F1 2010

Have Codemasters perfected the formula?

It's been a while since a Formula One title last ripped around a HD track. It's fair to say we all needed the break. Under Sony's stewardship the genre had stagnated, culminating in 2007's F1 Championship Edition, an efficient yet ultimately pedestrian effort. It was time for a change.

And that's exactly what Codemasters have set about doing. With the license safely snaffled up in their leather driving-gloved hands, the makers of GRID and DiRT locked themselves away in the garage to bring about F1's gaming resurgence. They've just about nailed it.

F1 2010 emerges from the pits a powerful beast, its bodywork glistening and its engine growling menacingly. Put simply, it's a good game. But just as with any new constructor emerging into the sport, there's room for improvement.

Thankfully, Codemasters have got the most important thing absolutely right. F1 2010 wonderfully conveys the sensation of being strapped in to the seat of a snarling, super-powered F1 car.

By their very nature, F1 cars are an entirely different kettle of horses to the machines featured in other racers. They're lighter than a packet of 10 Marlboroughs, for a start, with some of the twitchiest, most sensitive handling you're likely to encounter. Zipping through corners and chicanes you'll feel as if you're barely taming the brute force beneath you, with a spin-out or a visit to the gravel traps just a inelegant thumb-flick away.

It's pretty thrilling at times, and all the more satisfying as you grow into it. But even when you feel you've mastered it, don't be expecting to win every race. Because here you'll be fighting over milliseconds, millimetres and fractions of miles per hour. And you'll love it.

So instead of gunning for first place, you must content yourself with the minor victories. Initially, at least. Rather than being the by-product of a fierce difficulty level, this micro-goal approach is the product of both the game's design and Codemasters' understanding of the sport itself.

Your main priority is to beat your teammate. Both on the track and off it, you'll find constant reminders of the team's pecking order. Manage to become top dog and you'll gain access to improved engine tech, dictating the upgrades pursued by your team's research and design departments.

There aren't too many racers that will see you punching the air after an attritional twelfth place finish, but once you've recalibrated your mind to F1's unique challenges, that's exactly what you'll do. Especially if you've left your team mate and rival trailing in your dirty air.

It's worth pointing out F1 2010's wonderfully implemented weather system. It looks and feels gorgeous. Depositing puddles in the dips and ripples of the track, it's terrifying too. Far more than just a visual effect, a spot of water makes negotiating the track a treacherous experience. When the skies open, you'll be hard pressed to find a more challenging race environment anywhere else in gaming.

Of course, there are a number of optional driving aides that can ease your journey around the track. Everything from racing lines, to rewinds and automatic braking are on offer, as has now become the comforting norm. But even on the easiest settings, if you're driving a car from one of the newer teams, you are likely to struggle for decent grid placings and finishing positions. All your victories are relative.

Though you can queue up single races and time trials, the real meat of the game comes across the three, five or seven season Career mode. Here you have complete control over the depth, from experiencing the full-on three day race weekend, to just getting down to business and ripping into the Grand Prix themselves.

Fleshing out Career mode is what Codemasters are calling Live the life. Intended as a gameplay flourish to represent some of the sport's character off the track, it falls a long way short of its target . What could have offered a compelling antidote to the game's dry predecessors results in little more than some poorly executed, elaborate menus.

As such, all of the game's options are accessible through a 3D paddock, decked out with a trailer and media area. Taking up residence in your trailer is your agent - with whom you'll negotiate new contracts, while the media area is stuffed with journalists ready to throw questions your way during each race weekend.

The problem with this aspect is that it is just so poorly implemented. The animation and voice acting is terribly flat and wooden, and with a few seasons under our belt we're still unsure as to the origin of our agent's accent. In the space of a few sentences it zips around Europe quicker than... well, yeah, an F1 car.

But at least the agent has an effect on the gameplay itself. Through her you can negotiate new contracts and plot your move up through the ranks of the profession. The media's questions, meanwhile, are pointless. As far as we can see they add little more than a distraction from the task at hand.

It's a shame because Codemasters are onto something with Live the life. If they can successfully build upon the feature in future iterations, lacing it in to the fabric of the game in a convincing way, rather than just bolting it on to the side, it could prove compelling. The idea is sound, it's the execution that's lacking.

Regardless, it's the on-track action that defines F1 2010. It's clearly been Codemasters' main focus. In bringing Formula One back to HD consoles, the racing veterans have created a robust and at times thrilling game that effortlessly slips into pole position ahead of this generation's other F1 efforts. Perhaps even more exciting, however, is what F1 2010 hints at for the future. This is just the beginning. Formula One is back.

86%

By Lee Bradley