Formula One 2001 Review

Formula One games have been an acquired taste in the past due to their steep learning curve. Developers have tried to tone down the customization and detail-oriented controls, but this always causes F1 fans to cry foul. Sony's European branch has designed Formula One 2001 for the PlayStation 2 to be a compromise between the two camps by including a user-friendly control interface while packing the game with a wealth of attributes to fiddle with. If it weren't for a few technical shortcomings, Formula One 2001 would be the definitive F1 game on the PlayStation 2.

With the complete F1 license in tow, Formula One 2001 has all the trimmings any hard-core F1 fan could ask for. All 11 teams have been included in the game, as well as two drivers for each car, for a total of 22. All 17 official circuits have been included as well. There are four main gameplay modes included in Formula One 2001. You can test adjustments to your car in the test-drive mode, jump straight to the track for two-player multiplayer races in the single-race option, challenge your best lap times in time attack, and rip through the F1 circuit in championship mode in four different difficulty settings. In any mode, you can tweak your car in a multitude of ways to alter its performance. You can adjust wheel camber, tires, gear ratio, brake balance, fuel load, aerodynamics, and much more. Changing something as simple as the fuel load makes a big difference in how your car handles on the track. It can be extremely rewarding to cut an extra second off your lap times simply by adjusting your car's attributes. For those who like to keep the simulation elements to a minimum, you can toggle elements like fuel usage, tire wear, and damage. Even with the damage setting turned on, it takes several wrecks before your car's performance drops.

While Formula One races are normally quite lengthy, you can adjust the lap percentage so that each race is around 15 laps. Granted, this isn't the usual three-lap races most are used to in other driving games, but you'll need the first 10 laps to fight your way to the front, anyway. You can make controlling your car as in-depth as you choose. A helpful driver-assist option will alert you to coming turns, and you can choose between manual and automatic transmission to suit your skill level. The first lap around the track for most players will be an exercise in frustration. It can take quite a while to come to grips with the braking and acceleration unique to each car. But by the middle of your first 17-lap race the controls will start to become second nature, and you'll be negotiating hairpin turns and carving a smooth line through S turns. In the championship mode you have the option of practicing as much as you like before attempting to qualify and claim your spot in the starting grid. Out on the course, you have to jockey with 22 other cars in each race, which can seem daunting at first. But Formula One 2001's gameplay problems help to make the game easier. Computer-controlled cars tend to take the corners extremely slowly, so it's often easy to careen into a corner, bank off another car, and go on your way. F1 fans will undoubtedly find this to be unrealistic, but casual fans of driving games will enjoy the chance to swap paint in an otherwise sterile racing game. The major problem with the gameplay is that you can often take your car off-road and gain several places in the standings. Each track has at least one section where heading off the asphalt effectively eliminates a series of turns. Going off-road in a real F1 car would likely damage the undercarriage, but in Formula One 2001 it's a viable tactic for moving up in the leader board. Even if your car does become damaged, its performance rarely is hampered enough to warrant a pit stop. If you've invested in a Logitech Wheel for Gran Turismo 3, you can use the same wheel to play Formula One 2001.