alexworden's Full Review: F1 2001 for PlayStation 2
I was very excited to get my hands on either this game (F1 2001), or Formula One 2001 from 989. After testing the latter in a store, it was a no-brainer to get F1 2001 by EA. Certain sites out there are biased to the 989 because I sense it is the official Sony F1 game. EA's F1 2001 is by far the best racing sim on the PS2 to date.
The graphics are subtle - there isn't a lot to see on an F1 race track, but there's no sign of frustrating pop-in (where distant objects suddenly appear). You can clearly see opponent cars coming up in either rear-view mirror too. A very nice touch are the reflections of stands and bridges in the driver's helmet and the car surface as you pass by. When it starts to rain, the droplets bead-up on the screen, which gives an excellent impression that things are wet and slippy out there! Essentially, the graphics are not beautiful, but more than adequate, giving a great sense of speed with no artifacts that might detract from gameplay.
The physics are second to none. Put this game in 'simulation' mode and turn off TCS and ABS and you'll really experience what drivers had to cope with before the FIA allowed these technologies. In simulation mode, things are a little too realistic! It'll take you months to master car's handling in this mode. Though I'm a simulation and realism fan, I usually play in 'normal' mode which give you a little more traction, but is still more realistic than any other console F1 racer I've played.
Gameplay is long and can be frustrating - but that's the nature of F1. The full length races are very long (you can choose shorter ones) and your car can fail or blow up on you at any point. I prefer to play like this - it makes finishing a race all the more rewarding - especially if you can get some championship points. Unlike all other F1 racing games I've played on the PS - you can't always win in this game. It's very rewarding and realistic in that sense.
Of course, you can choose modes from easy to pro, and you can turn on or off things like damage, tire wear, failures, interactive pitstops, etc. It'll take you a while to configure the game to your level of skill which is typical of this type of simulation game. It would be nice if the game sensed your skill and set the level of difficulty to be just challenging enough for you to progress, but you will have to set this up yourself.
I've recently decided that damage is just too disappointing (even when set to 'forgiving' mode) and I need to get the hang of breaking hard so as not to plough into the back of the guys in front. It's very difficult to drive in the middle of the pack, but I guess that's realistic. F1 2001 is a great improvement over F1 2000 in this respect however. F1 2000 suffered from bad AI where the other drivers would just ram you off the track - 2001 plays much better and the other driver's are better behaved.
I was very happy to find that it works well with my 'Driving Force' wheel. The force feedback is the most realistic of any game on the PS2 (Including GT3). It gives a very impressive sense of speed and unstability at high speed. As you coast over a crest at 140mph, the wheel goes light as the car wheels loose traction with the track. Hit the curbs and you'd better have a good grip in the wheel as it pulls into the turn and shakes violently. The only disappointing aspect was that the paddle shifters aren't used - you have to use the digital buttons to change gears.
Another dissapointing aspect of the game is playing with the FIA rules on - i.e. flags. The judgement is a little harsh if you bump someone during a race. Again, I suppose you just shouldn't do that, but I swear that in real life they're more forgiving on giving you penalty stops. The game is very unforgiving if you pass someone when the yellow flag is raised - even if you're neck and neck with the car when the flag goes up. It gives out penalty stops unfairly which are very annoying and ruin a lot of hard work invested into a race. For this reason, you have to play with FIA rules turned off unless you're extremely good.
One more niggle is the commentary. The software engineers responsible for this aspect of the game should be shot. All that hard work, and these guys screw it up so badly. When qualifying, the 'dumb' commentator tells you over and over again who just set the fastest time in a sector until you have to turn the commentary volume to zero because it's just so frustrating. Then there's the commentator who tells you over and over again who just set the fastest time in each sector, and also the commentator who tells you over and over again who just set the fastest time in each sector... do I make my point? :)
The training mode is a great idea and should bring you up to speed on the skills you will require to start playing this game. You'll still have a steep learning curve to climb until you're winning pro races though. :)
Anyway, despite it shortcomings, this is a great game. It's not something that you play and discard, but it will have you going back year after year to compete in F1 championships. What I love most about this game is the level of real skill you can achieve do to the game's responsiveness and realism. After about 20-30 laps of practice, you're tanked up on adrenaline and are shaving more and more off your lap-times. You get the sense of flying round that track at an unbelievable speed and it never ceases to amaze me how much faster you can go with practice. Then you qualify and start to race - and realize there's so much more to racing against 21 oponents than fast laptimes!
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