In reaction to posts about the "squeaky wheel" syndrome where only people
with complaints post about F1 2001, here is my experience with the game.
For background, I have been playing racing sims for 3 years or so. As far as
modern F1 sims, I've played F1 Racing Simulation (UbiSoft), F1 2000, and
F1RC. No GP2 or GP3, sorry. These days all I play is GPL (online) and the
occasional N4 offline. All modern F1 games had very short life spans on my
HD, and most other driving games (N3, SCGT, RC2000, NFS, etc.) lasted until
I had won the championship (or whatever) then were deleted.
PC Spec: AMD 1.333, 256 MB DDR, GeForce II Ultra 64MB DDR, Diamond Monster
MX300 sound. Nothing overclocked. Latest drivers for everything (including
21.83 nVidia reference drivers).
My overall impression of F1 2001 is that this is a DEFINITE keeper, ONCE you
get it working. By far the best F1 simulation I've played (out of an
admittedly small set).
Installation went fine (no CD problems). 3D setup went fine and it
recommended pretty high settings. I chose 1024x768x16 and once the game
loaded, turned off all the driving aids (left invulnerable on for now, as I
plan to crash a lot for a while). Also cranked up all the graphics options,
in some cases past the recommended settings (the setting turns red if you do
that).
Started a test session and wow was it ever horrible. Don't know the actual
fps but slide show describes it pretty well. OK, I expected that from
reading RAS. So I made the following changes (suggested from
http://www.jensonf1.com/f12001/):
1. PLR file (C:\games\F1 2001\Save\<player name>)
ShadowsInTvCockpit=1 (was 0)
ForceFeedback=0 (this was already 0, but it seems to be problem if it's 1)
2. CONFIG.INI
WINDOWEDMODE=1
3. F1CAR.GEN (C:\games\F1 2001\Season01\Vehicles)
Commented out the player arms as suggested on the above web site. This
wasn't a performance setting so much as a general dislike for driver arms
(and these ones are just plain weird looking).
4. Changed resolution to 1280x1024x16 to match my desktop setting.
Results: this game is GREAT! I don't know what the fps is, but it runs
smooth and without hiccups even starting at the back of the grid. The only
remaining bug is the mirrors - I just see car skeletons. I have heard that
downgrading video drivers fixes this, but that's not worth the trouble: my
system is working fine, why break it just for that? Hopefully the patch will
address this.
And now that it's running smooth, the driving model seems fabulous to me. I
have not enjoyed a single modern F1 sim until this one. It just feels
"right" to me. If I put my right foot down too hard coming out of a corner I
spin. If I brake too late I understeer. If I make a line mistake with an AI
car on my butt he takes the spot. If I block him, he moves side to side
trying to get by. It all just works.
At speed, I can hit corners WAY faster than I initially expect, due to the
massive downforce these cars generate. Spa is great for this. It's going to
take some time to get used to that, after years of GPL.
Some have complained about the sound, but it seems pretty good to me. The
sense of power from the engines is great, and it's nice to finally get wind
noise again. The skidding sound is understated but I think more realistic
than the high pitched squeal usually used. At Monaco, the sound going
through the tunnel was great, and it was nice to hear the car going up the
pit straight as I was going down the other side.
The sense of speed is just about perfect. I can really feel how crazy fast
these things are. After watching the Japanese GP qualifying this seemed to
duplicate that sensation.
Minor niggles:
-I have to admit, this game isn't quite release-ready. All these fiddles
shouldn't be necessary, and they should have taken another month to fix the
problems. But for PC-literate users, it's possible to get it working well.
-Even in "monsoon" rain, the track doesn't look wet. Funny, ISI got that
right in SCGT, I guess it's too graphically expensive.
-No FF, as documented elsewhere. My theory is that it was too CPU intensive
so they turned it off, knowing this game barely runs on mid-range PC's as
is...
-The menu GUI is pretty bad, but not as bad as F1RC's which is the worst
I've ever seen. At least I can find the icons, even if they don't make much
sense. And I can turn the music off! (UbiSoft, you listening?)
So look, the game is only $45 Canadian, so if you have a PC similar to mine
and a willingness to tweak a bit (which shouldn't be necessary but WTH) then
buy this game. In a week, no other modern F1 game will be on your HD.
