Skip to main content

F1 2011 for the 3DS review

Quick show of figurative hands—raise your hand if you know what a K.E.R.S. is. Ok, now keep them up if you are familiar with a DRS. And once more, do you know when to utilize those in an F1 race? If you answered yes to any or all of those questions, then F1 2011 for the 3DS may be worth a look, despite a few flaws. If those words aren’t in your lexicon, this game isn’t for you.

Typically, games like F1 racers have always been something of a niche market, at least here in the States. They take the racing genre to the extreme, but they do so at the cost of familiarity. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially for fans that hunger for realism, but it makes the games slightly inaccessible and hard for novices to embrace. The 3DS version of F1 2011 by Sumo Digital (taking the portable reigns from Codemasters who focused on the console and PC versions) is not only no exception, it is the perfect example of a game made almost entirely for fans. And only fans.

Again, that isn’t always a bad thing, but in this case it is. It isn’t that newcomers and casual fans won’t like the gameplay, it is that almost everyone won’t like the gameplay, but hardcore fans will be able to overcome that and grow accustomed to them thanks to the some customization tweaks, or just old fashioned stubbornness. For fans of the series and the genre, Sumo Digital has decent, albeit not great offering. For everyone else, it will be frustrating to the point that most won’t have the patience to bother learning the game—a fact that is further exacerbated by the complete lack of anything resembling a tutorial. There are numerous aids that you can turn on or off, but that always ends up limiting what you can do, which quickly makes it boring.

But putting all that aside and focusing on the pure mechanics of the game, there is some decent fun to be had, but there are also technical issues that are hard to overlook. The first of which is simply the difficulty that controlling an incredibly fast car faces with the nub analog stick of the 3DS. A standard controller offers a bit more room to move, which can make a huge difference. But the settings can be customized, and assuming the controls are something you can embrace, then there is the AI. Which is murderous.

It really is best to just accept the inconsistent AI, or you may find yourself asking for another 3DS this Christmas to replace the one you just broke. Sometimes they will try to murder you and crash into you, other times they are placemats, put there only to make you go around them. It makes racing far more nerve-racking than fun.

Thankfully, there are several other modes to help keep you entertained once the AI has forced the rage upon you. Along with the career mode, there is the standard quick race, a time trial, a grand prix, a championship series, and the challenges. Of them all, the challenges stand out as the best way to spend your time. Each offers you a specific goal, and you receive a grade for completion. There are 60 in total, and receiving the best score could keep you going for a long time.

There is also a multiplayer, both local and online, but the online remains sparse, and fairly devoid of racers. This could always change though.

Then there are the graphics. The tracks are dull and quickly feel familiar, and the textures are at best average. The most annoying visual problem comes from the 3D though. When you have it on at full, there is a slight ghosting issue. When you read text, a feint shadow of the words appears. That is annoying, but harmless. When you are on a track trying to keep above 200 mph, having a second line can be disastrous. It is best to keep the 3D off altogether, which means that one of the main points of playing it on the 3DS is rendered moot.

Conclusion

F1 2011 is a game that will likely appeal to hardcore fans of the series and F1 in general, and hardcore fans only. It is brutally unforgiving, which could be overlooked if there were a logic to it, but there isn’t. The AI is brutal, and the controls are difficult to get used to—but not impossible.

The graphics are also a major issue. There is a lot of content here to keep fans playing, but the look quickly makes everything feel repetitive. There are some good times to be had, but you will have to go out of your way to find them.

Score: 6.5 out of 10

 (This game was reviewed on the Nintendo 3DS on a copy provided by Codemasters)

Editors' Recommendations

Ryan Fleming
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…
The 25 best Nintendo 3DS games
Nintendo 3DS close-up.

If you're looking for the best Nintendo 3DS games, there's no shortage of titles to choose from, thanks to the console's long life cycle.

The 3DS has enjoyed several updates over the years, but each was compatible with its predecessor, and that translates to a large and diverse library. It's getting increasingly tough to find a 3DS, especially since Nintendo has officially discontinued the console and no longer supports it to focus on releasing Switch games. Even so, the legacy of the 3DS lives on with a long list of excellent, pocket-sized adventures. Here are our favorite ones.

Read more
Nintendo’s eShop closures are a necessary, but messy move
A Nintendo Wii U gamepad flat on a table.

Nintendo last week announced its intentions to shut down the Wii U and 3DS eShops, the systems' digital storefronts, in March 2023. This decision was disappointing for hardcore fans who stuck with Nintendo during that rocky era and extremely worrying as many of the games available on the platforms won't be preserved.
More significant Wii U games and a handful of 3DS titles were ported to Switch, but many titles are still stuck on those systems and can’t be ported. Once the digital storefront shutdowns, digital-only titles will be gone forever, and physical copies of these titles will get more expensive and harder to experience. Fans and game preservationists have not been pleased by this decision, with the Video Game History Foundation giving the most candid response.
https://twitter.com/GameHistoryOrg/status/1494398068346654720
Following this announcement, Digital Trends spoke to an industry analyst and game preservationists to get a better idea of what exactly caused Nintendo to shut down these stores and to learn how it could do a better job at preserving its legacy.
Why is Nintendo shutting down the 3DS and Wii eShops?
Officially, Nintendo’s FAQ on the eShop closures says “this is part of the natural life cycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time." The answer doesn’t get into specifics and might confuse those still playing games on the system or fans of games only available on Wii U or 3DS. Omdia Principal Analyst Matthew Bailey explains Nintendo’s user base argument in more detail, highlighting the massive gap between the number of people playing the Switch as opposed to the Wii U.
“While Omdia expects the number of Switch consoles in active use to exceed 90 million on a global basis this year, the Wii U’s global active installed base will drop under one million in 2022,” he explains. “Even when you include the more enduring 3DS family of consoles into the equation, the Switch still comfortably accounts for over 90% of Nintendo’s total active console install base.”
If one is going off just the numbers, it’s sensible that Nintendo would want to focus on the majority of its players. Bailey admits that “Switch users are already reaping the benefits of Nintendo’s singular first-party development focus on one platform.” Still, one might argue that Nintendo should just let the eShops remain up even if it isn’t actively updating or maintaining them.

Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn’t see that as possible due to cost and security issues. Game Over Thrity, a Twitter user with over 20 years of experience working on IT projects and infrastructure, shed some light on what might have influenced Nintendo’s decision-making in a thread.
“As these systems age, they require patches, security, special contracts, updates, and personnel that know how they were built (and maintained),” his Twitter thread explains. “As time goes on, there are security holes, servers, code, infrastructure, etc., that can’t be brought up to modern standards. It becomes a constant struggle between maintaining legacy systems, paying people to do so, and trying to keep up with global regulations. It’s not cheap by any means. They can’t just ‘leave the lights on’ and stop supporting them. What if someone hacked the payment processor?”
With every passing year, the Wii U and 3DS eShops likely became more expensive to maintain and an increased security risk for the video game publisher. Instead of investing the time and resources into pleasing a smaller amount of players, the easier option is to turn everything off entirely. While he isn’t affiliated with Nintendo, Game Over Thirty’s assessment aligns with what we’ve heard from Nintendo and Omdia.
"The Wii U’s global active installed base will drop under one million in 2022."

Read more
Nintendo is ending Wii U and 3DS eShop service
Photos of the 3DS eShops

Nintendo has announced the end of its eShop service for the Wii U console and 3DS handheld. The eShop will stay live on those devices until late March 2023, after which players will no longer be able to purchase games or download eShop apps and services for those devices.

After the closure, players will still be able to redownload games and DLC that they already own, use online play, and download software updates.

Read more