F1 2013 Classic Edition (PS3)

Great game in terms of play & graphics aswell as overall quality.If your new to next gen F1 racing games like myself then it will definitley take a while to get used to the steering and general overall handling. Especially if your using automatic gears with a PS3 dual shock control pad. Trying to master wheel spin and overall tyre wear is an absolute nightmare to say the least.Ok, so, time to nitpick out the bad points about this game. Now fortunatley I pre-ordered this game from Amazon UK for 4th October in which I got the game at a bargain price of around £43. Why the hell have Codemasters classic f1 2013 game gone up to over double in price, I have no idea. I wouldn't expect anyone to pay over £50 for this game, taking into consideration that you have to download the classic content from PSN when really it should be already installed on the game. Gamers with no internet connection, please be aware!Ok, so, let's nitpick the other bad points: - Loss of internet connection, which is annoying particularly during Time Trial mode. You get stupid messages appearing on screen telling you that you have no connection as if its your own fault. :(. Now you can't concentrate on where your going cause the messages are a huge distraction.When cars retire from races, they just disappear, yes that's right, they just disappear which just goes to show how lazy codemasters are at making a f1 2013 game fully realistic. What should happen is marshalls + crane + double waved yellows + safety car or maybe red flag depending on how bad the inccident. Cars shouldn't just disappear.AI cars don't seem to struggle with tyre life during races as much as yourself which is controversial to say the least.Driving down pitlane is automated. For goodness sake codemasters it's the 13th year of the 21st century, driving down pitlane should have a manual option available. How lazy & unrealistic. :). You should have the pleasure of approaching the pit white line and pushing a rev limiter button to stay within pit lane speed or recieve a drive through penalty from the stewards. Talking about penalties, why is it that penalties are always added on at the end of grand prix races. Whats wrong with creating a drive through penalty for this game. Surely it can't be that hard for codemasters to put these elements into the game with all the amazing skill and experience they have. Come on Codemasters! Sort it out! :)Also you may get the occasional safety car bug once in a while which kind of sucks.Ok, so you can see why I haven't given this game 5 stars but I still give it 4 because overall game play is good fun despite the few slight flaws which I felt needed pointing out.I never played f1 2012 but if you did, you maybe wondering apart from the classic content, what else does the game have to offer. So consider your thoughts carefully through. Also I've researched that there is absolutley nothing new to the 2 day young drivers test on f1 2013 that is different from the 2012 version so this again makes me think that codemasters are lazy and slow with there R & D aswell as overall creativity. Tut, Tut, Tut! :)

Formula One 2013 is finally here and to be honest I'm very disappointed. Its practically the same as last years game. The Classic content makes the game worthwhile and injects some much needed fresh content, but even that falls short of my expectations.Before you can even get to the main menu the game kicks off with the extremely dull and frustrating young drivers test. Fortunately I was able to skip day 1 of the test as the game recognised that I'd played F1 2012. The tests are practically identical to the ones in the previous game and offer players no new experiences. Another noticeable issue in this segmen is the auto save feature. After completing each challenge the game simply pauses, showing a boring screen shot of your car whilst it saves your progress. Only once the save is complete the game will let you progress.So ok, after 20 minutes of playing I'm finally ready to play the classic mode and first impressions are good. There's a selection of 6 cars from the 90's and 5 from the 80's with two drivers each. Each team has an original driver, with the teams second car driven either by an original driver or a team legend. Foolishly the 1999 Williams is listed as been driven by two team legends, Alan Prost and Ralf Schumacher even though long term fans will know that Ralf Schumacher actually drove this car. I drove as Jacques Villeneuve in the 1996 Williams Renault around the Jerez circuit. The gameplay instantly took me back to the classic F1 game from 1997, with similar style HUD graphics and even 'arcadey' PS1 style music on the menu screens. The cars drive completely differently to the modern day cars and it is a brilliant challenge. Its great to be able to race around, Jerez, Imola, Estroil and the full Brand Hatch circuit and they are a welcome addition to the full roaster of tracks on the 2013 calender. You can race the classic cars on any circuit and complete time tails, time attacks and scenario mode.The classic mode is great, but it leaves me hungry for more. I know licencing has been an issue for Codemasters, but even still it is very disappointing that only three teams car's are featured in it. In the 90's you can race in 3 Williams and 3 Ferraris and in the 80's you can race in a lotus too. It's simply not enough, where's the Bennetons, Mclaren, Jordan, Brabham, Tyrell and even teams like Stewart, Prost and Minardi. And it's for this reason that Classic Mode falls short of my expectations.It's also a brilliant touch that Murray Walker introduces the classic mode and classic scenario's, although I do believe his services are wasted on this game as it would have been brilliant to hear him commentating in Classic races. In general it would be amazing to have TV style commentary in the main modes, as races are very dull and boring. Imagine playing Fifa with out commentary.The only nice new feature in addition to the Classic Mode is the ability to save your progress during races allowing you to race a few laps and complete them later if need be. The career mode is the same as it has been for the last few years now and is in desperate need of an update. It's as though we've been playing the exact same game for the last 4 years now.Games should be fun and enjoyable, not dull and dreary. Where's the spectacular crashes, where's the unpredictable mechanical failures that ruin yours and other drivers races? Where's those pit stops that go wrong. Where's the general unpredictably and scandal. Where's in interesting news stories. Where is the entertaining commentary to listen to, keeping you informed of on track action and interesting facts and figures. Ok we have the same engineer talking to use but that's simply not enough.All in all I feel the game lacks passion. Big changes are needed for the next instalment.from a disappointed F1 fan.

I love F1, and have always enjoyed Codemasters F1 games. This one is very similar to the previous ones, in fact it is probably the smallest change yet gameplay wise. No new modes in the main game and the career and season challenge are the exact same as before.The additional classic content is brilliant, if not quite small. It's brilliant to race in classic cars around circuits that haven't been in games for over a decade. The old cars are hard to handle and offer a real challenge to the seasoned gamer.The main game however suffers from some flaws.Penalties for minor things can be incredibly frustrating, whilst the computer can seemingly do whatever they like to you. Sometimes the computer is overly aggressive; I noticed this most in online co op, where I would be continually smashed into. In a sport where contact is never the answer, the computer is too aggressive. This was an issue in F1 2012 as well, and it is sad to see Codemasters not fix this issue.The biggest improvement is the controls. This year, the steering feels a lot more sensitive to the analogue, meaning you have more precision in turning, and just makes the game a lot more fun as you can really turn into corners in a great way.One flaw, is the game is hard for newcomers to racing games. The assists and young drivers test (the games training mode) just don't help a new player enough. As such, I cannot play this game in split screen with friends who aren't good at simulation racing games.Online is good, but through no fault of codemasters, people like to treat it like demolition derby and ram you off! Still had some brilliant races though.Overall a great game, but one mainly for F1 fans!