I was hard at work preparing myself for this particular review. I’ve spent hours upon hours, meticulously reviewing endless amount of F1 races, to not only better understand the sport, but the spectacle around it. However for each 15 minutes which I’ve spent watching the real life races, I’ve spent about 3 hours sleeping as F1 bored me to absolute tears. And my interest both in the sport and the game was decreasing with every passing day, and I was dreading playing the game more and more. But to my surprise, F1 2016, is considerably more interesting than the real life version of the sport.
F1 2016 contains a plethora of different modes such as Time Trial, Championship, Career, and Pro Career. And while some modes include simply a portion of a full F1 weekend, they still offer a challenge, which ultimately prolongs the shelf life of the title. Separation into different modes, also allows the players to choose one which fits their ability, amount of free time, and their commitment to the sport. Players with a lot of free time on their hands, but little to no skill in driving games, can dive straight into the career and adjust it to their liking. Whereas pros, who may not have as much time, can choose to simply play a single championship but on the professional level.
The wide array of modes, and game types will surely allow some to increase their in-game clock, as time trials can rip hours out of a person’s schedule, however, all these little and inconsequential game types ultimately take away from the ‘meat’ of F1 2016, which in this case is the Career.
Career mode of F1 2016 has been the focal point of each and every press release the publisher has sent out in the recent months. Increased immersion, safety cars, hospitality areas, and team management have headlined every single F1 2016 related article for the past six months. However, all new additions which have been added to this year’s iteration of the F1 franchise are not as big as the publisher would like them to be. Safety cars are turned off by default within the career, team management boils down to a handful of upgrades which are a chore to manage, and provide the player with rather insignificant improvements. However, hospitality areas are surely the weakest addition of all.
Hospitality areas change from location to location, and such an addition is a welcome improvement, however, whenever you try to turn the camera, frame rate falls to about 10/fps, and everything seems to be happening in slow motion. These particular areas are not very interactive either as they’re nothing more than glorified menus, which serve the role of obstacles between the player, and the race. And even when the player makes his/her way to the track, he/she has to go through another hub, in a form of a pit stop, and has to unnecessarily wait until a member of the staff lowers the vehicle down, or until he hands you a tablet, which is used to alter the car’s set up. But once everything is set, and the vehicle has finally touched the ground, the real game can begin.
F1 2016, is probably the most welcoming driving simulator I’ve seen to date. If you’re a driving nobody, you can turn every assist on, and enjoy a fantastic driving game, which hovers between the arcade, and simulation. But if you’re a seasoned veteran and have petrol in your blood, you can turn everything off, and have your metal truly tested by the punishingly difficult simulation, which is where F1 2016 is at its best.
The best thing about the flexible difficulty, which ultimately makes the game playable by everybody, is the fact that the difference in skill doesn’t punish the players who are experiencing F1 2016 with the assists on.
All players, regardless of the difficulty, will receive the same amount of upgrade points, which are then used to purchase in-career upgrades, however, with every assists which the player decides to turn off, he/she will receive a career point bonus, and these particular points are used to compete with other players. But people who are interested in player vs player competition will surely refer to the multiplayer component of F1 2016, as it is the only place where players can truly check who is actually better on the track.
Online competition can take place on each and every track available in game, and under any conditions. However, no matter how hard the player will try to alter the weather settings, or the time of the day, all in-game tracks will look dull and uninspiring.
Graphically, F1 2016 is years behind its racing competition. Vehicle models are acceptable, but everything else is simply below par. And yes, one could argue that tracks and background drops are not as important as the vehicles, but ultimately such provide the scenery which makes the title captivating. Dirt: Rally isn’t the best looking game, but the composition of the environments, and the first plan execution were so good, they’ve elevated player’s immersion, and ultimately have made Dirt: Rally a much better sim. Whereas F1 2016 is at times so drab, it makes you want to do something else with your spare time. And the only thing that’s visually sharp, besides the vehicles, are the brand logos, which are always of the highest quality, and right in player’s face.
F1 2016, in many ways is just like the sport itself. It’s interesting before the race begins, as viewers can spectate the inner workings of the sport, but once the race gets going, and racers continue to pass laps one by one, it all turns into a one, soul destroyingly dull blur, which soon makes one want to switch the channel, as nothing is happening, and you’re simply watching the same Rolex banners over, and over again.