F1 2013 F1 2013 Complete Guide

About The Game

F1 2013 is the 4th Annual release of the F1 series. As you notice, it is made by Codemasters Studios, who are a well respected racing game developers. They have made popular game in the past, with a back catalogue filled with great games, TOCA, Grid, DiRT etc. Over the past 4 years, they have evolved and changed a bit, but if you put ‘10 next to ‘13, you will find, at it’s core, the same great game-play.

It is obviously recommended for “Realism” to get a good racing wheel (like a Logitech Driving Force GT). That way you obviously get more precision than a standard game-controller or keyboard. However, if you find it easy or just enjoy the alternatives, keep using them!

Game-Modes

F1 2013 is packed with different game modes so that you can lose hundreds of hours in and enjoy racing at it’s best.

We’ll start out at Career. This is where you’re, most likey, to spend most of your time in. Start out at a lower end team, get those good race finishes in and start to get noticed. Soon, after the results keep coming in and the “Big Boys” start to realise your true potential, you’ll be on their hire list. But with it, comes patients. Don’t just expect that in Melbourne that you’ve got a 3rd result, the Red Bull will instantly hire you. It can be a long process, but one that it very rewarding. Your end goal is simple, at the end of 5 seasons in Formula 1, start of down the bottom and then win the World Championship as many times as you can.

Due to the length of 5 seasons (95 Races, plus Qualification and Practice) it will take you a long time to complete this.

Season challenge. This is where you only do a 10 race season, where you can only do a one shot qualifying time to get on the grid, and the races are only for five laps. This means that you can get on it and do a race quickly, something you couldn’t do before. It also heavily emphasises setting rivals and moving up the field. So if you’re in a Caterham, don’t set Fernando Alonso as a rival, as unless you’re on easy, won’t be able to beat him. Aim for a Williams or Force India, then if you beat him two times in three races, you’ll take his seat. This means you can be a busy bee, and race for five different teams in one season! Or you could stay with one team, there isn't any harm in that too.

Scenario Mode. This is where you get placed in a scenario with a set of objectives, be it “Win” or so on. It can be quite challenging.

F1 Classics. This mode is brand new to F1 2013. It brings in classic cars and race tracks from the '80s and '90s era into today's racing game. These cars all have a totally different handling characteristic from each other and today's modern F1 cars too. They do have a tendency to spin out a lot, due to excessive torque and lots more power, sometimes in excess of 1000BHP. They are a lot of fun to drive, and make a welcome addition to the regular cars. It is also great fun to put the old cars on new circuits and new cars on old circuits just to see how they'd go.

Time trial. This is the "Free Roam" part of this game, where you just get given a car and a track and can drive all you want. You can just get a feel for the car or track, or go for the ultimate lap time if you want. But just have fun and enjoy a beautiful car on a gorgeous circuit.

Young Driver Test. This is the games fancy way of saying "TUTORIAL!!" If you're new to F1 and find KERS and DRS insanely complex, don't worry. You'll learn everything there. It has a series of 2 days, where you'll collect Chevrons, which are accumulated across the test, and the more you have, the better teams you can unlock in career mode.

Quick race. This is where you can jump in as Mark Webber or Fernando Alonso, get to anu track, take Monza, and just race as him. You can queue up multiple tracks so you can have a little "mini championship" as Paul diResta and see how well you do in a Force India. Very good if you want to jump in and race.

Online. This is also where a lot of people spend their time in racing other real drivers. Many find it better than driving against AI and more rewarding. However, do be fair to others as of someone pushed you of, you'll be angry so don't do it to them.

The Sessions

In F1 2013, you can have up to 3 sessions in one race weekend. It will consist of a:

Friday Practice: This is an hour long session where you can take your car out, learn the track, find the racing lines and just get used to it. Then, you can start to experiment with different set-ups to find the best performance out of your car. All of this hard work may seem useless, but it could be the difference between a 3rd or a 4th, so on.

Qualifying: Here you will compete with the other 21 driver to get the best grid position for tomorrow's race. You can have 3 options here:

A one shot session, where you only get to go out on one lap and see what you can do. This is recomended for those with high time restraints.

A one 20 minute session, this is where you have 20 minutes to do the best lap you can and see what the others can do too as well.

Full simulated Qualifying, this is just like real life, where all driver have a 20 minute session to get into the top 18. If you’re not in the top 18, your finishing position is where you start tomorrow. Then, the 18 drivers go on to a 15 minute session to get into the top 10. Then, the final 10 compete for Pole position, and the others descending from it.

Race, this can be anywhere from 3 laps, 5 laps, 25%, 50% or 100% of the real race distance. Usually, F1 drivers will do around 50 to 60 laps in a race which will usually span around an hour and a half. So, obviously it is quite hard to do a 100% race, but with the addition of “Mid Session Saving” you can save, quit then re-join. This means people can do those long races and still enjoy them. If you do a 25% race or longer, you will have to make a pit-stop for tyres.

Tyres

Like in Real Life, there are 6 different types of Tyre available. However, you can only use 4 different types of tyre at one race weekend. The tyre choices for the weekend are chosen by Pirelli and are with respect to the track, weather and other factors:

Super Softs (Red): These are really soft tyres, and are generally only used at street tracks, Like Monaco, with little tyre wear and very little track grip. It also has a design that makes it heat up very quickly, which means that you can drive out of the garage, and you would have a lot of grip very quickly.

Softs(Yellow): A slightly harder compound, used at most tracks. Has a good balance between tyre life and good grip. It will be used the most frequently due to the fact that it is so variable.

Mediums(White): Another very versatile tyre and can be used in a lot of working conditions. It lasts for quite a long time, and provides a reasonable amount of grip. It also takes around a lap to warm up, more than the Softs.

Hards(Orange): This tyre lasts the longest tyre of a tyre. It has very little degradation but also provides not much grip. It takes the most amount of time to warm up, but ideal for really long runs.

Intermediates(Green): Best suited to damp tracks or light rain. This means that you can still have great grip in slightly wet conditions, but not good with standing water.

Wet(Blue): Great at providing great grip in really wet conditions, in heavy rain, with lots of standing water on the track. You can only use 2 of the above dry compounds at one race weekend. This will vary between tracks as they will have different needs. The harder compound tyre available is called the “Prime” and the softer tyre is called the “Option”.

If the track is getting wetter, or dryer, it might be worth pitting and getting another type of tyre, and seeing if you’re faster than you were before. If you do it too early, you can lose a lot of time, and the other way around. So timing is crucial when pitting for a different tyre types.

Devices In The Car

KERS: KERS or Kinetic Energy Recovery System, is a concept that originated in 2009, and then again in 2011. In 2013, all teams, this means cars from a Ferrari to a Marusia , will get the benefit of KERS. It is the equivalent of gaining 80 Horsepower for 6.7 seconds per lap. This will help give drivers a boost of speed, helping with acceleration specifically on a long straight. It also helps when trying to overtake a car, as you need more speed than them in order to overtake. Divers can use it wisely to get maximum effect out of it.

DRS: DRS or Drag Reduction System is a flap on the rear wing that opens up. It was introduced back in 2011, and can add around 10 MPH to the car.This means that air, that would have created downforce, can just pass through it, which minimal resistance. This means that the overall drag of the rear wing is reduced, allowing for higher top speeds on the straights and allows for easier overtaking.

In 2013, the FIA have introduced a new law stating that the DRS Flap can only be opened in the specific “Zone” in Practice and Qualifying, opposed to anywhere on the track. And in the race, you can only open it when you are within one second of a car in front when you pass the “DRS Detection Line”

Quick Access Menu: This allows you to change up to 3 different aspects of the car on the fly, when you’re racing. You can:

Fuel Mixtures: You can change your engines fuel mixture to three options: Lean, Standard and Rich. Lean is where the engine uses minimum fuel for the engine to run. This means that you save fuel, but get minimum power, meaning that the car is slower than normal. Standard is where the engine uses normal fuel amounts to do combustion. This means that the engine creates normal power. Rich is where the engine uses more fuel to do combustion. This means that it uses more fuel, using it up quicker. But it does deliver more powerful to the driver. This is great when trying to overtake or for a quick qualifying lap.

Tyres: When coming in to a pit stop, you can select which tyres you want put on your car. You can have: Prime, Option, Intermediate or Wet.

Brake Bias: You can select which tyres take the most amount of force when braking, front, neutral or back. Front means that the front tyres will do the majority of the breaking, promotes Understeer, normal is what you’ve set it to in the Setup screen. Back means the rear tyres do the majority of the breaking force. This creates more oversteer.

Rules

F1 is a complex sport with layer upon layers of rules. They may seem very complicated and impenetrable to know/understand them, but that's where I'm here to help.

Parc Fermé. This is where the Team keeps your car under control conditions. This usually lasts from the End of Qualifying to the races, meaning if you have a wet Qualifying, but a dry Race, you'll have to compromise on both.

Top 10 shootout tyres. If you are lucky enough to qualify in the top 10 in proper qualifying, then the tyres you set your faster lap on, you have to start the race on. This means that if you stick on a set of Option tyres then do 4 laps trying to do your best lap, you might get a good lap, maybe pole. But you'll have to start on very worn tyres, which will mean you'll have to pit early.

Teams

There are the full 11 teams in the game, just as in real life. This section is just for those who want to know more about them or just want a read.

Red Bull Team Principal: Christian Horner

Technical Director: Adrian Newey

No. 1 Driver: Sebastian Vettel

No. 2 Driver: Mark Webber

Base: Milton Keynes, UK

Engine: Renault

Ferrari Team Principal: Stefano Domenicali

Technical Director: Pat Fry

No. 1 Driver: Fernando Alonso

No. 2 Driver: Felipe Massa

Base: Maranello, Italy

Engine: Ferrari McLaren Team Principal: Martin Whitmarsh

Technical Director: Tim Goss

No. 1 Driver: Jenson Button

No. 2 Driver: Sergio Perez

Base: Woking, UK

Engine: Mercedes Mercedes Team Principal: Ross Brawn

Technical Director: Paddy Lowe

No. 1 Driver: Nico Rosberg

No. 2 Driver: Lewis Hamilton

Base: Brackley, UK

Engine: Mercedes

Lotus Team Principal: Eric Boullier

Technical Director: Nick Chester

No. 1 Driver: Kimi Raikkonen

No. 2 Driver: Romain Grosjean

Base: Enstone, UK

Engine: RenaultForce India Team Principal: Vijay Mallya

Technical Director: Andrew Green

No. 1 Driver: Paul Di Resta

No. 2 Driver: Adrian Sutil

Base: Silverstone, UK

Engine: Mercedes

Sauber Team Principal: Monisha Kaltenborn

Technical Director: N/A

No. 1 Driver: Nico Hulkenberg

No. 2 Driver: Esteban Gutierrez

Base: Hinwil, Switzerland

Engine: Ferrari Torro Rosso Team Principal: Franz Tost

Technical Director: James Key

No. 1 Driver: Daniel Ricciardo

No. 2 Driver: Jean-Eric Vergne

Base: Faenza Italy

Engine: Ferrari Williams Team Principal: Sir Frank Williams

Technical Director: Pat Symonds

No. 1 Driver: Pastor Maldonado

No. 2 Driver: Valtteri Bottas

Base: Grove, Oxfordshire, UK

Engine: Renault Caterham Team Principal: Cyril Abiteboul

Technical Director: Mark Smith

No. 1 Driver: Charles Pic

No. 2 Driver: Giedo van der Garde

Base: Leafield, Oxfordshire

Engine: Renault

Marrusia Team Principal: John Booth

Technical Director: N/A

No. 1 Driver: Jules Bianchi

No. 2 Driver: Max Chilton

Base: Banbury, Oxfordshire

Engine: Cosworth

Drivers

Sources

While creating this guide, I have used information from these, hopefully, reliable sources. Feel free to look at them too!

BBC F1[www.bbc.co.uk]

F1 Official Website[www.formula1.com]

Pirelli Tyres[www.pirelli.com]

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=214934544

F1 2013 Complete Guide