General Info
Last year’s F1 2012 represented a satisfying culmination of several years of increasingly good F1 simulations. With little headroom left for a game built to cater for current-generation console hardware, this year’s F1 is a largely iterative edition. The core, current-day season content feels mostly familiar, and the racing itself has benefited from tweaks rather than overhauls. Codemasters' efforts here are focused on inserting quality recreations of classic cars, drivers, and tracks from the ’80s and ’90s, though it never quite feels like they're utilised to their full potential. The overall result is an admirable ode to F1 and an excellent racing game on its own merits, but one that may underwhelm returning owners of F1 2012 and still leave fans of classic F1 a little wanting.
It's a case of business as ususal in Carrer Mode (and the accompanying modes) where you'll likely spend the bulk of your time. Things remain mostly unchanged here, from the 20 circuits all the way down to the recycled, post race vignettes of your drivers fist-pumping and high-fiving other team members for a race well run. The Young Driver's Test over two days at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit. From here you'll be able to attack F1 2013's Career Mode; well-executed but familiar turf. Those who'd rather slip into the fireproof onesie of an existing F1 driveer can do so in Grand Prix MOde and race either the individual GPs of their choosing or the 2013 season proper. The ability to do this was confusingly yanked from F1 2012, so it's nice to see it return.
Aesthetic differences between F1 2013 and F1 2012 are quite minimal, but that at least means it looks good. The wet-weather effects, in particular, are uniformly excellent, and cars remain especially crisp( although the damage modelling is still nowhere near as impresive as Codemasters is capable of in its other games). The tracks themselves, however, still tend to look too clean and lacking in nuance. Today's F1 racers may be born and breed in high-tech, spot-free laboratories, but the tracks they race on sit exposed to the elements. They don't feel that way in F1 2013;at time they feel like sterile facsimiles rather than well-abused stretches of asphalt.
Classic MOde comes with its own GP, Tie Attack, Time Trial, and Scenario Mode to keep you occupied, but unfortunately it's not long until it kind of runs out of puff. The problem is that the greatest hits-style approach is okay, but it doesn't feel like it's been fully exploited. You can run the GPs on either the two classic courses (Brands Hatch or Jerez) or the 2013 traacks, but the novelty quickly wears off. They're limited to only 10 cars, and the pure fantasy of pitting vehicles almors 10 years apart against one another, as opposed to an approach focussed pn a single, memorable season, will divide F1 purist.
Tough but gratifying, F1 2013 is not a starling improvement from the already robust F1 2012, but it's certainly Codemaster's best and most confident crack at f1 to date. It looks good, sounds good, feel good, and is crammed with plenty to do. More than ever F1 2013 requires the right combination of patience, finesses, and aggression to fight your way towards your goals.
System Requirements: Minimum
Processor: Intel Core Duo E6600 2.4 Ghz / AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core 4800+
Video: Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT
Ram: 2 GB
OS: Windows Vista
DirectX: 11
HDD: 15 GB
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