F1 2012

[Trace17]

Release: September 18th* US/September 21st EU
Demo dates:
XBL: Out now!
PC: Sep. 11
PS3 (NA): Sep. 11
PS3 (EU): Sep. 12

What's new?

• Ugly cars! Okay, that's realistic though.
• Austin track!
• Shorter Bahrain layout! (the one back in F1 CE, hasn't been in F1 2010/2011)
• Young Driver Test (a fancy tutorial to play once)
• Champions Mode (time trials and scenarios against 6 champions)
• Localized weather - now it might rain at Eau Rouge and be sunshine through Blanchimont!
• Brake Bias adjustments can now be done on the fly
• Handling - okay, nobody actually knows what is new here, if anything is actually new
• Season Challenge - 10 races to win the title, and you can change teams mid-season. A shortened version of career for those thinking that was too long.
• Really new and fancy menus!!
• Different cover arts! US gets Red Bull on the front, UK gets McLaren, Spain gets Ferrari, Germany gets Schumi I think, Aussies get Red Bull, etc. etc.
• RaceNet integration - it's anyone's guess what exactly this will entail, but at the least you'll probably get to see your stats and compare to friends.

So what are CM not telling us? A lot, really. The marketing for F1 2012 has been the most subdued of any F1 game. A couple of official gameplay videos and two (useless) developer diaries is all we have so far, and commercials/internet marketing is virtually non-existant.

Also, apparently the option to complete a custom full season through the grand prix mode has been removed. So if you're a big Ferrari fan and want to do a full season as Alonso as soon as you buy the game, well, you can't. You'll have to a career season to get a Ferrari contract or race as him online. Why was this removed? Because, that's why! Seriously, they said nobody used it (they did) and removed it. Because options HURT people.

There might be some other adjustments as well but I haven't read a whole lot, CM are not outspoken about it.

*=US release is Sep 18, but like previous Codemasters games, this could in fact be a "ship date" and not an actual "shelf date". So, to be blunt, I have no idea if you can actually buy this game on Sep 18 or not. For what it's worth, I have Amazon prime and if I preorder Borderlands 2 it says "release date delivery - Sep 18" but if I were to pre-order F1 2012 it says "ships Sep 18, estimated delivery Sep 21"

[dobyblue]

They list September 30th for the Canada date, not sure why as the game disc will be identical as the US.

Anyway I skipped 2011, so I may pick this one up (just pre-ordered it for the 30th). I can afford upgrading every 2nd year.

If they add 3D to 2013 though I'll be upgrading next year too.

[Trace17]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

They list September 30th for the Canada date, not sure why as the game disc will be identical as the US.

Anyway I skipped 2011, so I may pick this one up (just pre-ordered it for the 30th). I can afford upgrading every 2nd year.

If they add 3D to 2013 though I'll be upgrading next year too.

Hrm, amazon.ca says the 30th but eb games and bestbuy.ca say he 18th. As you can tell, code masters really care about getting solid information to retailers in north America

If you skipped 2011 then 2012 is probably worth jumping in. The demo is live on the us store too for those wanting to give it a try.

[Stu123]

Just playing demo now it's good

[David LFC]

We should set up a F1 2012 league on here so we can arrange races ? very hard to find clean drivers on line mostly all rammers

[PrivatePixel]

It's been years since I've played an F1 game, but I'm looking forward to this. According to the official website, the PS3 demo comes out tomorrow in the UK (it's up in N. America: 1.35 GB download), so that gives me something to look forward to. If I like what I see, I'm going to order a UK copy (for the McLaren cover, of course ).

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by David LFC

We should set up a F1 2012 league on here so we can arrange races ? very hard to find clean drivers on line mostly all rammers

I would enjoy racing some week-end against a few players on here, maybe something we can do around 7AM EST on a race morning before the race starts? Qualy and 30%~40% race session for whatever race is upcoming would be cool too.

[David LFC]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

I would enjoy racing some week-end against a few players on here, maybe something we can do around 7AM EST on a race morning before the race starts? Qualy and 30%~40% race session for whatever race is upcoming would be cool too.

Yeah we could race on the race weekend , If we get enough people i'm on PSN

[PrivatePixel]

Has anyone played the demo as yet? If so, impressions?

[Trace17]

Originally Posted by PrivatePixel

Has anyone played the demo as yet? If so, impressions?

I played it briefly yesterday and I was pretty disappointed. But I'll give it more time today or tomorrow before saying anything else.

[David LFC]

Originally Posted by PrivatePixel

Has anyone played the demo as yet? If so, impressions?

Car feels much better with TC off this year , handles much better in higher speed corners , wet weather looks brilliant

[PrivatePixel]

Originally Posted by Trace17

I played it briefly yesterday and I was pretty disappointed. But I'll give it more time today or tomorrow before saying anything else.

Originally Posted by David LFC

Car feels much better with TC off this year , handles much better in higher speed corners , wet weather looks brilliant

Two varying opinions on the same subject; guess I'll have to give it a test run of my own this weekend.

[Trace17]

Originally Posted by PrivatePixel

Two varying opinions on the same subject; guess I'll have to give it a test run of my own this weekend.

That's pretty much the way it is for a lot on different internet/car forums, from what I'm reading. Some think it's infinitely better and some think it's absolutely terrible. I still haven't gotten another chance to play it but should this weekend.

[David LFC]

Anyone pick this up today ? I am getting my later on today

[PrivatePixel]

Originally Posted by Trace17

That's pretty much the way it is for a lot on different internet/car forums, from what I'm reading. Some think it's infinitely better and some think it's absolutely terrible. I still haven't gotten another chance to play it but should this weekend.

I spent some time on the Young Driver Test, but didn't get around to the Season Challenge (which I forgot about) before uninstalling the demo. The YDT wasn't bad (though my times were better when I didn't have to clip the chicanes as a requirement ). I think I might pick this up eventually, but for now, I'll have to pass (I'm reluctant to pay full retail for driving/racing titles).

[Trace17]

Do NOT buy the game if you like to...

-have more than 1 practice session (fp1 and fp2 removed from game)
-play a full season in grand prix mode as your favorite driver instead of a fictional driver
-play a full season with under 25% race distance. Yep, they axed that too. But you can do a half season at 10%!
-have scaled tyre wear at lower race distances.

I'm really pissed at codemasters for removing things like this. Between ths and grid 2 having cockpit cam removed, I'm done buying their games.

[David LFC]

I picked up the game today done my first 100% race , the tire wear is good i managed to do a two stopper while other's around me done 3 stops. AI on legend is much harder this year my first Quali i was 20th few tenths off my team mate Kovalainen

The first lap the AI are much quicker the defend a lot better and they do make mistakes seen Massa go wide hit the wall and broke his front wing , enjoying the game so far anyone else pick it up letus know what you think

[ps3bd_owner]

Played the demo, liked it but Formula One isn't really my type of driving game.

I'm more into Race Driver GRID online gaming and crash for the laughs of ruining others' online experience (plus getting called names 'cos that's what happens to trolls lol).

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Trace17

Do NOT buy the game if you like to...

-have more than 1 practice session (fp1 and fp2 removed from game)
-play a full season in grand prix mode as your favorite driver instead of a fictional driver
-play a full season with under 25% race distance. Yep, they axed that too. But you can do a half season at 10%!
-have scaled tyre wear at lower race distances.

I'm really pissed at codemasters for removing things like this. Between ths and grid 2 having cockpit cam removed, I'm done buying their games.

Good info. I played the demo and I liked it, but I'll probably wait on the 2013 release of the game to see if they get enough feedback about removing these issues that they put them back in.

The laps I did at Monza were good fun, I enjoyed using KERS and DRS and I like the overall feel of the game. Haven't decided whether to cancel my pre-order yet but I'm leaning towards waiting now. Canada is Sep 30th so I need to cancel today or tomorrow.

I have the 2010 and 2006 versions of the PS3 game so those should tide me over for now.

EDIT - just found out my buddy who I go to Montreal for the race each year already picked up the game, so I'll leave my pre-order intact for now. Out in stores already here, so perhaps it's just Amazon Canada that has their dates botched.

[Trace17]

They also removed the ability to do a custom online season with points too I think. So if you and 4 buddies wanted to do a 5-race season and have it do championship-style point scoring, well, from my understanding, they took that out of F1 2012.

They have taken a LOT out of this game, without every asking the community what they wanted. And ON TOP of all that, what they DID give us is a pretty broken game. A friend of mine has had rain in every single race in his career so far, even bahrain (no pun intended lol). I've read some people having engines blow up every single race.

And then check this out. That chicane at the end of Sector 3 in Catalunya? Nahhh, don't need it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU01KD31du8

Some say "well the game can't be perfect". But if it worked in F1 2011 why is it broken now?

Oh and the corner cutting penalties in Austin are a JOKE. You can go off-roading in Sector 1 with no penalty and then breathe on a kerb in T17 Sector 3 and get invalidated time.

Code "masters" hahaha