Recs.
Updated
F1 2017 is a motorsport racing game, putting you in the single-seat, open cockpit of iconic cars, where your goal is to win the World Championship.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Fast, fun races with on-the-fly strategies
To win races in F1 2017, it comes down to learning when to make those hard turns, when to be aggressive, and when to take the risk of making pit stops. Driving fast is exhilarating as you feel the car's wheel in your hand through your controller or peripheral wheel. You'll play the long game in F1 2017, making quick judgment calls on when the best time is to make a pit stop, even if it means losing your lead in the race. When you know you won't be able to make it to the finish line, that's when you'll want to stop. If you want to push your car past its limits, then you can decide to keep going and do your absolute best to drive better and shave off even more time. As you keep playing, this cerebral risk/reward aspect will come more naturally to you, helping you improve your races down the line.
Pro Realistic cars, tracks and weather
Each car in F1 2017 is a faithful rendition of real-life motorsport racing, giving you control of awesome cars like the Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, and other brands. You'll drive in first-person view from the cockpit, getting to see the car up-close and personal, like how the huge front wheels at either side of you run at full speed and curve with your movements. The true-to-life tracks are straight out of locations in Shanghai, Italy, Canada, and plenty more. The game's weather is also spectacular to look at, like the sunny skies reflecting off of your car's coat of paint. When it's raining, you're get to see every detail from the open cockpit, with every drop of rainwater dripping down your helmet.
Pro Lots of customization options for the UI, AI difficulty, weather, and car upgrades
The game gives you a bunch of options to make everything custom-fit for you. There are settings like hiding elements on the screen during races, setting the time of day and the weather you'd like for each track, and tweaking the AI difficulty to your liking. In the career more, there's also an in-depth Research and Development skill tree with dozens of upgrade options for your car, sorted into four categories: Aerodynamics, Chassis, Durability, and Powertrain. If the R&D skill trees looks too complicated, you can always go with the recommended options instead.
Pro Career mode has intuitive difficulty options
In the story mode, you have the choice of driving for a lesser-known team or a well-known team to make your way to the World Championship. Choosing the lower-ranked team will ease you into the career mode's difficulty curve, with more races that progressively become harder over time. Going with the best of the best will show your team's ambitions to hold onto their earned titles with more challenging races and a tense atmosphere among other characters, such as the racers and managers. The in-depth skill trees for Research and Development upgrades are also available here. You'll have tons of options at your disposal to fine-tune your car exactly as you want it, or you can instead go with the recommended adjustments if you don't want to focus on the skill trees all that much.
Cons
Con Reused driver animations from F1 2015 and F1 2016
During the victory segments, the drivers have reused animations to express excitement over their awards. Popping bottles of champagne and spilling the contents out in glee is great in moderation, but it gets old after a while. Certain drivers may not have the personality to do that, so for fans who follow the racers in real life, it can be a strange thing to see.
Con Poor graphics for human models
Compared to the smooth graphics for cars, tracks and weather, the human models look terrible in comparison. Their skin textures look unfinished and they lack detail. It can be distracting and jarring to go from great-looking races to scenes with the drivers. Models for key characters in the career mode are thankfully a bit more polished.