F1 Challenge 99-02 is long awaited sequel to F1 2002 and features four complete seasons of racing action. That's 14 teams, 44 different vehicles, 38 drivers and 17 of the worlds most famous racing circuits configured as they were for each FORMULA ONE season from 1999-2002.
So what you can expect? First off, I think the new F1 Challenge is much better than F1 2002 in many ways. Probably the biggest improvement, over F1 2002 is in the physics. The car just does now what you expect it to do. I was really amazed how much different the car felt. You can actually feel 'mass' and 'weight transfer' more now. I'd say that the physics are that much closer to the kind of physics we would expect from Papyrus. If anything, that is one of the areas I think is most noticeable, besides the sounds.Yeah, the sound affects have been improved massively, it's really hard to put down in words how realistic it sounds. It practically sounds like TV. Also, the subtle sound of the tires will let you know they are reaching their limit. Needless to say these little details actually improve the driving experience.
In terms of graphics, there have been a number of improvements to the visuals of this game over its predecessor. The graphics are sharper than in F1-2002, weather effects are excellent, and the replays definitely show better details of the cars. Also most of the tracks are accurately modeled according to the real life tracks in the particular season (including the difference in the first turn at Nurburgring in 1999 and 2002).
It looks like EA fixed all problems I criticized in my F1 2002 review, because also the AI is a quantum leap forward from F1 2002. The AI opponents no longer make their own path around the tracks, and you can actually race them! They even fight for positions amongst themselves, and they are definitely faster and use better racing lines and don't cut corners as much if you block them off. Simply, the AI is pretty good. The car setup is now pretty important thing too. Whereas in F1 2002 you could drive pretty much any setup, the only difference between a good and bad setup being lap time, in F1 Challenge a bad setup can be quite undriveable while a good setup can be quite rewarding given the proper driving technique.
F1 Challenge features four modes - Test Day, Race, Championship and Multiplayer. Surprisingly, F1 Challenge doesn't offer a four-season career mode like F1 Career Challenge for the PlayStation 2. So some people may be disappointed if they expected the career mode in the PC version too. But if you prefer to do 'you career' by yourself than earning 'points' in some arcadish way, you won't miss this mode. F1 Challenge uses pretty much the same menu as F1 2002, so navigation is very easy, especially if you are familiar with the previous game.
What about multiplayer? Well, the netcode is slightly better then F1 2002, but not a lot. The annoying pause when someone joins a session is still there, but fortunately you can prevent players from joining during qualifying. You probably want to know what connection speed you need to be able play with your friends. When hosting any game, figure on about 22-25kbs for each player Which mean that if you have a 128k for upload, you can play a 5 player game as there should be no issue as long as you connection is stable.
F1 Challenge is, without any doubt (even without carrier mode), the best F1 racing game I've ever played. It's definitely the best modern F1 racing title on the market. So if you like F1 sims, I sincerely suggest you grab this game! There's no doubt that all of the mods coming out until 2007 are probably going to be for this game since Sony has the F1 licence until then.
System requirements:
Minimum: Intel Pentium II 450 MHZ or better, 128MB RAM, 3D Accelerator 16 MB or better DirectX 8.1 compliant, Sound Card Direct X 8.1 compliant, 1GB HDD space, CD/DVD drive 4x, Game Controllers Direct X 8.1 compliant
Recommended: Intel Pentium III 1GHz or better, 256MB RAM or more, 3D Accelerator 32MB and better (ATI RADEON/Matrox G400, G450 & G550/NVIDIA GeForce1/2/3/4 Series, POWER VR KYRO 2 Series), Creative Labs Soundblaster Series, 1GB HDD space, CD/DVD drive 4x, Game Controllers* Direct X 8.1 compliant
* Game Controllers Act Labs Force RS Racing System (Wheel/Pedals), Ball Racing Interactive Speed 7 (Wheel/Pedals), Gravis Xterminator & Eliminator (Gamepads), Logitech Momo Force (Wheel/Pedals) & Wingman Series (Gamepads Joysticks & Wheels/Pedals), Microsoft Sidewinder Series (Gamepads, Joysticks and Wheels/Pedals), Saitek R440 (Wheel/Pedals), Cyborg 3D Force & X-45 (Joysticks), Thrustmaster 360 Modena (Wheel)