With the game's weather system now taking into account weather fronts that can affect specific areas of the track, considering your strategy and tyre choice is still of paramount importance too, potentially making or breaking your race. It's much easier to digest than the full career, which is still available in all its unrestrained, fully-featured glory with an entire 20 race calendar to tackle, complete with practice sessions, qualifying and the Grand Prix itself spread across a whole race weekend just like the real thing. It's F1 2012's gateway to the rest of the game, providing a truncated, easy to digest season broken down into relatively short and sharp five lap races, preceded by a single qualifying lap. In fact, Season Challenge proves to be the perfect place for anyone wanting a quick fix of Formula One or a primer for the bigger, more detailed Career Mode. The first day simply shows you the ropes, acquainting you with the basics, making your first tango behind the wheel of a Formula One car in the game's Career Mode or Season Challenge less of a frightening prospect. It's the perfect introduction to the world of F1, and a brilliant way to gently ease you into the various mechanics of the game, as well as the depth and other minutiae that you can learn in more detail during the option second day of the Young Driver's Test, which doubles as your tutorial. It's a statement of intent that F1 2012 is a game that's positioned towards both the hardened racing fan and the Formula One newbie, with the the first day of the new Young Driver's Test kicking in as soon as you fire up the game and enter your name. Gone is the parc ferme from previous games, replaced by something much prettier with all of the options and modes clearly laid out for you.

Has Codies managed to pull it off without dumbing F1 2012 down though?įrom the off F1 2012 rings in the new, with a front end menu that's slick, intuitive and inviting, like the majority of AAA racing games on the market. How can Codemasters continue to evolve and develop F1 as a franchise when it's as authentic and all-encompassing as it is? It's accessibility that seems to be the key for F1 2012, making the point of entry less daunting for simulation virgins and F1 fans keen to dip their toe into a video game of their favourite sport. With F1 2011 proving to be one of the finest Formula One games ever produced, you have to ask where the series can possibly go from here. In the space of just two short seasons, Codemasters has almost already reached a pinnacle of quality with its F1 series, representing the sport with an almost unerring level of accuracy and attention to detail.

F1 2012 silverstone setup