LiveRC goes Formula 1 racing

0 Oct. 6, 2011, 4:54 a.m.

Main Photo: LiveRC goes Formula 1 racing

10/6/2011
By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com

What could be more thrilling than travelling 200+ mph in and out of the world's most famous Formula 1 race tracks? Well we don't ACTUALLY know, but we have come pretty close in our latest outside the industry product review of the all-new Xbox360 and PS3 video game F1 2011!

With racing games there is a fine line for many players of making a game so realistic that it isn't fun, and too pretend to be fun. THQ and Codemasters teamed up to present the all-new F1 2011, and they hit the almost perfect mix of fun and realism. As the game gets started you are assisted with numerous driver assists which instantly makes you feel like a rockstar as you leave Michael Schumacher in the dust. These simple helping hands brought a major fun factor into the game for us. At any time you can turn on or off the assists, and only a few races in with the announcer and mechanics continually telling us how fast we were, we decided to turn off all assists.

Instantly the virtual David Croft (announcer) and team mechanics were stunned at our lack of driving ability. However, for those looking for the absolute most realistic experience, Codemasters and THQ hit it 100%. The slightest bit too much throttle and/or aggressive steering ends in disaster.

To add to the realism of the game the developers have incorporated stunningly realistic graphics, tracks, drivers, weather conditions, pit crews, and little things such as virtual pit areas, announcer interviews, and so on.

F1 2011 is designed as a Formula 1 simulation, not an arcade game. Therefore it isn't like your typical wide-open bouncing of the curbs racing game. It definitely takes precision, line choice, and patience to really get good at it. To relate the game to r/c, when having a bad race, there is nothing more pleasurable than driving your million dollar F1 car into a wall at 200 mph. It will end your race, but not cost a thing or break a single bone to do it.

While we have tried to think of something that we don't like about the game, the only thing that comes to mind is the long load screens. It varies, but at times it seems the race loading screen takes longer to get past than the actual race itself.

We felt as though we are pretty serious about the game, and ready to race. That is until we caught a glimpse of Tamiya's Lee Martin and his living room. All he said was, "F1 2011....I'm ready.."

Fully equipped with drivers seat, pedals, steering wheel, HD tv, and he even has a carpet floor mat in his living room F1 cockpit.

Needless to say, we give F1 2011 an easy 4 out of 5 on the LiveRC Beacon Rating. It is truly a great racing game, that offers some of the most realistic features in a Formula 1 game so far!