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So, you're considering purchasing an simulation for your PC this year. Perhaps you already own one of the previous F1 titles from EA, and you're looking for something new and different, or maybe you see that the title implies 4 seasons worth of racing and that seems like a good time to jump in. In fact, this will be the last F1 title from EA for the PC, at least unless something changes their minds. Is EA trying to go out with a bang or a whimper?
The answer is honestly: a little bit of both.First, let's dispel any notions you might have regarding the feature set. As the title clarifies, there is nothing from 2003 in this title. There's nothing in terms of tracks, cars, or drivers you have not seen before if you've played any one of the previous years' titles.
Download F1 Challenge '99-'02 - F1 Season 2005. This package adds the actual F1 Season 2005 to the game F1.
The track changes are included, so depending upon the season, you may race either version of Hockenheim, or either version of the Nurburgring. The cars' strengths and weaknesses are mimicked by the game. If you drive a Williams in 1999 using Alex Zanardi, you'll find that it is well off the pace, while a current BMW-powered Williams car will put you near the front with its capabilities. Even though the title might imply some kind of career, there is no Career Mode in this title. You simply change the year in your driver profile, and voila, the tracks and driver list changes to reflect this. I would not blame anyone at all for drawing the conclusion at this point that EA chose merely milk their license for the last time by repackaging 4 years worth of old stuff into a new box.
That is the risk they are taking by not introducing anything particularly career-like into the title. There are no 'best moments' for you to recreate on the track, no training modes or tutorials, and generally no other frills. The things that make this title worth considering are the things that EA have done to the core title, making it stronger in many respects, while adding almost no bells and whistles. These can be summed up as improvements to the graphics and the beefing up of multiplayer. Yes, there are physics model improvements, but the people likely to get the most out of the advanced physics are the hardcore purists who like to drive with no aids of any kind on (and you know who you are!). For the run-of-the-mill desktop racer, who tries to leave things in some kind of default state, and sit down and run with a minimum of setup or practice laps, the game will feel much the same as last year.
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In all the time I drove with and without aids, I was hard pressed to say 'Oh yeah, that's MUCH better than last year' at any point. If anything, with the aids off, the game is cruel and unforgiving to a fault. Thankfully there are enough driving assists and preset difficulty levels to allow you to find a kind of comfort zone for yourself regardless of your skill (or lack thereof). Starting with the graphics, they look much the same as they always have. However, they are indeed better, because the average frame rate is higher. You can have more cars on the screen, at a higher level of detail, and not see the frame rate take a nosedive. I was able to drive from the back of the grid, with all 21 other cars in front of me, and not feel that the realism was compromised by a stuttering frame rate.
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Bear in mind, this was with everything on. My computer is probably considered mid-pack, with a 1.6 Ghz Pentium and a GeForce4 Ti4400. Given the extreme importance of a good frame rate in any kind of precision racing sim, this is to be praised. And being the last F1 title from EA for the foreseeable future, it will only get faster with time.
Although I have some issues with the tracks, they are mainly small, and not having been to each of the tracks in real life, I can only say that from comparing them to the races I watch on Sunday, they look realistic enough to me in their design to pass for the real thing. At any rate, I don't think there are any unrealistically wrong showstoppers here. The cars are drop-dead gorgeous with full details on.
I have a large diecast model of a Williams F1 car (Ralf Schumacher's car) and having pulled it down to compare paint schemes and bodywork details, I came away highly impressed with the authenticity of the cars. Weather and its appropriate graphics effects are fully enabled, with various levels of lighting and weather available. Wet tracks behave as they should, making driving the car more difficult as the front wheels claw at the water soaked track and refuse to get the kind of traction you get in dry weather. The weather does change somewhat, but not at any kind of alarming rate. Force Feedback is fully supported for wheels and other controllers. I can't say I'm overly impressed with it, as it seems little effort was made to really dial the spring rate into the grip level of the car.
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It would also have been nice to get a more realistic sensation when hopping curbs in a chicane, too. If you've ever put a racing-kart wheel on a curb while coming in fast, you know what I mean. It can pitch the car a bit sideways (which is sometimes desirable in difficult chicanes) and wrench the wheel a bit. But it's not in the game, sorry. You'll get the bumpity-bump feedback effect on the curve with perhaps a little pull, but nothing that will make make you feel more like you're driving the car. In fact, if I have a single big complaint about the handling in this title, it's that I don't feel as 'attached' to the car and the road as I feel I should, even though I know from what I do see and feel that the physics model is quite good.