F1 2012 demo coming

[GB_Simo]

Terry, I have absolutely no doubt it could be that fun, mate. I had a similar experience with a Monza race, recounted somewhere in this thread. It just didn't do it often enough for me.

It's a fact that I'm a bit pickier with F1 games than many, because F1 is not far away from the centre of my world at all times, but the stuff that really buggered the game up for me - the difficulty issue, which I know they've patched, for example - was fundamental and not specific to the sport. We shall see, since I've just got back...I've been mulling this purchase over for a couple of weeks now, since it's already pretty heavily discounted here.

You're definitely not crazy on the NASCAR games being unplayable, for what it's worth. 2011 eventually got a digital-only release here for £7.99 and I still think I paid about £8 more than I should have.

PK, did we tell you Noel Gallagher is this year's intro music provider?

[GB_Simo]

This is definitely better than the demo and pre-patch release for me, the key words in that sentence being "for me".

The first key reason is that while the understeer in the driving model is still present to some extent, it's been tamed. One of the things Codemasters did during the patching process (there were 12 patches on PC, 8 of which had relevance to console, where they were included as automatic updates) was change the track grip values to reduce the understeer I'd been bitching about earlier in the thread.

The cars now turn in more positively and for the most part, it's easier to place the front end where you want it instead of washing out and running wide. I knocked half a second off my previous Time Trial best at Austin just through being able to commit the car to corners more comfortably - the actual time gain was probably more, but I was using a Red Bull, which is slower down the massive back straight than the McLaren I used previously. The quick complex at the start of the lap in Austin is now big, big fun to drive if you hook it up properly.

The game now seems less breathlessly eager to give you a penalty for sneezing within the vicinity of another car. I've had one drive-through penalty for causing a collision in six races and the penalty was completely fair, since I'd got my braking distances a bit wrong and struck Vettel square amidships. The braking distances haven't changed at all, so they're still unrealistically long, which will require a bit of recalibration if you're used to the 2011 braking model. You do get used to it, though.

This could be important if you're planning a lot of offline play: the gap between Pro and Legend difficulty has been lessened, not by introducing a new level, but by making Pro harder. The other difficulties remain untouched. At the minute, Pro is about right for me. I can get a Sauber well amongst the points scorers at the dreaded Abu Dhabi, where my horrible mental block still persists, and came from 18th on the grid to 2nd in Brazil as Kimi Raikkonen. I might have won had Alonso not pulled 3 seconds on the field during the pit stops. I'd definitely have won had I not made an unholy mess of qualifying.

The Pro AI isn't as strong or as late on the brakes as it perhaps ought to be but the overall speed seems OK for where I am now. Going four wide for two corners at the start in Austin was OK too - no contact, no drama, just cars using space sensibly and bailing out when there was no space left. I'm still seeing the issue where cars pull up to my rear wheel with a huge run on me and then just sit there, most commonly in DRS zones, but I don't see it everywhere. The run into turn 4 at Interlagos has been the main trouble spot so far.

The big problem I foresee, though - and I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of others to see if this is indeed an issue - is that if you're not quite on the pace of Pro AI, the fact that other difficulties haven't been rebalanced might well stick you in a total no-man's-land between Intermediate and Pro, where you're way too fast for one level but not fast enough for the other. I really hope it's not the case, because now it's been patched (so extensively that, as far as I can see, the game as sold upon release was actually unfinished), I haven't seen F1 2012 doing anything monumentally stupid. There's time yet - I haven't checked all the tracks for AI balancing, I haven't ran in any weather other than dry and clear and I've only done 25% races, where the continued absence of scaling means that tyre wear still isn't an issue and you're still free to thrash the life out of them without any worries - but this seems better now than when I left it, certainly.

[pk500]

PK, did we tell you Noel Gallagher is this year's intro music provider?

Heard that right away when I first pulled the cellophane off the game Wednesday night. Told Rob, with whom I was still in an XBL party, about that.

Like this game very much. But the driving model is a 180-degree change from F1 2011. You could brake incredibly late and wrestle the cars through the corner in that game. F1 2012 rewards smoothness in every aspect. Smooth lines, smooth early braking, smooth acceleration.

I'm having to relearn everything about console game driving. I won't put this driving model anywhere near iRacing, but at least it shares the same basic concepts. It's quite an advance for a console game, if you understand I don't mean an ounce of condescension by that statement.

Mega fun. My sons are beating the sh*t out of the game tonight. I can't peel them off it, and I don't want to!

[GB_Simo]

My experience is nothing like as dramatic as that, though I have the advantage of having spent significant time with F1 2010, which this continues to remind me of. It's certainly different from 2011, though.

If you gave me 2011's braking and allied it to 2012's performance in fast corners, I'd be there. This is still a bit too far the other way from 2011 - the cars are too front-limited. You can't drop the rear under braking unless you're being really, really silly or going out of your way to stack it. The only way to lose the back end on exit is to go 100% throttle while you're still applying full lock, and if you do that, squeezing the brake pulls you back in line every time, which is probably just as well because it's not possible to drive through a slide on the power like you could last year. The cars behaved like this in F1 2010 too, but not 2011, and I've no idea why it's been changed back.

Unless, of course, it was to help the racing. Once you stop locking the fronts under braking, the handling model is geared towards enabling consistent fast laps. I think I said earlier in the thread that the physics model gives you the freedom to concentrate on your racing this year and, even with the patches, that still applies. Online, it should be spot-on, allowing for closer racing and less time spent sliding around.

PK, how's the offline difficulty working for you?

[XXXIV]

I am sold again.

Its on my pick up after Xmas list.

[pk500]

PK, how's the offline difficulty working for you?

I'm in a bit of limbo. I'm stuck between the second and third difficulty levels (can't remember the names).

I mop up the second level on the rare times I'm consistent on a track I know well. But I get whacked pretty handily at the third level unless I have an out-of-body experience at a track I know and like.

So my goal is to work toward racing consistently and competitively on the third level.

I assume you're showing Vettel-like speed on the highest level, matey?

[GB_Simo]

I assume you're showing Vettel-like speed on the highest level, matey?

HA!

I just put it on Professional last night and left it there. Legend has been made so much harder this year, presumably in response to player feedback, but it's like they've upped the difficulty out of spite. First time I had the game, I was 2-3 seconds a lap off my team mate in a Force India on Legend difficulty and I haven't tried it since. The gap might not be so big now I'm getting on with the handling a little more, but I'd be amazed if I'm suddenly that much faster.

That's kind of what's been driving my concerns about the difficulty from my previous posts, which I'm not sure I've really explained that well. The only thing Codies did when people complained that the gap between Pro and Legend was too big was to make Pro harder. They didn't make Legend any easier, nor did they introduce a new difficulty level, they just made Pro harder. Consequently, there must now be a massive gap between Pro and the level below - exactly the same gap that previously existed between Pro and Legend, now transposed.

I know I'm not the world's quickest racer but I'm generally competitive around these parts, and I know the majority of folk reading are within 2 or 3 seconds of each other. If I'm on or slightly faster than Pro pace, I'm wondering how many people are going to have their offline experience blighted by landing in the massive gap. Being in a bit of limbo, if you will.

[GB_Simo]

New patch for console owners, adding in the fixes from PC patches 9-12.

Just had a race at Monza in a Caterham, catching Alonso for 3rd on the last lap. I got a great run off the last chicane and drew alongside on the exit, matching him for speed all the way to the last corner. I was on the outside and couldn't make a pass stick, so I pulled back, aiming to straighten up the corner's exit, get on the power earlier and outdrag him to the line.

If I'd saved any KERS, I'd have made it. Since I'd used it all up catching Alonso in the first place, I didn't. I crossed the line as level as level could be with the Ferrari, the game giving us the same finishing time to the nearest thousandth of a second. Damn, that was fun.

Is it not time to go racing, fellas? I'm looking for Merv Tapper, Juan Guerra Loma, the full Barry Pepper...

[pk500]

Is it not time to go racing, fellas? I'm looking for Merv Tapper, Juan Guerra Loma, the full Barry Pepper...

F*CK YES. Before New Year's!