From Gran Trak to F1 2012: The evolution of Formula 1 video games

F1 2012 – The Game

Formula 1 is considered as the pinnacle of motorsports. Every year 22 of world’s best driver compete in this sport. So it’s natural that video games based on F1 were bound to follow. F1 has always captured the attention of motorsports enthusiasts and it always has been the penultimate dream of every fan to drive a F1 car at least once. And that’s where video games steps in. They provide the closest possible experience to an average fan.

But F1 video games never found mass success and appeal like other motorsports video games did like Rally Racing or those based on Street Racing.

Reason?

Just like the sport, the video game was unlike normal driving and the users soon discovered the different geometry and reaction of a F1 car to that of a normal car. Users found it difficult to conform to this “different” style of driving and the games appeared abnormally hard and repetitive to them.

So this article is a tribute to the evolution the video games we F1 fans love.

Gran Trak 10 (1974)

The roots of Formula One games can be traced back to the 1970s, with arcade games such as Gran Trak 10 which depicted F1-like cars going on a race track. Gran Trak 10 was a single-player racing arcade game released by Atari in 1974. The player raced against the clock, accumulating as many points as possible. The game's controls — steering wheel, four-position gear shifter, and accelerator and brake foot pedals — were also all firsts for arcade games. The player raced against the clock, accumulating as many points as possible.

Pole Position (1982)

However the first successful formula 1 game was released back in 1982 by Namco titled Pole Position. The game consisted of only a single track, the Fuji racetrack. The player had to undergo a qualifying run and lap the circuit in less than 120 seconds so as to be able to race against the CPU controlled opponents in a championship race. The game's publisher Atari publicized the game for its "unbelievable driving realism" in providing a Formula 1 experience behind a racing wheel. The game's graphics featured full-colour landscapes with scaling sprites, including race cars and other signs, and a perspective view of the track, with its vanishing point swaying side to side as the player approaches corners, accurately simulating forward movement into the distance.

Grand Prix Circuit Accolade (1987)

Considered as the last best Formula 1 game on the arcade, this game came out during the period when video games were making transition to personal computers and the era of arcade games were coming to an end. Grand prix circuit by Accolade presented the cockpit view of the car and made the players feel as if they were themselves driving the car.

Players could choose from three different cars in the game:

• McLaren MP4/4 (Honda 1.5L V6 turbo - 790 bhp (589 kW; 801 PS))
• Williams FW12C (Renault 3.5L V8 - 735 bhp (548 kW; 745 PS))
• Ferrari F1/87/88C (Ferrari 3.5L V12 - 680 bhp (507 kW; 689 PS))

The McLaren-Honda turbo was the most powerful car in the game but was also the most difficult car to control. The Williams-Renault was the next most powerful and the car was relatively neutral to control. The Ferrari was actually the 1988 turbo car's chassis with a V12 engine. As the slowest of the three the Ferrari was also the easiest to control.

There were five difficulty levels and three playing modes: practice, single event and championship circuit and eight different tracks to choose from.

Formula One Grand Prix 1992

Released by Micropose and created by designer Geoff Crammond, this F1 game took the PC gaming world by storm. It is often referred to as Grand Prix 1, MicroProse Grand Prix, or just F1GP. The game was noted for its 3D graphics and attention to detail, in particular the players ability to edit the teams and drivers and set up their car to their own personal specifications. When F1GP appeared, it was the very first to implement something that resembled "real world" racing physics, accurate track modeling and car handling that required skills somewhat similar to real-world driving skills to perform well. It was also the first to offer meaningful options to tune the behaviour of the cars.

The most important variables, such as gear ratios, tyre compounds and wing settings were available to tune and, more importantly, proved to make an actual difference when driving. Important were also the functional rearview mirrors and an "instant replay" system with a wide range of adjustable camera settings not seen in other games of the era. The detailed physics engine provided a more realistic driving experience than had been seen before, drivers could easily experience the differences in handling depending on how you entered a corner and how soon or late you accelerated out of it. Unlike other racing simulations of the time, the accuracy of the simulation actually made the 1/1000 of a second chronometer meaningful, as races could be won or lost by a few thousandths of a second.

Vitally, the combination of graphics and physics meant players could actually "feel" whether they were driving fast or slow, and could predict how the car would respond. Even details such as tyre wear were modeled throughout the race, qualifying tires are an extreme example of this: players could not drive more than a couple of laps without beginning to lose grip and eventually spinning out on nearly every corner. Together with the 16 tracks and the atmosphere-packed rendition of complete Grand Prix weekends, it made F1GP a favorite with Formula One and racing simulation fans for many years, and is still referred to occasionally in current reviews as a classic benchmark.

Two more aspects worth mentioning are the "driving help" features, the ability to drive easily with the keyboard or another controller, and the availability of automatic transmission on most cars. F1GP was built on a system that allowed for an almost perfect learning-curve. Players could choose to activate innovative help-functions like "brake-assistance" which would apply the brakes in time for a corner, displaying an "ideal line" on the tarmac to help learning the layout of a track, suggestions for the optimum gear, and others. Perhaps the most impressive achievements in that respect were the "steering help" and "throttle assistance".

"Throttle assistance" prevented wheel spin when going on the gas. "Steering help" smoothened the steering actions (as an indication, one would experience cars steering slightly into corners all on their own when this help was activated). This was a subtle exercise, as it could give the impression of cars driving themselves when implemented too strongly. All these features made F1GP the best games of the era.

F1 Challenge (1995)

Come 1995 and Sony’s play station or PS1 was making great strides in gaming arena. It proved as an affordable personal gaming media to every consumer. With PS entering households, F1 Challenge developed by Bizarre Creations made its debut in 1995. The game followed the 1995 Formula one season, with 17 tracks, 13 teams and 26 drivers.

If the player was able to complete a season after winning every race, and leading the Constructor's Championship, a special hidden circuit was unlocked. The track was a lower-level city circuit, which when viewed at the Race Preview page was in the shape of a Formula One car. As there was no way of saving game data, the track was lost when the console was turned off.

The game saw the introduction of in game commentary, which was done in the English version of the game by Murray Walker, the German version by Jochen Mass, the French version by Philippe Alliot, the Spanish version by Carlos Riera and the Italian version by Andrea de Adamich.

The game was a bestseller in the UK. The game was reasonably well received; with the PlayStation version earning a 7.6 on GameSpot while the PC version received a 6.0.IGN.com gave the PlayStation version an 8.0. PSM gave the game 9/10, praising the AI, before concluding “Psygnosis” finest game to date.

Formula 1 98 (1998)

Formula 1 98 is a video game first released in Europe on 30 October 1998 for the Sony PlayStation, with 98 depicting that the game was based on 1998 F1 season and was developed by Psygnosis which held the official Formula 1 game license at the time.

Jarno Trulli appeared on the front cover of this edition, however some other versions (such as the British version) have the 1998 World Champion, Mika Häkkinen, on the front cover, and the United States version had Eddie Irvine on the cover.

The game featured 16 official Formula One circuits based on the 1998 Formula One season.

Following the departure of Bizarre Creations, Psygnosis offered Reflections Interactive the chance to develop Formula 1 98. However, they pulled out. Visual Science were hired to make the game. As a result of this the game ended up being very poorly received by various gaming publications.

The game went on to become a bestseller in the UK.

F1 2000 (2000)

With an official FIA Formula One license, the game included the full 2000 world championship season, including the new Indianapolis circuit and the Jaguar Racing team.

The game modes featured a full championship, quick races, racing weekends, custom grid and time trial modes. In the multiplayer section, the player could either go head to head in 2-player split screen sessions, or play a hot-seat time trial mode for up to 22 players.

All cars could be fine-tuned in the pits, and there was clear pit-to-car radio commentary. Full telemetry data was shown for detailed set-up changes. A player’s best performances could be saved in the replay mode, including race highlights.

In this version, the computer opponents now have more realistic racing behaviour, as they make mistakes and have car failures.

The game was based on the 2000 Formula One season. It was developed by EA Sports and released for the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows formats. F1 2000 was the last Visual Sciences F1 racing game to appear on the PlayStation.

Formula One 06 (2006)

The next big leap in f1 games came in 2006 with the release of Formula One 06 by developer Studio Liverpool. Released in 28 July 2006 in Europe, the game continued the tradition of career mode which was introduced in 2004.

In career mode, the player begins their career with either Super Aguri, Toro Rosso or Midland F1. The player’s position within the team, either a test driver; second driver or first driver, depended on how well the player performed during the trial sessions, and thereafter. The test sessions were either held at the Circuit de Catalunya; Silverstone or Magny-Cours circuits and could also be played out in either dry or wet conditions.

The trial sessions varied from completing one "Flying Lap" to ten laps to beat the Target Time. Also, this target time can be an "Accumulative Target Time" where the player had four or three laps in which to consistently post fast times. The fastest laps were then added together and then compared to the Accumulative Target Time.

The player's career consisted a total of five Grand Prix seasons, in which they attempted to become a World Champion. This would most likely to happen with the most competitive teams, e.g. Renault, Ferrari, McLaren or Honda.

In addition, certain prizes could also be unlocked once certain criteria had been fulfilled, e.g. winning a grand prix, and unlocking an award such as the test track, Jerez. A trophy cabinet section featured the trophies the player had won in different Grand Prix, or in the world championship. The F1 car that a player won the championship with was also displayed.

The game also featured the new knockout qualifying system, introduced at the start of the 2006 season, with three qualifying sessions. Other new additions included the formation lap and a much more competitive AI from previous F1 games in the series.

The novelty of the game though was the new heavy damage system which included puncture, front-wing and nose damage as well as Rear wing damage and wheels off during gameplay.

F1 2010 (2010)

2009 saw publisher Codemasters gaining the official right to make and release F1 video games which was previously held by Sony. Pairing with developers Sumo Digitals, Codemasters released F1 2009 which although received mix reviews from game critics but it essentially laid down the foundation for a great series to follow. Finally in 2010 F1 2010 was released. But this time Codemasters ended their collaboration with Sumo Digitals and released the 2010 edition on a stand alone basis.

F1 2010 is a BAFTA Award–winning video game based on the 2010 season of the Formula One world championship.

The game featured a career mode consisting of either three, five or seven seasons (depending on the user's choice).

The players could drive for any team, each having their own objectives – "For example, race for Ferrari and anything other than winning the Driver's and Constructor's Championship would be a failure, while a mere points finish when driving for Lotus would be a huge success." The game also featured Media Interest which depended on which team the player raced for. Upgrades and new parts became available during the championship.

But the major feature of the game was a complicated weather system. For instance rain resulted in the track losing grip with different rate in different areas and different tracks. Tracks also had different level of grip in different areas. After the rain stopped, a drying line appeared akin to reality which offered more grip then the rest of the track.

In addition to single player, F1 2010 had a feature-rich online mode that has remained popular since its launch. Players can choose from a multitude of options, whether they are looking for a quick fix or want to participate in the full procession of Qualifying and Race. There are also various options if the host is frustrated with other player’s lack of caution on the track, such as making flags harsher or even turning off collisions, which enables ghost cars. Dedicated players can even choose to play a race with no driving assists, although for it to apply to all players the host must specify it. Other options include whether to use 2010 or equal car performance and the ability to play a custom championship with between 2–19 tracks and choose the weather conditions.

The game received high reviews from critics and was vastly appraised for its deep attention to details and the impressive weather system. Although the game was criticized by many for its inadequate damage system where the worst damage that incurred were broken front wings.

F1 2012 (2012)

The next big step came in 2012 with the release of this game. F1 2012 essentially built upon the grounds laid down by its predecessors while adding new features that made it more interesting.

The game featured a brand-new "Young Driver Test" mode, a tutorial mode designed to introduce new players to the handling characteristics of Formula One cars as a prologue to the career mode. As a demonstration, Codemasters approached several drivers — including Mercedes test driver Sam Bird and GP2 Series driver Stefano Coletti — at the real-life Young Driver Tests (for drivers who have never started a Grand Prix) in Abu Dhabi in November 2011, and asked them to drive the Yas Marina Circuit in F1 2012 instead of using the team simulators they would traditionally use to learn the circuit. All of the drivers who played the game reported that the game was realistic enough for them to learn the circuit to the point where they were confident enough to set competitive lap times.

The game also presented a new main menu. The sound system was modified to let players hear other cars around them.

As well as the new young driver test mode, F1 2012 featured a new "Champions Mode", in which the six World Champions competing in the 2012 season — Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher — will be styled after traditional end-of-level video gaming bosses, with the player challenged to beat them while racing in conditions that suited each driver.

A "Season Challenge" mode was introduced. Feedback given to Codemasters was that players only played the game when they had a few hours to play. In response, Codemasters brought in this mode so that players could simply play for a short amount of time. In this mode the player would start as a team lower down the field, and over a ten race season the player will move teams mid-season, depending on their ability to beat rival drivers and objectives.

Codemasters also introduced "One-Shot Qualifying", whereby a player had a single lap to qualify for the race. The three stage knock out session was still an option, however the single 20 minute session being not available in career mode.

The game again received high reviews from game critics.

With the 2014 edition expected to be out in a couple of month’s time, gamers again have a reason to be excited about for. Codemasters revealed that they’re “cooking up a storm” for the next edition while they’ve till now remained tight lipped over what new features will be added to the game. Speculated features include a new realistic damage system as well as support for 60 FPS (frame per second) to name a few.