F1 2011 Career mode only 5 seasons! This is a joke right?

[marc27]

I've heard the new f1 game only has 5 seasons. Does anyone know if this is true?

 

[Wynterdust]

Most of the players that bought the game play online, hence the reason they focus on this.

 

[Wynterdust]

Most of the people who bought the game played online, this is why they focus on online.

 

[subferro]

This was one of the big issues I had with the SP changes for 2011. But really, I don't mind the limitation on career length as long as you can choose any team. As many posts have pointed out, 5 years just isn't enough time to work from the bottom to the top, and even if you do manage to secure a contract with McLaren, you won't get to spend multiple seasons racing for them...

I really hope they make it possible to start with any team, otherwise we'll be left with back to back seasons in Grand Prix mode, which just isn't the same as using your own character...

 

[Roger Snead]

5 seasons...say it isn't so

It is true but why does it matter? As far as I know F1:CE had 5 as well, and 2005 and 06 on ps2. Five is ample enough considering the work they have to do to make sure team performance changes for each of those seasons. Lets put it this way, I'd much rather lose 2 seasons of career if it means there's improvements in those 5 seasons over last year.

Why would we have to sacrifice two seasons for improvment???

 

[Roger Snead]

True enough

What gives you the impression that removing implemented and completed features or game modes has any effect on the maximum number of seasons in the career mode? 5 seasons is obviously a design decision, not a feature that is being cut due to technical limitations or a shortage of resources.

Well put. I couldn't agree more. If anything they should be able to provide MORE seasons without sacrificing any redeeming qualities, since they have had a year to figure out the bugs and what not.

 

[Wynterdust]

If you noticed in 2010 in career each season the AI was different for instance Season 1 the Red Bull will be fighting at the front and say Force India was usually around 12th or so, Season 2 the Red Bull might only be fighting for 7th or 8th against the Force India. For this they would have to play through each possibility in Career mode and make sure no bugs make their way into it and with all the changes for 2011 they would have to go through this process again so to concentrate on other features which people are crying out for, e.g better AI, better damage model and the one I'm personally tired of seeing, the safety car, they've made it shorter. Simple as really. Can't have everything I'm afraid.

 

[Peter Hooper]

For me any career mode should be infinite.. and I'm not really sure why it has to be so restricted. I don't really consider 5 years to be a career and it does fall short of what I was hoping for in this respect. Not a deal breaker but definitely less than I was expecting.

 

[rjv]

From a pure gameplay point of view Career mode looks like the sort of option that should be unlimited (or at least, some arbitrary high number, say 20 seasons). Given that they already have a 7-yr career in 2010, I don't see this as a particular problem. It doesn't even need to be particularly dynamic in the later years - at least, no different from the previous years - just a slightly more realistic contract progression that allows you to move up (and maybe down) year on year.

However...

From a design perspective there are a number of other factors at play. Particularly Multiplayer and the game franchise. Online play is where things are going. Certain gametypes lend themselves very well to online play - racing, other sports, shooters and so on. With budgets tight, development is going to focus on the growth area. A multiplayer career mode built and supported in-game would be the greatest wish for a growing number of players. For many, once you've played online (and not just F1, all sorts of games), then single-player career just doesn't cut it.

With regard to the franchise, the cynic in me says they dont want players hacking their way through 7, 8, 9, 10 or more seasons come the autumn, with a new release on the way. I suspect they want career mode done and dusted by the summer and people playing online.

Cheers.

 

[Tacoscent]

You make a good arguement Rjv, however, I don't play online. I like to do things by myself since I am not as social as some people. Codemasters just lost a sale here.

Mod Edit: Please do not talk about Warez Games or anything illegal here this is against forum policy.
Nick Brooke

 

[Southern Oracle]

T4RG4 has said that the limitation of the 5 year career was due to the inclusion of 16 live player online sessions because of the increased testing time of the additional multiplayer seats. Every year of a career has to be fully tested. You could have a bug that only happens in year 14 of a career and things like that have to be debugged and reproduced. This all requires testing time. 16 players online requires 16 live testers so those are testers that aren't available to test career. Somebody earlier in the thread said that it wasn't a resource limitation and was obviously a design decision. It's exactly the opposite.

http://twitter.com/#!/T4RG4/status/95868319013421057

 

[mlrockets]

Yeah i dont really care about the career mode tbh. Its just not competitive, online racing is much better.

 

[magicayrton1]

Agree strongly with your comment

Why would we have to sacrifice two seasons for improvment???

I totally agree with your statement that Codemasters haven't thought of the fans to reduce seasons on career and the reason as stated just above in this forum is due to 16 online testers all focused on online play. Disappointing to the non-online gamers who think career is most enjoyable game mode. They've even done it to multiplayer co-op championship where you can't play split screen championship off-line. Again all focused around online which has cost things on multiplayer and career modes for non-online gamers.

 

[ForzaFerrari#1]

I am very disappointed as well, how can you live the life when you can't even do a career and possibly beat or compare your career with Michael Schumacher. Seven years was the bear minimum, now 5. It doesn't even make me want to start a career mode. I'll stick with F1 2010....

 

[Chris Jenkins]

I think it's fair enough. It gives more people the chance to complete the game before 2012.
I have a job and a social life, so I've barely managed to get to 5 seasons on 2010 so far.

 

[Wynterdust]

Can't see peoples problem with it being 5 seasons :/, wasn't all other F1 games before now 5 or less? Like I've said in an earlier post they would have to test each season, possibly all race distances short and long weekends to check for bugs. Can you really expect them to do this as well as test out the safety car which most of you have been crying out for? I'm sorry but to get stuff you want sometimes sacrifices need to be made and 2 seasons off a career isn't exactly a world ender now is it...What's wrong with starting a career again, yea you lose the stats and have to start in a Williams/Force India/New teams again but that is no biggy...Should be thankful for the stuff they have put in, they could do what Studio Liverpool did and release the same game with different liveries...

 

[ForzaFerrari#1]

In reply to wynterdust's comment, the game as they advertised it is more than an upgrade so they say, so why are we going backwards instead of forward with this. If you don't want to do a 7yr career you had the option to do 3 or 5. I think a lot of people are disappointed about this! What is the point of even having a career mode then if you use the argument of "well you can start your career all over again back with Force India or Williams." They tried so much to work on new things that the basics that we had 5, 10 yrs ago are missing: i.e podiums, decent stats updated from one year to the next, vintage cars, decent helmet designs, etc... It's just sad...

 

[stbreaker]

Between my saves being corrupted and having to restart my career after some mods kicked in the furthest I ever made was season 2. Assuming you are running 50% or more length in races, 5 years seems plenty long for me at least.

Perhaps that was just because the career mode was not as engaging as it could have been...

 

[Wynterdust]

Well lets put it this way, if they kept 7 years or added more you wouldn't have half the new features that are being put in that the majority of people wanted. Its quality of the career not the quantity in my view, I for one would much rather have a really gripping and exciting 5 year career than a dull, repetative 7+ years one. I'm sure most people will agree.

 

[Helmut Skrdla]

Wonderful to hear that this year they are going all out to sacrifice single player for multi player. Not the first SP feature to suffer because they want to "Go compete".

 

[Andrew Shepherd]

To HelmutS
SHUT UP COMPLAINING on every F1 2011 thread and complain somewhere else!