like a real F1 driver moaning about the car not being right, cos I'm not doing well - failing to meet targets in career mode in HRT...)

I think I've maybe struggled cos I'm trying too hard to save the tyre wear, and I'm being like Jenson around mid-season and not getting them switched on at all...? I'm too conservative, like an old guy winding down my career these days, and I'm still only in my 20s!! Maybe I'll just try going for it and pushing next time I play. Given the handling seems to be a bad compromise between sim and arcade, I guess the arcadey bit might mean you can push and not have the tyres go off the cliff. :)

P.S. I still think Grand Prix 2 is the best. I'm going to play it now.

[rjbetty]

Just been bought F1 2012 and I must say I love it. The last two games have been too easy IMO and love the fact even on easy mode when you are learning the game, it still forces you to think about cornering speeds and when to accelerate. It feels like I am learning the game all over again which is fun. Just qualified 15th in a Force India for the Malaysian GP but loving the challenge. :)

Wow F1 2011 too easy?! :)
I had one go of it a couple of months back on career mode in an HRT and I had such a top time getting anywhere near the top 20, and I'm not too bad at other games.
But it sounds like tyre wear is more serious in F1 2012? This might play into my hands as I tend to pussyfoot around being afraid to put a mark on the car or any stress on the tyres at all. (might explain why I was dog slow on my one go at F1 2011 too). :)

[rjbetty]

So is F1 2012 going ok?

Is anyone else playing F1 2011 like I am? I just recently discovered it. I'm doing career mode in an HRT. It's not easy and I'm struggling, but do seem to be improving. Most tracks on my season I am playing for the first time. I am doing 50% distances and short weekends (1 hr practice, quali and race).

My Results:
1.Australia Q-24 R-23/23 Runners - Just hopeless. I have recently been learning manual gears and to be honest am finding it a real struggle. The real drivers make it look so easy, but it takes quite a lot more mental capacity.

2.Malaysia Q-23 R-22/24 - Outqualified Liuzzi and finished ahead of 2 cars. This was much better. I like Malaysia and tend to go quite well here on games. I kept locking up as I have no braking assists into turn 15, the corner that Perez ran wide on in 2012. At least I didn't come last - a very good improvement - and I briefly ran as high as 9th on lap 1!!

3.China Q24 R24/24 - Back to reality after Malaysia. I find it tricky in the wet, and the track is difficult but I enjoy the challenge Tilke has created. But I didn't qualify far off the back this time. Made so many mistakes in tough wet race, but towards the end I caught 2 cars in front of me and was dicing with them for 22nd before spinning and finishing just a few secs behind. Very tough race but reason for encouragement.

4.Turkey Q24 R21/21 - An utter catastrophe and another wet weekend. I suffered my first terminal crash in qualifying and was around 9secs off the pace. The race was even more woeful. I was all at sea spinning several times at turn 8. I just couldn't get into it. I finished over 3 laps down (50% distance too and a long lap). I managed to crash into Alonso and Alguersuari near the end causing their retirements. My highest finish of 21st scored only cos there were 21 cars.

I was feeling pretty down after this. :( In real life I would almost certainly have been sacked after these first 4 races. Any driver in this situation in real life would have been extremely fortunate to have been given another chance.

5.SPAIN - Q19 R19 - Wow just the boost I needed. This went brilliantly, scoring by far my best results.

6.MONACO Q23 (start 24rd) R18 - Found this track a struggle, but made some setup changes and started to find speed. Was doing well in the race gaining more confidence, but I crashed into Buemi in the pits forcing the first of at least 2 drive-thru penalties. I also had to make at least 1 more unscheduled stop for a wing. I'm sure that happened more than once. I have had drive-thru penalties at almost every race... Yet despite all this I benefited from Hamilton's retirement to grab a surprise 18th - my best finish!

7.CANADA Q24 (start 23rd) R19 - A reality check after Monaco, I just didn't have the pace in qualifying, but I was close to the cars in front. It was hard to find the pace in a wet race, but I stuck at it despite unscheduled stops. My tyres were really wearing towards the end and Glock was all over me, but I stayed consistent to win 'class 2' again!

8.VALENCIA Q19 (start 24th) R12 - My best race so far, given that I have actually practiced this track several times. My best quali of the year matching best of 19th but further ahead of others. I knew I had a good chance of scoring my best result, maybe as high as 16th if it went really well. In fact it was much better! Sadly I got a drive-thru after hitting someone at the start, but I worked my way up to 10th!! As other cars pitted, I picked off Jenson at turn 1 as he exited the pits (just pipped him) and held him behind me. I almost did the same to Hamilton but I was too hesitant - if I had I would have been running an incredible 4th. My final stop dropped me to 14th/15th sadly, but other cars pitted when I thought they wouldn't, and I found myself back in 10th with Perez and Maldonado all over me. I knew I could keep them behind if I stayed consistent which I have showed I can do. But coming in to the last lap what's this?!! I'm running out of fuel and the car is losing power. NOOOO, on the back straight I am (literally) powerless to stop Perez and Maldonado sweeping past. By the last corner the car has slowed down to a 2nd gear trickle, but there is a huge gap to Alguersuari in 13th so I easily got 12th. Really gutting but I was so encouraged by my pace as it was far higher than expected!

9.THE NEW SILVERSTONE - Q24 R23/24
Coming back to earth with a bump, struggled to learn the new Silverstone in the wet practice and quali. I start to find more speed as the track dries but am unable to take advantage due to problems and remain last, but pretty close. A good start again spoiled by over-aggression and a penalty, I do start to claw up from 23rd, but towards the end everyone pits for intermediates including me, but the team didn't change my tyres!! I didn't understand I had to choose them myself. So I had to pit again. I was so discouraged I lost my focus and spun several times to a disappointing 23rd, ony avoiding last as Jerome D'Ambrosio dropped a minute on lap 1.

10.NURBURGRING - Q24 R18
A bl***y tough weekend I have to say, a real reality check after Valencia. Struggling on setup and pace but close the gap for quali. Still 2 seconds off Trulli ahead though. Not expecting much for the race even though I tend to be a good bit quicker than in Q. It was a great result to be running ahead of both Williamses, even though I did put Barrichello into the wall! Oops. I was also running in 17th ahead of Schumacher too at the start, but I let him by too easily into turn 1. I did the same to Maldonado though he didn't have it as easy. By the time Rubens came, I'd learned my lesson and stayed ahead, though coming out of the last corner he drew right alongside me (I sacrificed much straightline speed on my setup) and I was fortunate the finish line wasn;t further down than it was!

11.HUNGARY Q19 - R DSQ!
Another struggle on setup came good in the end as I grabbed 19th. Went on the grass down the inside coming towards turn 1 at the start. Was disappointed to get a penalty for this, but I did outbrake myself again and hit cars... Disappointingly didn't make much progress after that though I picked off a couple of cars. Got another penalty when Barrichello drove into the back of me! :eek: I wasn't much into this and kept cutting the turn 6-7 chicane increasingly consecutively to earn a Disqualification.

[steveaki13]

So is F1 2012 going ok?

Is anyone else playing F1 2011 like I am? I just recently discovered it. I'm doing career mode in an HRT. It's not easy and I'm struggling, but do seem to be improving. Most tracks on my season I am playing for the first time. I am doing 50% distances and short weekends (1 hr practice, quali and race).

My Results:
1.Australia Q-24 R-23/23 Runners - Just hopeless. I have recently been learning manual gears and to be honest am finding it a real struggle. The real drivers make it look so easy, but it takes quite a lot more mental capacity.

2.Malaysia Q-23 R-22/24 - Outqualified Liuzzi and finished ahead of 2 cars. This was much better. I like Malaysia and tend to go quite well here on games. I kept locking up as I have no braking assists into turn 15, the corner that Perez ran wide on in 2012. At least I didn't come last - a very good improvement - and I briefly ran as high as 9th on lap 1!!

3.China Q24 R24/24 - Back to reality after Malaysia. I find it tricky in the wet, and the track is difficult but I enjoy the challenge Tilke has created. But I didn't qualify far off the back this time. Made so many mistakes in tough wet race, but towards the end I caught 2 cars in front of me and was dicing with them for 22nd before spinning and finishing just a few secs behind. Very tough race but reason for encouragement.

4.Turkey Q24 R21/21 - An utter catastrophe and another wet weekend. I suffered my first terminal crash in qualifying and was around 9secs off the pace. The race was even more woeful. I was all at sea spinning several times at turn 8. I just couldn't get into it. I finished over 3 laps down (50% distance too and a long lap). I managed to crash into Alonso and Alguersuari near the end causing their retirements. My highest finish of 21st scored only cos there were 21 cars.

I was feeling pretty down after this. :( In real life I would almost certainly have been sacked after these first 4 races. Any driver in this situation in real life would have been extremely fortunate to have been given another chance.

5.SPAIN - Q19 R19 - Wow just the boost I needed. This went brilliantly, scoring by far my best results.

6.MONACO Q23 (start 24rd) R18 - Found this track a struggle, but made some setup changes and started to find speed. Was doing well in the race gaining more confidence, but I crashed into Buemi in the pits forcing the first of at least 2 drive-thru penalties. I also had to make at least 1 more unscheduled stop for a wing. I'm sure that happened more than once. I have had drive-thru penalties at almost every race... Yet despite all this I benefited from Hamilton's retirement to grab a surprise 18th - my best finish!

7.CANADA Q24 (start 23rd) R19 - A reality check after Monaco, I just didn't have the pace in qualifying, but I was close to the cars in front. It was hard to find the pace in a wet race, but I stuck at it despite unscheduled stops. My tyres were really wearing towards the end and Glock was all over me, but I stayed consistent to win 'class 2' again!

8.VALENCIA Q19 (start 24th) R12 - My best race so far, given that I have actually practiced this track several times. My best quali of the year matching best of 19th but further ahead of others. I knew I had a good chance of scoring my best result, maybe as high as 16th if it went really well. In fact it was much better! Sadly I got a drive-thru after hitting someone at the start, but I worked my way up to 10th!! As other cars pitted, I picked off Jenson at turn 1 as he exited the pits (just pipped him) and held him behind me. I almost did the same to Hamilton but I was too hesitant - if I had I would have been running an incredible 4th. My final stop dropped me to 14th/15th sadly, but other cars pitted when I thought they wouldn't, and I found myself back in 10th with Perez and Maldonado all over me. I knew I could keep them behind if I stayed consistent which I have showed I can do. But coming in to the last lap what's this?!! I'm running out of fuel and the car is losing power. NOOOO, on the back straight I am (literally) powerless to stop Perez and Maldonado sweeping past. By the last corner the car has slowed down to a 2nd gear trickle, but there is a huge gap to Alguersuari in 13th so I easily got 12th. Really gutting but I was so encouraged by my pace as it was far higher than expected!

9.THE NEW SILVERSTONE - Q24 R23/24
Coming back to earth with a bump, struggled to learn the new Silverstone in the wet practice and quali. I start to find more speed as the track dries but am unable to take advantage due to problems and remain last, but pretty close. A good start again spoiled by over-aggression and a penalty, I do start to claw up from 23rd, but towards the end everyone pits for intermediates including me, but the team didn't change my tyres!! I didn't understand I had to choose them myself. So I had to pit again. I was so discouraged I lost my focus and spun several times to a disappointing 23rd, ony avoiding last as Jerome D'Ambrosio dropped a minute on lap 1.

10.NURBURGRING - Q24 R18
A bl***y tough weekend I have to say, a real reality check after Valencia. Struggling on setup and pace but close the gap for quali. Still 2 seconds off Trulli ahead though. Not expecting much for the race even though I tend to be a good bit quicker than in Q. It was a great result to be running ahead of both Williamses, even though I did put Barrichello into the wall! Oops. I was also running in 17th ahead of Schumacher too at the start, but I let him by too easily into turn 1. I did the same to Maldonado though he didn't have it as easy. By the time Rubens came, I'd learned my lesson and stayed ahead, though coming out of the last corner he drew right alongside me (I sacrificed much straightline speed on my setup) and I was fortunate the finish line wasn;t further down than it was!

11.HUNGARY Q19 - R DSQ!
Another struggle on setup came good in the end as I grabbed 19th. Went on the grass down the inside coming towards turn 1 at the start. Was disappointed to get a penalty for this, but I did outbrake myself again and hit cars... Disappointingly didn't make much progress after that though I picked off a couple of cars. Got another penalty when Barrichello drove into the back of me! :eek: I wasn't much into this and kept cutting the turn 6-7 chicane increasingly consecutively to earn a Disqualification.

Great mid season review. Let us know the final outcome.

By the way what game was this F1 2011 or this years 2012?

[rjbetty]

Haha ok! It's F1 2011. I'm on Singapore now. Always wanted to drive that track! Didn't realise I'd written so much above! I've got a lot (too much) of free time right now... :)

12.SPA Q21 (start 24th) R20 - Hmmm I don't know why I'm not being that much quicker in races than in quali recently. Trying too hard at turn 1 again = penalty. I'm being real slow to learn... but it was NOTHING compared to what Grosjean did this year! Good fighting climbing back but man, tyres are wearing like crazy. On my final pitstop I did something wrong because they didn't change my tyres!! So I'm crawling round the last few laps struggling, but still in 20th (which is the objective too) a few secs behind Kovalainen. I am holding off Glock who's all over me. My tyres are shot and I'm sliding everywhere with little traction looking like losing places - but I hold on! On the last corner, I have to brake earlier for the tyres, to make the corner, while keeping Glock behind. I do it as Kovalainen inexplicably pits, so I inherit the 'class B' win! Except my shot tyres cause me to run wide on the exit. I just can't get traction so Glock is able to get past!! I was pretty fortunate to not do worse than that!

13.ITALY - Q21 (start 24th) R20
Same as Belgium really. Barrichello drove into me at the start but I stayed on track, heading down the inside into turn 1 (which becomes outside for the 2nd part) - while I tiptoe round the outside, seemingly 5 or 6 cars blatantly straightline the chicane and pass me :eek: ! Tyres weren't changed again! 20th behind Glock, but was catching him pretty well despite bad tyres. I could have held a delayed Heidfeld behind me if I'd tried harder, and I hadn't let all those cheaters through at turn 1.

14.SINGAPORE - only free practice (I do short weekend, 1hr FP only) - enjoying the track, but initally 15sec off the pace, then 11. Down to 6 at the end, but it starts raining. Will do qualy next time where it looks to be chucking it down... (ulp)

(not happy with my driving overall really - I was miles better when I was a bit younger :) )


'Class B' (new teams) results:
6th 4th 6th 6th 1st 1st 1st 1st 5th 1st DSQ 2nd 2nd

Outqualified Liuzzi: 5-8
Outraced Liuzzi: 8-5

[steveaki13]

With the tyre wear.

Had you used all of you 6 sets through Qualifying and Race, because once you have worn all 6 sets, they either dont change them cause you have no new ones left or do change them but for equally worn ones.

Just a thought.

[rjbetty]

With the tyre wear.

Had you used all of you 6 sets through Qualifying and Race, because once you have worn all 6 sets, they either dont change them cause you have no new ones left or do change them but for equally worn ones.

Just a thought.

YES! I realise now that's what happened in Italy. With Silverstone I had to actively choose tyres by pressing "right" x2 to bring up the menu. I thought they'd put inters on automatically, but they kept me on worn wets...

Oh I'm too switched off to be a real F1 driver that's for sure. Using all my tyres up in practice is almost as good as when I forgot to close my DRS going into Eau Rouge...

[steveaki13]

Oh I'm too switched off to be a real F1 driver that's for sure. Using all my tyres up in practice is almost as good as when I forgot to close my DRS going into Eau Rouge...

Ouch. Did you eat Barrier. :p

[rjbetty]

Ouch. Did you eat Barrier. :p

Surprisingly I managed to switch DRS off and regain control, but I'm very grateful there's so much run-off these days!

[steveaki13]

Surprisingly I managed to switch DRS off and regain control, but I'm very grateful there's so much run-off these days!

I dont know, back in the day that would have been gravel. Then you would have learnt your lesson. :p :


On a similar note. I was at Monaco in a Mclaren and had fought from 10th to lead for about 20 laps now, when on Lap 76 of the 78. I hit a hidden barrier on the way to Tabac.

Driving along cruising and went along an inch away from the side barrier and a bit must stick out because I suddenly had all the wheels flying off. I threw the controller across the room. As 76 laps was about 1 3/4 hours. I was slightly annoyed.

[rjbetty]

I dont know, back in the day that would have been gravel. Then you would have learnt your lesson. :p :


On a similar note. I was at Monaco in a Mclaren and had fought from 10th to lead for about 20 laps now, when on Lap 76 of the 78. I hit a hidden barrier on the way to Tabac.

Driving along cruising and went along an inch away from the side barrier and a bit must stick out because I suddenly had all the wheels flying off. I threw the controller across the room. As 76 laps was about 1 3/4 hours. I was slightly annoyed.

Oh that is really rough! A real driver would probably campaigning to get rid of that at the next meeting, or have the Monaco race shortened.

There's a bit like that on Montreal as you brake for turn 6. I went to the edge of the track to maximise my line; the next thing I know I'm at a standstill with major virtual whiplash having clipped an unfortunately placed sticking out bit!

[steveaki13]

Oh that is really rough! A real driver would probably campaigning to get rid of that at the next meeting, or have the Monaco race shortened.

There's a bit like that on Montreal as you brake for turn 6. I went to the edge of the track to maximise my line; the next thing I know I'm at a standstill with major virtual whiplash having clipped an unfortunately placed sticking out bit!

Now you mention that, I have hit that as well.

[rjbetty]

14.SINGAPORE - Q22 (start 24th) R15
Absolutely soaking quali, still learning the track - lots of corners to learn. Hit my front wing off, 5mins repairs, get back out with 3mins left! Complete a lap in 22nd knowing I can go at least 1.2sec faster but make a mistake. Trying so hard to get to the line to start another with 1 min left, I cut every corner, going round the last one with a 2 secs left! But I take too much speed in the wet and spin to the inside as the session ends. 0.4 behind Liuzzi when I could have had 19th...

Race is crazy! I'm careful not to get a penalty this time, get thru turn 1 ok! But thru tight turn 3 I just put myself slightly over the inside and get a penalty for illegal overtakes - what a shame! Especially as I'm 10th! I overtake into turn 4 and 5, and get Rosberg into the tight left hander by the bridge (turn 11?), but I go slightly too deep and overshoot the corner - was briefly 7th! Rejoin and do drive thru. But the safety car is deployed as Perez has crashed. I am able to save fuel and eventually catch up. As it finally comes in, several cars pit. I am 11th and continue to stay out a long time. Eventually I have Alonso (on pole, true race leader having pitted) behind me which makes me truly lol as I imagine him screaming in his helmet because he can't get past. This race is completely crazy as when others pit I am running in an amazing 2nd place!! Webber is leading by miles. But I am called into the pits which I take. I should have used that safety car to convert from a 3 stop to 2 stops and stayed out longer - that's where I messed up as I find later.

All the cards fall badly as people keep exiting the pits JUST ahead of me, and I always exit JUST behind, except one time where di Resta came out ahead but I turned my fuel right up and chased him hard. It paid off when I overtook him on merit! Held him behind me a long time before pitting (around 14th) With 10 laps left I am ahead of di Resta and Schumacher when with a few laps left I am told to pit. The tyres are worn but I want to hold onto 13th. Sadly I lose grip and spin out of tight turn 6, but insist on staying out, especially as I am now lapped. Sliding everywhere badly though. On last lap Petrov is a few seconds behind me, but backmarkers delay him. I make it to the line in 15th, JUST ahead. Great fun, and I'm pretty pleased for my first ever visit to this track (though I have played the Superstar Racing version which is very different).

Webber wins by 45sec! Hamilton in 2nd, but leading 6 cars. The 7 (2nd-8th) are covered by 2.5sec, with Alguersuari (my nominated rival) 3rd! I feel I would have finished in the points if I'd stayed out in 2nd and changed to one less stop. I sign a new contract with HRT after the race.

15.JAPAN Q24 R24
What a disastrous race to celebrate Singapore and my contract extension with... I have NEVER shone at Suzuka in ANY game whatsoever that I can remember. Struggle with setup but eventually qualify +6.4sec off - not that bad. Start is tough - I avoid a penalty but am unable to pass anyone at all, staying last! Setup is bad and twitchy. I spin many times including lap 1. Though I'm as quick as the cars ahead it's a struggle to hold the car. It's even worse when I fit option tyres by mistake. I've always hated it when people talk about prime and options - I never understand which is which - why don't they just call them hard and soft? So I don't understand why I keep spinning an already oversteering car until I see the tyres are shot. As I slip and slide I clip a car and get a penalty so I have to take that before getting tyres changed. Next lap is 50sec off the pace as tyres are GONE, I get a penalty for cutting corners (as I can't control the car). I have to do another lap, over 20sec off the pace. There's another penalty as someone drives into the back of me. I am now over 4 minutes behind D'Ambrosio so resign myself to saving fuel in order to make one last stop, fit NEW soft tyres, turn the engine up and just go for a fast lap. I do this, but the extra stop drops me behind the top 3 on my out lap, and they finish the race so I was unable to even get a lap in!

Just a shocker, not as bad as Turkey, but... :(

[rjbetty]

16.KOREA - Q19
My first visit to this track on any game goes really well. About 5sec off the pace in practice in 21st. Qualifying is even better tho I'm a tenth off my practice time on 1:40.771 in 19th. Only have 1 soft set left at end but decide to throw caution to the wind and do a lap, having also tweaked setup. Manage to get round with a few secs left. I've got something right as I am almost 2sec faster at split 2! However I did take just a little too much cut on the fast left-hander after split 1, invalidating the time. I was -1.2sec up after sector 1 tho. Mess it up out of last corner (other cars have also been around me) to slide everywhere, but still cross line just under 2sec faster. That time turned out to be just a tenth or so shy of going into Q2, but it was disallowed, so 19th it was.

Being careful to avoid a lap 1 penalty, I almost crash but am cautious enough into turn 1, still managing to scrape with cars. I get a warning but am extremely fortunate to not get a penalty. I am in 10th but brake very cautiously for turn 3 as I am unsure on the full fuel load, still overtaking 2 cars before getting Alguersuari at the end of the next straight. I am in P7 (actually I wasn't looking properly as I noticed a couple of laps later it was P6!) behind Alonso, keeping up with him before they all pull right away. I am determined to go against the suggested 3 stop and drag my tyres out to 2 stops. I do an extra lap on the softs, avoiding spinning, in on lap 7 having held up a train of cars in my HRT, down from 6th to 15th. I get out behind a massive group of cars, and manage to get past 2 by turning fuel up. It's very tough as I am being overtaken too and have to be skillful enough not to lose ground and get them back. For some reason the DRS is unavailable the entire race. My fuel is 2 laps below optimal...

I drag my hard tyres out another lap despite them being red, and don't make a mistake (so easy to do). Frustratingly, throughout the rest of the race, though I am taking massive risks with the fuel, I see cars that keep exiting the pits a few seconds in front of me. Given that I am 13th and this happened at least 5 times, it could have been looking very good indeed if I had found just another few seconds. I take a big risk in avoiding my last stop and going till the end of the race. The tyres are already pretty worn. Being lapped by Vettel on lap 25 makes it easier. This is a real test of nerve as I had been 2 laps down on fuel, with worn tyres and a train of faster cars behind me (plus the pit crew pleading with me to come in). I feel very assured today and despite being passed twice, I am able to snatch the position back, the second time only just by braking deep, bumping over the kerbs and touching the other car (Alguersuari). I manage to hold my position all the way to the flag.

I am happy with this drive as I didn't put a foot wrong the whole race apart from a warning at turn 1 and that re-pass on Alguersuari (corner cut) and controlled the tyre wear. In some ways this was my best drive as I felt very professional like a real driver, even though it wasn't spectacular - just an optimised consistent drive in my limits. I do wonder what I could have done with DRS.

Result: 13th

[rjbetty]

17.INDIA
Tricky one, especially in wet qualifying. But I'd driven this track on a Grand Prix 2 mod so knew which way it goes. I qualify 18th - my best ever! I was naughty restarting the race another day after a few disastrous laps as it was too late and I was keeping everyone up. 2nd attempt was a very consistent and error-free run to 14th, despite being very easy to make a mistake on this tricky track.
Q18 R14

18.ABU DHABI
I also learned this track's basic layout from a GP2 mod. The pit lane exit is interesting! I only do half of practice to make up for restarting India. I qualify 19th. I was extremely careful to avoid a collision and penalty at the start. I got through turn 1, then dived inside several cars on the fast left before switching over and sweeping past several more on the following fast right! I get 1 more into the chicane and 2 more into the hairpin. BUT... The heavy fuel load makes it harder to stop and I clip Nico Rosberg and spin him round. I stop in the middle of the track letting many cars through (I was 7th!) in the vain hope of being sorry and avoiding a penalty. But it's no good and I drop to the back. I make my way up the midfield (both Mercedes and Heidfeld are delayed). I try to make my tyres last but I keep cutting a tight left-hander (4 corners from end) eventually earning 2 penalties. I'm still on course for 18th, 15sec ahead of Heidfeld. But having to take consecutive penalties when my tyres are already worn causes me to just lose a little grip into the left-right-right harbour complex where I kept cutting the corner. The car lost grip to the inside (after fast straight with right kinks and square right). The wheels got stuck on the other side of the kerb and I could't reverse out. After revving the engine like crazy I had no choice but to retire...
Q19 R24

19.BRAZIL Q19 (start 24th)
Final race: Starting from last I negotiate the first 3 turns well, switching sides and sweeping past cars, slipstreaming down the straight. I carefully overtake several cars avoiding a penalty. I'm up to about 8th but take the inside kerb too much into turn 4 and JUST lose a little too much kerb and gradually and helplessly spin down to last! How frustrating!! I put my foot down and chop past cars back up to 19th, but the established teams are too far ahead and too quick. I felt I could have held them behind me well. I lap the other 5 new team cars by the end, by which time it has started raining and become very tricky. But I take my 9th 'class 2' win of the year: Surely that would be enough to take the 'new teams' title. I don't know as I hadn't recorded their results...
Result 19th

SEASON OVERVIEW
Top 6 WDC - 1.Webber 2.Alonso 3.Vettel 4.Button 5.Hamilton 6.Massa
Me: 19th
HRT: 10th (take that Caterham and Marussia)

My Season 1 Qualifying Results: 24 23 24 24 19 24 24 19 24 23 19 22 20 22 24 19 18 19 19
Race Results: 23 22 24 21 19 19 19 12 23 18 DSQ 20 20 15 24 13 14 24 19

'Class 2' Race Results: 6 4 6 6 1 1 1 1 5 1 DSQ 2 2 1 6 1 1 6 1

Team-Mate Challenge:
OutRace: LIUZZI 7 RJBETTY 12
OutQual: LIUZZI 11 RJBETTY 8
F.Laps: LIUZZI 9 RJBETTY 10
TOTAL: LIUZZI 27 RJBETTY 30

My engineer said I had a terrible season and didn't score ANY points. I think I didn't do too badly considering I'd never played a Codemasters F1 game before (I'm not a huge fan of the handling) and I was driving an HRT!!

[rjbetty]

SEASON 2: HRT

1.AUSTRALIA
A good chance to see how I improve on season 1. Last time I was 24th over 6sec off in qual. This time, after lots of setup work I equal my best of 18th, 3.5sec off. I have to start 24th but spin Jenson round at turn 1 wrecking his race. I amazingly avoid a penalty and am on course for 14th (having been 13th but let Perez through early on) until Vitaly Petrov goes into the back of me into turn 13 near the end, for which I get a penalty, so 18th it is. Still a great improvement on my first season. Strangely, Liuzzi started 14th and finished 7th!
Q18 (start 24th) R18

[rjbetty]

2.MALAYSIA
Q-18th
Should have left the race to another day as it was midnight and I was shattered, but...
Started off extremely well, avoiding penalties and gliding past cars like a pro! From 18th on the grid I exited turn 4 behind Kobayashi and could have had him too if I wasn't so conservative. He edged away from me a few corners later, but I didn't mind as once things settled I realised I was in 4th place, which I remained in easily for the first part of the race! I knew I should have left the race till later as I got tired on lap 8 and drove off the trac at turn 4 after forgetting to brake at the 150 board instead of the 100 board, ruining the until then great drive. Time to quit and sleep.
RESTART: Cheating I know, but this time I just took a little inside kerb into turn 1 to avoid a penalty, for which I got a penalty for multiple illegal overtakes - GIVE ME A BREAK! Climbing my way up I ended up 15th being chased by Heidfeld. I held him off easily until the last lap on the final back straight where I was too conservative and he went past. I got him back into the last corner only to run slightly wide. It was a drag race to the line - he pipped me... :( Still, at least now a disastrous race for HRT is a midfield result!
Result - 16th
Last Year Q23 R22


Thoughts on the game:
The presentation is absolutely brilliant, and Codemasters have done a very good job of presenting F1 as a grand sport, which is how it should be. The music is fantastic too. I'm a big fan of all the statistics available. The driver menus are presented very well and I like the rendering of the cars.

The things I would moan about are firstly, that the AI racing contains even less retirements and incidents than real life. The results have a very artificial and samey feel to them. This appears to be a Codemasters trademark as I have noticed this in their rally games, which somewhat put a dampener on Colin Mcrae Rally 2.0, which would otherwise be a perfect game.

The results are maybe not as realistic or varied as they could be - Force India and Caterham seem to be significantly less competitive than in real life, whereas Massa and Webber seem to be better. The penalty system is obviously very flawed: Perhaps it would be preferable if it erred towards being more forgiving instead - that might be better because no-one I know likes getting undeserved penalties.

For me, the handling is also similar to Colin Mcrae 4, which for handling is my least favourite rally game. It takes some getting used to, and though I wouldn't know, I guess it is not how an F1 car might accurately handle in real life?

Overall my feelings are positive, especially for the menu/off track parts.

[steveaki13]

2.MALAYSIA
Q-18th
Should have left the race to another day as it was midnight and I was shattered, but...
Started off extremely well, avoiding penalties and gliding past cars like a pro! From 18th on the grid I exited turn 4 behind Kobayashi and could have had him too if I wasn't so conservative. He edged away from me a few corners later, but I didn't mind as once things settled I realised I was in 4th place, which I remained in easily for the first part of the race! I knew I should have left the race till later as I got tired on lap 8 and drove off the trac at turn 4 after forgetting to brake at the 150 board instead of the 100 board, ruining the until then great drive. Time to quit and sleep.
RESTART: Cheating I know, but this time I just took a little inside kerb into turn 1 to avoid a penalty, for which I got a penalty for multiple illegal overtakes - GIVE ME A BREAK! Climbing my way up I ended up 15th being chased by Heidfeld. I held him off easily until the last lap on the final back straight where I was too conservative and he went past. I got him back into the last corner only to run slightly wide. It was a drag race to the line - he pipped me... :( Still, at least now a disastrous race for HRT is a midfield result!
Result - 16th
Last Year Q23 R22


Thoughts on the game:
The presentation is absolutely brilliant, and Codemasters have done a very good job of presenting F1 as a grand sport, which is how it should be. The music is fantastic too. I'm a big fan of all the statistics available. The driver menus are presented very well and I like the rendering of the cars.

The things I would moan about are firstly, that the AI racing contains even less retirements and incidents than real life. The results have a very artificial and samey feel to them. This appears to be a Codemasters trademark as I have noticed this in their rally games, which somewhat put a dampener on Colin Mcrae Rally 2.0, which would otherwise be a perfect game.

The results are maybe not as realistic or varied as they could be - Force India and Caterham seem to be significantly less competitive than in real life, whereas Massa and Webber seem to be better. The penalty system is obviously very flawed: Perhaps it would be preferable if it erred towards being more forgiving instead - that might be better because no-one I know likes getting undeserved penalties.

For me, the handling is also similar to Colin Mcrae 4, which for handling is my least favourite rally game. It takes some getting used to, and though I wouldn't know, I guess it is not how an F1 car might accurately handle in real life?

Overall my feelings are positive, especially for the menu/off track parts.

Well sounds like your improving which is good. Midfield in an HRT. If scorpian make the grid, you might be employed. :p :

I have to agree about the points you raised.

The Backmarkers are very unrealistic. They may not match the rest of the field, but in this game they all cruise around in a bundle about 5 laps down. Ending up 5 laps behind and all normally within 10-20 seconds.

The lack of AI overtaking in the game is still an issue. If I brake early into a sharp corner, they still just slow down and follow you through unless you really pull over wide into the turn. Also along a straight if you slam on your brakes they stop in time. Brake testing AI cars is no fun. ;)

The mechanical realiability and lack of errors is still not right. AI cars do ocassionally spin, but they dont really hit walls or crash into each other. As well as never braking down. :confused: I remember the N64 F1 game of 1997 cars would fall off all the time. Once around Monaco I started 17th as Irvine in a Ferrari and won the Race as all 21 others retired. :crazy:

Also strategy is still too predictable. Everyone pits when it rains on the same Lap. On the same tyres, no one ever gambles or cars make mistakes in stops and drop down the field and you rarely end up with a jumbled up field.

[rjbetty]

3.CHINA - Q18 R18
Qual - Looking good for my first Q2 appearance till Perez improves on his last lap after session expires.
Race - My first laps are improving a lot now as I weave my way through the cars, yet am still assertive enough to take 4th! I let Webber by without enough of a fight though. Running 5th till stops. My natural position looks around 12th later in race till I have a silly clash with Perez behind me coming onto the short back straight, spinning off and getting a penalty. Though I drive pretty hard, 18th is the best I can do. So often coming out of the pits a load of cars just pass you as you're coming out... :( Very possibly a point maybe could have been had?

4.TURKEY - Q24 R19
After the catastrophe of last year where I must have had totally the wrong setup for the deluge. This time I qualify around 6sec off instead of more than 9sec. Still last but very close to others this time and happy with the improvement. Up to around 7th on lap 1, but get a penalty. :(
From last I charge back, overtaking the back cars. At the end my fuel is critical but I am catching di Resta, so I turn it up full, being on course to maybe get him into the last lap. But the car starts stuttering and it was actually pretty remarkable that I was able to hold Trulli and a Marussia behind me till the line! Disappointing result could have been better but it will do after last year being 3 laps behind the backmarkers.

5.SPAIN - Q18 (start 24th) R20
As spin at Wurth in qual causes a silly dangerous driving penalty as I get back on track, so I start last. I quite fancied my chances without that.
Still a pretty good race but at turn 4 into the second half of the race, I am in a 3 car fight and scrape against 2 at the same time as I get past. The result is TWO penalties, which drop me down! I sucked that up well, as frustrating as it was, but what happened in the final laps ticked me off: I was still in a decent 17th holding off Barrichello when the blue flags came up. We were both lapping the backmarker teams at the same time as having to let race leaders through. As you can imagine, this was a real mess. The system is so draconian that you will get a penalty if you don't move over pdq. I disagree with blue flags in real life; but I guess if you don't have it, you can get backmarkers being dangerous like Al Pease in the 60s. The problem is when I back right off along the back straight, everyone slams on their brakes going out of their way not to overtake you; leaders, backmarkers, everyone except Barrichello who sailed off into the distance!! How annoying! To make things worse, this made me angry enough to lose control as I went on the run-off deliberately at la Caixa(?) in a feeble attempt to get them to actually pass. Since backmarkers were mingled up with leaders, it was a mess. My tyres were shot so I kept spinning trying to get back on and damaged the car. I dropped to 20th. This was on the penultimate lap too. :mad:

6.MONACO - Q24 R15
Qual was such a mess. I tried a setup geared toward huge turn-in at the expense of actual grip. This seemed to help a lot providing I could nail a lap. I'm unhappy with my whole season really as I'm in pretty mediocre/quite good form but no better. Around Monaco, I did not even get 1 single representative lap in in qual as I kept bumping things, cutting corners, getting traffic etc, so I start last.
From there, there's not a lot of hope, especially when you can't pass into turn 1 without getting a penalty if one wheel even goes just a little over the kerb. In the real race in 2012, Sebastian Vettel got away with cutting that corner out IIRC? But he was allowed to keep the positions he gained since he'd been 'forced' to take that route. This is why I dislike Monaco so much these days: I so wish the wall was still there - that would have shown Vettel!
So he gets away with it, but when I'm forced to put one wheel over, it's McDonalds drive-thru for me.
Charging back up the field, I get in the top 10 during the stops. My wing was damaged on lap 6 (this happened several times) I find that this costs at least 2sec per lap(?) so it's significant! Also running hard (prime - I don't like those option/prime terms) tyres, it's sad that I find myself holding up Hamilton. I often seem to get in his way sadly, cos I'm a fan...

I am 15th after final stop, but have to let leaders through. Vettel takes ridiculously long to get past as I have to basically stop altogether in the tunnel and he still won't pass! This was nowhere near as bad as Spain, yet it had me literally screaming "COME ON! OVERTAKE ME!!!" As I come onto the next lap I see Kobayashi exiting the pits. He is less than 1 sec in front so I turn my fuel up, but go wide and he gets away. So I would have had 14th if it weren't for Vettel! :mad:
I was hoping for points today, but it seems I'm not quite ready yet.
It almost got worse as on the final lap I go wide at the top of the hill to let leaders through only to spin on worn tyres and get crunched into by Button, Hamilton and Massa as Vettel wins the race. Button's car is a wreck but the others survive. On stuttering fuel, worn tyres and no nosecone, it's like driving an articulated truck round the rest of the lap, but there is a 45sec gap to Alguersuari so I keep my position.

Result: 15th


So the quest for my first point continues. It seems that Valencia and Singapore are my only real chances now, since I was 10th in Valencia last season before running out of fuel on the last lap... Strangely, Force India are now down with Caterham and Marussia this season, while Liuzzi is in the midfield fighting for points every time. I find it impossible to beat him - he has beaten me every single time so far. Schumacher has also won 2 races as Mercedes seem good, as do Williams.

[rjbetty]

7.CANADA
QUAL - Not expecting much having qualified last in season 1. But I take the downforce off (i.e. 2-1 wing) and increase the turn in. Though it's tricky I am 18th in FP and for most of Q1 I set a time in 18th, just +0.007 behind 17th - and getting into Q2 for the first ever time! Also, that person is my team-mate Liuzzi so I would get to outqualify him for the first time this season (he is artificially hard this season)!
I need more straightline speed so take the final bit of front wing down to 1 and increase the turn-in elsewhere as there seems to be plenty of cornering grip. I put the front balance up to 10-11 and the back balance back up to 5 having spun in turn 1 when it was lower.
For the first time this season I display a tiny semblance of driving out of my skin (having been going thru the motions a bit) when I am quicker in sector 1. Even though there are cars around, I improve by -0.199sec to go 16th - my first ever Q2 appearance! (Though there is no Q2 and the session ends, which I'm fine with)
Q - 16th

RACE - Tough to make up many places at the start but get to 6th. Kobayashi is on great form as he slipstreams me on the back straight though, having taken Vettel too. In the final chicane we clash and both of us get massively sideways. Amazing how we didn't crash off! But he impressively takes the position. First pit stop on lap 7 drops me to 14th as I have to wait in the pits for 3 cars to go ahead of me! This has made me realise it might be good to set my stops to be on different laps to the AI cars so I get the pitlane to myself don't have to let them out first. Tyre wear is bad but I try to do 1 less stop. I am still running 14th near the end +27sec behind Alguersuari but over 20sec ahead of Buemi since he and made an extra stop compared to me. What I should have done is pitted since I had not taken enough care of my last set of hards. I would have still got out ahead of Buemi. But I stay out and the car becomes increasingly undriveable, really like ice on bald tyres. When I spin coming out of turn 4, I spin myself back round, only to be crunched into. Sadly it's my team-mate Liuzzi who now retires... Oh man... I have no choice but to pit and drop behind Buemi and finish the race there. Glock is still over 1min behind in 16th.

Result: 15th - at least I match my season best and meet the team objective.

Now it's onto Valencia which I am anticipating for my first points. I have already done FP, finishing 18th +4.244 sec off. I qualified +4.2sec off last time, but the practice time was set on hard tyres and fuel mix 1... Given that I was running 10th on the last lap last time even with penalties, if I play my cards right this could be very interesting.

[Joey Zyla]

Now that I have a wheel, I'm almost fully prepared to start my F1 2012 career. :)

[rjbetty]

Goodo Joey. :)

As for F1 2012, does anyone know if the penalty system has been improved/made fairer?


SEASON 2 - ROUND 8 VALENCIA - HRT
Q-18 R-14
5sec off pace in quali in 18th but could have been 3sec off and 16th. Putting more turn-in on the front balance in setup seems to help.

I was naughty restarting the race as I'd forgotten strategy, got bad penalty and got distracted.
Up to 9th at start which became 4th with opportunistic passes on lap 1!
Make my soft tyres last 8, not 6 laps. Hold Alonso behind me the whole way and still exit pits ahead.
Fuel mix 3 (rich) for first 10 laps, then 1 after that, with times running mix 2.
Stay out one lap too long on hards (lap 19), overtaken in pots by Webber, but get him coming out into turn 1.
Fuel stays on -3 laps even though I am running mix 1 for many laps (some kind of bug here?)
I try my best but I start running out 3 laps from home. I try to hold cars behind but can't keep it up.
Schumacher, Kobayashi and one other all DNF after hitting me.
Crawl round to a lapped 14th. 3 retired cars behind me then Liuzzi in 18th, who I lapped!
Disappointing, but still best result of season.

What is it with the fuel. I was careful to not go to -3 laps. I only just went over that limit. But running on lean, it was only on the final 2 laps, it got down to -2 laps. Is it that the display will only go up to -3 laps, meaning you can be 10 laps down, but the display won't go beyond 3?

[steveaki13]

I am still finishing F1 2011, but I have F1 2012 and have done a few single races as an HRT driver. From what I have experienced the penalties ar the same or collisions if not worse. Any contact with another car is a Pen. As it should be I suppose but if your a rubbish driver like me, then way to strict.

However I think they are better for corner cutting. In Oz I clumped the curbs nicely and got no Pen unless I actually cut the corner grass and all.

Have only raced at Oz a couple of times and Monaco though.

[rjbetty]

The penalties spoil the fun a bit I think. :( I got one when I shouldn't have in my latest race, but avoided one I should have got.

9.BRITAIN: Q-18th R-17th
About 4sec off in qual. Up to 6th at start but lose lotsa places. Trying too hard I ram Button and get penalised. I was far too aggressive against my team-mate: He was looking very good for 10th if I'd let him through early on, as he was faster. Oops... :(

10.GERMANY Q-18th R-16th
4sec off in quali again. Spin Petrov round a turn 1 but no penalty. Schumacher keeps bumping me going round Dunlop Curve on lap 2 though and I get penalised even though it had no effect on him. Poor Petrov as I race him very hard and make him go off again. At the end of the race I am just ahead of both him and Barrichello (as last year). They were lapped and I only just escaped being lapped twice.


Results at halfway point
Qual: 18th 18th 18th 24th 18th 24th 16th 18th 18th 18th
Race: 18th 16th 15th 19th 20th 15th 15th 14th 17th 16th

Y can't I get any points?!

[steveaki13]

Your looking consistant anyway.

More than I achieve. I am either flying and putting a backmarker on pole or I cant pass a single car and keep flying off the road

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I race in an Xbox live league. I've been second in the standings all season, but recently slipped to 3rd. KingAnt has won the 3 seasons we have raced, which might sound boring, but every race is extremely competitive at the front and he is just more consistent than anyone else. Even though I'm always in the fight for the podium I've only ever managed one win, at Monaco. I've thrown away so many potential victories by making silly mistakes.

Here's the standings going into the final race. I'm JmatthewB.

http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/525218_508745662509151_1294514288_n.jpg

[rjbetty]

I race in an Xbox live league. I've been second in the standings all season, but recently slipped to 3rd. KingAnt has won the 3 seasons we have raced, which might sound boring, but every race is extremely competitive at the front and he is just more consistent than anyone else. Even though I'm always in the fight for the podium I've only ever managed one win, at Monaco. I've thrown away so many potential victories by making silly mistakes.

Here's the standings going into the final race. I'm JmatthewB.

http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/525218_508745662509151_1294514288_n.jpg

That's a nicely presented list Jon. You guys look like you drive at a very high level.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

The top 4/5 in our league are all capable of setting times in the top 100 on the xbox live leaderboards.

In the final race I came 3rd, one place ahead of my rival for 2nd place overall, so I only ended up 4 points off 2nd place.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

The top 4/5 in our league are all capable of setting times in the top 100 on the xbox live leaderboards.

In the final race I came 3rd, one place ahead of my rival for 2nd place overall, so I only ended up 4 points off 2nd place.

[rjbetty]

Well done for coming 3rd overall despite losing so many results! So how long does an online season like that usually go on for?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Well done for coming 3rd overall despite losing so many results! So how long does an online season like that usually go on for?

We do one race per week so around 5 months. I've found some new set-ups recently and improved by times at most circuits by about 0.5 seconds per lap, so next season I'm aiming to do better. Season 1 I scored regular points, season 2 I started getting regular podiums, season 3 I got my first win, so next season I'll hopefully mount a championship challenge.

I can't race in random lobbies online anymore because the players are just too dirty. The only way to have fun online races with clean drivers who won't try and take you off at every corner is to join a league.

[rjbetty]

We do one race per week so around 5 months. I've found some new set-ups recently and improved by times at most circuits by about 0.5 seconds per lap, so next season I'm aiming to do better. Season 1 I scored regular points, season 2 I started getting regular podiums, season 3 I got my first win, so next season I'll hopefully mount a championship challenge.

I can't race in random lobbies online anymore because the players are just too dirty. The only way to have fun online races with clean drivers who won't try and take you off at every corner is to join a league.

It sounds like great fun. Shame there are no online capabilities for my friend's xbox... I promise I would behave myself. I've heard quite a bit about moron players who spoil the fun. :(

Let us know how you get on in the next season. Hopefully you can stop the erstwhile champion from taking his 4th crown in a row - just like real life!

There is some good news: I've been offered a contract by Lotus (Caterham)! I wonder if I should take it.



Meanwhile, we interrupt this post to bring you a special update on rjbetty's 2nd F1 2011 season with HRT

11.HUNGARY - Q-18th, R-18th
Woooo I mean I got that P18 slot JUST in time, as it was wet and I kept messing up. Until the very end of the session I was last...!
Race - Not a great one, several mistakes, but the usual P18 ahead of Force India's and the other bottom teams.

12.BELGIUM - Q-24th R-Rtd
I didn't repeat Hungary and was unable to set a representative time. This really affected my race which was a bit of a disaster. I had to pit after a silly crash at Les Combes caused several cars including me to get tangled together. I make my way up slowly but it starts raining. The team fit me with dry tyres when the rain means full wets are the way to go. Having not been very focused anyway, and now losing my rag a bit, I promptly go straight on at Eau Rouge on the dry tyres...

I've been spending this last week or so recovering from the headache... At least Singapore is 2 races away: I think I have a real chance there!

[steveaki13]

I struggle around Singapore for some reason. Just too many mistakes I think.

[Majks21]

F1 is good, on the other hand you should also try GRID :)

[CaptainRaiden]

I won my league race this Sunday at Apex Racing League!! - Apex Racing League - Home (http://www.apexracingleague.com/content.php)

Track: Monaco, Monte Carlo

Steam ID: CaptainRaiden

It was only my 5th race in the league (I missed the first race Australia) and I got pole position and race win! :D

Qualifying: It started raining at the start of qualifying, I went out on super softs thinking there would still be some grip available, but outbraked myself and crashed at the first corner taking out my front wing and also picking up a left front puncture. I limped back to pits, put on a set of intermediates, went out again, this time crashed again in the first sector taking out my front wing. Limped back again and saw the track was drying, so put on a set of super softs as a gamble with 3 minutes remaining, it paid off as by the time I was about to start my lap, my tyres were perfectly warmed and I had amazing grip, as I found out when I was up by 2 seconds at the first split! From then on I just didn't make any mistakes and got pole.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/1083393438884310765/2E9063547F5727C536A162745E289284B172B9F5/

Race: Starting from pole position, race was simply a matter of avoiding the first corner. That I did, and by lap 3 had a 35 second lead!!! Apparently the guys behind me tangled with each other at the first corner. Couldn't wrap my head around what was going on behind me. Around lap 21 or something the gap was over a minute!! I lapped my teammate in the Sauber and then let him through as he was faster and catching the 3rd placed car I guess. Plus I didn't wanna risk a lag bubble.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/1083393438884314182/F5E6DB7E6171993482A8E4202DBE19C5D70F6CE4/

As you can see, the guys behind me did faster laps, but made mistakes. I simply did consistent 1:16 laps without making any mistakes or corner cutting. I did lose my front wing element after the second pit stop, but it didn't affect my cornering so I just cruised home.

Was a hugely satisfying victory and I hope I can repeat it at the next track, but the next track is Valencia, and I suck there. :D

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Well done.

I got my only ever league win at Monaco. If you can get into a groove then just being consistent will give you a good chance. I was only the 3rd fastest when I won, but took advantage of errors.

[CaptainRaiden]

Well done.

I got my only ever league win at Monaco. If you can get into a groove then just being consistent will give you a good chance. I was only the 3rd fastest when I won, but took advantage of errors.

So quite the same path then. :D My best time in the race is also the third fastest. However I took it easy and didn't go for the fastest time, to not risk crashing the car.

I'm finding consistency only now. But as with any other game, it's clearer now that it's more about practice. I thought I was gonna be competitive straight away, but boy how wrong was I. Finished like 8th or 9th for Malaysia and China. I then started playing with different steering tweaks, advanced settings and FFB settings. Found something good, time trialed the hell out of Bahrain through the week and put my Sauber on pole on Sunday in a completely dry qualifying.

During the race, I made a mistake going into the pits and finished second to my teammate. Qualified 2nd on the grid at Spain again, but made multiple mistakes at that wretched penultimate combination of corners.

Valencia is a sucky track for me with third sector being the weakest. Even with rear brake bias I am constantly locking up before the last corner losing a big chunk of time. I'm guessing the brake bias has to be more towards the rear and F 47% - R 53% is not enough to cut it? Have you found a good setup for Valencia yet?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

So quite the same path then. :D My best time in the race is also the third fastest. However I took it easy and didn't go for the fastest time, to not risk crashing the car.

I'm finding consistency only now. But as with any other game, it's clearer now that it's more about practice. I thought I was gonna be competitive straight away, but boy how wrong was I. Finished like 8th or 9th for Malaysia and China. I then started playing with different steering tweaks, advanced settings and FFB settings. Found something good, time trialed the hell out of Bahrain through the week and put my Sauber on pole on Sunday in a completely dry qualifying.

During the race, I made a mistake going into the pits and finished second to my teammate. Qualified 2nd on the grid at Spain again, but made multiple mistakes at that wretched penultimate combination of corners.

Valencia is a sucky track for me with third sector being the weakest. Even with rear brake bias I am constantly locking up before the last corner losing a big chunk of time. I'm guessing the brake bias has to be more towards the rear and F 47% - R 53% is not enough to cut it? Have you found a good setup for Valencia yet?

I came second last season at Valencia so I rank it as one of my stronger tracks. I've done a lot of set-up work since last season so I'll probably find the set-up I used last season unusable now.

I'm currently practicing for the Malaysia round of our league. The fastest time on TT is a 1.32.7, and I'm stuck on a 1.33.2. :\ Fortunately I like the changeable conditions that often happen at Sepang.

[CaptainRaiden]

I won my second race as well!! Two pole positions and two race wins from two races against tough competition. I'm over the moon! :D

Qualifying: I couldn't decide between two setups I had. For qualifying, I chose the faster setup over a single lap, but it was very hard on tires. A wrong decision in hindsight. I was blocked like crazy by one of the Force Indias on my first quali lap, but thankfully still went fastest. I was up by 1.3 seconds at the second split, and got the top spot by only 0.4 seconds. I guess he made a mistake in the third sector and was finishing his own quali lap, so couldn't slow down and let me pass. Then later as it got dry and everybody improved, I went out last on options with 2 minutes to go, and made it to pole by a whisker.

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/1118296799439865786/639E970FD10C82EBE52CAC4227B6490880E2AD21/

Race: Race start was a bit choppy. Didn't get off the line very well and got a mild tap from one of the Red Bulls. From there on, I started to put decent laps in and stretched the gap to the Red Bull behind me who was VERY fast and it was extremely hard to maintain the gap, as at times I lost a second over a lap without even making any big mistakes. Once my teammate in the second Sauber got past the Red Bull, he really turned it on and started closing the gap rapidly. I was trying my best to go as fast as possible, but he kept closing gradually. The gap was like a rubber band, reducing and stretching all the time. He stopped first and I came out right in front of him after my first stop. My inlap wasn't the best with running off track at one of the tight corners.

From that point on, the two Saubers had an epic battle for victory. I kept most of my KERS for the DRS zone so he never got close enough, and I stuck to the inside line at the second straight. After a couple of laps he lost control under braking trying to go inside and hit my car at the back on the second straight, which made me go off track and at that point I assumed also got him a penalty. He then gave the place back on the pit straight. A few laps later my teammate overtook me, and I was right behind him and he lost traction in the last combination of corners, I hit his car at the back and spun, and the 3rd placed Red Bull closed up right behind me, but was probably struggling with tyre wear, and so I could pull away without much problem. He also made a mistake in sector 2 I think? During the last couple of laps I did my best to not let the gap to my teammate stretch beyond 10 secs just in case he had a penalty, and lo and behold he did!

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/1118296799439867455/57744D49FAF72C6B4912DA738665A1A555878864/

Thanks to his two penalties, I won and took a big chunk off the points lead of the championship leader in the standings. :)

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Well done on the victory.

I entered season 4 of my Xbox F1 League at round 2 after missing the first round.

Qualifying went well. My first lap put me on provisional pole on 1 .35.8 but BelievedCoyote bettered my lap by less than 100th of a second. My second lap was better with a 1.35.5 but I went too slow in my in lap and didn't have time for my final run. On the very last lap of qualifying Tubbyphant0m set a corker of a lap and got pole by over half a second.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/602270_546233462093704_1886107184_n.jpg

The race didn't go as well. I got a nudge at turn one and dropped down to 6th. For some reason I couldn't match the pace of the front runners on high fuel and got in a scrap for 4th place with Telfel and SuperTeemo. Clever use of my rich fuel allowed me to make up the places in the pit stops and then I managed to close the gap to 3rd but ran out of laps. 4th place was a bit of a disappointment considering I had the second quickest raw pace.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/270185_546233922093658_1820288841_n.jpg

[CaptainRaiden]

Actually not bad considering you're in a higher split. The best I did in dry qualifying practice was a high 1:36, so your times are pretty good. A lot of time was defending my lead in the second half of my race, but still I don't think I could have done a 1:37 on a clear track. But then again, since they're different versions of the game, they have different grip levels. I have read in places that the PS3 and Xbox360 versions generally have more grip than the PC version right since the F1 2010 days.

Well, next up is Silverstons, you lots' home GP. :D I haven't been good at this track in the previous games, but enjoy chucking the car in the high speed corners. Hopefully it goes well.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I had a horrible race last night in China. Qualifying started dry but it rained straight away so it was basically a one lap shoot-out. I got 3rd but Tubby Phant0m set his best time on option tyres so was over a second faster.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/971760_549381301778920_1036793282_n.jpg


The race was horrible. I had a spin on lap one and dropped down to 7th. I slowly made up a few places but I just don't have any pace on high fuel. Towards the end of the race in clean air my pace was much better and my fastest lap was again the second fastest of anyone. I just need to work on my high fuel pace.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/7307_549384051778645_750122115_n.jpg

[CaptainRaiden]

Was the race dry? And if so, did you start on options or prime?

In my experience with recent practice, it's better to start on primes as you are faster on them with heavy fuel loads. And even if you lose any time in the first part of the race, you can make all of that up on options and a lighter car in the latter part of the race.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Was the race dry? And if so, did you start on options or prime?

In my experience with recent practice, it's better to start on primes as you are faster on them with heavy fuel loads. And even if you lose any time in the first part of the race, you can make all of that up on options and a lighter car in the latter part of the race.

I usually always start on primes, but the guy who won started on options. I am one of the better qualifiers so I can usually get on the front two rows using primes. Tempted to run an aggressive fuel strategy to make me lighter at the start.

[CaptainRaiden]

Tempted to run an aggressive fuel strategy to make me lighter at the start.

Yeah, but then you have to manage fuel like crazy. I'm gonna try it. Probably can go through the whole race on mix 2.

At this point I'm not sure what tyre to qualify on to be honest for the next league race. The last two races I have won by qualifying on options and getting pole, majorly because the faster prime runners behind were involved in first corner incidents. But in practice races prime runners have generally been faster. All about avoiding first lap carnage I guess.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

F1 2013 will feature 1980s and 1990s classic F1 cars.

F6nDP9QghBw

[steveaki13]

Anyone playing the new F1 game.

I played it today for the first time. Have been driving the historical cars mostly, and it makes a nice change.

Any thoughts?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I've signed for Force India and because I found the A.I on the last game too slow I am racing them on the 'legend' setting. Boy they are quick this year and they actually race you! In each of the last 3 F1 games I was never once out-braked by an AI car, but in my first race at Australia I lost every braking duel.

[rjbetty]

Glad you guys are enjoying the new game. I still don't have the 2012 one, mainly because I am playing Grand Prix 2 on my laptop and can customise any season how I like. :)

[Bruce D]

Glad you guys are enjoying the new game. I still don't have the 2012 one, mainly because I am playing Grand Prix 2 on my laptop and can customise any season how I like. :)

Ah, GP2, used to love the way the back end would squirm about under acceleration out of corners even with TC on. A proper racing game that one.

[steveaki13]

I have finally bought my first ps3 steering wheel.

Its not a top of the range one, but It has made such a difference. 2013 is better. There are more errors made by AI and they battle harder.

[edis10]

the new one is really much better.
but it is so boring and hard without a racing wheel. so much more realistic with professional gear to drive :-)