Jun With apologies to all the NASCAR fans out there, the most popular motor racing series in the world stopped in Indianapolis today, and we were there. As a personal fan of Formula One racing, this has to be one of the highlights of my year.
We were lucky enough to have a presence at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway pit walkthrough, as well as a private event with Jenson Button, driver for F1 Honda Racing later that evening in downtown Indianapolis. Racing fans waited over 30 minutes for a chance to experience Formula One Championship Edition on PS3 and the once in a lifetime opportunity to compete against Jenson, one of only 25 people in the world talented enough to race an F1 car for a living.
The graphical quality of the game caught Button a little off guard as he warmed up for the night’s competition. Jenson said it was “like watching TV.” At the end of the day, however, he burst all our bubbles by saying that it looked gorgeous and performed great, but ultimately a videogame could never fully replicate what it’s like to be in the cockpit of an F1 car saying:
No wind in my hair, the incredible G-forces or strain on a drivers’ body, it’s almost impossible to get into a videogame due to the physical nature of braking at nearly 4.5Gs, but this is still a lot of fun and amazing looking….
I’ll be back on Monday with a look from inside the paddock as well as an interview with Jenson. For now, check out some pictures from last night.
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+ Godofwar55555 on June 15th, 2007 at 2:26 pm said:
I played that F1 racing game on the Ps3 and I thought it was pretty good, specially the online portions on it.
[]^XO
2
+ Godofwar55555 on June 15th, 2007 at 2:28 pm said:
Third Post
[]^XO
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+ Juginabi on June 15th, 2007 at 2:29 pm said:
Cool! J.Button must have thought Indianapolis never looked so good! j/k :) Yay, I just downloaded F1 demo from EU PSN and boy oh boy it felt good. Why I have not DL it earlier? :S
First post ever here!
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+ JimmyHACK on June 15th, 2007 at 2:42 pm said:
ya I am not much into racing games anymore, kinda burned out them even though they are awesome…
but played my buddies copy of F1 PS3 a month or so ago….. Graphics were pretty HOT
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+ Godofwar55555 on June 15th, 2007 at 2:45 pm said:
The graphics on this game are pretty sweet.
[]^XO
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+ chase on June 15th, 2007 at 2:50 pm said:
we should get updates on the psn as quick the blog does
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+ Herby on June 15th, 2007 at 3:07 pm said:
That is cool. You are so lucky you got to go in the pits. I have gotten to go in the pits only a few times at Homestead Miami Speedway for the Indy races. I love the smell of alcohol as they are testing and tuning the cars in the garages it is awesome.
The first game I show people when showing off the PS3 is F1 in cockpit view. People are blown away by the realism and the sound is awesome too.
Very cool post that for the insight.
How about posting the pics in high-res though? I would love to look at them on the PS3.
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+ dajtodap on June 15th, 2007 at 3:09 pm said:
Button says that ” . . .it looked gorgeous and performed great, but ultimately a videogame could never fully replicate what it’s like to be in the cockpit of an F1 car . . .” very true but I think it would’ve been a bit more immersive if there where rumble in the controller. No feeling the rumble strips on the road, no thuds when you hit walls, no jolts when you pull the trigger on shooter games. Its just like your watching TV when playing all PS3 games – all video and sound no more physical feedback . . . . boring.
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+ Solid snakeps3 on June 15th, 2007 at 3:11 pm said:
The game is awesome, great work
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+ lyfestory on June 15th, 2007 at 3:14 pm said:
i actually prefer road or rally races.. definitely can’t wait for that Dirt game.. too bad there’s still a few months wait.. but it’s preordered anyway.. a demo of it on the PSN would be awesome tho, since there is a PC demo out, as well as 360, i believe.. how about it? Codemasters? y’all listening??
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+ aaquib on June 15th, 2007 at 3:14 pm said:
How come this game doesn’t have in game messaging with the XMB? This is the game that was shown off at E3 to feature in game XMB including VIDEO chat. CMON Sony, just add it.
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+ Edpsx on June 15th, 2007 at 3:15 pm said:
Id imagine this sucked for him having to play it on the Six Axis. Come on guys, get that man a G25 wheel so he can really get into the game!
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+ Godfather_of_gaming on June 15th, 2007 at 3:23 pm said:
Jenson is good, but Recent swapped drivers with Alonso and Louis Hamilton in Mclaren and Kimi Raikonnon and Masa in Ferrari. The Mclarens r now doing really well, hopefully Ferrari will bounce back.
It just….things are not the way it used to be when Michael was there.
As for the game, it was pretty good technically, but it was lackluster and had a very low depth to it, Hopefully Sony will make a better one in the near future.
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+ EvoAnubis on June 15th, 2007 at 3:24 pm said:
Interesting. See on on Monday.
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+ MasterCharged on June 15th, 2007 at 3:32 pm said:
F1 was an ok game. it was just too hard
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+ MrDaBucket on June 15th, 2007 at 3:40 pm said:
Wish I had a PS3 to play it on….
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+ AznSniper on June 15th, 2007 at 3:44 pm said:
i seriously think that u guys should buy out ubisoft if u can since they are looking to merge so the playstation world has the better looking games instead of the lesser looking port that ubisoft has put us into
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+ fragged_23 on June 15th, 2007 at 3:50 pm said:
i agree Ubicrap needs get smacked up and make some decent ports.
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+ akira3d on June 15th, 2007 at 3:54 pm said:
That’s cool…especially since I like to drive as Button in F1:CE.
Playing F1:CE with the Driving Force Pro and no force feedback is less than ideal. GT:HD got patched…why not F1:CE?
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+ cmack98 on June 15th, 2007 at 3:55 pm said:
I am loving F1. For a real challenge turn off all the driving aids and use manual transmission! I agree with the above poster, as popular as F1 is, I cannot wait to play a half decent WRC game. Between Motor Storm and F1, I am extremely happy with my driving game library. F1 games are few and far between, so this fits the bill, and leaves some room for improvement on future iterations…
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+ TheDevilsJoker on June 15th, 2007 at 4:00 pm said:
How much did you slip him to say that :D ha, Cool anyway. Its nice to hear from sony without having to hear it through a media source that twists it.
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+ Cynn on June 15th, 2007 at 4:03 pm said:
From the look of the pictures, it was required to wear shorts, a ballcap and backpack to attend. lol
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+ komp on June 15th, 2007 at 4:08 pm said:
Yes I have this game, from release date as it goes.
Wow is it realistic, no matter what Jenson says about G force and wot-not.. as well, add the fact I have never driven an F1 car to make the comparison.
I do wish more people had the game for the online part but I cannot really complain.
The camera angles are great and plenty for folks too choose from, myself I use zero car view for precision :). The response of the car and general physics are on a par with the Turismo demo on PSN (My favourite game BTW, ALL releases of it).
Motorsport is OK for a while, Turismo never dies and F1 fits in the middle just right.
I wish the (connecting of the) PSP rear view mirror was included in this version tho, thats a mute point with me! just google F1 ps3 psp mirror, for more info ;)
At least were not having the debacle of updates motorstorm, resistence fall of man are having…. so thats another bonus.
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+ thefjk on June 15th, 2007 at 4:12 pm said:
Interesting, I’d like to hear more… kinda liked F1 racing but never really got into the games.
But of course playing a game won’t let you feel the g-force and intensity of being in a real F1 car… a game is just that, a game!
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+ Terminator on June 15th, 2007 at 4:14 pm said:
If you dont have this game you dont know what you are missing.
Great game, and gorgeous too.
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+ linton on June 15th, 2007 at 4:16 pm said:
I still cant believe ive still not bought this game, normallyi buy F1 the day its released as im such a big racing gamer, but im just not convinced about this incarnation on the ps3, yeah it looks good on ‘HDMI’, yes it plays and handles brilliantly on the PS3 controller…….yet there are things about it which still arent right, but i know i’ll be getting next years F1 game, as i know from sony insider (that is if sony still has exclusivity on F1)that 50% of the things i want in an f1 game will be present in the new F1 08! – Yaaaaay sony!
Bring it Baby!
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+ komp on June 15th, 2007 at 4:20 pm said:
I forgot to add that you can play in a kind of `managed` mode. You start off as some go kart type recruit (yeah can we have a patch and add the n00b legend Hamilton in the game btw…) and have to deal with email and such like, you have a manager to deal with teams.
You have to start off with a test drive with the lower ranked teams, torro rosso if I recall. Beat the time, get a drive move up. proper career mode :)
Im trying to keep up as the GP’s are on TV so I have my own virtual Practice, Quali and Race just to see if I am able to beat the days time from the real world event.
If your a F1 fan with a PS3, youll be very happy.
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+ ogshady on June 15th, 2007 at 4:27 pm said:
Was this a Sony sponsored event? If so that’s pretty sweet. Nice way to bring the game into the public’s eyes. I hope the game is good. I’ll probably wait for a demo to come out before I get it though.
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+ Aselus on June 15th, 2007 at 4:31 pm said:
cool lucky :-) gratz on the game cred, i’ve been wanting to pick that one up.
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+ firen on June 15th, 2007 at 4:38 pm said:
I know how this can feel more real! Rumble! :- )
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+ Ollebro on June 15th, 2007 at 4:39 pm said:
this is a great blog and i love that you update it so often!
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+ deegital on June 15th, 2007 at 4:41 pm said:
“like watching tv” this is exactly what i thought when i first played the demo from psn ;) the rain effects are awesome. dude’s, i just searched for ps3 movies at stage6, the divx thingy, and rediscovered an “africa” trailer – that game(?) looks very promising, will there be any new infos about this at e3?
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+ sauerball on June 15th, 2007 at 4:57 pm said:
I love this game. Get the game, get a wheel, get online and give it hell.
My favorite PS3 game by far.
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+ southwoodS on June 15th, 2007 at 5:12 pm said:
I hate racing games or NASCAR racing games. I like Need for Speed though.
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+ Mana Knight on June 15th, 2007 at 5:22 pm said:
I wish I knew about this, because I live just over an hour away from Indy. Would have loved to seen you all there.
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+ Godofwar55555 on June 15th, 2007 at 5:26 pm said:
Now that I think about it Sony has alot of good racing games, they have Wipeout, Motorstorm, Gran Tourismo, Formula 1, and Motorstorm.
[]^XO
37
+ Herby on June 15th, 2007 at 5:29 pm said:
My first comment did not go through for some reason. Below is the exact same comment.
It doesn’t feel as important the second time around though.
That is cool. You are so lucky you got to go in the pits. I have gotten to go in the pits only a few times at Homestead Miami Speedway for the Indy races. I love the smell of alcohol as they are testing and tuning the cars in the garages it is awesome.
The first game I show people when showing off the PS3 is F1 in cockpit view. People are blown away by the realism and the sound is awesome too.
Very cool post that for the insight.
How about posting the pics in high-res though? I would love to look at them on the PS3.
38
+ nmc75 on June 15th, 2007 at 5:29 pm said:
ehh.. the feel of wind, g-forces.. Sony’ll get that in Playstation 6. At which point, one wonders if all that would really be a good idea in someone’s living room.
39
+ Godofwar55555 on June 15th, 2007 at 5:30 pm said:
My bad, on my last post I added Motorstorm twice, I now it is a great game and that is why I have it on my list twice.
[]^XO
40
+ EVILEMPIRE951 on June 15th, 2007 at 5:34 pm said:
Cant Wait for all these great games coming OUt go sony!
41
+ mustaphadamus on June 15th, 2007 at 5:42 pm said:
That event looks like tons of fun. It must be really fun working for Sony and having t go to events like this.
I didn’t buy the F1 game because of the lack of voice chat. I am hoping the remedy that with the next one as well as work toward more realism and perfection of the physics to the point it mimics the real world.
42
+ jaydogg691 on June 15th, 2007 at 5:48 pm said:
Man, I think I should rent this game. It looks fun and I need something to play.
I was thinking of buy this game because of the PSP to PS3 connectivity, but once that was taken out I lost interest in the game. I wounder if we’ll see and PSP to PS3 connectivity games this year.
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+ AGQ0105 on June 15th, 2007 at 6:04 pm said:
meh… racing games are a dying out. No room for innovation. This game had a little with the PSP connectivity but that’s obviously gone.
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+ xPHATSOx on June 15th, 2007 at 6:20 pm said:
F1 is an incredible game! It surely doesn’t get the attention it deserves. It delivers one of the most realistic translations of a racing event of any game out there. Especially when you hit the back straight at Indy and everything starts to shake because you are winding the car out to it’s limits…good times! Some of us who race online use Skype. I know it’s a little more inconvienent, but trust me, the game play makes up for it :-) Cheers!
45
+ Digi Smalls on June 15th, 2007 at 6:39 pm said:
yes, it’s seriously hard to get excited about racing games on the PS3 without rumble and weird inverted triggers that make your fingers slip off under constant pressure!!
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+ Stoffinator on June 15th, 2007 at 7:01 pm said:
Very cool!
Now when do we get F1 2007? ;-)
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+ Godofwar55555 on June 15th, 2007 at 7:35 pm said:
Will there by a new F1 game next year?
[]^XO
48
+ Nismobeach on June 15th, 2007 at 8:02 pm said:
Jenson must also miss the previous car’s livery. R.I.P. Lucky Strike Honda F1. :(
BTW when do we get the 2007 cars for download? We’re already 7 races into the new season! :(
49
+ SparkyNZ on June 15th, 2007 at 8:07 pm said:
I’m keen to know if there will be more f1 release’s for ps3, I love the francise, more f1 please
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+ omegasyde on June 15th, 2007 at 8:42 pm said:
Sony needs to make a Nascar game. Gran Tourismo is the closest thing.