F1 2012

First of all some people have valid criticisms of this game. My main gripes are:

* No custom setups in quick race mode - the quick setups can be poor
* No really useful tips how to get the most from custom setups (the text that tells you what difference adjustments doesn't mean much)
* Wing settings of 1-1, roll bars of 1-11, suspension of 11-11 and camber of -3.5 & -1.5 are often the quickest setups regardless of circuit
* Cars biased towards understeer (at least when using a steering wheel)
* Should be able to set custom AI difficulty - Professional AI can be too slow but Legend is far too quick for me
* AI drivers should be more aggressive defending position/overtaking
* Should be able to race a full championship as your favourite driver
* Penalty system can be poor, sometimes penalising you when you get hit by an AI car. Multiplayer penalties are horrendous, countless idiots online deliberately drive into you and you get a 10 second penalty for trying to avoid them!
* Accelerating time in a wet qualifying session (the AI drivers will set the same lap times as dry conditions while you slither around with no grip, the `fix' for this is to run qualifying in real time)
* Brake bias adjustment is too extreme - if you move bias rearwards you end up having huge oversteer under braking so best off leaving alone
* Should be able to watch other cars out on track like you could with EA Sports F1/GP series games
* It would be good if you could save a game mid-race
* Multiplayer idiots should be heavily penalised for deliberately running you off track, happens nearly every quick match and takes away the enjoyment

That might sound like a long list of issues but I do really enjoy this game. It takes a while to master driving the cars but once you do it's great fun, especially if you turn off the driving aids and do 50% races. I find that doing longer races is the key to getting the most out of the game as then tyre strategy comes into play. It opens you up to either taking more pitstops where you can drive faster without worrying so much about tyre wear, or you can go for less stops but heavily manage your tyres. I really enjoy this aspect of the game, it's very realistic to modern F1.

The career mode is quite good and probably the major feature of the game. It would be great though if Codemasters could implement a true career mode where you start in 2010 with those cars/drivers and end in 2012 (or 2013), I don't know if their licensing agreement allows for that but EA Sports managed something similar with F1 Career Challenge back in 2003. It would add a lot more depth to the game.

The Champions Mode is a nice feature when you don't want to do a full race. It sets you challenges such as catch and overtake Button in the wet, or catch and overtake Vettel setting fastest lap along the way. It's just a good bit of fun.

Multiplayer is a mixed experience - particularly on quick match races there are morons who just barge into you at every corner. I don't know why people do this as it just takes away the fun. These people thankfully aren't as common if you enter custom races.

Overall this game does have it's faults but it really is enjoyable if you're into F1, especially if you take the time to do longer races which allows for a pretty realistic experience.

I reviewed the XBox version of F12010 back in 2011, giving it only 2 stars as I felt the poorly implemented pit stop programming ruined the game. F12011 was an improvement, but Codemasters have cracked it with F12012!

I run the game on Ultra settings and the graphics are striking - the reflections on the bodywork of the McLaren, the glint of sunlight on the cars and wing mirrors. The attention to detail is also impressive, the marbles off the racing line and the "jiggling" of the steering wheel even when the car is travelling in a straight line all add to the realism.

This version of the game has encouraged me to switch off the Traction Control and ABS that I previously used. The reason? Even with Traction Control ON the game is very unforgiving of heavy acceleration after exiting a corner, I found myself spinning a lot more than I did in F12011. I decided that it was time to add to the challenge and switched off Traction Control and ABS - its the best thing I've done and the extra concentration and control needed enhance the realism and teach you to respect the power you have at your fingertips.

The game punishes those who cut corners and drive off track by automatically slowing the cars speed - an addition that will frustrate some, but again it encourages good, smooth driving. Getting a penalty is never fun, but the system is perfectly fair from what I have seen so far. In a nutshell, if you drive like an idiot banging into cars around you and cutting corners then you will be penalised - treat your fragile car and those around you with respect and avoid contact and you will stay out of trouble.

The AI in this version is much improved. Backmarkers now give you plenty of room and there is none of the wild weaving I used to experience when approaching a car to lap it. I have also noticed that AI now give you a cars width to pass if you have a passing opportunity in line with the new regulations - a nice touch.

The fuel situation is much better with your engineer warning you to cut back on revs if your fuel is running low. I did feel the need to check if the car actually does run out of fuel, so ignored all warnings to switch to "mix 1", and slowed to a pathetic crawl on the last lap, getting passed by half the field!

The people who will get the most from this game are those who have the patience to sit down and learn the tracks, who treat it for what it is - a simulator and not an arcade racer, and who want to experience just how challenging controlling an F1 car can be. Put in the time, learn to drive well and consistently and gradually turn off those aids as you improve, and F12012 will reward you with a terrific gaming experience and a real sense of achievement.

This is the first F1 game I've bought since GP4, in some ways I'm impressed with the step forward, in other ways I'm disappointed.

First off, performance-wise I was surprised to find it runs at 52 FPS on my Alienware laptop at 1920x1080 with all settings maxed out so a half decent desktop shouldn't have any problems running it.

Graphics-wise it's good, not quite as spectacular as I was hoping as far as trackside detail goes, but the wet weather effects in particular are a big leap forward from older games

Gameplay is where the bugs start showing - in Malaysia I was dumped on the grid with intermediate tyres when the track was bone dry and the rest of the grid were on slicks, I restarted the race and the second time around it got it right. In Abu Dhabi the steering aid pulled my car in some odd directions on a couple of corners (ie quite abruptly to the right and clean off the track ! I found the way to stop that happening was to take the corner extremely tight with a lot of curb and not run out to the edge of the track on exit, which lost me a bit of exit speed). I haven't finished the entire season yet but the way things are going so far I'm expecting more bugs to manifest themselves as the season progresses. I find it hard to believe these issues were missed during testing !

Those bugs aside though I'm still finding it quite a fun game, the challenge level on intermediate difficulty is reasonable and in general the AI is decent on the other cars, again much improved on the older games, especially slower cars moving out of the way when you're lapping them.

(amended the review to remove the tyre issue I previously mentioned that it seems was my fault rather than the game !)