“It’s go, go, go!” – Formula One 2001

The PlayStation finally brought the UK in line with the US and Japan, in that people going to shops to buy games started primarily doing so for a console rather than home computers. It also dominated the UK games market like no single machine had before. The BBC reported in 2000 that 23% of all British homes owned one. The PlayStation 2 and its games would manage to become still more all-conquering, and I’m going to be playing a lot of them, but it didn’t all happen immediately.

Part of the reason for Sony’s success here was prioritising Europe more than Nintendo ever had, but when it came to the PS2 launch Europe was still behind Japan and the US on the list, waiting nine months to get hold of it. Shortages of components meant it launched later and in smaller numbers than initially announced, and was difficult to get hold of for a good while.

That limited how many people were buying games for it. So did its lineup. On launch in November 2000, Tekken Tag Tournament was its biggest seller, reaching #8 on the overall chart for that week. Next came Timesplitters (#12), SSX: Snowboard Supercross (#14), the PS2 version of FIFA 2001, and Ridge Racer V (#22). No defining games there. Come February 2001, a lack of inspiring alternatives meant that it was still the same games selling best, before Moto GP, Quake 3 and others refreshed things a bit without threatening the top of the overall charts. The console sold anyway, thanks to a potent combination of promise, people’s desire to be there first, and its offer of cheap access to a DVD player.

It took more than six months after the console’s release for the first game to top the combined formats chart with the PS2 version as its lead one was a bit of a throwback to the earlier days of the PS1. One of the ways in which Sony took Europe more seriously was to buy up developers here to make games focused on audiences here. The Formula One series fitted that bill and had some PS1 success. Formula One 2001 was the first entry in it for the new console, and the first game released under Psygnosis’s new name of SCE Studio Liverpool.

Formula 1 cars are very, very fast. It’s a key feature. It means that there are different challenges in producing a game based on them. Compared to rally cars and touring cars, the graphics have to cope with things looking and moving faster and still being legible to the player. And just as Formula 1 is often at the cutting edge of technology which later makes its way into other cars, Formula 1 games make for a very impressive way of showing off the capabilities of a new console.

I’ve played much more recent and high definition F1 games, but I’ve also been playing PS1 games for months, and the wow factor in Formula One 2001 hit me right away. It’s so detailed and so smooth, and the option of a camera viewpoint just above the driver’s head brings out the new possibilities nicely, putting you right in the action while letting you admire all the detail of their helmet and movements (and the grooved tyres that were a thing at the time). Everything feels more real, and more exciting. The improved visuals are not just a matter of eye candy either, as picking out braking points at a distance is crucial and is much easier than it was on PS1 predecessors.

The series got the feel of driving fairly right early on, but the change in the experience is still vast. It’s good to have such a clear and meaningful improvement, because there are other aspects where the series stays still at best. An upgrade of Murray Walker’s commentary from acting as a honking sound effect to imparting detail backfires completely. Every time he mentions another driver, which is frequently, the line takes on an awkward, halting cadence. And if you, say, have a series of minor comings-together with Jarno Trulli, you get to hear the exact same pronunciation of his name every time, to grating effect.

The series’s persistent issue of how to compromise between full-on simulation and quick fun also remains. It doesn’t push towards the arcade as obviously as Formula 1 97, but it still has a higher level of driver assistance modes turned on by default without getting them quite right. Rather than the game taking control over braking and turning away from you too much, it offers warning symbols of upcoming corners in a rally game style. The problem is that they appear at seemingly random distances in time from when you need to act on them. They range from helpful, to challenging Quick Time Event, to arriving when your car has its spot in the wall already booked if you haven’t braked. It’s a strange thing to be so far out in a generally quite polished game.

What better way to show the power of moving onto a new generation of consoles, though, than a game which carries forward flaws, gains improvements entirely from technological advances, and is still a fine new experience?

---

Top of the charts for week ending 2 June 2001:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Top of the charts for week ending 16 June 2001:

• 

• 

• 

• 

•