The ultimate F1 game

[skipgamer]

OK, this is going to be a rather long post, but hopefully it will be beneficial to the dev team if its read by them, or at least the main jist of it is conveyed to them by the community reps.

PHYSICS: To be a good racing game in todays world, with a solid, continuing fan base, you Need to have good physics. Make the physics as realistic and accurate as possible. There can be no "good enoughs" once you say "well thats good enough" to one thing in the physics engine, then you say it to another thing, and then another thing, we will end up with non-realistic physics.

Now no doubt you would be thinking, well if the physics is too realistic, then the game will have too much of a learning curve, as obviously the regular player doesn't have the reflexes of a formula-1 driver. While yes this is true, it is much wiser to develop realistic physics, then make things easier for the player in the form of steering helpers, braking helpers, things that stop the car from spinning out, etc...

Another way to help beginning players understand the physics and therefore how to race cars properly, is to make some sort of tutorial mode. Not unlike GTR2 or Live for Speed. Hell if you could even get a professional formula 1 driver to "teach" people how to drive that would be an AWESOME selling point.

Graphics: While realistic graphics are good, atleast on the PC version ensure a good amount of graphic options can be turned off. Look at all the popular PC games and you will see that they can all be run on PC's with relatively low specs. Especially considering this is a racing game.

You will most likely not have Computer game fanatics wanting to purchase the game, it will probably be formula 1 / racing fans. If the game is accessible, then you will see decent results on the PC.

Online Play: This is the area where you could turn your Formula 1 game into a huge raving success with entries into E-sport competitions, World-wide competitions, and a continuing fan base that in turn means more money for you And a profitable franchise.

What I'd be looking at here is not necessarily other games, because to be honest, I don't think any of them do online play particularly well. Players are always left to create their own communities, where leagues, cups, and competitions are formed. The only 2 games that I have played that really veers away from this is Trackmania Nations/Forever and Project Torque. While being very unrealistic games and hardly comparable game-play wise. The online systems they have introduced is something I would be looking at.

For starters players should have a ranking, and this would determine what types of games online they can join. They win races, they go up in ranks, the lose races, they go down. An example model would be when you first start playing you can only join "public" races, anyone can join, etc etc. Or you can join private leagues that are password protected, so friends or online communities can have a league within the game. And once you move up in rankings you can join more exclusive types of racers.

This system eliminates the possibility of new players being excluded from online racing due to "not being good enough" but also allows for the good players to have close competitions with one another without having to play against "noobs".

I understand that to streamline all this into the game play within the next 12 months would be difficult, however if you were to pull this off it would be an incredible selling point. Especially if it got to the point where xbox360/pc/ps3 players could all interact in online competition (which I doubt could happen due to X-box live).

AI: Have good AI with varying levels of difficulty, its as simple as that really. Especially if you don't have any online system similar to above. It would be incredibly awesome if you actually modeled the AI after the players themselves.

Learning Curve: As I've said earlier, include optional things like driving aids, turning indicators. But also include difficulty of the AI, a tutorial mode would be awesome as well. All this would ensure that the game is easy to pick up, get started, and play again at the next level of difficulty.

Customisation: Now many might actually disagree with this point, but the game does not need to be customisable in any fashion. While it does help with building communities on the PC, I really wouldn't recommend it bar things like changing car skins.

After all the game will be a Formula-1 game. If people are looking for other types of racing there are so many other games out there (LFS, rFactor, GTR, etc) I really wouldnt suggest adding customisation as one of your features until a second release, or a third. Just work on hammering down the Formula 1 side of things.

Interface: Have a strong solid interface please. No one wants to go through 20 different menu options to get to their rear camber set up, and then go back out of another 20 menus to get to their rear wing adjustment.

This goes for everything too, starting a career game, changing your graphics settings, changing your control settings, joining an online game. Make them all easy to access and make it obvious how to get there.

Sound: Once again its pretty obvious, the sound needs to be good. We need to be able to sit down infront of the game for hours upon hours upon hours. Dont leave us with the same pitch bent wav's for each car. Go out there and record the sounds of F1 cars, you have the license so why not.

Oh, and on commentary, make it really diverse and interesting, or just don't include it at all.

Gimmicks/Other: I would say if you nail down all the things I have on my list so far, you would be WELL on your way to being the BEST F1 GAME EVER! Leave all other gimmicks out for at least your first release. Want to include all the seasons since 1991? Want to include an in-depth custom car tool where you can mix and match your rear, front, side skirts, and cockpit in an air tunnel? Want to include photo-realistic backdrops? Want to include fully animated pit crews? GO FOR IT!!!

But I want to make this absolutely clear.

DON'T SACRIFICE IMPORTANT GAME-PLAY ELEMENTS FOR GIMMICKS!!!


Ps. I'm sure theres more I've forgotten but I didn't really plan or structure the post, it was all off the top of my head. I hope someone from cm reads it and takes note. Cheers.


EDIT: I just noticed I left out alot of the obvious things, cars/teams modelled accurately, a full season of races etc etc. Ofcourse include all the obvious things before even looking at this list. Otherwise you will probably find yourself out of a job :P

[MS7XWDC]

Requests for the new f1 game.

[skipgamer]

Meh, its not really a request. Just outlining what a great game is.

Just looking at that thread things like "realtime weather" are stupid gimmicks, and not the sort of suggestion I am wanting to make. (if I replied there with that remark, I would most likely start a flame-war which is not my intention)