Somewhere in here there's a fantastic F1 game; however it's obscured by a few problems.
First, it is very demanding. You have to absolutely concentrate every single millisecond you're playing; take your eye off for half a second, or misjudge a corner ever so slightly, and you end up spinning off and wrecking all your progress. This is not a game for casual racing fans: you have to be in love with racing to be able to put in as much concentration as this game demands. You have to learn every corner of every track perfectly in order to win, and you have to get them right every single time with no room for error at all. This doesn't necessarily make it less fun; it just makes it extremely frustrating when your dog starts barking, causing you to go flying into a wall or crash into the back of another driver
Second, it's simply too difficult to begin with. You won't get near pole position, you won't get near the top ten, you'll be lucky to achieve the goals set by your team straight away; after about 8 hours' play I'm still struggling to get within 5 seconds in qualification. You can change the difficulty of the AI, which certainly helps, and once you move to another team than the weaker ones you'll find it easier, but you still have to constantly concentrate
Third, it's a poor port. The mouse isn't programmed in, the keyboard is the only controller, and everything is clearly set up for xBox and PS3. This is fine during racing, but the menus are a bit clunky and poorly programmed.
Fourth, it needs a patch before it's playable. You can download the patch by Googling 'codemasters f1 2010 patch' or something, but do this before you start because trust me, it's incomplete in the form you're buying it. For example, you'll pit during a lap, and the lollipop bloke will keep you there for about 20 seconds until he'll release you; you just have to sit there and watch your hard work slip away as car after car after car flies past you. Also, the strategies are fixed in the patch: I was disqualified in Melbourne for not using Prime and Option tires, even though I pitted twice. A third example: none of your competitors will pit in some races, which is just stupid. Trust me, get the patch. Shame on Codemasters for releasing an unfinished game; but at least this can be fixed.
So these are the problems: what are the positives?
First, it costs £3.
Second, it looks brilliant; the tracks are rendered superbly, and little touches such as rubber flying up off the track or fans holding your country's flag are nice.
Third, it's a seriously good racing game. It perhaps takes things a bit too seriously, and it isn't a huge amount of fun, but it's very satisfying and it's quite rewarding for its demand. But if you're serious about your racing, this is as a good game to get as any.
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To conclude:
If you stick with it, and are willing to learn the tracks and the game inside out, this is a great game. If you want a casual racer you can pick up and start winning instantly, or a fun game to play with friends, look elsewhere.
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