Grand Game (F1 2001 (PS))

Member Name: DavidJWest

Product:	F1 2001 (PS)
Date:	14/08/01 (188 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Realism, Sound, Graphics

Disadvantages: Bagpipes?, Tough

Driving games have been one of the strongest points on the Playstation console in recent years. With so many on the market, especially in the Formula 1 genre it is difficult for the manufacturers to come up with something ground breaking.

This new title has certain things going for it right from the start. For example it is officially licensed from FIA (Federation International Autosport) so you drive against the correctly names drivers in Formula 1. You also get the cacophony of noise which is Murray Walker's commentary, backed up with Martin Brundle. You can turn this off if you find the geriatric ramblings off putting, which at 200mph can be the case!

Immediately upon viewing the main menu at the game's front end you will see how well presented it is. You can choose to play either Arcade or Grand Prix mode, with Arcade being the choice if you just want a quick race with a car which is easy to drive. Go for the full Grand Prix experience and you will have the choice of deciding to race a full season or just a single race on any of the 17 circuits used in the 2001 season. The car handles very realistically in this mode, more about that later.

For the less experienced racer the Arcade level is handy to get used to the mechanics of the game. The aim on Arcade is to progress up the league table from the 51st driver (Gastone Mazzacane like) to the best driver in the world, somewhere above Michael Schumacher. To become the best driver you obviously need to win lots of races, but there is more to it than that.

There are six leagues on the Arcade version of the game, each one getting progressively more difficult. You start with credits, which enable you to enter the easier leagues and buy a car, only the poorer ones at first, such as the Prost, but by winning races you earn credits. These credits can be used to upgrade your car in terms of speed, acceleration, brakes and grip and also buy completely new cars. The bes
t cars take a lot of earning, you will need to win about 10 races to do this, each race being a mere 5 laps long. The easy leagues take place around the relatively easy tracks such as Hockenheim, while the final level pits you against tougher circuits such as Monaco.

Although I enjoyed the Arcade mode it didn't offer any real challenge to a veteran racer such as I and there are no really original features, the Grand Prix mode is different though!

Grand Prix mode is totally customisable, as we have come to expect from the better simulations of this type. You can choose skill level from easy to expert, with hard simulating the level you can expect to find in real life - to illustrate this fact I played a game whilst qualifying was on for the Canadian Grand Prix (it wasn't live on ITV so I had to watch it on the net). I was surprised to see the pole time achieved in real life was within about 3 tenths of the time achieved by the computer controlled car - Mika Hakkinen on the game so not all that real then!

You can also choose real or dry weather conditions (real conditions can and do change), flags on or off (more later), damage settings and a number of options to help drive the car such as break assist. You can choose the length of races from 5 laps up to a full grand prix distance. Also you get to choose which team and as which driver you compete, I choose David Coulthard as my name is then plastered all over the car, nice touch! Unless you are also called David (or Mika) this wont apply, sorry!

Once you start the game, you are asked a question about F1, this is just a pleasant distraction whilst the game is loading but it is a nice touch and helps pass the time. I am not sure if there is a point to the questions as you do get given a score for the speed in which you correctly answer them and the score does mount up as successive questions are answered correctly.

Once the loading is completed, you have a scr
een showing the weather forecast for the practise sessions, qualifying and race itself and you can choose what you would like to do. You can have a few practise laps, trying out different settings if you like or jump into the qualifying hour or even the race itself. If you decide to race without any qualifying, you can choose your grid position if you chose the option from the main menu, but I think that isn't cricket!

You can tinker with the set-up of the car and you will need to do this to compete at the highest levels. You can alter the down force, fuel loads (and pit strategy), choose soft or harder compound tyres and even play with the brake bias and suspension settings. There are far more complex simulators for this kind of thing but it nicely covers enough detail without making the game a lesson in aerodynamics or whatever.

Qualifying follows the correct procedure, you even have to use rev limiter when in the pit lane to avoid speeding in the pits! You can sit in your pit box and watch your rivals put up their times and then go on your outlap and try to beat them. Traffic plays a part in this, coming up against slower cars can spoil your run but there is a map of the track showing other cars on it. This is not really realistic I suppose but it does add another dimension to the qualifying as you try to time your run to avoid these people.

If you get bored waiting there is an advance time option so you can click away the session in five minute intervals, handy if it is raining and you want it to stop!

Out on the track you choose your viewpoint, the in-car drivers eye view is my preferred option as it is so realistic, a little hard maybe, so you can choose a view from behind and above if you prefer.

You need to be careful on the track as if you take shortcuts (me, never!?) The marshals may black flag you, making that lap time void. This is very good as cheating does occur in this kind of game, I should
know as the "Bus Stop" chicane at Belgium's Spa circuit is famous as I am a bus driver who doesn't stop there! Anyone who has not played an F1 fame will think I am mad, the others will understand, I hope. Shortcutting in the race can have even more serious repercussions for the miscreant drivers, ten second stop go penalties can ruin a race and persistent offenders will be disqualified, the same goes for barging and ramming tactics. Of course you can turn the flags off and do whatever you like but what is the point of cheating in order to win? I could go on about a certain real-life driver but I wont!

The race itself continues in the realism stakes as you watch the parade lap before the grid forms up and battle commences. This is the only game I know if where you can actually jump the start! You have to time your starts perfectly, rather than sit there with your accelerator pressed you must wait for the red lights to go out, or it's the old stop go penalty again! Don't just assume you can put the loud pedal down and drive away either, if you try weaving at the start (like another real-life driver I could mention) you run the risk of losing the back end and spinning. These cars DO NOT have traction control some people may like, others not.

With the requisite control pad you can feel the 'rumble' of the car as you go over kerbs etc. which adds to the feeling of being there, along with the very realistic engine sound effects, brakes locking up to produce squealing etc. The only sound I don't like is the crowd, I think the noise is supposed to be a klaxon effect but it sounds like certain sections of crowd are playing the bagpipes! Maybe fans of Coulthard?

Graphically this is the best driving game I have seen on the Playstation. Mainly because the graphics are smooth with no "pop-up" and quite a lot of detail. A few of the tracks do seem a bit sparse as far as track side objects go,
but this is probably realistic. You do find sometimes when there are a lot of cars on screen that the ones in the far distance disappear, but this is barely noticeable, really I cannot see them being beaten on this platform, especially as the Playstation must be near it's end, unfortunately.

But the main plus points are the realism and the new features in the game. I cannot imagine how you could possibly simulate driving a Formula 1 car with a control pad on this kind of console, bearing in mind I haven't actually driven one myself in real life! You do feel as though you have about 800hp under your right foot (thumb) and tiptoeing across the kerbs with the lack of grip the treaded tyres have to offer.

I like the "blue flag" feature too, never seen this in a game myself. Basically if you are holding someone up who is lapping you (or vice versa) then a blue flag is shown and they have to get out of the way or get a penalty. The only drawback with the flags is they appear in a kind of abstract manner, at the top of the screen rather than being waved from the side of the track by a Marshall for example.

The other drivers behave quite realistically, they do make mistakes even jump starts (Kimi Raikkonen being a major villain here!), you will often see other drivers knocking each other off and the pace car coming out - following this for a lap or two is dull but it's F1! You realise how slow this thing is when you have to sit behind it, it's only a Mercedes with about a 5 litre engine! I do get a little fed up with the other drivers constant weaving, they are far too aggressive in this respect and in real life would be penalised as they move off the racing line to defend their positions more than once down a single straight. You can learn their weaknesses though and spy out opportunities to pass as you play a waiting game behind them.

My only real gripes are firstly that damage is far too light, it
is almost impossible to lose a wheel and heavy impacts are rarely punished, maybe this is just as well! Also I suspect most of the programming was done before the start of the season as Jenson Button (who?) Often qualifies in the top 6 and even wins some races, now that isn't realistic!

Another gripe, is that Murray Walker's commentary has mistakes in it, such as "there goes Fentzen in the Prost!". OK so it is realistic then!

Overall though this is the finest racing game I have played on the Playstation (and I have played quite a few) and even gets close to the best on ANY platform, it's comparable in my humble opinion to the legendary Grand Prix 3 on the PC.

Finally, if my rantings has whetted your appetite, I managed to track this down for £31 from Amazon.com, including delivery, I am not on commission either!

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