I used to be a huge F1 fan back in the days of Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna (RIP) but when they started adding all the new rules and regulations, and with races lasting up to two hours and being quite boring, I just drifted away from it and instead started watching Moto GP instead.

Luckily though there was always one F1 game at the time that I could always count on to recreate the most authentic F1 gaming experience and that was the Formula One Grand Prix series by Geoff Crammond.  In my opinion no F1 game to date has ever come close to beating the last title in the series which is Grand Prix 4.

The F1 gaming license itself is a bit of a mess also.  Sony had it, EA had it and now Codemasters have it.  Each different company promised to deliver the most authentic F1 racing experience, yet nearly all failed in that respect.  But now that F1 games are being developed by Codemasters, who are better known for their rally titles, this could be the start of a rebirth in the age of F1 games.

There has never been a better time to be a British F1 fan than right now.  With Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton both world champions and with Mclaren now being the home of both of these driving legends, the 2010 season looks to be the most exciting yet.  And right now I will apologize if this review reads like something of a critique of the 2009 F1 season but my point is that the one move from Brawn to Mclaren by Jenson Button immediately renders the F1 2009 game redundant in terms of authenticity, it is already out of date.

But gamers should be grateful at least that there is at least a new F1 title and F1 2009 enters the starting grid with a lot to prove in its debut season.  Can it do what Brawn did in F1 and show everyone that they are the new kings of F1?  Well to start, the latest title, sadly, features no TV-style commentary or graphics.  With F1 back on the BBC, I was expecting the same titles to be used, at least EA got that aspect right with their titles.

The game itself offers the usual gaming modes you would expect from such a title.  You can participate in a single race, a full race weekend, a championship and a racing career.  There is also a novel challenge mode, which has you performing Gran Turismo-style tests in your F1 machine.  This mode is probably the saving grace of the game as the rest is just so generic and bland.

“So hopefully the racing experience can be a little livelier,” I hear you say?  Thankfully the game does drive a decent F1 experience.  As you would expect the game features lots of driving aids and difficulty levels that you can tweak.  On the easiest difficulty, with all the aids turned on, it provides just enough of a challenge to not make you want to turn off all the driving aids.  If you do decide to do that, though, then the game becomes brutal.  I say brutal because you will instantly have a hard time keeping the car on the track and this can become infuriating.

This happens not because of the driving aids, essentially, but because the analogue stick is just too sensitive.  One press and the car immediately veers off the track or starts fishtailing which means you will soon enough hit a wall.  This means that using the D-Pad offers a better experience and allows you to keep the car on the track and your pride intact.  You can alter the sensitivity of the steering but that just makes it worse.

Graphically, the game is strong and the cars look and feel solid.  Each track is recreated correctly but as you would expect the engine sound is not up to much.  In terms of AI, the cars do make mistakes and battle against you for positions and in the career mode this ultimately is what keeps you playing.  There is a lot of longevity in F1 2009, each trophy you gain (from finishing on the podium in all modes) is classified as an unlockable and as mentioned the challenge mode takes some beating.

All the 2009 teams and drivers are here and they all perform like they did last season (so expect Brawn to dominate) and the email system in career mode between races is a nice touch that lets you know how you are doing and what your team thinks.  You can also get invitations to test and join other teams based on how well you perform.

As you race you get constant updates from your pit team as to who is leading and what position you are.  If you turn damage on and hit things you also get told what is damaged and when you have to pit.  If your driving behavior is dangerous you even get told what penalties you have incurred and you have to obey otherwise you are disqualified.

The addition of KERS as a turbo boost that replenishes after each lap is also a nice touch.  So overall this is a solid F1 title.  It offers nothing really special but for their first attempt, Codemasters should be congratulated.  What F1 2009 does offer is the chance to be part of the 2009 F1 season and it does this well.  Here is hoping that Codemasters tinker under the hood of F1 2009 to make F1 2010 a series contender for F1 gaming world champion.

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