Formula 1 06

"A race with no rivals."

Looking at the rating of seven, many players of this game will say it is a bit harsh. I will admit that it is a bit of a low score for this racing game, that has accomplished what it set out to do and that's make a racing game. The racing is good but it does not go far enough. Not far enough in erasing glitches that bug us like plagues and not far enough in providing depth. However, after all we should not be expecting too much in a genre where the competition is barren as the desert around the Bahrain International Circuit.

Your expectation of this game is a semi-simulation that has intense racing. Not strictly for Formula 1, anyone with interest in any form of realistic racing would find this a more than decent choice. For die hard fans, well, look no further (is not as though you have anywhere else to look) as this can recreate whatever you have in mind.

Something else we can say about this installment is the failed promise. A lot of anticipation was the online game play and safety car. While the latter had a reasonable excuse, the non-existing online functions were not made known to the consumer until they bought it. I call this a post-generation syndrome where developers all claim they are focusing on the next generation of consoles.

The modes of this game are solid. There is no specific goal in this game, the only objective is race and not necessarily win. There are Quick Race modes where you can just race. Grand Prix weekend, which puts you through what drivers do in a weekend in accordance to the rules of the 2006 season. A season mode that follows everything in Grand Prix Weekend. Time Trials as well to beat best lap times and lastly the Career Mode which puts your created driver as a F1 Driver for 5 seasons, working from Midland or Super Aguri to eventually earning a ride for Ferrari or Renault. There is a reasonable amount of modes to occupy yourself but the lack of pursue is something that lacks in this game. Too much of the game is already available to you from the start, apart from filling the Trophy Cabinet and beating the Gold times in the time trial, there is nothing left to do. One can argue that this may very well be the case for most sport games but at least in those games you can compete for the most points scored. Not much the case here. This is too strictly Formula1 worked until strict licensing from the FIA but still begs some questions. Where is SPA, the famous Belgium Track? If is for Formula 1, where is the nostalgia aspect? Cars of Senna, Hakkinen and old teams like Benetton? One thing I always complain is games doing too much and not doing one thing enough, this are a complete reverse. Racing is fine, something a little different please. It lacks a personal side.

The glittering world of Formula1 does not shine here, if the dull gray McLaren is anything to go by (the 2006 McLaren is known to be shiny silver). Unfortunately, for Studio Liverpool, the standard of graphics for realistic driving games is set by games such as Gran Turismo 4 and Forza. Whilst it is unrealistic to expect a yearly game to produce the graphical power of a game that went under development for 3 years and fit 22 cars instead of merely 6 or 8 cars, we expect a little better than what we got. The smeared helmets, colour pencil greenery, unpolished multi-million machine and pencil-shaded barriers are not exactly PS2 standard. Still, all is forgiven when you look at the details given to the car.

Looking for authenticity, the impression of watching Formula1 race? The voices of Martin Brundle and James Allen would serve you well. Getting their voice is one thing but having them talk is another. Their comments are "You are in the lead" or "Michael Schumacher has won the Australian Grand Prix". They do not say anything analytical often, there is only a few rare occasions where we hear "Montoya has the lighter car" to the point we call it a secret line. That job in real life is Martin's but he seems to have taken half of James' job. Just getting a few lines of excitement or scrutiny is all I ask. There is one other person who speaks, the team boss. Unfortunately suffers from poor range of vocab and repeats the same line repeatedly. He has a little more work than the commentary team. I guess I will not be the only one that gets jumpy as you try to pass a car in front and heading towards a pinhead. You brake hard to try and get past him then all of the sudden blaring out like a siren, the team boss shouts "Your tires are showing green on the indicator, you now have maximum grip level", talk about bad timing.

You may not like commentary but you will like to hear what propels you 300km/h (in a virtual world) around racetracks. The engine sounds are just nasty and beastly. There is finer detail within as well, each engine sounds different. I feel this is a very nice touch by Studio Liverpool.

Now.....up comes to driving. Safe to say, swinging around cars around bends at full throttle is done very well. It replicates the racing of Formula1 very well. Overtaking is difficult, there are a few set corners where you can overtake, a couple more if you are not afraid of losing a bit of the front nose. There are more overtaking opportunities than real life, which in this aspect I prefer. Catering for the new players is quite done well. Learning curve is not that steep but it is helping further by assistance like throttle and wheel assistance as well as markers or complete racing line. Overkill for those familiar in racing but helpful for those completely new.

AI we could say is a mixed bag. On one hand, you can say they are good. They acknowledge your presence on the track while following the racing line and will make some moves for overtaking. On the other, they can be sometimes erratic especially lapping cars (I guess this is how they feel in real life as well). Inconsistency as well, some tracks the AI is terribly easy such as Canada while in Japan the AI is super class. Wet weather racing they are far superior as well. There is not a lot of balance between difficulties. You cannot mistake as superior AI. Despite having AI as having some "I" for intelligence, it still got some shortcomings. AI is not aggressive enough in comparison to you. Too conservative, if you got a damaged car you can still hold them off. They go for an overtake, you block them. They still where you blocked them for ages. No feints or anything. At the very least we can do some racing with them unlike many other racing games today.

A race really does feel like a race. There are a lot of things to consider, fuel, tire, pit stops and overtaking. I cannot stress enough that this is an affordable Formula1 experience. The qualifying format, the Friday and Saturday practice sessions. There is some added difficulty in penalizing for cutting corners. The complete replication of a F1 race still has many laps to go still. The retirements of AI is all due to engine failure and usually a slick of oil stays on the track to spin you off. So...uh....that concludes all methods of natural AI retirements. Any crashes and wings flying off like Red Bull are self-induced. Retiring many cars as possible is a little fun you can have. The strategy seems a little random and does not follow sequence. You made good qualifying time, you should be having earlier pits and what have you. No link between the race and qualifying.

I feel I will need to go further on the career mode as this will be a large chunk of what you play. You start with three teams; you need to trial to get a race seat. You could get three positions, 1st Driver, 2nd Driver and the Test Driver. As a test driver, you cannot race but complete some time trials with different settings. As second driver, you can race but you need to also compete with the test driver, which is a deciding factor whether you win a seat at the end. As a first driver, there are no trial runs but you have the highest race finish requirements. As you progress you get job offers for new positions.

Anything about this game without touching on glitches is criminal and the amount of glitches in this game is equally criminal. If in real life the team's starting system is anything like the glitches of this game....we will see races equivalent of United States Grand Prix of 2005 as a common occurrence, where only six cars raced. Where shall we start? A pit stop crew that lies to you wasting you valuable seconds. A nice option called Race Car Evolution, which assists you in picking the best set up. The set up it gives you is so fast you start the race while they do parade laps. In other words, it glitch the start of the race. Then we have teams blatantly cheating in qualifying behind your back. When you advance time while qualifying in the third session where fuel load is counted, the fuel is completely neglected. You end up with 3/4 full cars doing crazy unmatchable lap times. The real time versus simulated time produces different results. Advancing time can put Toyota or Red Bull amongst the top yet doing it in real time they are desperately out-classed.

Final Verdict:
A decent racing game, with less coverage and exposure than F1 in America. Evident flaws need to be fixed still but takes nothing away from the racing.
Graphics: 6/10
Sound: 6/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Game Length/Replayability: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/26/07