F1 2015 on PS4 – The DVDfever Review

F1 2015 has arrived for the first time on the current crop of consoles and today we are going to take the PS4 version for a spin!

I’m an avid armchair fan of Formula 1 and I tune in to Sky F1 for every race during the championship season. So the first thing I noticed was commentary (what there is of it) is handled by Sky F1’s own Crofty (David Croft). It’s been a long time since I played an official F1 game. Probably a PS one version was the last one I played and there seemed to be far more commentary during the race from Murray Walker. Crofty, as I far as I could tell, delivers an introduction to the track and conditions before the race but then that’s it. Instead in the interests of realism (or so I choose to believe) you receive messages from your race engineer through the speaker in the joypad. This is more authentic as this is how it would be for the drivers.

I was told to brake harder in the next series of corners as my brakes were running too cold. This was a nice touch. As it had been such a long time since I played an F1 game I invited a friend around to give me his take on the latest addition to the series. Although he liked what was available he also bemoaned what wasn’t. This year’s release on current consoles has been paired back somewhat in the game modes available. Previously you could race classic cars and on classic tracks. There was a career mode where you created your own character and made a name for yourself working your way up the ranks race by race. Having not experienced these modes before I didn’t miss them. Maybe Codemasters are trying to attract a larger mix of gamers. I personally have no interest in creating my own driver; I only wish to race as my favourite driver and win a championship with them. My friend bemoaned this removes the longevity of the game. You previously built your character and his career continued season after season. With F1 2015 you race a season and start again the next season. Fair enough if you’re a fan of previous F1 games, then this omission will probably disappoint you. Maybe Codemasters can release that game mode as DLC before the inevitable F1 2016 comes around.

My concern was still the lack of commentary. I would have preferred more in the game which I know would be straddling be immersed in the game with actually watching it on TV but perhaps the option to turn it on and off as you desired would have been a viable compromise.

After all there is a reason why FIFA games eschew realism to include commentary while you play and it’s a shame F1 2015 doesn’t have the commentary during the race coming through the TV while still sending your race engineers messages through the joypad. The lack of commentary also brings to the front the awful sound of the cars. This isn’t Codemasters fault. This is just the state of current formula 1 cars. There is no getting away from the fact that the turbo engines sound dreadful in real life so therefore they are going to sound dreadful in the game too.

---

F1 2015 – VETTEL CAREER MODE PART 1: AUSTRALIA – aarava

---

I was eager to get started so a quick race was selected. All the teams of 2015 season are represented. You can also choose the 2014 season if you prefer where you will find Alonso in the mediocre Ferrari of 2014 rather than the dreadful McLaren he managed to negotiate himself into for 2015. All the drivers are there to choose from in each team and thankfully they are wearing their sponsors caps so we aren’t subjected to Lewis Hamilton’s Morrissey-esque quiff which ends up looking like a throw back to a lady garden from the 70’s after each race.

I’ve mentioned this before I am a distinctly average gamer. The thought of playing an F1 game as a full on simulation leaves me with cold sweats. I don’t have the desire to play racing games with steering wheels as they get in the way when I’m not playing racing games. (I bought a thrustmaster flight stick to play Battlefield 3 with and it’s sat on top of a wardrobe now) So a quick delve into the options before I began the race and I set assists to beginner, ABS on, traction control full, dynamic racing line full, gearbox auto and pit. To ensure the game didn’t become a boring procession I set damage to full. Obviously as I progress I would be inclined to up the difficulty level but the options available allowed me to ease into the game but still provide enough challenge due to the ever peril of damaging my wing or ripping my wheels off. Which I did at first in abundance!

There is a level of detail in the game that F1 fans will appreciate. The heat haze from the rear of yours and your opponents’ cars, the details of the sponsors and the paint work on the cars is all authentic and up to date as the cars can be. When I damaged my wing, the pit crew advised me to head to the pit shortly afterwards, informing me I’d damaged the aerodynamics, but this I already knew. There was a distinct whistle from the air after a collision letting me know something had gone amiss at the front, and then I under steered off the track at the first corner I tried to approach. The pit lane has all the expected team members, including the lollipop man waiting to switch your wing and wheels. Obviously, in auto trim, there was no ploughing through my pit box marking while watching my team dive for cover, but even on full simulation I doubt that sort of scene would be included.

No amount of pit lane features on Sky or the BBC will give you the feeling of being an F1 race driver like playing this game. Being sat in your pit garage during qualifying gives you an insight and a level of immersion you’re unlikely to have seen before. You wave your hand out of the cockpit and someone hands you a tablet. From there, you can set your car up, choosing which type of tyre you want to use in the race primes or options. Again, F1 fans will know what these are. You can choose an aero package that suits the track, or one that suits your driving style, with more or less down force affecting your speed/grip in the corners. You can watch the progress of other drivers, live on the track and decide when you want to enter the circuit so your run isn’t interrupted by other drivers.

Go to page 2 for more thoughts on the game plus conclusions.

---

F1 2015 – Gameplay: My First Race! – Tiametmarduk

---

---

So, graphically, it is a true representation of the sport. The game looks exactly how it looks on television. This is both good and bad. If you are familiar with the setting, the tracks and the cars, then you will admire the realistic looks and authenticity. That is, however, also the game’s downfall. Codemasters can’t take liberties and fill some of the barren-looking tracks with extra scenery that just isn’t there in real life. As a result, some tracks do look a little uninspiring. It isn’t helped by the fact that the textures used for the grass surrounding the track looks flat and lacks detail. Other tracks, like Monaco, look terrific, though, and this is the nature of Formula 1. What Codemasters have managed to do is to make the weather effects look spectacular. When it rains, it pours! The water runs over your car and your visor. It creates a haze that’s difficult to see through on the track, especially if you are stuck behind the pack. Night races look amazing, too. Tracks like Abu Dhabi and Singapore use lighting to great effect.

If you are an F1 nut, some of that detail can seem a little wonky. For instance, the celebration animations appear to be shared between all the drivers. I know it’s been a while since Kimi Raikkonen won a race, but his jubilant celebration was completely out of character for the man known as The Iceman. Seeing Lewis joyfully celebrating third place on the podium was also a stark contrast to his usual truculent stance under such circumstances. Lewis is a born winner and only first will do!

The podium celebrations are short. There is no Eddie Jordan or Martin Brundle.

There is also a distinct rubbery-ness to the faces of all the racers. You can certainly tell who their likeness represents, but the effort has gone into the detail of the cars where drivers wear a helmet, rather than the drivers themselves. The realism in the facial expressions you see in a WWE game, for example, is lacking here.

Back to racing – even with settings on easy, and damage on full, there is the randomness of F1 that can ruin your race. I had finally tiptoed my way to the front of the pack and was hoping to see my first podium. An unexpected puncture put an end to that. This saw me lose the lead and rapidly fall back through the pack as I tried to hobble my way back to the pits. I rued my choice of a 3-lap race as I knew that, effectively, my race was over. It’s these type of events that keep the racing fresh and interesting. Bear in mind, it needs to, because just like watching the sport on TV, there’s a potential for a race to be a boring, uneventful procession. Watching your favourite driver have a mechanical failure on TV is disappointing, but when it’s happening to you in that cockpit, the thrill of getting the car home, if it all possible with some points, is where the challenge is at.

If you are careless when racing, or try to brap round the track like your playing Need For Speed, then you will witness some spectacular crash mechanics. Wheels come off, bits of carbon fibre litter the track, and nose cones will be destroyed. If you are the cause of a massive pile-up, you will likely be disqualified. Strangely enough, I didn’t notice a safety car being deployed during any of the accidents that occured when racing.

I then decided to try my luck online. The first attempt saw no players available, but the next time I tried, I was able to get online and see how things fared. Well, I can say I was consistently in the points. That was only because you have to be in the Top 10 to be in the points and the maximum number of racers that the game could find for me was five, including myself. I chose Beginner Mode, obviously, and found that the other racers couldn’t collide with me, or me with them. This gave the online racing the impression that you were racing ghost driver’s times rather that battling it out live. I decided I’d be better honing my race craft in single-player first before attempting higher difficulty levels, which I presume would bring collisions with them.

---

F1 2015 – Gameplay: My First Race! – Tiametmarduk

---

As an F1 fan I enjoyed F1 2015. You can really appreciate the amount of detail there is, but if you’re a fan then there are details you will want that just aren’t there. I wanted to see the man who is at every F1 race behind the podium – he has the best job in the world, as all it appears he does is give out the hats and watches to the drivers before they step out on to the podium. I look out for him every race! That may be an unnecessary detail, but for fans of previous games this reboot is missing game modes that attracted buyers before. If the reasoning was to attract fans like myself, then the aforementioned details are what I’m looking for. Things like the drivers sharing celebration animations irked my knowledge of those drivers’ real life behaviours. Out on the track where it counts, the racing is solid. F1-style racing isn’t going to attract fans of arcade racers, and it isn’t aimed at them.

The problem is – this release has taken a step back from those at which it is aimed. There is nothing wrong with the game, it just comes with an array of game options fans may expect on a PS Vita, but not on the Playstation 4. F1 2015 is the equivalent of FIFA 2014 when it was released on next-gen consoles. That game was missing popular game modes, too. EA may have been excused because, at the time, the next-gen consoles were new. Codemasters should have learnt from EA, but instead took a leaf from their book. FIFA still sold by the truck load, but then that one will. F1 is a niche game in the racing genre – admittedly it has no competition, but they have risked buyers snubbing this release and waiting for next year’s F1 2016 instead. Codemasters don’t have the excuse of rushing the release for a new console. The PS4 is no longer next-gen – it is current gen.

If you are a fan, then try before you buy. F1 2015 is in no way a bad game. What is there is good, and it’s a true representation of the sport and it’s a solid, enjoyable racer, but for those who have followed the series faithfully, some may find this is the Diet Coke Lite version. For the likes of me, who hasn’t played an F1 game in a long time, I enjoyed the racing but I wanted more realism on top of what there was outside the car. So Codemasters appear to have tried to attract new customers to the series like myself, but fell short on details my fan’s eyes are looking for, whilst alienating long time fans of the series like my pal, by giving them a barebones version of what they have experienced in the past.

Thanks to those Youtube channels featured for the gaming footage.

F1 2015 is out now on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

---

F1 2015 – Official Teaser Trailer

---

Important info:

• Publisher: Namco Bandai
• Players: 1
• HDTV options: up to 1080p
• Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes

GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY POTENTIAL	7.5 6 7 6
OVERALL	6.5