Formula One 06 PSP review

Last year the PSP received a Formula One game that really wasn't worth bothering with. It was more of an arcade game and served only to alienate F1 fans, a fickle bunch at the best of times. However the good news is that this year we have a much more competent effort to represent the complex sport on a handheld. In many ways it's the best F1 console game I've played yet there are some aspects of the game that let the side down completely.

So what have we got here? 2006 season's tracks? Check. 2006 season's drivers? Check. 2006 season's teams? Check. So far, so funky. And there's the usual suspects when it comes to game modes; quick race, time trial, full race weekend, season and career mode. But where are the multiplayer options? What happened to the ability to play the PSP version against the PS2 that was promised? My colleague Jakob who is reviewing the game for Boomtown Denmark has an earlier build with multiplayer options in, but my copy doesn't have any at all. A real shame.

Singletons Only

So this is most definitely a single player review. Thankfully the single player experience is a deep and interesting experience. For a handheld the level of simulation is remarkably good. We all know how awful the analog nubbin is on the PSP, it's pretty useless for arcade racers, let alone sims - but the developers here seem to have made the best of it and the handling is remarkable good. Yet controlling these high speed cars on a handheld console can be very tricky.

Both myself and Jakob are old hands when it comes to driving sims. Yet in a discussion about the game this week it became clear that both of us still use some of the driving aids when playing this game. This is something we wouldn't dream of doing in other games, but the steering aid does iron out some of the problems with the PSP hardware while still giving you enough control to head into the kitty litter if you make a mistake.

Evolution

The handling is surprisingly good for a handheld game and there's plenty of fun to be had in trying to beat your best times in time trial mode. Learning the newer courses is pretty easy too thanks to a useful best-line indicator. I had thought the real difficulty with a game such as this on PSP would be forever crashing into AI cars, but I'm happy to say navigating through ranks of other cars isn't nearly as fiddly as you'd expect. Keeping control within the pack isn't too tough.

The best part of the game from my point of view is the evolution mode. This is the kind of mode that F1 games should have had for a long time. In most games you are the team, as though the driver runs everything and is his own race engineer. Thanks to evolution you can now take part in the kind of testing that makes you feel part of a team. At the beginning of a race weekend the race engineer will send you out on the track with a full fuel load to gauge how you drive, after a few clean laps he will alter the car setup for various race scenarios.

Pit Strategy

This process continues will all aspects of the car setup such as suspension and downforce as the engineer finds the correct setting for how you drive. You can drive as few or as many of these tests as you like but I found it often more fun than the race to work on all of these. By the end of the process your race engineer will even have a suggested pit stop strategy based on your tire wear and fuel usage, it's a rather neat feature indeed.

The game is not without faults though. Jakob told me he's had some problems with evolution mode in the career section where the wrong car was given to him. I've not seen a similar problem myself so it could be his earlier build. I have seen a few bugs for myself though such as the occasional lockup and an annoying screen flash when having racing accidents with other cars.

Flagged

Despite a few niggles though I'm rather impressed with the presentation in the game. The cars look detailed and the HUD is very well laid out. The tracks aren't exactly pretty, but there are few attractive F1 courses anymore and the only real great circuit that hasn't been ruined a la Hockenheim is Spa, not present this season. The frame rate is largely smooth and there's plenty of atmosphere in the sound effects and even some race commentary and pit radio effects.

F1 06 on PSP is a good attractive racer that falls short of greatness due to the occasional bug and the lack of multiplayer options. There's a very deep career mode on offer though you may find your hands falling off if attempting a full length race. It's clearly quite a technical racer and not for everyone, but a solid title worth investigating.