Sony Formula One 04

[Club Med]

We cannot get this game on NTSC format in the States but I wondering what people who have plyed it think about it. I was thinking about getting a mod chip or PAL set for this game if it were really that good. I admit that i enjoy the EA Sports Career Challenge game ON PS2 , but i know that this game is serously flawed because, among other things, you can make only a few adjustments to the cars and the AI drivers are pretty dumb (until the part where they cheat in the pits they look like geniuses). Sad thing is its one of the few games you can get here. Thanks in advance for opinions.

[GiveDCadrive]

I'm still playing Grand Prix 3 on my PC mate! Good days with guys like Tore Takagi and Riccardo Rosset in the game.
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DC's not a diddy driver..................honest!

[juan_pablo_allen]

I've just brought it and if you liked EA's game you'll love this. The graphics are far more detailed and the AI is awesome. The biggest advantage over EA's is the noise. The engine noise is a lot more realistic and the gearchanges are also a lot more realistic.

The career mode is also much more detailed as there is the element of being a test driver for the team, and also number 1 & 2 drivers where there are different responsibilities for each.

The car setup is crucial to how well you can do, as you can change the wing settings, individual gear settings, anything you could possibly want to do to the suspension you can and you can also change the camber of the wheels.

The one bad thing about it is it's very picky about short-cuts on your qualy laps, but in the race it doesn't really care. For example at Montreal you can take the final chicane flat out in the race, but even try it in qualy and it discounts your lap. It would be nice to have consistancy. Apart from that I've not got any more complaints

[White Lightning]

Quick go into my thread on Talk Zone and gimme some setups please!

[DarrenGreene]

I did buy F1 04 as the replacement to my much loved F1 03 game, but I am still a little disappointed with a few things.

Firstly, why do the cars sometime slow down when driving down the main straight? It's generally when other cars are starting to pit. It's annoying to be slip streaming a car at 280km plus to have them slow down and remove your front wheels.

Secondly, I don't think I'm that good at it yet, as I'm struggling to get a top 10 result for qualifiying, yet I can race at Shanghi, making 5 pitstops and one lap staying in seventh gear (hoping that the competition will catch up), yet I still won by a good margin.

Thirdly, I wish the pit stops were a bit better. I have never seen the guys changing the wheels wait until the front nose cone was replaced, shouldn't this happen all at once, and approach speeds into the pit box would be good if it looked a little faster, the PS2 drives in there like it is parking at a petrol station. Wouldn't it also be good if you could make wing adjustments or enter for a 'splash and dash' with out changing tyres? Where's the intensity?

Finally, why are the yellow flags, full course yellows? If you overtake someone under a yellow you get black flagged, yet if you get overtaken under yellow, the others serve no penalty (not that I've noticed anyway). Although I must say, I'm glad they fixed the blue flag rule, I hated in F1 03 when you were overtaking lapped traffic and they would race you like it was for position.

Overall, with all these complaints, I do love the game, good graphics, sounds great, but overall, we must remember that it really is just an arcade style game and not a simulation that I'm sure many of us would like. The career mode is a great addition. It would have been good if Liverpool Studio's and Sony got the licence to use the cars and circuits over the past, say 20 years or so, so that you could start your career mode in 1980 for example and progress over different cars and circuits. Test circuits like Jarez and Fiorano would be welcome addtions.

Darren.

[F One]

I also have this game and I've also noticed the cars slowing down on the pit straights. I have to say I haven't bothered with the Career mode I just consider it a gimick really. Insane though it may sound I tend to do full races (100% length setting) on the full difficulty settings e.g. pitstops damage, tyre wear, flags etc.

[fawsal]

not too sure on why it slows down... been trying to figure it out on my ps2. but if you want realistic pit stops, try gt4.

pit stops are awsome. guys coming around to shang wheels and set up the changes to your car.

[alexhallyork]

are you sure the cars slow down, or is it a bad slipstreaming effect, do you suddenly pick up the slipstream and plow into the back of them.
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Alex

[White Lightning]

Yeah the stops on GT4 are amazing, way better than the self-service on EA's games and the wierd stops on Sony's. So unrealistic IMHO.