Not yet the Champion (F1 2001 (PS))

Member Name: stugillespie

Product:	F1 2001 (PS)
Date:	05/01/02 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Driving School, 2001 data

Disadvantages: Wet weather mode needs fixed, Driver aids are poor

F1 2001 is, as the title would suggest, based on the 2001 season. This means it has all the 2001 tracks, teams and drivers. It has all the correct liveries except, as usual, no tobacco advertising which is fair enough.

The graphics are also good, if you have a decent machine. While mine is well above the recommended requirements, putting the full graphics options on means slow loading times and slow gameplay if you are not the only car on the screen. After taking the graphics levels down to a level that didn't make the game complain, the loading times are a little faster but the graphics are shocking!

I've never got the hang of F1 games unless they have a decent auto braking. Grand Prix 3 has this superbly. However, EA Sports has braking assist, which is NOT the same thing. You have to do a bit of braking yourself. OK, I thought, this won't be too bad. Except it ems to turn itself off and on whenever it pleases. Approaching turn one at Malaysia on one lap, it slows me down and I go round no problem. Next time around, I go straight on and into the tyre barriers! Worse, my car is wrecked. While this would happen in real life, the far superior GP3 has indestructible mode which means I could crash into as many walls as I wanted yet still drive on. A wee bit of work on the driving aids needs to be done for us folk who are rubbish at these games.

F1 2000 didn't have wet weather racing, this one does. I thought it would be great, and it would be except one thing. Before you start the race, you can't change tyres. This mean you have to start on slicks, drive around for a lap losing so much time you'll be last anyway, then try and navigate into the pits. This is extremely stupid, as a sensible game, such as GP3, lets you choose tyres before you start the race.

This game does have some good features, however. It has your pit crew telling you what is happening around the track, and also has some comments from Jim Roze
nthal (maybe thats not such a good point!). It also has the grids sorted in the order the drivers qualified for the races in, which is a superb idea and keeps the realism levels up.

For novice drivers, their is the driving school. You can go in the Arrows or Minardi 2 seaters, or the Arrows 3 seater. Except braking assist isn't even on, which isn't good for me! I've yet to pass one stage. Also, in the racing, you can fiddle about with the strength of your opponents so you can have an easy or a hard time.

Overall though, this game needs somethings improved. As you may have worked out from the review, I prefer GP3. While both games have unofficial updates, GP3 has tons more and even though its older, can still be customised to be as up to date as EA's F1 2001.

I'd say GP3 is the better game for novices or poor drivers like me. However, if you want a challenge then get this game.

Summary: