SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - The Status of F1 Simulations

The most obvious change in the next 12-18 months is that if we want to enhance our gaming experience we will be more likely to download modifications to existing games than buy new ones. Teams of designers like the Simbin Development Team have fundamentally redesigned games engines so that sports car racing is now possible using Electronic Arts' F1 2002 engine (ironic really, considering ISI's F1 creations all originally derived from their SCGT, a sports car game!). With development of new F1 sims at what appears to be a virtual standstill, most new development will be focused on updating and modifying existing game engines.

The Le Mans 24hrs 2002 mod from Sportscar Simulation Motorsport.

2. Better Feedback

Because these teams are developed by talented amateurs rather than large scale software teams, the response is likely to be better. Forums such as SimHQ's Motorsports Zone and those on other sites found in the Community Links section allow the sort of support to be at a level only dreamt of by those of us who have had a problem with a mainstream game. The developers tend to be friendly and are happy to receive constructive feedback (even if it is not entirely positive!). The net result of this is, if there is a particular feature you want in a simulation, it seems likely that someone out there can do it for you (as long as you ask nicely enough!).

There are several Grand Prix 4 mods available here from Sim Racing World.

3. Frequency of Hardware Upgrades

Anyone with a PC knows just how much they cost to upgrade. A semi decent graphics card costs about the same as a game console. As games develop, these appear to become dated or even worse — obsolete, more and more quickly. With the fundamental games engine staying the same, it seems unlikely that the need for the latest processors, sound and graphics cards will be as extensive resulting in a chance to save our pennies and instead concentrate on enjoying the game. As computers do continue to develop, everyone will be able to upgrade their computers more cheaply and this will result in the simulations running more smoothly on everyone's PCs.

4. A Wider Variety of Series

As the developers of such mods do not have to pay for rights to use F1 licenses they can evolve series as they wish. Examples of this are the plethora of years and series now covered by mods in the Grand Prix Legends series as well as the above mentioned mods to F1 2002 listed here.

The venerable GPL first as the GPLEA Lotus at Bremgarten....

....and the GPLEA Ferrari at the fantasy track Diamante.

At the moment there are teams working on updating F1 2002 to this year's cars as well as a mod to take you back to 1995, one in development to go back to 1994 as well as the Turbo mod which provides you with the best cars of the early 1980s. Though I have not tried this, I doubt very much if there are many years not modeled in one simulation or another from the 1960s until the present day!

5. Greater Accuracy

Unlike the affiliated development teams, independent developers of mods are not governed by tobacco advertising laws. This is of particular help if, like me, you like to see the cars looking like they meant to rather than the stripped down versions used in the majority of European races. In addition, game engines are often tweaked to make them more accessible to the general public. This can deaden the playing sensation (a classic case in point being Codemaster's recent Race Driver title — a decent enough game — but a lot better after being patched back to it's original difficulty!). With real enthusiasts involved, you can be sure that they will know a lot more about it than you do. And if you do have some feedback, they will incorporate what you know into their next mod!

6. An Active Online Racing Community

If you get bored of playing by yourself there is always an online racing community with numerous racing leagues to join. As more and more people buy and then complete the existing F1 titles, they will want to embark upon the challenge of playing online (this was, after all, one of the reasons that the game Half Life became so popular online). Such leagues are bound to become even more popular than they already are, and this will have the effect of further increasing the online popularity.

The grid from EASports F1 Challenge '99 - '02.

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