F1 2011
For: Xbox 360, PS3, Windows PC
From: Codemasters
Price: $129.99
Rating: 3+
Three and a half stars (out of five)
Most major sports games are released at the start of their respective tournaments or seasons, then update throughout the competition. The 2011 Formula 1 season is drawing to a close, yet only now does the game come out.
Weird.
Anyway, it's here. And it's more enjoyable than this F1-allergic gamer was expecting.
Like Tiger Woods 12, which dumbed down a traditionally tricky sport to make it more accessible to gamers, F1 2011 makes a big effort to give simpletons like me an opportunity to play the game without failing miserably.
On the lowest difficulty setting, races are as short as three laps, the car sticks to the road nicely, and regular bumps with other vehicles are not penalised.
It's not too easy. You won't win every race without trying. But it's easy enough. And the more serious driving gamers and F1 fanatics can crank up all the settings.
All 12 teams and 24 drivers that started the season feature in the game. And all 19 circuits from the calendar are faithfully represented.
The game also features the two new rules - Drag Reduction System (DRS) and Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) - which, er, have something to do with speed and acceleration boosts but don't ask me to explain them.
At the heart of the game is a decent, not spectacular, career mode. You create a driver, and accept one of five invitations to join a minor team.
Practise, qualify, race. Rinse and repeat. There are specific objectives to achieve, over and above winning, but the experience progression system seems a little lacklustre so far.
The cars look great, the action is intense and realistic weather effects add variety to the racing.
For the first time, full 24-car grids are available in multiplayer racing, though only 16 of the cars can be human-controlled.
F1 2011 is a lot more welcoming to those who struggle with the sport. But it will still have the widest appeal to the diehard fans.
