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F1 2010 Review

Formula One racing with responsive driving, solid visuals, great learning curve spoiled by AI, performance and unpredictable penalties.

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Online the game doesn’t shine like other Codemasters games because as a simulator the collision and penalty system does not work when there is a delay between what you see and what is actually happening. A few races I had cars appearing from behind me and becoming translucent before my eyes as they moved through my car. Other times in the same race there would be a collision, sometimes with a penalty and sometimes nothing. This variation also applied to corner cutting and illegal blocking and I kept glancing to the top of the screen just to see if I’d be punished. The net code isn’t accurate enough to simulate a race with real collisions and consequently the online portion is very inconsistent.
 
The first corner in this multiplayer game had 5 collisions
The first corner in this multiplayer game had 5 collisions

Since most online races are only 3 laps in length with no practice time the setup also seems to go against the style of the single player experience. There were sadly a few griefers who knew of an impending loss and decided to just ram your vehicle for kicks earning disqualification but spinning you out in the process. If they were lucky they could take the inside line at full speed and have you turn into them leaving you with a 10 second penalty. Varying settings also throw havoc to your skill and the host may also set penalties very high resulting in quick disqualifications.

The game lacks the immediate jump in fun that can be had with other racing games but it definitely has a higher level of satisfaction when you spend hours on a track and produce the perfect entrance and exit out of a difficult corner shaving a fraction of a second off your personal best time. Taking a corner at full speed in Monaco only to miss the railing by inches does feel fantastic. It succeeds even just to get that track repetition where you literally feel in the racing zone with only one thing to focus on, the next corner.

F1 2010 may not be a pure simulation but it can be close enough to one and will please those who greatly enjoy the Formula One motorsport. I certainly recommend turning as many assists off as you can, learning the track without the coloured arrows just feels right. The driving is slick and responsive and visually does enough to make you feel like you are really on one of the famous tracks. I don’t recommend the game for racing fans after pure arcade action even though you can adjust various settings to make it close to an arcade experience.
 
Victory celebration? No I'm shaking my fist at another ridiculous penalty
Victory celebration? No I'm shaking my fist at another ridiculous penalty
 
Performance, AI and penalty problems aside it’s a nice racing game that maintains a good level of fulfilment as you learn each track like the back of your hand knowing when to break at corners and getting a feel for the speed of your car. Online the collision dynamics and net code is too problematic to get full enjoyment, especially with frequent incidents on the notorious first corner. Not as polished or well presented as the other games from Codemasters but overall a good emulation of Formula One racing.
 
Our ratings for F1 2010 on PC out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)
Presentation
82
Realism might seem somewhat bland but looks good enough, great rain effects, average car textures, and poor characters. Sounds are ok but engineer is often wrong about events on track.
Gameplay
83
You versus the track as you continue to improve your times across race weekends. Mastering each track remains highly satisfying as does careful overtaking.
Single Player
75
Pretty long and laborious, interviews offer nothing to the game. Grand Prix lets you take control of the season and the race requirements. Overall game length is hugely variable.
Multiplayer
70
Cars can warp through you one minute and crash into you the next. Load and wait times become even more problematic. Game setup is good enough, can be solid if you sync settings with single player. Collisions and penalties are worse than single player.
Performance
(Show PC Specs)
CPU: AMD Phenom II 955 @ 3.2GHz
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 1GB
RAM: 4GB DDR3
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
PC Specs

67
Runs slower and has some really long load times compared to DiRT 2. The 3D Menu system is starting to get annoyingly obstructive and a few unforgivable bugs like save corruption and penalty issues really drag the game down.
Overall
75
A good racing game that is more satisfying when it nears simulation, emulates the F1 sport well enough with some annoying inconsistent problems with AI, penalties and performance.
Comments
F1 2010
F1 2010 box art Platform:
PC
Our Review of F1 2010
75%
Good
The Verdict:
Game Ranking
F1 2010 is ranked #828 out of 1957 total reviewed games. It is ranked #67 out of 103 games reviewed in 2010.
828. F1 2010
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Screenshots

F1 2010
17 images added Oct 10, 2010 01:48
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