Clearly, the power of the PS3 has been successfully harnessed because the game's speedy gameplay does not come with any sacrifice to graphical quality. The cars, environments, and race tracks all look close to photorealistic.
A superb racing game. Enthusiasts of the motorsport will eat this up and ask for more. Everything about this game is a quality product, from the visuals to the gameplay.
Holds up extremely well by today's standards and even surpasses some of Codies efforts. The career mode is a blast and with its pre season testing its more immersive than any modern f1 game as you actually have to earn your seat.
While it's by no means a perfect recreation of the sport, it does a lot of things very well. Casual fans might be best advised to stay away though, unless prepared to invest a lot of time into learning circuits and how to drive the incredibly powerful cars.
Whilst playing it on the hardest difficulty seems pointless to anyone but the most hardened of fans, the game has seen a significant hike in quality and fun since the last one. It's just the balance of the difficulty that isn't quite right. [Issue #150, p.76]
As far as either an authentic simulation or a fun re-imagining goes, it’s like some strange negative of the emperor’s new clothes; the pretty wrapping is there but the body is not. [Mar 2007, p.83]
There are genuinely few Formula One games that compare to this one in terms of quality and the amount of fun it is to play. This title is more of a sim-cade take on the F1 World Championship, leaning more towards a casual handling model. Anyone can pick up the controller (or wheel :) ), choose any of the 11 teams and 18 tracks, and enjoy a quick race of their desired length. In terms of accessibility options, there are plenty of driving aids and difficulty settings which can be tweaked across any game mode, though I honestly believe that having the least driving assists active is still very accessible to most people. The difficulty in this game comes from the AI, which are challenging to compete against primarily on the highest difficulty. They tend to drive aggressively and dive into corners from very far back if you're not paying attention, so it's advisable to adopt a defensive driving style when playing this game.
Visually for the time period (2007), this game is impressive and nearly holds up to this day; bar a few low res textures and limited environment detail beyond the track (Which can be very noticeable on the race intro screen for some tracks like the Nürburgring). I love the little details in this game in particular, e.g. the car and driver selection screens utilize full detailed pit stalls, cars, drivers (each of them wearing their race suits and team caps, both of which are very true to life down to sponsors. Owning most of the caps from that year, it's genuinely impressive how much detail they put into hats alone). On a similar note, the games track selection also gives you a guided lap around any track in the game, which is something not replicated on any other licensed F1 game as far as I'm aware.
The most important aspect of any F1 game is it's career mode, and although it lacks in certain aspects when compared to newer games, it also does things that have not been done since and make no sense not to include. Primarily, this game has TESTING, something that is done year in, year out in real life, yet Codemasters refuse to acknowledge that teams have to test their cars pre-season (granted, it makes more sense in this game, due to the existence of testing throughout the season). This feature makes the game so much more fleshed out regardless, as you're not bound to drive for a team as a first or second driver, but you can also fill the role of a test driver, and eventually challenge the second driver for their seat in F1. I will cut this briefly, because for the most part, it's a standard F1 career mode experience. The game also includes interactive pitstops and unlockable classic cars/track, the former hasn't returned in any extent until F1 22.
Overall, there are a few glaring issues to do with AI in the rain, auto spin curbs, etc., but otherwise I would consider this title a perfect F1 game.
This is by far the best racing game I have ever played. It is a vast improvement over its predecessors (F1 05, F1 06, etc), with improved graphics and more realistic driving. I'm not the best at it (I have only finished three out of ten races so far in Career Mode for Super Aguri), but I'm slowly learning my potential on it, and I even qualified on pole and finished in 3rd in the European GP!
What I would say is that this game is hard at first, but once you do a couple of races (finish them at least!) you'll be fine.
I don't get why certain reviews rate a game low even though It's a masterpiece. The last time I played an F1 game is on my PS1. I got the game when I bought my PS3 years ago. The graphics are amazing, the driving is very enjoyable. It really isn't as hard as most people say it is, even without braking, steering or visual aid. To me, It had tons of replay value. I always set myself a challenge to wreck every other driver without damaging mine too much in quick race. You also unlock old formula 1 cars by playing the Career Mode. The game to me did not have a single flaw.
Will we ever again see a game as good as this? Maybe. Just hope that in Next Gen developers don't cater every game to casuals and cry babies.
SummaryFORMULA ONE Chamionship Edition roars onto PS3 with all the official drivers, cars, circuits, rules and teams, including SCUDERIA TORRO ROSSO, SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM and MIDLAND F1 RACING in their debut year. Next Generation Experience – High definition visuals, full surround sound, extensive circuit details and lighting effects, progressiv...