Enjoy rivalries, bald tyres and sudden helmet-Armco interfaces in this ultimate edition of Codemasters latest F1 epic for the PC, X360 and PS3.
The appeal of a sim dedicated to the thrills of the worlds most expensive motoring sport is a no-brainer for any race fan and this Complete Edition version offers an obscene amount of, well, everything including a now fully-updated 2013 season plus all the game's post-release DLC and add-ons. In other words, its unmissable.
And the best of a great bunch? The now-extended Classic Mode which offers a selection of cars, tracks and drivers from some of the sports most exciting eras namely the 80s and 90s. Race as or against drivers including Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher and Nigel Mansell (moustache not included) round tracks that are long gone including the iconic Brands Hatch and Jerez in their 1980s layout.
Once youve whipped off your rose-tinted visor, the sports full-fat modern day season awaits you. With pitch-perfect graphics offering a true vroom with a view, you can enjoy caning it round all the official tracks either in a single race or an entire season (where your progress can now thankfully be saved mid-session) all while losing yourself in a host of deep tactical play options such as tyre/pitstop strategies.
While the games AI makes a good fist of offering up a worthy challenge, its inevitably the raft of multiplayer options where rivalries as epic as Niki Lauda and James Hunts are born. Whether playing via split screen or against 16 human racers online, expect helmets/joypads to be thrown to the ground in anger and virtual punch-ups on the winners podium as you chase chequered-flag glory.
And that perhaps is what makes this edition so, well, Complete; it reflects whats at the heart of F1 us humans, never mind the machinery. Whatever the race, whether it be in the 80s or 2013, on tarmac or on our consoles, Formula 1 has always been about the human rivalry. Its what makes the sport so compelling whether youre Lewis Hamilton gripping his Ferrari steering wheel or Joe Bloggs in your underpants clasping a joypad. Truly gripping stuff then. Well, unless youre Pirelli, that is