DRIVERS POINTS final standings:

 © 2011 FOWC Ltd© 2011 FOWC Ltd
CONSTRUCTORS:

“Jaws, kill Mr.Bond.”

Jaws, not a very good driver.

Maldonado, not a very good villain.

Check back regularly for the latest 2011 car launches. Gone are the days of lavish launches – instead we have seen a few low key launches, some purely on the internet. Times are hard! We will post the pics as and when the cars are launched on this page…

Lotus Renault GP 2011. Courtesy of lotusrenaultgp.com

Team Lotus 2011 Image Courtesy of TeamLotus.co.uk

Sauber 2011 courtesy of Sauber

Ferrari f150 courtesy of Ferrari.com

McLaren 2011 Launch courtesy of McLaren.com

Virgin 2011 Car Courtesy of Marussia Virgin Racing

Force India 2011 courtesy of Force India F1 Team

The first thing you may notice when loading up the game is that it has taken a lot of the basic ideas from “The Grid” game, also by Codemasters, for its menu system.

On first starting you need to select your name (note this is for your career game mode, your online multiplayer name will be what you set up when registering your Microsoft Live account (PC/Xbox users)). You then get quite excited as it asks you to select what you want to be called over the pit radio etc. A list of names appear, but then you soon realise there are not that many names so it is highly likely that your will not appear. For example, Neil, which is quite a common name is not on there, but some not so common ones are. I guess the designers put their names in to the mix and then got on withg focusing on the game. Luckily there are some generic nick names to choose from. “Kid”, “Mate” etc are quite good to go with, but my favourite had to be “McLovin”.

In the Arcade mode you can jump into any 2010 car

So you’ve done all that and got to the main option area. Here is where you can change controller type, sound, graphics etc. By now you are no doubt itching to get on with the game, and this is where you can do a couple of things. The first, and the main beef of the game, is Career mode. You have to start in one of the new teams -so HRT, Lotus or Virgin. The idea is, as you progress and complete certain goals (i.e. Qualify 18th or higher in race 1 for example) you will get more offers from the better teams. You can choose different length of careers from 2 to 7 years (that is hundreds of hours play by the way!), different levels of play from easy to expert. Different length of race lengths from 20% to 100% and then the weekend itself can include all 3 practice sessions plus qualifying and race, or you can do 1 practice session, qualifying and race. So there are plenty of options depending on what you want out of the game. But career is definitely the main solo player game.
The artificial intellegence is actually quite good for the computer controlled cars. There is a level of patience from them, or if you are alongside them on the racing line they will yield if you have the advantage, rather than them doing their own thing and not know you are there. They make little mistakes during the race just like humans do too, you can be following and see them fight the back end of their cars when they put down the power – odd to think this is all being done by your computer! However, this means they can also be hard to race, and this is where it is quite realistic. If you qualify last on the grid at Monaco the only way to pass would be to barge most of the time, and that will without doubt result in a penalty to yourself. As too would be cutting corners too often. You often get warnings, but then you get a time penalty. This would be added on to your time at the end of the race. You have to make a pit stop during the race and this is quite good to add to the activity on track and to the realism. Where a circuit is tough to overtake, qualifying is key.
So what is it like to ‘drive’. Well the realism is certainly some of the closest I have experienced in a computer game, things like colder tyres, gravel on your tyres, cars in front, all affecting your handling make this a superb game – but I wont go so far as to say it is a simulator. iRacing and Rfactor are for you if you want to drive simulators, this is definately in the game category of racing. I would say if it was a simulator most gamers wouldnt be interested in it, especially long term, as it would take too long to get up to speed and at the end of the day that is not what will sell, a fun, but ‘realistic’ game will sell. Plus you want to have fun in multiplayer mode, not get a load of abuse for making mistakes or getting in the way!
Graphic wise, it is fantastic in my opinion. It is not photo-realistic but it does have great attention to detail. The car renderings are superb, I would say the way this game has stepped up to take into account the different light conditions, from a sunny Melbourne to a night race in Singapore, is fantastic.

The view from the office

If you are just wanting to dip in for a quick race there is the “Grand Prix” option, which I would say is the typical “Arcade” option. Quickly pick any car, any track, and away you go, you are racing. There is a time trial mode for setting quickest laps – and probably good fun if you have a few mates round and dont want to wait a whole race to have a go each.
But the big draw for me is the online multiplayer option. Racing against complete strangers, and friends, in a virtual grand prix. Loads of options in terms of type of race, level etc., Whack those speakers up, grab your wheel and be prepared to start sweating as you fight against others for the glory. It can be carnage at times, but a lot of fun.
I would say the career mode can be fustrating if you are impatient, like a real racing team, you spend a lot of time not racing. In a way that makes the actual races even more special. You have spent all that time setting up the car, testing new things in free practice, trying to post a qualifying lap time, you find yourself thinking more in races. You find yourself becoming more patient behind a slower car and waiting for the right moment to overtake to ensure you dont get spun out or given a penalty. You just find yourself thinking more about the overall race outcome rather than just that one move at that time. When you are making your pit stop in the race, if you are held by your lollipop man whilst another car is driving passed you find yourself lifting your arms in the air and shouting “come on, you could have released me!”. And if that is not like the real thing then I dont see how any other attempt at an F1 game could come close.

Your engineer, looks like an accountant, sounds very much like Rob Smedley!

This was always going to be up there as one of the best F1 games purely by the fact the computer technology is there to handle such realism, but it could have easily turned into a quick cash in on the F1 brand, knowing anything with that official tie up would shift units. Luckily Codemasters taken their time, worked with the likes of Anthony Davidson to get the realism right, and whacked in a nice bit where you have to handle the media after a race. This can hurt your relationship with your current team but also open doors in better teams for example. There seems to be a lot of borrowed stuff from the 2008 codemasters game “The Grid”, but the tweaks are in the right places, and at the end of the day that was a good place to start to develop another driving game. So, it isnt a 100% realistic simulator, but it is a game that at many times immerses you into it so much that for some moments, you feel you are a back marker struggling for grip and thinking to yourself, when will I ever get to drive that Red Bull.
F1 fans who like racing games will not be dissapointed. Gamers who like arcade style racing games, where drifts, and power ups are the key to having fun will walk away frustrated.
All in all a fine effort. 8.5/10.

Tested using the following set up:
PC Version running on an Intel Core i7 930 @2.8ghz
6gb Memory
Windows 7 64 bit
Ati Radeon HD 5800 graphics card
Controller: Thrustmaster F430 Force Feedback Wheel

When you are on the go, the lack of access to F1 info can be annoying for the most avid fan of the sport. Whether you are on holiday or taking the wife shopping it can be a stressful event trying to keep up to date with what is happening on a grand prix weekend. Now we highly recommend you dont allow yourself to be in the position in the first place, but just in case there are ways of filling the F1 void in the form of Apps.
If you have an Iphone or ipod touch we have reviewed the most popular apps below. We have even looked at Android phone apps, but to be honest they are not as well catered for F1 as of yet, so we will add them as they start to become available.
Of course if the worst comes to the worst you can use your browser to get updates. However as the F1 live timing web site uses flash, currently this is not viewable on either Apple or Android powered phones. Android will get it later this year. However the first App we review is the SoftPauer official F1 timing App that streams live timing, and now F1 have released their own official timing app (free!) for iPhones and Blackberry users…

New reviews and updates added Jan 2011

F1™ 2011 Timing App – Championship Pass – iPhone / iTouch & Now Android Phones – £19.99

This is the daddy of all F1 apps. It’s price is obviously reflecting this. It is the only App that has been officially approved by F1 apart from its own timing app. It’s main feature and the reason you would want to use it, is the live track positioning of the cars feature. The app enables you to see every cars position out on track, for Race, qualifying and even free practice. The graphics are decent, the layout works well for the small screen. It’s news feed is not the best, but that really is just an added feature as it is mainly sold as a live timing app. If you follow F1 down to every last detail then this is for you, if you feel it is worth over £1 a race. If you just tune in from time to time then the near £20 asking price is probably too much. In 2010 they did drop the price once the season got under-way.
This is also available for android phones. It is almost identical to the iPhone version, however we would say that the map view of the track is less responsive to zooming and rotating. Following the official facebook page from the developers it seems like they are having to constantly iron out some bugs, mainly to fix compatibility over different versions of andrioid and phone makes. Having said that, all in all we give it the same rating as the iPhone version.
iPhone users Purchase Here
Android users: Go into Google on phone browser and paste this address: market://search?q=pname:com.softpauer.f12011
Official home page: SoftPauer

NEW REVIEW!  AutosportOfficial App from the leading Motorsport Magazine, Autosport – iPhone / iTouch only – £2.99 or $4.99

Released on 27th July 2010, Autosport are late into the season with an app. First things first, this is a paid for app. It is also replicating everything you can find on the Autosport.com website. So the main reason for downloading is really for easier viewing of content than using the safari browser on you iPhone. Now, is that really worth £2.99?
If you are an Autosport Plus subscriber you can use your login to access the additional feature articles. But again, you wont be given the app for free. The good news is that you wont be bombarded with adverts like some of the other free F1 news apps. Plus also it gives you news from all other major forms of Motorsport too.

It has a live section, but that is repeating it’s live texts that appear over a grand prix weekend.

If £2.99 is not a lot of money to you and you find reading the autosport.com website troublesome on the safari phone browser then this could be for you, but personally an advert supported free app or it being a bit cheaper would have been better.

The Official F1 Mobile App – Blackberry, iPhone/touch, Windows Mobile, Android (coming soon) FREE

This app has brought the ability of seeing the live timing data to mobile phones. As mobile phone browsers are so far unable to load the flash / java module that is used on the formula1.com website. But that is basically all this app does. It is a mobile live timing screen. Which is great, but over the last few days people have been asking why they should buy the SoftPauer app for iPhones. There is a clear difference, and that is the Softpauer one is the only app to offer live GPS positioning of each car on the track as well as live timing. Now if you think that is worth paying £1 per race for that is your decision, but the two are different apps so dont think that by using the free F1 timing app is the same as the one that costs nearly £20.
UPDATE 28/07/10: This is now available for Blackberry phones. It is not so easy to use, the size of the screen only allows you to see about 6 drivers times in one view, so in that respect it is quite difficult to use properly. But better than nothing if you are out and about with just your blackberry. It seems to lag about 3 minutes behind the live action too.

F1™ 2010 – iPhone / iTouch only – £1.79

This app is more of a factfile of each GP/Driver with an inbuilt news feed. It’s nothing special. The app was around last year also and if you look at some of the reviews, it was slated for not being reliable in terms of live racing coverage.

It’s data on each track is quite good, but nothing that you wouldn’t be able to find for free on the internet. A worrying news ticker on the live race coverage pages states that due to FIA rules, data will not be available until after the race. So we take that as a pretty good indication that this year this app will again not provide live timing data.
This is no doubt part of the agreement with the SoftPauer app being the only licensed official timing app of F1. This leaves very little else to ecommend buying this app, even if it is £1.79. The official web site of the app, states that there is an Android version coming soon.
Visit the homepage

FORMULA 1™ Live Racing 2010 – iPhone / iTouch only – £Free!

Already we rate this a bit higher as it is free! It has a nice layout to it, with a countdown to the next GP.
It has a news feed that seems to be keeping up to date with the hot topics. It appears set to be covering the races live with live comments. However this has yet to be tested.
There are some adverts on this app as it is a free app, but they actually dont intrude that much which helps. Since it’s free there is no harm in giving it a go, but dont expect too much from it!

Pocket F1™ 2010 – iPhone / iTouch only – £Free!

The screen grab here tells it all really. Very amature look to it. Tells you very basic stuff. Horrible news reader – no images, cant read the full headline, the last piece of news is over a day old.
It says it is a 2010 F1 app, yet the pages “Regulations” tells you what is new for 2009! It’s free thus is ads supported. Not even worth downloading to be honest.

F1 News – iPhone / iTouch only – £Free!

This is essentially an RSS feed news reader. But quite a good one and it’s free.
It has the ability to turn on or off any of the pre selected RSS feeds. Sadly it does not allow you to add your own. Again as it is free, there is no harm in it being downloaded. The feeds are from good news sources so they tend to be good quality articles.

F1 InsiderF1 News – iPhone / iTouch only – £1.19

As a paid app, this is not too expensive.
It has a little bit of everything – Grand Prix info, standings, News Reader and “Pitstop”. The latter needs a bit of work and looks just to be there as a filler at the moment.
The news feed is top class, uses the better F1 news sites as it’s source. The circuit data needs to offer a layout, it is a bit sparse in this area. It’s not free and maybe if it was I would give it a better rating, but as you have to part with money I suggest you wait for the few missing bits to be added before downloading, as there are free News feed aggregators you can download and customize to do virtually the same job.
Close but no cigar as yet.

Vodafone McLaren AppF1 News – iPhone / iTouch only – £Free

This is the official App from McLaren, plastered with Vodafone to keep it free. But as corporate things go it is actually not bad. It has fairly good up to date news feed. Championship standings, track guides etc., Nothing new there.
What it does do very well, is intergrate its web telemetry system into the app, so during race weekends you can see Jenson and Lewis’ in-car data. Pretty good function for a free app. But it doesn’t beat having a computer’s browser open with the full info on the mclaren.com web site to be fair. However, if you are watching the race with mates in the pub, getting this app out and showing them the telemetry would be fun for a few minutes. Having said that, the two timing apps are more worthwhile for the purpose of keeping an eye on the action, but for the McLaren fan’s, this feature will appeal.
As it is free we don’t see why we wouldn’t recommend it for you to at least download and try out.

Lotus Racing AppF1 Team News – iPhone / iTouch only – £Free

This is the official App from Lotus, in association with sponsor Maxis.
Again, like the McLaren app, it is providing F1 news.
It is very similar to the McLaren one, although the historic race stats is quite a nice feature on this app for looking pack into the past.
Again it is free so carries no risk to it if you end up not using it.
If all the F1 teams start bringing apps out, they will have to think of killer apps that will keep people coming back to use them, as so far apart from the live telemetry on the McLaren one they are nothing too exciting.

Dont forget that there are also apps such as TuneIn Radio to listen to live Radio 5 commentary. Or Slingbox users can stream their F1 coverage to their iphone’s using SlingPlayer Mobile

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We will add more apps and re-review the above as the season unfolds. If you think we are missing a really worthwhile one please let us know : info@thef1geek.com

This youtube clip pokes fun at Rubens Barrichello after his outburst after the German GP: