Formula one is refreshed on the iPhone and iPod touch for the third year in succession. Truth be told though, they haven't been all good thus far. F1 2009 touted great visuals but the lack of driving finesse and modes made it the inevitable miss. F1 2010 didn't improve much by only offering time trial mode, a gaming mode that's mostly popular in simulator games with fantastic physics engines, none of which relates to F1 2010 mobile. Are the tables turned this year or is F1 2011 making it 3 in row?

Modes

Codemasters has again passed the duties over to Jump Games; a small gaming developer specialized in mobile titles. Jump has partnered with a lot of studios over the years but is still relatively unknown in iOS land - making titles like out Putt Putt Golf and Real Steel, ring any bells? So I was intrigued to learn whether they’ve learned from their mistakes in this latest attempt.

A glance at the spec sheet certainly suggests so. F1 2011 offers plenty of modes including time trial, grand prix and championship mode. That's two more than last time and means we have other cars on track! In grand prix mode it's possible to drive a stripped down version of P1 and quali, I say stripped down because you spawn on track with the other cars and can change nothing on the car. It's mostly a way to learn the track and driving physics before battling it out for real - decent gesture I reckon.

While the modes don't compare to the full-fledged console and portable brothers, it shouldn't be forgotten that F1 2011 for iPhone/iPad costs $4,99. Parting with your lunch money grants quite the few modes so I'm content thus far.

Driving

That is until I actually starting racing. The control scheme is adjustable using 4 different presets, the default one offering full brake/throttle control with tilt steering, further presets take away control in favor of comfort. There's also a toggle for assists, but it's broken. Even with brake assist fully turned off the car still auto brakes in traffic or when you drive outside the white lines.

The 2011 season of course introduces the KERS boost system for a limited bhp boost several seconds per lap. The system made it into the game and is controlled nicely by a boost button that doubles as an indicator. Oddly the boost button doesn't work during practice or qualifying, and worse yet is its positioning. Apparently there was nobody in the office whom figured that placing the boost button above the accelerator is a bad idea. F1 enthusiasts and casual gamers with some common sense will figure out that KERS is most useful under acceleration; so placing the button near the brake button is the logical choice.

Driving a car using only the touch and tilt controls definitely needs some getting used to, so Jump Games had this challenge to transfer the nimble and precise world of formula one onto a mobile device, unfortunately the challenge isn't met. The cars change direction way too aggressively under high speeds without spinning or under steering. The problem this creates is that it's extremely tiring to stay within the white lines, fortunately lowering the sensitivity and some practice nearly nullifies the problem and makes it at least drivable.

Gameplay

There comes a point in every game when you start to realize you're getting a grasp on the core mechanic and are finally driving two laps in a row without crashing, congrats! But then we usually get to the point that we start to notice things that aren't quite right.

In F1 2011 mobile all cars are equals for instance, which is dodgy even for a mobile title, so the Alonsos and Hamiltons of this world are suddenly in the back simply by chance. Heck even Vettel loses in this game, which hasn't happened in real life. This puts a serious stain on championship mode because everyone stays close in scoring, except for the skilled player of course.

DRS isn't in the game, nor is tire simulation. Pit stops are possible but lacks cinematic and the game requires you to tap on areas to start the process. It's unnecessarily interaction and set up in a way that pit stops are usually 15 seconds and up - silly mistake. Normally I wouldn't be bothered with this in tidbit priced mobile titles like these but this is the official formula one game, so I belief that they should've at least made an effort.

Presentation

Previous F1 titles on the iPhone looked rather good, that is not the case in F1 2011. Adding 23 cars to the action has clearly resulted in washed textures and blocky objects. Most noticeably the graphics on the driver's helmets looks especially unprofessional and to make matters worse its very dominant in the (closest to) cockpit view.

Tracks look recognizable but stripped from any scenery or ambience, topped still by the popping of textures and objects. I also experienced weird crashes and dropping underneath the track in one of my off track endeavors. Glitches like these are usually one offs but here they occur pretty regularly, again pointing a light on my suspicion that this title lacked serious love in the production process.

Sound is on par with the awful visuals and (lack of) attention to detail. The cars all sound and drive identical, very flat I’d say. The race engineer occasionally gets on the radio to give you feedback on your driving, but these are unhelpful and I'd be surprised if they even recorded over 5 phrases considering the duplicates. There's no feedback from neither visuals nor audio after you finish a race making it an unsatisfying goal to aim for.

Conclusion

F1 2011 isn't a game worth getting. It features one of the most dodgy driving mechanics I've ever encountered on the iPhone, lacks any respect for the official FIA license and has a visual presentation that shines through the seemingly lack of interest from the development team. It's relatively expensive for an iPhone/iPad app (4,99) and offers no content to back it up. On the flipside this is a universal app so it works on both the iPad and iPhone without the need to buy it twice. But I’d not even buy it once, as even the most enthusiastic F1 fans will walk away downbeat and for that reason we can't recommend this game to anyone.

Leave a comment: F1 2011 iPhone review