Gaming F1 2015 Review

Personally glad they got rid of the career mode it was a awful grind in full race sim.

You can save any time on full race length and the game will resume so not sure why you would not do it that way.

They made a race sim for those that want it. Not everyone's cup of tea.

The main issue I have with the game is the issues that exist in online play.

 

I disagree with rollo, I think Career mode is a must.

First, should you play as a real race driver, you will automatically inherit any agreed upon advantage through that driver's real life talent and the overwhelming potential benefits of racing for Mercedes making the game as poor as the real thing.
Secondly, I have always much preferred to create my own character and work my way up the ranks and selecting various team contracts. Obviously previous versions have had their issues with both how the career mode is set up and also the racing dynamics but to remove it all together removes any incentive I had for upgrading from F1 '11.

Personally I think Codemasters have systematically destroyed all that was good in race games. GRiD, DiRT and F1 all have extremely simplistic and very dead driving experiences. I miss MSR and I am yet to find a racing game as deep and entertaining as that was on the Dreamcast. I know that Project Gotham and then Forza are supposed to be good but I refuse to buy a console for a few, select games that aren't available on the PC. I have also tried some of the newer PC racing games including GRiD Autosport which I lost interest in within a few days. I am yet to try Project Cars and Assetto Corsa which I have heard good things about but then, I have heard good things about GRiD, DiRT and the rest too, only to be vastly let down.

Back to F1 '15, I won't be buying it. The game isn't helped by the current state of the real world F1 situation but the game seems to be even worse and so I really don't see why you would bother.

 

X360's are dropping in price all the time. It'll be worth it soon as it seems the driving game IP's seem to favour the console market. I, as well as a PC enthusiast, am a console collector (Am I master race peasant or peasant master race?) and Forza Series is worth the cost of a cheap 360. I'm sure PC nuts who are also PS fans would advocate the Gran Turismo series.

I'd love a good PC game that did what those two games do, but would allow for PC race fans to bust out their 'super wides' or multi monitor rigs, their kick assed race wheels and pedals and they could go nuts like the flight sim and mech junkies do. It's love over due.

But still, grab a 360 at a booty and Forza, you may love it.

P.s. MSR was sweeeeeeet. o7

 

Long overdue not love overdue.*
But if i know PC race fans, that may not have been entirely innacurate
Typo philospohy right folks.

 

I agree, a Career mode lets you get more involved with a game than just stepping into the shoes of a current driver. As an avid follower of F1 I have always picked up each years F1 game and am sure I will also pick this one up as well, however I am very dissapointed that the career mode is missing and, as outlined in this review, that there doesnt seem to have been a huge amount of effort done to pull the player into the experience a little bit more. Yes F1 currently has its moments where it can be a bit "dull" due to the dominance of Mercedes, but that is where the personalities and interactions and situations during races between the drivers can make things more interesting. These things have been missing for a while from the F1 games but I think its more obvious this year as Project:Cars showed with the "road to F1" feature how good it can be to work to earn a seat, something that would be excellent in F1 2015, plus features like the scenario mode and the historical cars being cut all seem to show corners being cut in the rush to get this game out on time which is a shame.

Recently then F1 2014 suffered from the focus having shifted to F1 2015, and F1 2015 seems to have suffered from a lack of time to finish and add all the features, I really hope F1 2016 is the one to lift the game back up to a high level again

 

I am in typo hell today...

 

@Crunchy, What's the difference between Forza and Forza Horizons?

 

Forza is the more serious game, Horizons is a bit more arcadey with more off-track races, side missions etc.

And if you want a career mode, Project Cars starts you off with karts

 

career mode in racing games in general has always felt a bit tacked on. For me AC does it best you pick track length of race and away you go. Project cars does similar stuff in quick race.

For the sim race games it's a much preferred option than go grind 20 hours to unlock your car choice. Ala forza or gt.

I'm a huge race game fan and play all style types. Of the 3 AC is the best for N ring alone. It's a addon pack but super worth it. Need for Speed Rivals is probably the most fun I've had there's something to be said for drifting at 220mph.

 

Horizons is about an event, it's kind of 'cool kids Forza', it's cool and all. But Forza 1-4 are just about motorsports and 2-4 are really fun.

 

If that is your idea of a good racing game then we are at polar opposites. The original Most Wanted was the last good NFS and I did like Underground 1 and 2 before that but Rivals sucked big time.

Also, it really seems from your comments that you want a career mode to be... well... un-career mode like. You seem to want everything as instant access and can't be bothered to work and achieve your position. Isn't that what arcade modes are for? To suit players like yourself? I can understand that you don't personally like career modes but to remove them or to corrupt them to suit a more arcade mode style just seems not only limited but excluding of those who do like career modes as they were meant to be.

Isn't that exactly where the life span of a game comes from? Playing for weeks on end to unlock further content that wasn't available on the day you first bought it? To feel that individual and personal challenge of not only accessing what others had, but also to try to be the first to unlock something else...

 

Well... yes. But isn't that just to restate the thing that video games have been trying to do for thirty years or so? To create a story? And that's the hard part. We can render the polygons, but trying to make it feel like something that matters is the trick. If you want that storyline played out on screen, with voice acting and animation, you end up being forced down the road of limiting the story options by predefining what can happen. If not, you're stuck with fake emails and made-up headlines, so they can do a find-and-replace on the player character's name.

I get what you're saying, but it's tricky. You're sort of asking for a feature film with a character you control in it, which again, is sort of what video games have been trying to do since the year dot, and it's hard as hell.

P

 

Never said it was a great game did say it was fun though that's why you play a arcade style racer after all.Career mode in race simulator games is trying to put in a story where there does not need to be one. No one buys a race sim expecting a story.

The best racer of the last 5 years does not have a career mode in AC so not sure what the issue is personally. They could of left it as a option for those that wanted it. nothing to say it won't get added in at some point. The main bad point of F1 2015 is no mod support.

What Phil says above has a lot of merit as well. Project cars has career mode but it has no soul you get some emails after every race. F1s previous career mode was a 40 hour grind on full race sim to get somewhere near the top on elite difficulty. Sure you could do 2-3 lap races but not sure that's the point.

 

tbh I'm not really looking for story in a career mode. What I look for (and perhaps I'm strange in wanting this) is a progression through the cars, getting better at driving to earn my way up to the top, getting better all the time. I don't care about the crappy fake social media stuff (they all repeat after a while anyway), what I care about is getting better at driving and getting better cars to drive. Those games where I jump in at the top end tend to bore me, because there's nothing to work towards.

But that's just my opinion. Perhaps I'm strange like that

 

True its difficult to get a story going and to balance it right, but I think whats a real shame is that Codemasters have made steps to do it in the past and have experience with these features that would help put you in the game more, but they never seem to implement them going ahead, for example back in TOCA 3: Race Driver (2005) there was a feature where if you had a collision with another driver or ended their race, there was a cutscene at the end of the race where they angrily confronted you about it, I remember feeling really involved with the game at that point but since then that feature has never come back.

I really don't think it would take a lot of work to add that level of immersion, just add a number of responses/outcomes so that your actions have consequences, e.g.. a confrontation if you crash, being awarded points if you cause a BIG crash, career progression starting as a test driver etc, all these things would help you feel more involved in the game. Perhaps coming in 2016 now they have more time to create this one!

 

Just get Telltale and Codies together I am sure they could come up with a choose your own adventure F1 sim.

I am sure them problem is that they wouldn't be able to do anything that effects the drivers 'brand' due to the money involved.

 

My idea of a good game is exactly that... fun. Rivals was not fun for me the other games I mentioned were... I enjoyed them.

As for AC and PC I wouldn't know as I haven't played either. Without a career mode or at least something similar I don't what you are playing for... it's just a pick up and drop game with little or no incentive to continue playing once the novelty of the basic games wears thin. That is why I like 'good' career modes (which have been lacking in recent F1 games and many other racers too) as once you get used to the graphics and the driving dynamics there should be more to the game to keep you playing.

A good game keeps me going back to it long after it has past it's 'sell by date'. Can you imagine a FIFA game with ONLY a Quick Match option?

 

Most people only buy Fifa to play ultimate team. Which is effectively Quick Match in Multiplayer mode. EA themselves have said its the most played game mode that they have ever released.

AC is the best racing sim made in the last 5 years maybe longer. PC has its moments and better track selection. For someone intrested in race sims im surprised you have not played either.

Whats a good career mode in a race game? Forza and GTs is just grind for cash to get next car.