''Formula One 05'' is a
racing video game
Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...
developed by
Studio Liverpool and published by
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
exclusively for
PlayStation 2. It is a sequel to the
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
''
Formula One 04
''Formula One 04'' is a racing video game developed by Studio Liverpool and published by Sony Computer Entertainment exclusively for PlayStation 2. It is a sequel to the 2003 video game '' Formula One 2003'' and was based on the 2004 Formula On ...
'' and was based on the
2005 Formula One World Championship
The 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 59th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 56th FIA Formula One World Championship, contested over a then-record 19 Grands Prix. It commenced on 6 March 2005 and ended 16 O ...
.
Gameplay
It featured the 'Career Mode' concept from ''
Formula One 04
''Formula One 04'' is a racing video game developed by Studio Liverpool and published by Sony Computer Entertainment exclusively for PlayStation 2. It is a sequel to the 2003 video game '' Formula One 2003'' and was based on the 2004 Formula On ...
'', which allows players to work their way through the Formula One teams over the course of five years (albeit a repeat version of the
2005 Formula One World Championship
The 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 59th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 56th FIA Formula One World Championship, contested over a then-record 19 Grands Prix. It commenced on 6 March 2005 and ended 16 O ...
each time). This game also supports ''
EyeToy
The EyeToy is a color webcam for use with the PlayStation 2. Supported games use computer vision and gesture recognition to process images taken by the EyeToy. This allows players to interact with the games using motion, color detection, and als ...
: Cameo'', allowing players to place their own face on a driver when creating their profile, but unlike ''F1 04'', though they cannot choose their own helmet at the start, the player assumes a white unmarked helmet and only later unlocks other colours and designs.
Players start out testing for smaller teams such as
Minardi
Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal followin ...
,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...
and
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing, also simply known as Red Bull or RBR and currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing, is a Formula One racing team, racing under an Austrian licence and based in the United Kingdom. It is one of two Formula One teams owned ...
. Like in ''F1 04'', a generic car does exist, but it is only used in Time Attack mode. Players then work their way up the grid throughout their '
career
The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways.
Definitions
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defi ...
' through a mixture of good tests and impressive race performances. As before, consistently poor performances will lead to dismissal from the player's current team. There are also occasional 'shoot-out' tests against the team's second driver (or
third driver
In motorsport it is common to have one or more test drivers who work with the mechanics to help develop the vehicle by testing new systems on the track.
In specific motorsports Formula One
In Formula One, the term third driver is used to designa ...
, depending on the player's current status within the team), in which both drivers complete a set of five laps each and whoever has the fastest overall time (one time based on the fastest first, second and third sectors added together) then takes the race seat. Players can now also view trophies they have received from winning races and championships after each is won in Career Mode for the first time.
As with ''F1 04'', "classic" cars (like the
Williams FW11) are unlocked once certain terms are fulfilled, such as winning a World Championship. Helmets for Career Mode are also unlocked, and there is also a hidden track (the
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
street circuit which was used for
Detroit Grand Prix) and the Paul Ricard circuit in France available for Time Attack Mode. Notably, since this game was developed before the change in the qualifying regulations midway through the actual
2005 Formula One World Championship
The 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 59th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 56th FIA Formula One World Championship, contested over a then-record 19 Grands Prix. It commenced on 6 March 2005 and ended 16 O ...
, this game runs the original "aggregated times" format from the early part of the actual 2005 Formula One World Championship in every race in Race Weekend, Championship and Career Mode. This game also has Net Play available. A notable credit is the opening video features the song "
Butterflies & Hurricanes" from English
alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
band
Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
.
The game features all the drivers and tracks from the 2005 Formula One World Championship, but does not represent the replacement drivers that featured in the real
2005 Formula One World Championship
The 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 59th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 56th FIA Formula One World Championship, contested over a then-record 19 Grands Prix. It commenced on 6 March 2005 and ended 16 O ...
, therefore
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Vitantonio "Tonio" Liuzzi (born 6 August 1980) is an Italian professional racing driver who formerly raced in Formula One for the Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Force India and HRT teams.
Karting
Born in Locorotondo, BA, Apulia, Liuzzi, like many a ...
,
Alexander Wurz
Alexander Georg Wurz (born 15 February 1974) is an Austrian former professional racing driver, driver training expert and businessman. He competed in Formula One from until , and is also a two-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
He is curre ...
,
Ricardo Zonta
Ricardo Luiz Zonta (born March 23, 1976) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 10 Toyota Corolla E210 for RCM Motorsport.
Early career
Born in Curitiba ...
,
Anthony Davidson
Anthony Denis Davidson (born 18 April 1979) is a British former racing driver, currently working as an analyst for the Sky Sports F1 television channel, as part of the commentary team for WEC TV, as colour commentator for the F1 series of vide ...
,
Pedro de la Rosa
Pedro Martínez de la Rosa (; born 24 February 1971) is a Spanish former Formula One driver who has participated in 107 Grands Prix for the Arrows, Jaguar, McLaren, Sauber and HRT teams. He made his Formula One debut on 7 March 1999, becomin ...
,
Robert Doornbos
Robert Michael Doornbos (; born 23 September 1981) is a Dutch former racing driver who also competed with a Monégasque licence. He has been test and third driver for the Jordan and Red Bull Racing Formula One teams, as well as driving for Mina ...
and
Antônio Pizzonia
Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior (born 11 September 1980) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who has raced in Formula One and the Champ Car World Series. Born in Manaus, he started his car racing career in the Formula Vauxhall Junio ...
are not featured.
Reception
The game received "generally favorable" reviews according to the
review aggregation
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.
[ In Japan, '']Famitsu
formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the ...
'' gave it a score of all four sevens for a total of 28 out of 40.
The game was launched in the UK one week prior to the 2005 British Grand Prix. In order to promote the game, fans attending the race weekend were able to try and set the fastest possible lap time of Silverstone on a simulator. The fan who set the fastest overall lap would get to race against retired F1 driver Johnny Herbert
John Paul "Johnny" Herbert (born 25 June 1964) is a British former racing driver and current television announcer for Sky Sports F1. He raced in Formula One from 1989 to 2000, for seven different teams, winning three races and placing 4th in ...
on stage at the British Grand Prix after-party. Broadcaster Murray Walker
Graeme Murray Walker (10 October 1923 – 13 March 2021) was an English motorsport commentator and journalist. He provided television commentary of live Formula One coverage for the BBC between 1976 and 1996, and for ITV between 1997 and 2 ...
provided live commentary of the head-to-head to approximately 30,000 spectators. The competition was won by 16 year old Lloyd Eveleigh who beat Herbert on stage in the head-to-head race.
For the first time in a number of years, the fans agreed that this was a massive improvement in the series and the shot in the arm it had so desperately needed. A lot of people had criticised Studio Liverpool for the lack of ambition and progress since the series appeared on the PS2 platform up to that point. With the release of ''Formula One 05'', people saw that great strides had been made by Studio Liverpool in terms of gameplay handling and AI.
However, there were criticisms in terms of the AI being too easy on the most difficult of settings, and about the penalty system that had been introduced on ''Formula One 05'' which automatically reduced the revs during a penalty instead of the traditional "drive-through" penalties that previous games had seen. Overall though, the fans agreed that apart from these minor issues, Studio Liverpool had redeveloped the brand as a stepping stone for improvement for the inevitable release of the 2006 edition.
Mistakes and errors
*On the select team mode, the Minardi drivers were pictured the wrong line-up: Christijan Albers was placed in the #20 car and Patrick Friesacher was placed in the #21 car.
References
External links
*
{{Psygnosis
2005 video games
EyeToy games
Formula One video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
PlayStation 2 games
PlayStation 2-only games
Psygnosis games
Sony Interactive Entertainment games
Video game sequels
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
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