E3 06: Formula One Impressions

LOS ANGELES--Another Sony E3 PlayStation 3 press conference, another peek at their Formula One game, and still no word on whether the game is actually heading to American shores or not. While Sony's Formula One series has been going strong for some time now overseas, none of them have made their way to US stores. Still, Sony insisted on teasing fans of the mostly European-based open-wheel racing series with a new glimpse of the game at their E3 press conference today, without giving up much in the way of details on the game.

In fact, the overall point of the Formula One demo seemed to be to show off the PlayStation Portable's cool interactive wing mirror functionality. So what is the wing mirror? Essentially, it's an app that will let you use your PSP as a rearview mirror, allowing you to see any traffic behind you by focusing on the PSP's small screen, while the traditional forward view is shown on the television. The application, downloadable from your PS3 which you can then install to your PSP, renders the game in real time on the PSP and is synchronized to the action on the PS3. From a technical standpoint, it was pretty impressive stuff--watching the cars dart in and out of your view as the driver sped down the straights of modern-day Monza was really cool. It seems as if the F1 interactive rear-wing app streams the game over the PSP's wireless connection, which is a big bonus and means you won't have to shell out for an extralong USB cable to get it working properly (assuming you shell out the cash for the deluxe 60GB HDD; the 20GB model won't include Wi-Fi capabilties).

From a practical standpoint, it seems as if the rear-wing feature is meant specifically for the more hardcore driving fans. A diehard Formula One fan with a nice wheel and racing seat configuration could set the PSP close to his driving position on either side to bring an even more authentic driving experience to his race, where all it would take would be a quick glance to the side to see Michael Schumacher or Jenson Button bearing down on your rear wing. That said, we can see this feature being used in games other than driving sims.

In terms of the F1 06 itself, most of the demo was spent in a Williams F1 car, with Mark Webber's familiar yellow helmet peeking into the frame. The track shown was Italy's famous Monza track but, unfortunately, we didn't get a real sense of how the game has progressed since last year, because the presenter was more interested in showing off the PSP rear wing feature than driving particularly fast. Also, the presenter mentioned the game's "great AI"; unfortunately, he said that at the exact same moment a red Ferrari slammed into the side of the Webber's Williams, and made few attempts to get out of the way. Obviously, there's more work to be done there. Still, it's an F1 game, and that's good enough for us. We hope to see more of this exciting racing game, as well as its innovative extras, in the near future and will report back with our findings as soon as we do.