September 22, 2006 - A game of seemingly one million names, with the current working title at TGS 2006 going by Formula One Championship Edition, the F1 simulator promises to bring extremely technical racing to the PlayStation 3. While we'd gotten a quick go with the game at this year's E3, its presence at TGS seems much more telling of what the final game should hold for Formula One fans. While it hasn't been officially announced for release in the US yet, making only European gamers the only official recipients of the title thus far, its constant and large presence at every PS3 showing thus far hopefully indicates that an announcement isn't too far off.

While we thought the game was a little too arcadey at E3, things seemed a fair bit better here in Tokyo. While the ultra-quick acceleration and stop-on-a-dime brakes are still present, the cars kick and squeal within those performance apexes more realistically, giving the game a bit of a challenge and play with the wheel.

When we sat down to play the demo, behind the wheel of a Ferrari at Suzuka no less, we opted to take our laps with a full downpour of rain upon us. This obviously made the game quite a bit more difficult, though as all of the given demos were on the easy setting we didn't have too hard of a time. Still, running a wheel or two off the side of a track and then yanking the wheel to either side ended in very bad things.

The cool thing about racing in the rain are the effects you'll see which not only look cool but tie into the gameplay as well. Every car kicks up a massive amount of rain as they speed along, creating a roostertail of water that completely envelops your vision. And by completely, we mean that if you're back in the pack, the only thing you'll be able to make out ahead of you are the brake lights of the cars in front of you. It's extremely challenging but very cool nonetheless. On your windshield you'll see bits of rain either roll down the window or fly off to the sides at high speed. Many other games have done this so it's not anything new per se, but some pretty nice shaders are used here that make for a nice visual effect.

As for the other racers, they're a bit of a pushover at this point, but that may be in large part to the game being on the easy setting. Giving them a tap will have them running for safety, literally getting out of your way so that you can pass them. They're quite capable drivers, able to overcome spins and such with relative ease, but they were far too timid in our demo. Again, this could very well be because of the difficulty.

Formula One Championship Edition (or whatever it'll wind up being called in the end) looks like it could be a pretty nice racer if things shape up a bit. We're fairly confident that our issues today were solely related to the game's difficulty setting, so if the other racers start putting up a fight then we should have a nice experience on our hands. It remains to be seen just how deep the career mode goes, which also piques our interest, but we're certainly anxious to find out.

TOKYO--While American racing tastes run toward the left-turning tin-top circuit, the rest of the world is focused on Formula One. Arguably the sexiest form of motorsport in the world, F1 feature exotic locales, state-of-the-art automotive technology, and, of course, blinding speed. It fits, then, that one of the showpieces for Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3 console here at the Tokyo Game Show is its one of its upcoming racing games, F1 World Championship. Having last seen the game at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, we're wishing more than ever that this game was coming stateside.

Unlike in our previous look at the game, this version of F1 featured most of the teams and drivers on the current F1 circuit, and three real-life F1 tracks: Monaco, Imola, and Japan's own Suzuka circuit. We had a chance to try a quick three-lap race on all three, and luckily, each track has its own unique characteristics.

We started in Suzuka, one of the most exciting high-speed tracks in the world. Here, we were really able to open up the virtual engines and get a load of the high-pitched whine of the motors that are virtually synonymous with F1. F1 World Championship is using a suggested line feature, similar to that found in the original Forza motorsport, which gives you color-coded details on when to hit the gas (green), brakes (red), or merely lift off the throttle (yellow). Using the suggested line is an ideal way to learn tracks you aren't familiar with; though those familiar with the tracks will likely find derivations from the suggested line that they can find additional speed on. The next track we tried was Monaco, a track whose claustrophobic, winding streets are the stuff of grand prix legends. We also got a look at the rain effects in the game, which are, frankly, gorgeous. As you speed through up the hill after the start line, streaks of rain bead on the "windshield" and streak along the sides of your visor as you go. If you get caught behind a car, you'll get a face full of their water plume at the same time.

Finally, we came to Imola, a medium-speed course that features some tricky chicanes and dangerous curbing. At this track, we got a fine idea of the kind of responsive controls in the game that benefit from some twitchy reflexes on the part of the player. The high-speed chicanes can be attacked at high speeds, but you need to watch the aforementioned curbing, as it's really easy to get caught in a lap-time-ruining spin if you put too many wheels off of the asphalt.

One other impressive aspect of F1 World Championship was the aggressive tendencies of the artificially intelligent drivers. At the medium difficulty level, cars behind you will really push you to keep up your pace and, if you get off line, you can expect an opponent to put a wheel into you and send you off the track. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the challenge the game's responsive controls and unforgiving opponent AI provided.

We'll say it: F1 World Championship needs to come out in America, if only because F1's popularity seems to be growing here in the States, be it ever so slowly. Years ago, EA used to issue yearly, if not exactly inspiring, entries in its F1 series. Sony seems to have a nice game on its hands with F1 WC; here's hoping they make decision to bring it stateside so us poor Americans can get our hands on it.

Formula One 06 Hands-On: Coming to America
Good news: F1 06 is coming to America. More good news: It looks amazing.

By Brian Ekberg, GameSpot
Posted Oct 19, 2006 7:45 pm PT

American racing fans have been without a Formula One game for some time now. After EA lost the license only to see it snapped up by Sony, F1 games have been exclusively released seemingly everywhere else but here in the good-old USA. That problem is about to change in a big way, thanks to today's news that Sony's Formula One 06 for the PlayStation 3 will be released in the States in 2007. We got a chance to take another look at this open-wheel racer, and we're even more excited for this game than before.


F1 06 will signal the return of Formula One games to the States.

Like the TGS demo we played a few weeks ago, this build of F1 06 has been aimed toward its audience. In Tokyo, the game featured the Imola, Monaco, and Japan's own Suzuka circuit. For today's demo, we got a chance to turn laps at that other Italian track, Monza, and America's own Indianapolis. There are some similarities between the tracks, especially the high-speed final turn at Indy, with its banked slope, and the front straight at Monza, which is one of the fastest sections of asphalt in the entire F1 world. And once again, the game's sterling visuals, especially when playing in the first-person view, really convey the startling velocity and violent jostling that occurs when the cars in F1 run at top speed. In fact, it's probably not that much of a stretch to say this is one of the best-looking PS3 games around at the moment--the level of detail in everything from the shape and design of the cars to the reflections in the driver's helmets, and the relentless sense of speed, are a joy to watch.

While we played in both dry and wet conditions (once again savoring those impressive rain effects), we also had the opportunity to mess with some of the settings in the game, particularly difficulty, damage, and some rudimentary car settings. First off, as with other PS3 racing games, the lack of rumble in the PS3's controller is dramatic--and not in a good way. You really miss the feeling of "thunking" into a wall or the sensation of rapid shaking as you roll over the rumble strips in the corners. In addition, the controls take some getting used to. The analog R2 and L2 buttons are the default gear shift buttons, which feel awkward at first, though we do like using the right stick to control gas and brakes. Unfortunately, the R2 and L2 buttons don't have as much range of motion as the triggers on the Xbox 360 controller, and as a result, using them as an alternative gas or brake doesn't seem like much of an option at this point. If we had our way, we would have dialed down the sensitivity of the steering in the game, as even on gentle high-speed corners, such as the Curva Grande at Monza, you find yourself flicking the stick where you probably should be just gently moving the controller in conjunction with the grade of the turn. A small point, granted, but one that driving fans will likely take notice of.

On the plus side, the game's difficulty seems to have taken a step up from our previous look at the game. On the medium difficulty setting, you're going to have to fight for positions on the track, and even tried-and-true racing methods such as overtaking by under braking aren't as easy as you might think. Another impressive aspect was the damage modeling in the game; just as you might expect from the extremely fragile F1 cars, the slightest miscalculation can result in an ugly spin and the loss of a wheel or two if you aren't careful.

So with the news that the game is coming stateside, we turn to the issues we don't know about the game, namely how the game mode lineup is shaping up. Presumably there will be your standard quick race and championship modes, but we're curious about some of the smaller particulars, such as online compatibility, pit-stop minigames, and tuning options for the cars. In addition, there's always the matter of the ever-shifting driver lineup in F1 (which will look very different next season), as well as the standard livery changes on the cars themselves. With any luck, we'll have answers to these questions in early 2007, when the game is due for release.