It wasn't that long ago when you couldn't move for racing games, and when every other one seemed to have the official F1 licence haphazardly slapped on it. That deluge soon slowed to a trickle when Sony took hold of the licence and squeezed any life out of it; by the time that Formula 1 Championship Edition for the PlayStation 3 came out even the thrill of the then new generation couldn't hide the fact that the game managed to make one of the most spectacular sports in the world monumentally dull.
Codemasters' F1 2010 fills a yearning chasm, and it jumps its first hurdle brilliantly; this is as visceral a take on the art of threading 600bhp through less than half a tonnes' worth of steel, carbon fibre and rubber as a console's ever seen. Driving these things is every bit as joyous as it should be, and the cars manage to nail the perfect blend of being predictable yet terrifying; bulls-eying apexes is an easy enough exercise thanks to the pounds of downforce generated by the car's wings, but braking and acceleration can prove delightfully skittish as they threaten to spear themselves into the nearest wall – and any worries that the arcade bent of DiRT and GRID would make its way to F1 2010 are extinguished in one run.
Going wheel to wheel is fun and fair in F1 2010. For those first few laps there'll be more trips to the gravel trap than Kamui Kobayashi manages in the course of a season, and the flashback feature is likely to be leant on often. It's an exacting art, then, and not something that's in-tune with the quick fix sensibilities of some other racers. Tracks must be studied in detail, and quite often there's a lot to learn too – it's not just about the angle and camber of each corner, it's also about that violent bump that awaits at the exit, that run-off area that rapidly encroaches the track or that kerb that can be flat-lined to skim another few precious tenths off a lap-time.
What F1 2010 has inherited from its racing stable-mates is some startling visuals courtesy of the EGO engine. The cars are, as they well should be, objects to be lusted after, and all 12 models are brilliant facsimiles of the real thing. It's a shame, though, that they're not subject to the superlative damage model of Codemasters' other games hasn't made the jump, as a 180mph encounter with a concrete wall never amounts in anything more than a wheel shearing off and a lost nose cone.
Rendering the often lifeless autodromes of the F1 circus can be a thankless task, but there's precision and personality in the depiction of all 19 tracks – and some of the season's idiosyncratic events have been captured handsomely. Monaco's a genre benchmark that F1 2010 rises to confidently, and it's as good to look at as it is fun to drive, with the framerate only dipping when all 24 cars are jostling on the same stretch of tarmac.
From Singapore to Silverstone, the tracks have been brilliantly realised. Other staples such as Monza, Spa and Silverstone also impress, but it's some of the newer circuits where F1 2010 gets to flex its visual muscle. Singapore's night race is as novel and dynamic as the real thing, while Abu Dhabi's preposterous Yas Marina is a true marvel. True to life the race takes place under a setting sun, and shifting light that's reflected in the colossal and futuristic trackside hotel is a real spectacle.
It's indicative of a dynamic weather system that's the best in the genre – at least it is until Gran Turismo 5 launches later this year. Clouds drift across tracks and ambient temperature has a noticeable effect on the on-track action; there's a tangible difference between taking to the circuit for an overcast Friday morning's first practice with cold brakes and fresh rubber to pounding the same course in the blazing heat of a Saturday afternoon, for example.
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