F1 2013

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While I’d have a hard time recommending this game to casual fans of racing, those that like steep, technical challenges will be thrilled, as will fans of the sport. I want to be clear, though. You will have to have a lot of patience and time on your hands to make F1 2013 a rewarding experience. It’s tough.

Tough but gratifying, F1 2013 is not a startling improvement from the already robust F1 2012, but it’s certainly Codemasters’ best and most confident crack at F1 to date. It looks good, sounds good, feels good, and is crammed with plenty to do. More than ever, F1 2013 requires the right combination of patience, finesse, and aggression to fight your way towards your goals (which won’t always be outright victory, and races are all the more believable for it). The new classic content ultimately doesn’t soar quite high enough to justify purchase alone for F1 2012 owners but, combined with the well...

Next year’s real life F1 season is set to try and shake up the grid with new engine regulations and a handful of drivers hopping around from team to team. The prospect for a season of racing which breaks the current status quo is tantalising, and in the same vein I want the F1 2014 game to knock my socks off.

After an exciting first half to the 2012 season, last year’s Formula One World Championship trudged towards an inevitable third title for Sebastian Vettel, continuing his and Red Bull’s dominance of the sport. The 2013 season was, however, supposed to be more competitive; with stable technical regulations, it was said that the cars would cosy up again. The result? Vettel is, at the time of writing, likely to wrap up his fourth world championship this weekend, and the season as a whole has been largely forgettable. Set against this bleak backdrop, Codemasters is tasked with releasing a new iter...

F1 2013 is a dynamic and varied simulation then, and that’s not a compliment that could readily be aimed at too many of its forebears. There is an element of treading water as Codemasters gets ready for the inevitable shift to new console hardware and racing technology in the next F1 season, but this is nevertheless an accomplished and hugely entertaining entry in the series. If it’s your first time round the circuit then you’ll have a blast getting to know the intricacies of the handli...

Where can you possibly go when your game has reached a level where there's little room for improvement? F1 2012 arguably reached that point, with a simulation of the sport that was pretty much right on the money. F1 2013 is something more iterative as a result, building upon the remarkably solid foundations Codemasters laid with F1 2010, 2011 and 2012 with a few improvements to the on-track action, and all of the 2013 liveries, drivers teams and stuff you'd normally expect, with F1 Classic pr...