Consider this: Formula One Championship Edition is a game that, while certainly entertaining from the start, is infinitely better when you’re taking risks. In other words: drop the driving aids, remove the stabilizing and traction control, switch from automatic to manual and stick full damage on. That’s where things become much more exciting. If it sounds at all daunting it’s because this kind of game really isn’t aimed at you. But then, even to those fans whom it clearly is aimed at, the one thing you might want to leave off its max setting is the opponent AI.

In most cases, setting it at its highest, with the aforementioned risks maxed out, means the likelihood of your being lapped several times over is greater than the likelihood of your getting halfway around a track in one piece. To be fair, that’s sometimes a product of the conditions you’re racing in – what with weather playing such a crucial role. It’s the difference between dropping speed and elegantly taking a safe corner, and then taking the same corner at the same speed in heavy rain, but slamming into a barrier instead.

Rain looks gorgeous – little slug-like streams worming their way across the screen. Add this to the spray sent up by your opponents and it presents some pretty messy encounters. Good messy, not bad messy. The thing is, if you’re reading this and wondering why we’re talking about opting for an experience that means setting race options to borderline insane rather than something user-friendly, it’s because the people who will derive the most pleasure are those who love the sport. It’s still a good experience without psycho guidelines, but then it becomes sedated. And really, why bother playing a neutered racing game when you have Ridge Racer 7 and MotorStorm providing more enjoyable alternatives? No, the best experience you can have with a game like this is by taking it as close to the actual F1 experience as possible.

To those not obsessed with F1, you won’t find much here. As enjoyable as it can be, the subject matter just doesn’t appeal. As a racing experience for the masses it’s been eclipsed by so many other games that it’s hard to recommend to anyone without the desire to really get into the Formula One experience. In other words: an experience close to what we mentioned at the start of this review. But then that isn’t really for everyone… and that’s the main problem.

Craig Gilmore