It’s an area too which hurts the overall racing experience, but online playing ranging up to eight players, propels it into the next gen release.
All drivers show signs of realism, but even with the hardest difficulty you can move through the field unrealistically, particularly on the first lap - crashing remains a worry, however, even if the damaged model is worth seeing over and over again. Racing itself is a completely different skill, whilst the presence of other drivers on the track forces you to focus more intently than ever than when hot lapping. Although some effort has been made to solve this riddle, by introducing tilt steering, for example, with the Sixaxis, however much I tried, it never truly gelled. At the same time you have to be dedicated, however, and become used to the rather twitchy controls. And once you fit into the groove you’ll fall into something akin to a hypnotic state, with laps flying past and times falling into a radius of unbelievable close range. If you do this with utmost regularity, however, you can then proceed to shaving seconds or tenths of a second from your best time. Racing an F1 car is an unforgiving experience: simply making it round a circuit without veering off the track brings a sense of achievement.
However, if you’re an F1 fan, this PlayStation 3 debut for the sport should be high on your wanted list! It remains far too focused on qualifying performances, and also lacks the spark when Nigel Mansell was flying the flag for Great Britain. Today, however, the sport suffers from a lack of on-track excitement.
Over the years this hugely popular motorsport has managed to evolve into something quite different from the “must see” Sunday TV it was during my younger years. Talking of strange beasts Formula One fits this description aptly.