My main problem with this game is that the game action lacks subtelty and realism. For some of the more sophisticated racing sims (e.g. GPL, F12000) it is possible to put your car right on the fine line between cornering and spinning, and you can actually feel the car drift through the corners as you try to maintain grip. As you get more experienced with those games this becomes the major challenge and interest in the game. With Official Formula One Racing however, you get a boolean grip/no grip situation when cornering, and once you start to spin there is nothing you can do about it.

If you just want an arcade game to blast around corners with then this might be OK for you, but if you are looking for a racing game that more closely simulates the real thing then I would suggest either GPL or F12000 instead.


Good game for casual F1 race fan   January 12, 2000
18 out of 19 found this review helpful

I got the limited edition of this game as a stocking stuffer. Has 5 courses. Full game has all 1999 F1 courses. Good graphics. Good playability. I love the replay features. You can stop a race at any point and rewind and playback the whole race or just a sequence. Lots of options on camera angles inside & outside the car. You can even start driving again from any point in the replay. Good option when you are learning a course and you blow it on a tricky pass. Just replay and rewind before you blew it and try again. Game also has a neat feature that pops up a window when something happens on another part of the track. Cool to see some of your opponents spin out while you are screaming down the straightaway. There is also a pretty neat helicopter preview of each race that is narrated. Game has licensed team names and drivers: A feature alot of race games don't have. Simulation options are limited if you are really into fine-tuning the car, but there were enough tire, engine, brakes, etc... options to satisfy me. The computer-controlled drivers are pretty well designed. At the different difficulty levels they stay pretty competitive with you and don't just leave you in the dust. The AI drivers are not perfect either, you can see them collide and spin out as well. One shortcoming is that the cars seem nearly indestructable. You can go straight into a wall at 200mph and it only does minimal damage to the car. The only other complaint I have is that there is no mouse support on the menus. You have to navigate thru menus with the keyboard. Seems a little odd, but has no effect on the game play. I will seriously consider purchasing the full version of the 2000 version.