We tasked Craig Lager with earn pole position on the F1 2012 reviews circuit. After a few laps he’s identified the worse bumps in the road, and is keen to tell you wot he thinks.

Codemasters have straddled the line of “absolutely not a sim but by no means an arcade game either” pretty well over the last couple of years with the F1 license. They’ve never got it perfect though, and the problem of how best to balance approachability while still providing a challenge for dedicated race fans is a difficult one. They want people to be able to get into F1 quickly and easily. For fans of the sport to become fans of the game they need to get used to coaxing the super machines around a track, yet people already versed in racing cars need proper complexity and challenge to keep them interested. The end goal, I think, is to be able to turn the former set of people into the latter, all in one game. Tricky.

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