Lt. Sex Machine
27-07-2000, 13:19
Like many other no doubt who ordered via gameplay I received my copy this morning, luckily I was home 'working' *ahem* so I get a little head start.
Its amazing how similar this feels to GP2, from the menus to the way you set up the car to actually driving it the whole thing is very familiar and easy to get into, you will find it all in the same places and accessable using the same keys / controls.
Anyway once I had physically set up my F1 sim pedal / wheel combo (the pots needed adjusting on the pedals) and I had adjusted the menu setting to my taste it was off for a little spin (quite literally) :)
I forgot to change the track so ended up going round Silverstone, although I had changed the Driver to Eddie Irvine (I only race Ferraris) and set the level to Ace with all the driving aids off.
First thing that struck me was how busy the screen was compared to previous offerings, the pit lane had a lot of colour, the grandstands to my left were far better modelled and there seemed to be more of them. The pitwalls had the small shelters that teams manage their cars from too, it all added up to making the whole thing look far better.
The car was still up on the jacks so after checking how much fuel was onboard (4 laps - perfect) it was time to fire the engine up. With a steering wheel you press one of the gear shift padels, which activate the menu when you are up on the jacks.
After a brief whine from the starter the engine fires and as you are in neutral you can get used to blipping the throttle to feel how far you need to press it to do anything, and that isnt far. So slip the car into 1st gear and hold the gearshift padel down to keep the clutch in. Revving to what sounded similar to GP2 I release the padel and after a bit of a stutter the car moves off into the pitlane, obviously a few more revs are needed to do it correctly.
The pitlane limiter is automatic as in GP2, except now its a chronic 50mph, after what seems an eternity you reach the sharp right at the end of the pitlane that hugs the inside of copse corner, at this point I had to be careful I wasnt on too much throttle which would have caused embarrasment the moment the limiter disabled itself.
So onto the track and heading towards maggots / the becketts complex, this feels much the same as GP2 except the mid - exit of the last part of becketts into chapel corner feels far better modelled, the car understeers as the throttle is harshly applied and this pulls the car to the left towards the curb, it all feels very slick.
Gunning down hanger straight with the default dry setup you change into 6th before you go beneath the access bridge and this is not even one third the way down the straight, soon after the car is doing 188 mph on full revs but could do much more, some adjustment will be needed in the pits.
The end of hanger straight now kinks to the right slightly for the last 100 yards or so before stowe corner, this is a remodelled part since GP2 and its ended up far quicker, but also much more of a challenge as, for me anyway, I always brake too much for this corner and the exit is very much blind, to add to that its a double apex and the exit is very fast, so a lot of practice is needed here to get a good entry speed and balance. On reflection this corner is probably the biggest challenge of the circuit, for me anyway.
From the exit of stowe and into vale, the first part is straightened due to the changes at stowe, and feels much more like a drag strip as you are full throttle long before the track straightened. At the end of vale is the familiar left hand flick before the still enormously challenging Club corner which feels pretty much as good as it ever did. Still the corner opens out as before and feels slightly off camber, half way round there is still that point where the car begins to understeer for the exit, familiar but has an ever so slight different feel to it.
From here its very much similar to GP2 up the hill and towards the abbey chicaine, which is 3rd gear as before and you can brake really late and apply power after the first right hand turn-in, followed by an ample amount of throttle as you straight line the second part on the approach to bridge.
This corner also feels unchanged but as yet I have not been able to take it flat as I understeer too much when I really need to be on the right for the approach to priory.
Priory has opened up a lot more and as such is now 3rd or 4th depending on how the approach from bridge went, I've not been able to go quickly into it yet.
Woodlands is the same as before, very slow and demands a lot of patiance, Luffield is now a single corner that also demands patiance as it doubles back on itself hence its pretty slow and you always find yourself hugging the apex wanting to bury the throttle.
Woodcote is the same as always, not really a corner at all, the final change has been at copse, the first corners, its now been openend up again, so can be taken in 5th no probs at all, even the curb on the inside is mountable as the old one used to bounce you off and unsettle you too much.
Ok so thats a warmup lap, as I found it so similar to GP2 I had few problems stringing laps together without throwing the car off, so here is my challenge, I did two flying laps, see if you can beat them :)
1:31.008
1:26.359
This was using a steering wheel, pedal combo and with difficulty on ace, all driving aids off, track was dry.
Its amazing how similar this feels to GP2, from the menus to the way you set up the car to actually driving it the whole thing is very familiar and easy to get into, you will find it all in the same places and accessable using the same keys / controls.
Anyway once I had physically set up my F1 sim pedal / wheel combo (the pots needed adjusting on the pedals) and I had adjusted the menu setting to my taste it was off for a little spin (quite literally) :)
I forgot to change the track so ended up going round Silverstone, although I had changed the Driver to Eddie Irvine (I only race Ferraris) and set the level to Ace with all the driving aids off.
First thing that struck me was how busy the screen was compared to previous offerings, the pit lane had a lot of colour, the grandstands to my left were far better modelled and there seemed to be more of them. The pitwalls had the small shelters that teams manage their cars from too, it all added up to making the whole thing look far better.
The car was still up on the jacks so after checking how much fuel was onboard (4 laps - perfect) it was time to fire the engine up. With a steering wheel you press one of the gear shift padels, which activate the menu when you are up on the jacks.
After a brief whine from the starter the engine fires and as you are in neutral you can get used to blipping the throttle to feel how far you need to press it to do anything, and that isnt far. So slip the car into 1st gear and hold the gearshift padel down to keep the clutch in. Revving to what sounded similar to GP2 I release the padel and after a bit of a stutter the car moves off into the pitlane, obviously a few more revs are needed to do it correctly.
The pitlane limiter is automatic as in GP2, except now its a chronic 50mph, after what seems an eternity you reach the sharp right at the end of the pitlane that hugs the inside of copse corner, at this point I had to be careful I wasnt on too much throttle which would have caused embarrasment the moment the limiter disabled itself.
So onto the track and heading towards maggots / the becketts complex, this feels much the same as GP2 except the mid - exit of the last part of becketts into chapel corner feels far better modelled, the car understeers as the throttle is harshly applied and this pulls the car to the left towards the curb, it all feels very slick.
Gunning down hanger straight with the default dry setup you change into 6th before you go beneath the access bridge and this is not even one third the way down the straight, soon after the car is doing 188 mph on full revs but could do much more, some adjustment will be needed in the pits.
The end of hanger straight now kinks to the right slightly for the last 100 yards or so before stowe corner, this is a remodelled part since GP2 and its ended up far quicker, but also much more of a challenge as, for me anyway, I always brake too much for this corner and the exit is very much blind, to add to that its a double apex and the exit is very fast, so a lot of practice is needed here to get a good entry speed and balance. On reflection this corner is probably the biggest challenge of the circuit, for me anyway.
From the exit of stowe and into vale, the first part is straightened due to the changes at stowe, and feels much more like a drag strip as you are full throttle long before the track straightened. At the end of vale is the familiar left hand flick before the still enormously challenging Club corner which feels pretty much as good as it ever did. Still the corner opens out as before and feels slightly off camber, half way round there is still that point where the car begins to understeer for the exit, familiar but has an ever so slight different feel to it.
From here its very much similar to GP2 up the hill and towards the abbey chicaine, which is 3rd gear as before and you can brake really late and apply power after the first right hand turn-in, followed by an ample amount of throttle as you straight line the second part on the approach to bridge.
This corner also feels unchanged but as yet I have not been able to take it flat as I understeer too much when I really need to be on the right for the approach to priory.
Priory has opened up a lot more and as such is now 3rd or 4th depending on how the approach from bridge went, I've not been able to go quickly into it yet.
Woodlands is the same as before, very slow and demands a lot of patiance, Luffield is now a single corner that also demands patiance as it doubles back on itself hence its pretty slow and you always find yourself hugging the apex wanting to bury the throttle.
Woodcote is the same as always, not really a corner at all, the final change has been at copse, the first corners, its now been openend up again, so can be taken in 5th no probs at all, even the curb on the inside is mountable as the old one used to bounce you off and unsettle you too much.
Ok so thats a warmup lap, as I found it so similar to GP2 I had few problems stringing laps together without throwing the car off, so here is my challenge, I did two flying laps, see if you can beat them :)
1:31.008
1:26.359
This was using a steering wheel, pedal combo and with difficulty on ace, all driving aids off, track was dry.