F1 Career Challenge Preview

In the same year that Formula 1 underwent a number of rule changes in an attempt to make it more interesting for fans, Electronic Arts has taken something of a new direction with its video game interpretation of the sport. Rather than merely adding a few token enhancements and updated team information to last year's model, the team at EA's UK studio has incorporated a number of new features into its 2003 game--not the least of which is a career mode spanning four entire Formula 1 seasons.

The usual quick race and multiplayer options are still available in F1 Career Challenge, of course, but the game's primary mode of play is undoubtedly the new career mode. Unlike in previous F1 games, in which you'd be able to sit at the front of the starting grid in a scarlet red Ferrari only moments after navigating the options screens for the first time, F1 Career Challenge really forces you to earn your seat. After customizing your driver's appearance using the limited number of options available, you'll be required to pass a series of license challenges before you're even allowed to drive for a team. The tests are divided up into three main categories covering basic driving, cornering, and racecraft. The tests are fewer in number and easier than those in previous F1 games, but they do a good job of ensuring that you're familiar with all the controls.

Once you've obtained your license, you'll receive a number of job offers from teams with vacancies for the 1999 season. Since you're a rookie, the offers will come only from smaller teams at first, and we initially received offers from Benetton, Sauber, and Prost--teams that would be unlikely to see a lot of use in the game if it weren't for the new structure of the career mode.

Upon arriving in Australia for the first race of the season, we were presented with a testing opportunity in addition to the usual options for practice, qualifying, and the race itself. The testing option is quite ingenious--you have three attempts to achieve a respectable time on a flying lap, and, if you succeed, your mechanics will use the telemetry data from your lap to improve your car's performance in advance of the race. To keep things interesting, the testing won't always be quite as straightforward as simply completing a fast lap. Indeed, as early as the third race of the season, a defective rear wing fell off our car at the beginning of each fast lap attempt, forcing us to drive more cautiously every time, since the lack of downforce left our car handling as if it were on ice. It's unlikely that this would ever be allowed to happen on three consecutive laps in real life, of course, but occurrences such as this do keep the testing from becoming monotonous, and the testing itself is a great way to ensure that you have at least some knowledge of the circuit before you attempt to qualify.

Qualification in F1 Career Challenge can be a little tricky because, unlike in real life, you have no way of knowing when congestion caused by other cars might hinder your progress. Since the game doesn't require you to drive "in" and "out" laps, qualification basically consists of four flying laps, with an opportunity to fine-tune your car's settings in between each. After each attempt, you have the option to check out the current standings, and, following a particularly bad qualifying session in wet weather, we were pleased to find that--in the preview build, at least--we were allowed to race, despite failing to record a time within 107 percent of the driver in the pole position.

As in Codemasters' Pro Race Driver, the teams in F1 Career Challenge have fairly realistic expectations for the season ahead. When driving for Sauber, for example, our goal in the first race was simply to finish in 17th place or higher. The team's expectations will change according to your performance as you progress through a season, and your reputation as a driver will change according to how well you perform in relation to expectations after every race. Needless to say, the better your reputation, the better your chance of driving for one of the top teams in the following season, and the better the team you're with, the better the chances you'll have of becoming world champion.

As you progress through a career game, you'll also notice that Electronic Arts has seen fit to incorporate EA Sports cards into its F1 series for the first time. Using a system similar to those found in the Madden and NHL series, the game features 12 cards to collect on each circuit. It's not yet clear what collecting all the cards in a given circuit might unlock, but since earning them can require anything from outqualifying or beating your teammate to winning a race or holding the lap record on a track, the addition of the cards is sure to provide a lasting challenge.

In addition to the EA Sports cards and the regular points that you'll earn for winning races in F1 Career Challenge, you'll be awarded points that can be spent on unlockable items as you progress, ranging from new helmet designs to an evening race option and a special replay mode. Perhaps some of these items take the shopping idea a little too far, since you can also purchase performance enhancements for the next race that range from engine and brake upgrades to an invulnerable car and a guaranteed perfect pit stop. The latter options are suitably pricy, though, so F1 purists needn't feel that they're putting themselves at a major disadvantage if they decide to play the game without them.

You could say that the sport of Formula 1 isn't nearly as exciting as it used to be, because the daring overtaking maneuvers of old have now been all but replaced by fuel strategies and pit stops. In the version of the game we played, we didn't seem to have any say in the fuel strategy for each race, but as in previous F1 games from EA, we did get to influence how efficiently our pit stops were carried out. Once you enter the pit lane, you effectively lose control of the car, as the AI takes over your steering. But it's up to you to brake to get into the pit lane, brake a second time as you near your crew, turn in to your allotted space, put the car in gear when told to do so, and then accelerate away as soon as your mechanics are finished with you. It might sound dull, but the pit stops are quite exciting and in many ways seem to be even more difficult to master than the regular driving of the car. Brake too early on your approach and your car will crawl along, wasting valuable seconds. Brake a second too late, on the other hand, and you could receive a stop-go penalty that will effectively ruin your chances of winning the race in most instances.

Winning a race in F1 Career Challenge's career mode isn't easy--at least it isn't in a Sauber. Unlike in many racing games, one of the first things you'll notice in F1 Career Challenge is that you have to totally commit to each and every corner as you approach it, and that braking while cornering invariably sends you wide of the racing line. It might be that the handling in our preview version of the game is a little twitchier than it'll be when the game ships next month, but right now you really do need only the slightest of adjustments on the analog stick to turn the car. If you do happen to stray off the road, the grass verges and gravel traps tend to be relatively forgiving as far as your ability to continue the race are concerned, though they do slow you down quite dramatically. However, on occasion we've managed to gain time by taking shortcuts across chicanes and the like without being reprimanded by the FIA governing body.

Having the FIA enforce its rules is optional in the quick race and multiplayer modes of play, but, strangely, there were no options available for customizing the level of difficulty in the career mode, at least in the version we played. In addition to being able to switch the FIA rules on or off, the options in F1 Career Challenge include all the usual suspects, such as weather conditions, damage, fuel use, tire wear, race length, and opposition difficulty. The game also features slipstreaming--if you manage to get in close behind an opponent's car, you receive a boost in speed that's preceded by a subtle "whoosh" sound and a visual cue in the form of white trails on the car in front. The slipstreaming in the game works very well, and while hard-core Formula 1 enthusiasts might not appreciate the audio and visual cues that accompany the boost in speed, it's reassuring to know that the feature actually works.

In terms of graphics, the version of F1 Career Challenge we played seem to lack a little of the polish and presentation that we've come to expect from Electronic Arts' sports games, but the game does an excellent job of creating a sense of speed. When driving at top speeds, the whole screen blurs slightly, and when performing maneuvers that involve sudden changes in speed or direction, the edges of the screen slowly turn red to simulate blood rushing to your head.

Formula 1 isn't a sport that lends itself to video games in quite the same way as stock car racing, especially because the race results are often dictated by the performance of the car and the pit mechanics more than the performance of the driver. F1 Career Challenge seems to be addressing this issue, though, and it's good to see that Electronic Arts--while creating a realistic simulation of the sport for those who crave it--has seen fit to incorporate elements that should make the game accessible and enjoyable for players who want nothing more than an enjoyable racing game. F1 Career Challenge is scheduled for release later this month.