F1 2011 (PS Vita) Review

F1 2011 was first released on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC last September and was made with great reception by the hard core fans of the series. The game gave players a plethora of drivers, cars and tracks to choose from and was the definitive F1 racing experience that fans could get. Now F1 2011 is available on the Playstation Vita and is the only racing simulation among a vast sea of arcade games.

Sumo Digital, the developers that worked on the Nintendo 3DS version of the game, are once again behind the wheel of the port for the game. Did they hit first place with the first racing sim on the Vita? Or did they crash and burn just shy of the checkered flag? Here are the Hots and Nots of F1 2011 for the Playstation Vita.

Hot

Feels Like The Playstation 3 Version
The Playstation Vita version of F1 2011 feels and plays similarly to the Playstation 3 version of the game. This is definitely a great thing for fans who wanted to pick this game up for the portable but weren’t sure how it would handle. The controls are easy to pick up and get used to and the game offers four various control schemes for you to choose from. Two of them offer use of the touch capabilities while the other two map accelerate and brake to either X and square or L and R. Using the touch controls can take some getting used to and if you prefer to just use buttons then I would recommend going with the L and R settings.

Lots of Single Player Content
F1 2011 on the Vita comes packed with loads of single player content to keep you busy for quite some time. The single player races also include a set of challenges that will test your skills as an F1 driver. These challenges are different from the ones found on the console version of the game. These challenges include passing checkpoints, driving a lap while avoiding giant question mark signs and overtaking as many cars as you can in the time limit. Fans of the game will find plenty to do in this title.

You can jump straight into a career mode, where low end teams let you test their cars based on your ability and work your way up to the top, or get into a full season where you land behind the wheel of any of last year’s cars. You can also just go into a standard quick race if you are new to the series and just want to wet your feet. The single player content is a great place to start before you jump into the ruthless world of online play.

Graphics
The graphics in F1 2011 on the Vita are exceptionally good and the developers did a great job transferring it from console to hand-held. The menus and type facing look almost identical to their big brother counter parts and the in-game graphics look magnificent for a launch title game on the Vita. The textures can look a bit rough and jagged but other than that it is a great looking game that shows that the Vita can handle a solid racing simulator.

Local And Online Options

F1 2011 sports the ability to play against others either in the same room locally or online. This can be great when you decide that you want to face an actual challenge rather than the forgiving AI. The online mode is great for those hardcore fans out there that want to jump straight into the competition and prove that they are the best F1 2011 driver out there. Newcomers may want to stick to learning the ropes via single player races before they dive head first into online competition.

Not

Too Forgiving
F1 2011 on the Vita seems to be a tad bit easier than the console version of the game. You will find that even on harder difficulties the driver AI doesn’t hold up so well and it will seem as if you are driving the fastest car in the world. It seems that they dropped the difficulty down a bit for some reason and the game seems more forgiving than it should be. You will find yourself overtaking opposing cars and coming in first place with little to no problems from the AI. I personally would have like a little more of a challenge on the harder difficulties than what I got. Purists of the F1 series may be a bit disappointed by this but newcomers may find this perfect should this be their first outing.

Menus Can Be Cluttered
The menu system in F1 2011 can be a little difficult to navigate at times. It seems the game makes you jump through hoops to do something as simple as changing your control scheme. Fans of the game on the consoles may be used to this already but newcomers may be a bit put off or overwhelmed by this. While can be a little overwhelming at first, give it a little patience and you will get used to the menu system. once you get over it and get it down you won’t see it as that big of a problem.

Verdict

F1 2011 on the Playstation Vita is a great first go at a racing simulator on the Playstation Vita. Fans of racing games that want to stay clear of the arcade racers flooding the Vita’s launch should definitely look into adding this to their collection. The game offers a great deal of content on the single player front and handles well. While the menus can be a bit clunky and the game can be too forgiving, F1 purists and racing fans alike will find that they can easily overcome these small problems to play a great racing sim.

[Editor’s Note: F1 2011 was reviewed on the Playstation Vita platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]