SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - F1 Challenge '99-'02

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Introduction

The much anticipated F1 Challenge '99 - '02 racing sim finally arrived a couple of months ago. Ironically, "F1 Challenge" may be more of a prophetic title than intended. Your interest may span from a "so what" to rabid anticipation, but F1 Challenge '99 - '02 (or for the sake of brevity "F1C") represents several things to the racing sim community. Matter-of-fact, it could represent a litmus test for several simulation markets because of a series of circumstances unforeseen when F1C's predecessor, F1 2002, was first introduced. If you've read "The Status of F1 Simulations" by Alex Keep, then you're already aware what the situation is with the F1 sim landscape.

F1C is in the best and worst of positions because of it's arrival time. EA, being the masters of marketing that they are, have turned a potentially difficult situation into a positive. When Sony acquired the exclusive rights for F1 games for the next four years, EA was faced with a four year legacy of providing annual updates to F1 sim racing that suddenly stopped cold. With an investment already established, the logical place to turn was to "go historic". Now one point of controversy before we proceed. Everyone is assuming that EA planned to continue the F1 series. That may or may not be a correct assumption as the EA folks had not announced their intentions about a possible "F1 2003". Nonetheless, we're here at this juncture with F1C.

Furthering the mystery was the confusion before F1C was released. Trying to locate any information beyond an occasional promotional screenshot series and a couple of video clips proved futile, and even those weren't plentiful. Reports circulated that the four year reprise-would include a "Career Mode". That Career Mode resides in the console version, "F1 Career Challenge", but not in the PC version, "F1 Challenge '99 - '02". After numerous Internet searches mining for any scrap of information, it was learned at this year's E3 that F1C for the PC platform was alive and well. If EA's intent was to keep it well hidden until the perfect moment, they succeeded.

While EA has been the publisher for the series, the series developer is Image Space Incorporated (ISI). ISI gained their following from Sports Car GT (SCGT), now a denizen of the bargain bins and retread game shops, but a significant achievement for it's time — and the father to the entire EA F1 sims series and it's mods off-spring. Several of the tracks we now race on in F1 2002 were first developed for SCGT. But it's not always been a happy situation as anyone who owns the earlier F1 1999 will tell you. The graphics were a big jump forward but the drive and the track accuracy was — to be kind — "limited". If you have any doubt how far the development of this series has come, try F1 1999 (or F1 2000) and then jump into an F1C cockpit.

This "extended" review will refer to comparisons between F1 2002 and F1C on several points because I believe most of the review's readers either own F1 2002 or at the very least, are aware what it offers, and what's ahead in upcoming mods for F1C. I'll also suggest some tips for driving in F1C (keyword: "setups") and some suggestions how to make your drive better.

So is F1C only a gateway ticket to the next round of mods or does it have enough value as a standalone F1 sim? Let's see what F1C retains in it's legacy and in it's latest version.

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