I've got it on PS3 so am probably getting the worst deal out of all the platforms but here's what I've noticed. I've yet to play it online, waiting for the 11/11 bug to get fixed first.
Good- The AI is real. Qualifying times are real. It's actually a really good experience and all the cars are balanced the way they should be. Stick it on Legend and get in a new team and you'll struggle to get higher than 19th. I'm up to Spa in my first season (Virgin, 100% distance, Legend, no assists or TC) and I've consistently been finishing 19th. Managed to hold off both Williams in Spain for 17th (felt so good!) and my only points came at Monaco where I finished 5th due to a rather nice pistop under the safety car.
- DRS and KERS are really well implemented. Along with fuel consumption (instead of cruise, normal and fast you now alter your fuel mix to lean, normal and rich) and tyre degradation you're constantly thinking. 100% races are nothing short of intense and awesome.
- The sound is excellent, really immersive. Not something I can put into words really but you really do get the full effect of the car screaming along. The engineer is much less annoying and surprisingly useful this year too.
- The handling is a massive advancement on last year. It's not quite upto the level of rFactor and iRacing etc but once you've done a few laps you'll hardly notice. The rear end slides (and it's not scripted or fixed with a dab of brakes), the kerbs are useable, the gravel isn't made of glue and wet weather is appropriately treacherous. It's no longer a case of slamming on the brakes and then the accelerator because you'll lock up and then spin the car round.
Meh- Menus are pretty much the same as last year. There's a new email system which manages your contract offers, season news (weather reports and standings etc) but it effectively does the same job.
- They're nowhere near as harsh/instant as last year but penalties can sometimes be a bit surprising. Illegal overtakes, corner cutting, causing a collision. Quite often they don't make sense.
- The safety car is a good addition but it could have been implemented so better. You can still steer your car and brake/accelerate but if you get too close to a car infront it'll automatically limit your speed. Also if you go off track then it'll put you back in the queue, often in the wrong position. If that happens to be higher than before then bad luck, you just got a drive through for an illegal overtake.
- The tracks are ok, nothing spectacular but they're far better than some efforts that have been seen out there.
Bad- There are no AI retirements. No mechanical failures and hardly any errors. If there's going to be a monumental crash then one of the cars will probably end up ghosting too. This has two knock on effects, there's hardly any safety cars unless you cause them and also race targets are normally impossible in the lower teams (i.e. finish 18th when no one retires, you're 1-2 seconds off the next car and you're in 19th).
- Lapped cars in a race and outlap cars in qualifying are nothing short of moronic. Yes they'll slow down to let you past but most of the time they'll do it right on the apex of a corner so you've got no option but to go off the racing line and lose loads of time.
- There's an R&D bug which causes the objectives to fail if you restart any session, skip any session or return to paddock before the race. This means you've got to do P1, 2, 3 and Q1, 2 and 3 in one sitting without restarting any session or returning to the menu.
- The AI are very hesitant to overtake you. Even if they're alongside going into a corner they'll probably back out and give you the place. If you make a good start and get high up the field then it's quite easy to hold everyone behind until your first pitstop.
- The graphics and framerates are terrible. Don't quite know what Codemasters have done here but the PS3 version is atrocious. Low texture quality, shadow quality, horrendous antialiasing etc. Even with all these optimisations you're still likely to get stutters and a less than fluid picture.
- Replay system is awful. You maybe get 10 seconds if you're lucky but it's normally around 5. I don't use flashbacks but if I did, they'd be totally useless.
- Wet weather AI seem to be in a different world. There's no longer the problem where if they kept the dry tyre on they'd still do try times (thankfully) but now it seems as soon as there's some rain they can push a lot harder (normally about 2-3 seconds per lap). If I try and push any harder I'll either understeer, lock the wheels or just spin off so it's hard to see how I could drive any harder.
Yes I know, there are a lot more negatives than positives, so why do I still play? To be honest I'm not really sure, I still enjoy it somehow.
Circuit Thermalito
Liverpool Waterfront Circuit (WIP)