Formula 1 2011: PC Performance Benchmarks for Graphics Cards and Processors

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Year of release: 2011
Genre: Racing (Cars) / Simulator / 3D
Developer: Codemasters Studios Birmingham
Publisher: Codemasters Studios

The sequel to F1 2010, which won the prestigious British Academy Video Games Award from the British Film and Television Academy (BAFTA). Created in partnership with the Formula One World Championship, this new F1 game features all the drivers and teams competing in the 2011 Formula One World Championship, as well as the circuits where the races take place. The game focuses on the development of multiplayer, in particular, now it will be possible to play on a split screen, as well as declare a team to participate in the championship. In addition, F1 2011 offers racing fans two additional tracks - in India and Germany. New athletes will take part in the competition, the set of rules will change, and the choice of tires will expand.

The game was created on the basis of EGO - Codemasters' own engine, which significantly improved the physics system, graphics, artificial intelligence, as well as expanded the possibilities of multiplayer games.

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Review: Playability  So, we have before us a bright representative of the genre of simulators and, no less important, the only representative of high-grade cars in the gaming field - Formula 1 2011. Compared to last year's release, the game has changed somewhat and enriched its main component.

New tracks have been added to the gameplay, all eminent pilots and teams are represented, and the gameplay has been somewhat redesigned, allowing you to feel more realistic about what is happening. For more convenience while playing Formula 1 2011, we recommend using a special game controller.

We invite you to evaluate a part of the Formula 1 2011 game walkthrough in HD resolution, where you can see for yourself the quality of this product:

Formula 1 2011 is a real treat for fans of this series, improving and diversifying everything they loved so much last year. But if you are not a fan and admirer of Formula 1 , then feel free to pass by...

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Overview: Graphics

The graphics in the game are nice and similar in content and visual style to the recently released Dirt 3. The graphical menu has a huge number of settings and will allow you to customize the game for almost any configuration. Formula 1 2011 is based on the EGO 2.0 game engine, which was also used in Operation Flashpoint: Red River and its sister game Dirt 3. EGO is a modified version of the Neon engine used in the Colin McRae: DiRT game developed by Codemasters and Sony Computer Entertainment using Sony's cross-platform PhyreEngine graphics engine.

On July 6, 2009, Brian Marshall, CTO of Codemasters, officially announced that the PC version of Colin McRae: DiRT 2, which will use the "EGO" engine, will add support for DirectX 11. Thus, the "EGO" engine became the first engine , which was announced to support DirectX 11.

In late July 2010, Codemasters Senior Vice President Jamie MacDonald, in an interview with Develop, reported on the company's new games being developed using EGO 2.0, the second iteration of the engine. They became Formula 1 2011, Operation Flashpoint: Red River Dirt 3. At the moment, the company is actively working on the development of a new version of its graphics engine.

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Review: Game resource intensive

All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality by MSI Afterburner. The purpose of the test is to determine how video cards from different manufacturers behave under the same conditions. The minimum and average value of frames is taken as a performance indicator. Below is the configuration of our test systems.

Less productive video cards up to the level of GeForce GTS 450 and Radeon HD 4870 are tested based on Core 2 Quad Q9550 and Phenom II X4 940 BE processors, depending on the resource intensity of the game, and more productive ones based on more powerful solutions. Overclocked versions of video cards presented by sponsors were equated to conventional counterparts by reducing their clock speeds.

Our video cards were tested at 1920x1080 resolution in DirectX 9 and DirectX 11 modes. AMD Eyefinity was tested at 5760x1080 resolution with maximum graphics quality settings. The NVIDIA 3D Vision test was not included in the tests, due to the lack of a 3D profile rating. The efficiency of SLI is very good, but Cross Fire not only does not scale performance, but, on the contrary, significantly slows it down. Hardware tests were carried out in an internal gaming benchmark. The game consumes video memory resources with appetite, so video cards with 768 MB of video memory and higher were used for tests.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920x1080 DX9

At maximum settings at a resolution of 19200x1080 in DirectX 9 mode, Radeon HD 4870 or GeForce 8800 GTX video cards will show acceptable performance. For more comfortable playability, we recommend using Radeon HD 4870 or GeForce GTX 260 or higher cards.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920x1080 DX11

The minimum that is needed for a comfortable game at a resolution of 1920x1080 in DirectX 11 mode is video cards of the Radeon HD 5770 or GeForce GTS 450 level. An acceptable-comfortable performance level above the 25 FPS threshold will be shown by the Radeon HD 6850 or GeForce GTX 460SE.

Testing with AMD Eyefinity Technology

All our video cards were tested at maximum quality settings on three Full HD monitors combined thanks to Eyefinity technology at a resolution of 5760x1080. In this mode, it is advisable to use only video cards with a memory capacity of 2 gigabytes.

Testing at maximum quality settings using AMD Eyefinity technology on three monitors at a resolution of 5760x1080 DX11

For comfortable playability at maximum quality settings at a resolution of 5760x1080, the user will need a video card of the Radeon HD 6950 level, and for a more or less comfortable FPS, a Radeon HD 6970 will already be required.

Processor dependency testing

We tested processor dependence on 10 models of basic configurations, which are the most relevant today. The test was carried out in the internal gaming benchmark at a resolution of 1920x1080 with maximum quality settings.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920x1080 DX11

As we can see, the game is very aggressive towards CPU resources and is skeptical about budget models, for example, the frame rate on Athlon II X4. Quad-core models of the middle price segment are suitable for the most comfortable playability.