As we are well into the new F1 2011 season and Codemasters new game is released on September 23rd I thought it was time to start this thread. I'm sure we'll start to get a lot more details over the next few weeks or month as Codemasters builds the hype and takes advantage of what is shaping up to be another classic season.
There are a few videos on YouTube which are apparently of F1 2011 footage but they might just be modded F1 2010.
Here is my list of must-improvements if I'm to buy it again:
1) Significant reduction in bugs and inconsistencies, this covers the vast majority of complaints from 2010.
1.1) Pit-Lane bug: Why not just hard code that at most one car, which entered the pit lane after you, can be let go ahead of you? Problem solved....
2) We need much more information, on lap times, tyre choice, number of pit stops etc both during the race and afterwards. For example, I started a race in the wet and Alonso was just in front of me, we were both on intermediates. He went into the pits after about 4 laps, the track was drying but it seemed a good 3-4 more laps away from slicks for me so I kept on inters. When he came out I had no idea what he was doing, was he on new inters or slicks? What were his lap times on the slicks if he was on them?
Imagine a race like the Chinese race we just had, without the current tyre, number of pits stops and current lap times you'd have no chance of choosing the right strategy to counter what others are doing, throw in some rain as well and you're helpless.
I know Codemasters don't want you to have to pause the game to check this out, but I think it should at least be an option. By all means improve the race engineer comments (which were pretty useless in 2010) to make up for it but you're never going to program it perfectly to give players what they want to know when they want to know it.
I also want to be able to see each drivers race so you can think about it afterwards, when they stopped, how many times they stopped...like a race profiler.
3) Full race replays with the ability to switch cars. It would also be nice to be able to see the pole position lap.
4) Improve (or get rid of) the "Be the Driver" part which was just a complete waste of time in 2010. I like the idea but it needs to be much more involved, deep and relevent.
5) Safety car would be nice but I'd imagine there is next to no chance this will be happening any time soon.
I know Codemasters have talked up the multiplayer side as the area they are concentrating on but I actually think the single player needs to be polished first, especially as it is a lot of minor issues detracting from what is a fantastic core experience.
It will be interesting to see how they implement DRS/KERS. You can not just make them automatic as they unload the car so much that they simply have to be operated manually otherwise it will just throw you off track. I suppose they could make DRS automatic in the race (as its down a straight) and just not include the use in qualifying so you only have to use one button for KERS. I can't see how if you use a wheel you can press two buttons at once. So I'm guessing DRS will either be dropped completely or automated for the race only. With KERS fully implemented via a single button.
Thoughts?
There are a few videos on YouTube which are apparently of F1 2011 footage but they might just be modded F1 2010.
Here is my list of must-improvements if I'm to buy it again:
1) Significant reduction in bugs and inconsistencies, this covers the vast majority of complaints from 2010.
1.1) Pit-Lane bug: Why not just hard code that at most one car, which entered the pit lane after you, can be let go ahead of you? Problem solved....
2) We need much more information, on lap times, tyre choice, number of pit stops etc both during the race and afterwards. For example, I started a race in the wet and Alonso was just in front of me, we were both on intermediates. He went into the pits after about 4 laps, the track was drying but it seemed a good 3-4 more laps away from slicks for me so I kept on inters. When he came out I had no idea what he was doing, was he on new inters or slicks? What were his lap times on the slicks if he was on them?
Imagine a race like the Chinese race we just had, without the current tyre, number of pits stops and current lap times you'd have no chance of choosing the right strategy to counter what others are doing, throw in some rain as well and you're helpless.
I know Codemasters don't want you to have to pause the game to check this out, but I think it should at least be an option. By all means improve the race engineer comments (which were pretty useless in 2010) to make up for it but you're never going to program it perfectly to give players what they want to know when they want to know it.
I also want to be able to see each drivers race so you can think about it afterwards, when they stopped, how many times they stopped...like a race profiler.
3) Full race replays with the ability to switch cars. It would also be nice to be able to see the pole position lap.
4) Improve (or get rid of) the "Be the Driver" part which was just a complete waste of time in 2010. I like the idea but it needs to be much more involved, deep and relevent.
5) Safety car would be nice but I'd imagine there is next to no chance this will be happening any time soon.
I know Codemasters have talked up the multiplayer side as the area they are concentrating on but I actually think the single player needs to be polished first, especially as it is a lot of minor issues detracting from what is a fantastic core experience.
It will be interesting to see how they implement DRS/KERS. You can not just make them automatic as they unload the car so much that they simply have to be operated manually otherwise it will just throw you off track. I suppose they could make DRS automatic in the race (as its down a straight) and just not include the use in qualifying so you only have to use one button for KERS. I can't see how if you use a wheel you can press two buttons at once. So I'm guessing DRS will either be dropped completely or automated for the race only. With KERS fully implemented via a single button.
Thoughts?
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