Why I like F1 games (and I'm not buying F1 2018)

There's something both visceral and cerebral that Codemaster's F1 games have achieved that ought to be experienced by any self-respecting racing fan, or anyone who prides themselves in absorbing new skills.

Most casual racing games are designed to be learned within the first minute so that they are suitable for younger players or someone who needs a quick fix for speed. So when I hand the controller to someone who wants to try F1, they immediately crash at the first corner. You need to use the brakes, which is the first pill to swallow.

Courses have anywhere between 10 and couple dozen corners to LEARN. I pounded the caplocks because F1 is a learning experience. If you enjoy learning new things, I can recommend you give this a try, especially if you were ever curious about what's really happening inside a race car.

Once you accept the fact that each corner is its own challenge, you'll begin to string together a series of turns that will naturally melt your body into the track. Did I mention I'm a pad (controller) user? I'm sure the experience is even more realistic with a chair and wheel. But even with the PS4 duelshock I'm able to feel the car compress through the braking zones and obtain a sense of lateral G forces through fast, sweeping corners.

After you've gotten comfortable with the track, I highly recommend changing to manual gear-shifting instead of automatic. To learn manual gears, choose an easy circuit such as Monza, Italy or The Red Bull Ring, Austria. Now you'll start to mesh with the course and begin to understand how the different components of the car work such as brake bias, wing differentials, fuel and tire management and so on. F1 2017 did a really great job of presenting all this without being overwhelming. I hope F1 2018 continues the sleek design.

So why won't I purchase F1 2018? Not enough funds. Pretty lame huh? Maybe you were expecting some sort of gamer's intuition or criticisms on rule changes and regulations, but not this year. I've purchased every F1 game since F1 2009 on the Wii, but I'll have to wait until a sale this time because our employer refuses to pay me and the rest of the staff our salaries going back as far as the beginning of 2018. This is China.

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