![]() ![]() It’s the same animation, simply shown from a different angle. I saw the same sequences in the garages leading into the practices, leading into the race, and following the race. The commentary is paired with cutscenes that are a nice bumper between the action but little more. I find it hard to believe that an event couldn't throw out at least one more scrap of information for the game to call out. I don't expect an in-race call, but the commentary usually stops at one detail: who qualified first, who won and that's about it. The pre-and post-race commentary from David Croft and Anthony Davidson is enthusiastic but generic, and it rarely sounds like they have followed the action. Where the audio is superfluous to F1 2017, however, is in its broadcast presentation. When I changed this to the TV speakers, I heard a wealth of information about the wear I was putting on my car, not just bland remarks about my fuel or lap times. However, the pit audio comes out over the tiny speaker on the controller by default. Though many players prefer racing wheels, F1 2017 is perfectly good with a gamepad. One reason I was unaware of how I was damaging the vehicle is because I was racing on a PlayStation 4 with a DualShock 4. On the track, I quickly realized how hard I had been on the car in qualifying, and that the pole position I’d been so proud of would now be unsustainable as I lost horsepower and gears and tore up the engine even more. They also gave my crew, in the background, a picture of my driving style that fed into a performance plan going into the event. Practices encouraged me to run every minute of time out on the track thanks to the research point dividend they paid. This, plus the mode’s rivalry scorecard, pairing the career driver against another, gave me a more complete picture of how I was doing, what result should be reasonable and when I should take another assist off my driving. ![]() Of course, F1 2017 was still there to compare me to my competitors (with good old Scuderia Ferrari and Petronas Motorsport’s progress bars way ahead of my choice, Haas). ![]() This means even the most experienced drivers can’t just tick off buffs and construct a supercar. My most valuable upgrades were the ones that make parts wear down less, given my driving style (and the fact it was my rookie season). This found me swapping between worn parts during practices and saving less worn ones for the race. Parts will wear down over the course of a season and, per F1 rules, only a set of four for each part are granted getting more incurs a steep penalty in starting position. In F1 2017, I felt like I was constantly fighting to keep the car in shape. Other racing games have upgrade trees that confer an immediate benefit the team never loses. The R&D component that I found so fulfilling is tied mainly to the ongoing worry of an F1 team: the car’s condition, both in-race and race-to-race. The feature can be overlooked - it’s in a tab in pre-race options available in a loading screen - but it is there, so the above concern is not founded.Įven the most experienced drivers can’t just tick off buffs and construct a supercar But I am never going to drive a manual transmission (sorry, just can’t) and I fear I will soon top out against my competition or be forced to start over against a tougher field, forsaking all of my R&D.Ĭorrection: Opposing driver AI not only can be changed race-to-race, it can be changed mid-event (between practices, qualifying and the race) if necessary. It makes sense that I would be encouraged to improve my driving and accept greater challenges in Career, with the final hurdle going at tougher AIs. One unfortunate drawback, however, is how the game locks you to one opposing AI driver difficulty level for the entirety of the career. F1 2017 goes for patches of time where it doesn’t do a good job of communicating what’s expected, even with a tutorial video supplied.īut the initial learning curve was mercifully short, and after a few a-ha moments, plus a lot of lap time, I was ticking off my assists about one grade per event, becoming a more respectable driver. As a lapsed F1 driver (last playing F1 2013) I found the practice programs, some of which were introduced last year, a bit dense at first. Those who still want a demanding racer may still find it. F1 2017 is a big tent that mingles accessibility and technical rigor without alienating either constituency. ![]()
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