F1 2005 for PS2 review

Now that the F1 season is finally upon us I started to follow it along by playing the corresponding track. Since all the good sims on the PC are lacking recent updates of teams, drivers, cars and most importantly the latest tracks I switched over to "F1 2005" on the Playstation. Here my comments:

In general the game is pretty good, especially once you play it in "hard mode", turn off all the aids and the stuff cluttering the display. But there are some shortfalls in comparison to a good PC sim:

- no damage model (it is supposed to have damage, but I haven't managed yet to break off a wheel, something that happens at the slightest contact in F1 2002 for instance)
- no mirrors (that really sucks since I drive always in 1st person view)
- very limited information on the steering wheel LCD (Grand Prix 4 was great in that regard putting the data where it ought to be)
- average graphics (can't wait to see this game on PS3)

On the other hand, the game does have its pluses as well:

+ excellent audio and commentary, you get a sense of what's going on in the race (I have raced GP3/4 and F1 2002 utterly clueless what the field did)
+ detailed tracks and cars, finally I get a sense of what Bahrain is all about
+ cool rewards, I like the trophy room and was happily surprised when the game rewarded my drive with a 1979 Lotus JPS, which you can take out for a spin and it feels, looks and drives very different from today's cars

So in short the game is not as good as a sim as the PC games were, but it is good fun and does have its merits. It'll be interesting to see how F1 2006 will look like on PS3 and of course there is hope, that Bernie won't sell the exclusive rights solely to Sony going forward.

Anybody else following the season along on their PS2 or PCs?

 

You're welcome. Yes: Lotus 25, Williams FW08 and Williams FW11 and there is one US street circuit to be unlocked.

 

Good point: No it is not. The game is PAL and region code protected, so it only runs on PS2 for it. I bought a Euro PS2. The power supply can deal with 110V. Controller (USB) and audio is no issue and I use a video beam for the display and most LCD projectors can handle PAL and NTSC.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath for that. Also I have followed the forum upgrade path for years and eventually got tired of it: It is a bit like tweaking and tuning a car engine. You get something different, for better or worse and you also get something less stable and resource intensive. After the umpteenth upgrade to GP3 the thing would start to crash in the middle of a race or the PC couldn't deal with it anymore and it crawled to a halt. GP3 and GP4 have excellent physics engines, but if you keep tinkering with things like car dynamics, magic data and bump tables you end up with something that has only a limited guaranty left to be realistic.

Maybe it's just my age, but I'm getting tired of all the tinkering and rather just want to race and have fun. PS2 is very good in that sense. Turn it on and go. You can't make it any better, but you can't also make it any worse.

 

I played F1 Challenge on the PC (EA sports) and you're right it is very good. Comparable to Grand Prix 3 or 4. Problem is, it too never got an official season update.

 

Finally managed to knock off a wheel. It is doable, but takes a good deal more than in F1 Challenge. Also grip levels change with increased tire wear. And of course fuel weight does have an affect and is dynamic as well. However I haven't experienced brake fading and engine abuse yet. Random engine failures are possible though. Even random pilot errors, they black flagged Heidfeld for something in one of my races.

On the good side I have to say that it is impossible to get to the podium in medium or hard without setting the car properly up. In easy mode you just dominate because the CCs are clueless, but already in medium mode you need to change the default settings. And the setting choices are comparable to Grand Prix 4 or F1 Challenge. Not always exactly the same stuff, but overall about the same level of detail.

One feature I really like are the sector times, which you can have displayed (or not) and even the TV commentators and your pitcrew talking about them: That gives you a good indication of how a particular setting affects your speed on what part of the track. Point in case: Bahrain's 3rd sector is all about speed vs the 2nd sector (and partly the first) are about cornering ability. So in the end I settled for more downforce, sacrifycing my top speed.

PS: Ferrarifans will be happy to hear, that the scarlet cars still dominate and MS is probably going to win the title. It appears as if they didn't use 2005 but rather 2004 strengths. Although everything else including one lap qualifying is 2005 spec.

 

Interesting, I don't remember that from last year. Anyway, it is an aggregate from Saturday and Sunday. But so far I have done only a few races, maybe it'll change halfway through the season as well?

Also I like the fact, that you can do your qualifying run with a flying start. The PC games were more realistic by having you go out there to do a warmup and cool down lap, but it got old very quickly. OTOH I'm missing the pit speed limiter: You have to brake for the pits speed limit or you get a pass through penalty, but once you're in pitlane the computer takes over. I liked the PC games where you had to hit the speed limiter button.

LOL about Nick. What is very cool in PS2 is that the problems for the drivers and cars are randomly generated for each race. That is different from F1 Challenge where the same driver gets hit by the same problem in the same race every time you start it. That's not only boring, but once you know for example that one of your rivals will blow up no matter what you can focus on the other one. Not so in PS2 where MS once blew his engine in Bahrain and once got a victory.

 

Update: Now that I got my first contact with rain in Sepang I have to say the AI is darn good. In GP3 you always had a chance when it started to rain as the cc simply weren't up to snuff. But in this game they are just as fast and the spray and their rooster tails make it hard for the following car.

Also rain itself is very well done. You can even see some sprinkles on the visor.

Sadly I still bloody suck in this game. 5th is all I managed so far.

 

I started the season in the Renault thinking they use the strengths of the 2005 season, but it looks more like the 2004 season with the Ferraris still dominating (hey, there is a reason for you guys to purchase this game!).

So eventually I swapped cars and things run a lot smoother in the Ferrari. That should teach me...

BTW: Just as IRL the Ferrari is a 7 gear and the Renault a 6 gear car. Also of course the cockpits are different.

Interestingly the game even simulates temporary technical glitches: I had moments where I couldn't find a gear. Very nasty, cost me a surefire pass.

Also fuel weights are nicely modelled: The car behaves rather sluggish with full tanks. This even holds true when you select extrapolated performance for races with less than 100% distance. Meaning even if I start with only fuel for two laps, the car is heavy if I select "extrapolated performance", because the fuel weight is then a percentage of the distance run. This way you don't have to do a 100% race, but consumption and abuse strategies factor in.

There is also a nice feature when it comes to the pit stops: You have to quickly hit some of the controller/steering wheel buttons as the fuel and tires go in and on. Depending on your reaction time the pit stop gets longer or shorter.

Also as in any good game, setup is so important. Starting with the default setup the car felt gamey and controlling the car and driving it precisely was almost impossible. Then I started tinkering with the setup and things started to stiffen. The FFB wheel got harder and driving the car on the edge became much more doable. Kinda like driving with or without power steering. Needless to say that laptimes dropped by seconds with better setups.

So comparing it to GP3/GP4/F1 Challenge 2002 it is not as good and my biggest complaint is the missing sideview mirrors. But for a console game this is about as good as it gets and the gap to PC gaming is definitely closing.

 

Good question. Dunno yet. I drive the GPs as they unfold IRL.

I can tell you (no surprise there) that I was very lost in Bahrain. Partly because it is a new track and partly because it has so many godarn corners and the terrain looks a bit the same everywhere. Having said that and driven it for a week I finally found a bit of a rythm and started to notice the elevation changes etc.

And sure enough: You start to learn the key points of the track, the difficult turns etc and where most people spun in practice and the race is where I struggled as well. The left turning #10 (where some folks went backwards out) is hard to nail and somewhat similar to right going turn #14 in Sepang.

The good news is, that by familiarizing yourself with the track you also learn to instantly recognize the TV pictures. You know where they are when you see a shot.

Now I'm playing Melbourne. Nothing too difficult there. No elevation changes, no camber, mostly straight forward turns. Been there, done that a million times and it shows in the lap times.

 

Discovered an oddity in the game:

When you get your gearing wrong it can happen that the engine stays in full throttle for a moment after you lift. As if it had some momentum (which I would understand) but telemetry shows actually full throttle for a brief moment.

First I thought it was the spring/contact in the gas pedal going weak, after all I had played GT4 with this setup for hours on end. But no, the hardware is clean.

So I take this now as an indicator of setting the gears the wrong way.

PS: Was just pounding laps around Imola. Beautifully reproduced in the game. You can even see the Italian alps in the far background. Acqua Minerale, Tamburello and Tosa are all to the dot. Any bit as nice as in GP4. But the coolest were the Tifosi in the grandstands during the race: They launched fireworks!