I see Tom beat me to the punch review....too bad I played it before he did
Not even my friend from Britain knew what a punch review is.
Also, how did you get to play it even earlier?
- Tyre wear doesn't scale for shorter than 100% races. An option tyre will do 18 laps at Abu Dhabi, irregardless of race length. 50% races tend to only need one stop, dut to the tyre lasting so long compared to the race length. Tyres did scale for different race lengths in F1 2011 (option only lasted for 9 laps at Abu Dhabi in 2011), requiring a similar number of pit stops whatever race distance was selected.
- Fuel strategy doesn't seem to work. Whatever strategy I chose, on whatever race distance, I was always +3 laps once the lights went out (same as F1 2011). Although fuel is used quicker when in fast engine mode.
- LED flag boards still don't function for yellow flag incidents. I haven't seen a safety car yet, but I will assume that it will be like F1 2011 where they only work when the safety car is out.
- There's quite a big differnce between AI performance in the different difficulty modes. Pole times from Abu Dhabi - Legend 1:42.6, Pro 1:45.8, Int 1:50.3. If you do a 1:47.x as your best lap, you're going to fall between professional and intermediate difficulty.
- Marbles can be picked up in the same places in Abu Dhabi as the demo - including the straight with the support pits and start grid. You will pick up marbles if you drive to the right there, where the real life racing line is.
- There seems to be some aliasing issues with the Xbox 360 version - lots of jagged lines.
- AI are still pretty easy to outbreak, especially if you chose large brakes and high pressure.
1) They last long, that's right. The options weren't even fully light red after 5 laps in in a 25% race at Spa (11 laps).
2) No, definitely not. I just did a quick race in Spa and I started at "Optimal" and got up to +1 at the most. Maybe a bug that's been fixed?
3) They do, I've seen (read: caused) some yellow flags and the LEDs near the odometer work fine in the version I'm playing.
4) Gaps are pretty large, that's right. However, it's been mentioned the build notes that the AI isn't final yet in the version I'm playing.
5) I did not pick up marbles when I followed the usual line, so this must either be a bug or it's been fixed.
6) No 360 version here, sorry.
7) Depends on the corner but in general it is, indeed.
About the tyre mystery, received feedback from Steve Hood via Twitter.
Conclusion: 100% fans are at an advantage when it comes to this change. Since I only tested 3, 5, 25% and 100% races it didn't cause too much trouble to me. The first 3 didn't suffer from it and the latter had a more realistic feel to it. 50% distance might suffer from that change, tho.