Immediately off to a great start with this game, because the Steam overlay causes the game to crash for me, and the Steam overlay is the only way to configure my controller for the game. It also seems like the controller is simply not detected at all, because disabling Steam input entirely before even launching the game doesn't help either. Gotta thank ol' mate Razor 1911 for supplying me with a copy of the game that actually works on my system and detects my controller.
Unfortunately, the "working" copy of the game still doesn't really work properly, because I had endless technical difficulties. Everything from fluctuating low frame rates for no reason, to stuttering, to random freezing, to failing to load the save. After two hours of play, I still hadn't even started the first race of the season. Part of that is because I first tried the Force India car and hated it so I went to time trials to test out some others, but a lot of time could have been saved if the game simply functioned correctly. Ultimately, after trying everything I could find or think of, I concluded that there is no fixing this problem and I must simply quit and relaunch the game after each session to make progress. I also concluded that this is not a linux specific problem, but what is a linux specific problem is that wine sometimes decides my controller has suddenly disconnected, even though it hasn't, and the only way to reconnect it is to restart the game.
After some perseverance, I tested most of the bottom teams and also Red Bull, and Team Lotus was - despite being two seconds slower - way easier to drive than the Force India, so I almost stuck with them, but I ended up going with Williams because it's just a great car all around. It handles so well in this game compared to my experiences up to this point, even without touching the setup at all, which is nice because setups are even dumber in this game. Literally all you ever need to change for anything is the downforce, and Codemasters must have known that because the quick setup option in this game changes nothing but the downforce, unlike in 2010 where it changed most of the available options. I do like to change the front toe as well though because it makes the car feel more responsive even though it doesn't seem to actually affect my times.
Cars feel a little bit floaty in this game compared to 2010, but still fun and controllable so long as you choose anything other than Force India. Traction control got stupider though, because medium is no longer enough to save me from spinning constantly. What really shines here, though, is driving in the wet, because it actually feels slippery and noticeably slower, unlike 2010. Also unlike 2010 is how finished the game is. F1 2011 makes F1 2010 look like an early beta with how many features are included that the previous game lacked, including things as basic as starting lights on screen and a car info panel with actual info in it, and the desaturated yellow and brown filter is gone which instantly improves the entire game! That, combined with better graphics, better sound, a (mostly) better camera, a (mostly) less annoying pit crew, and a (mostly) better in-race interface make this game feel way better to play than 2010.
After getting used to the game for a few races, I have to say I prefer the driving experience in 2011 over 2010, even though I would still call 2010 technically better on the realism front. The problem with 2010 was how unforgiving it was, and since I was playing with a backmarker car, that gave me more trouble than it probably could have. There were a lot of tracks that I simply did not enjoy in that game, but here in 2011, I'm having a lot more fun on a lot more tracks, because the little bit of floaty looseness that the cars in this game have while still remaining fully controllable adds even more thrill to the driving than there already was, because it enables much harder driving much more often with less risk. Monaco was the point where it really clicked for me, because it went from a track I dreaded to a track that excited me. I even got to experience the other side of a blue flag for the first time here.
Unfortunately, the reason I got to see that is because the AI is extremely stupid in 2011, sometimes more so than 2010, because they have no aggression in their driving at all and don't know how to overtake anybody. I almost finished the entire season with points in every race were it not for my rear left tire popping on lap 15 of 16 at Monaco - I still really hate the random punctures - despite being in a Williams, a team that only managed a total of 5 points in real life that year. The only reason for this is dirty tactics, because even though I qualified around 18th for every race, I always got off the line quick, burned all the KERS, and divebombed by way past as many cars as possible in the first turn or two, and then I simply never got passed. The cars ahead would pull away and disappear real quick, but the cars behind would stay behind for pretty much the entire race, because none of them are capable of passing in any conditions other than a perfect setup on a long straightaway, or if I made a huge mistake and ran a corner ridiculously wide. 95% of the time, I'm not even trying to block them, the AI just thinks that the car ahead of them is three cars wide or something, because this also happens with AI trying to pass other AI. As a result, I could consistently underperform and overdeliver. The game figured that out too, because it started setting my objectives way too high for my car, but I could usually push for them anyway. Which was actually a lot of fun, so I'm glad it happened in a way, but there's something wrong there. I probably wouldn't have finished every race in the points anyway because in later races, I would enter the pits in the top 8 and leave in the bottom 20 because the pit crew is almost as bad as the last game, and I could never recover from there.
Stupid AI aside, if you ask me, this would be a decisively better game than 2010 if it actually worked. Shame that the cool 3D menus had to go though.
(from my web zone: https://kerosyn.link/i-played-every-codemasters-racing-game-to-prove-a-point/#f1-2011)
Unfortunately, the "working" copy of the game still doesn't really work properly, because I had endless technical difficulties. Everything from fluctuating low frame rates for no reason, to stuttering, to random freezing, to failing to load the save. After two hours of play, I still hadn't even started the first race of the season. Part of that is because I first tried the Force India car and hated it so I went to time trials to test out some others, but a lot of time could have been saved if the game simply functioned correctly. Ultimately, after trying everything I could find or think of, I concluded that there is no fixing this problem and I must simply quit and relaunch the game after each session to make progress. I also concluded that this is not a linux specific problem, but what is a linux specific problem is that wine sometimes decides my controller has suddenly disconnected, even though it hasn't, and the only way to reconnect it is to restart the game.
After some perseverance, I tested most of the bottom teams and also Red Bull, and Team Lotus was - despite being two seconds slower - way easier to drive than the Force India, so I almost stuck with them, but I ended up going with Williams because it's just a great car all around. It handles so well in this game compared to my experiences up to this point, even without touching the setup at all, which is nice because setups are even dumber in this game. Literally all you ever need to change for anything is the downforce, and Codemasters must have known that because the quick setup option in this game changes nothing but the downforce, unlike in 2010 where it changed most of the available options. I do like to change the front toe as well though because it makes the car feel more responsive even though it doesn't seem to actually affect my times.
Cars feel a little bit floaty in this game compared to 2010, but still fun and controllable so long as you choose anything other than Force India. Traction control got stupider though, because medium is no longer enough to save me from spinning constantly. What really shines here, though, is driving in the wet, because it actually feels slippery and noticeably slower, unlike 2010. Also unlike 2010 is how finished the game is. F1 2011 makes F1 2010 look like an early beta with how many features are included that the previous game lacked, including things as basic as starting lights on screen and a car info panel with actual info in it, and the desaturated yellow and brown filter is gone which instantly improves the entire game! That, combined with better graphics, better sound, a (mostly) better camera, a (mostly) less annoying pit crew, and a (mostly) better in-race interface make this game feel way better to play than 2010.
After getting used to the game for a few races, I have to say I prefer the driving experience in 2011 over 2010, even though I would still call 2010 technically better on the realism front. The problem with 2010 was how unforgiving it was, and since I was playing with a backmarker car, that gave me more trouble than it probably could have. There were a lot of tracks that I simply did not enjoy in that game, but here in 2011, I'm having a lot more fun on a lot more tracks, because the little bit of floaty looseness that the cars in this game have while still remaining fully controllable adds even more thrill to the driving than there already was, because it enables much harder driving much more often with less risk. Monaco was the point where it really clicked for me, because it went from a track I dreaded to a track that excited me. I even got to experience the other side of a blue flag for the first time here.
Unfortunately, the reason I got to see that is because the AI is extremely stupid in 2011, sometimes more so than 2010, because they have no aggression in their driving at all and don't know how to overtake anybody. I almost finished the entire season with points in every race were it not for my rear left tire popping on lap 15 of 16 at Monaco - I still really hate the random punctures - despite being in a Williams, a team that only managed a total of 5 points in real life that year. The only reason for this is dirty tactics, because even though I qualified around 18th for every race, I always got off the line quick, burned all the KERS, and divebombed by way past as many cars as possible in the first turn or two, and then I simply never got passed. The cars ahead would pull away and disappear real quick, but the cars behind would stay behind for pretty much the entire race, because none of them are capable of passing in any conditions other than a perfect setup on a long straightaway, or if I made a huge mistake and ran a corner ridiculously wide. 95% of the time, I'm not even trying to block them, the AI just thinks that the car ahead of them is three cars wide or something, because this also happens with AI trying to pass other AI. As a result, I could consistently underperform and overdeliver. The game figured that out too, because it started setting my objectives way too high for my car, but I could usually push for them anyway. Which was actually a lot of fun, so I'm glad it happened in a way, but there's something wrong there. I probably wouldn't have finished every race in the points anyway because in later races, I would enter the pits in the top 8 and leave in the bottom 20 because the pit crew is almost as bad as the last game, and I could never recover from there.
Stupid AI aside, if you ask me, this would be a decisively better game than 2010 if it actually worked. Shame that the cool 3D menus had to go though.
(from my web zone: https://kerosyn.link/i-played-every-codemasters-racing-game-to-prove-a-point/#f1-2011)