First of all, thanks for reading-hopefully you'll find this guide useful. It's intended to be an all-inclusive package, to help new players get up to speed and more veteran players understand the game a bit better. It covers basic technique, driving tips, and quite a lot of info about tracks and history for those interested.

Personally, i've followed F1 since I was a kid, watched various champions come and go, and this is best F1 game I've yet played. Codemasters still has plenty of room for improvement, but overall this is a very solid game.

As a parting remark, I'd urge anyone serious about improving their skills to watch a real race or two, and invest in either a gamepad or a wheel. Either can be had cheaply on Ebay or at Gamestop, and both offer vastly superior control to the Keyboard.

Before we really get into the meat of things, it's important to know what exactly you're getting behind the wheel of. A Formula One car, regardless of the era, is just about the most advanced four-wheel vehicle on earth.

Designed purely for racing purposes, they can cost upwards of thirty million Euros each, and though they all are built to a unified set of rules, they're a long way from being created equal and you need to be careful when choosing a team.

All modern F1 cars have approximately 720 horsepower, provided by a 2.4 litre high-angle V-8 situated about a foot behind the driver. The engine is further boosted by an electrical Hybrid drivetrain-the Kinetic Energy Recovery System(KERS) which contributes a further 86 horsepower for seven seconds a lap, and acts like a speed-boost.

The car itself has huge front and rear aerofoils, and numerous small aerodynamic aids. This gives the car incredible downforce and grip at high speed. This grip fades noticeably as you slow down, so be careful the first time you take a slow corner-you'll have significantly less downforce and thus a lot more tendancy to slide.

In summary, a Formula One car accelerates like a Delta-V rocket, stops like a bug hitting a windshield, but becomes progressively harder to drive the slower you go. At top speed they can pull over 6 times the force of gravity, and they're just about the most fun, terror, and excitement you can get on four wheels.

In F1 racing, your ultimate goal is always the driver's world championship. To achieve that goal, you'll need a good car, smarts, strategy, and a cool head. In F1 2013, it's quite possible to win the championship in your rookie year, but it'll take some effort.

The first thing you'll need is a good car. A good car isn't neccesarily the fastest you can get. It's always important to have a car that suits you as a driver, and sometimes that's more important than actual speed per lap. I recommend spending some time in Proving Grounds testing various cars before you choose your Career team, so you at least know what you're getting yourself into.

When choosing a car you should primarily look for how it grips, and how well it brakes and turns. You should also keep an eye on how the car fits you. If the car's fast, but you either don't enjoy, or don't feel comfortable/confident driving it then you're better off somewhere else. At the end of the day, a better front wing can net you a tenth of a second a lap, but confidence can net you a full second.

After the young driver test, and having chosen a team you'll hopefully be feeling quite at home with your car-if not, don't worry, everything's adjustable and we'll get to that soon. For now, your first race, the Australian GP in my home town of Melbourne, should be your priority.

The first thing you'll really have to get a grip on in F1 racing, is the tyres. There's a slew of different types but you've only got to worry about two at any given time. At every race weekend Pirelli chooses two types or "compounds" of tyre to bring, the "option" which is used in qualifying, and the "Prime" which is used for the race itself.

When you're setting your car up, be sure to set it up with the Primes in mind, and do your setup tests on those tyres. There's no point tailoring a car to the Options, sd you'll ideally only be doing 10-20 laps on them across the whole weekend compared to 100 or more on Primes, including most of the race.


The first session you'll find yourself in, is Practice. During practice you can do as many laps as you can fit into the alotted hour, perform Tests to research Upgrades, and change whatever aspects of the car you want to. Use this time wisely-practice is critical.

During practice you'll need to set your car up for the race. nearly everything on an F1 car can be adjusted, to configure the car to best suit the track conditions. You can either let your engineer do it for you, at the cost of having a sub-par setup, or learn to do it yourself.

There's two main kinds of setup, named after how they make the car feel: oversteer, and understeer. Understeer setups are great in the rain, on street circuits, and generally when you're having trouble making your tyres last. Oversteer is great for fast, flowing tracks like Monza, where speed is all that matters.

In basic, you create an understeer setup by slightly softening the suspension, and making sure the Anti-Roll bars are on the same setting at both ends.(EG 8/8) This is then complimented by a very high downforce setting(7 or more) and for street circuits, a little bit of extra ride-height(7/7-keep it even)

This setup works well on street tracks: the higher ride and soft springs let you use the kerbs more, while the high downforce eeks out what grip there is. They also work really well when it rains-that extra downforce, and the soft handling makes the car very controllable even in bad weather.

You create a basic oversteer setup by lowering the car, with the front usually 1 tick lower than the back. The suspension(EG 8F 9R) and anti-roll(EG8F 10R) are both stiffened and complimented with a bit more negative camber at the front and the bare minimum of downforce you're comfortable with.

Because of the low downforce(resulting in high top speed) and uber-aggressive tuning, an Oversteer model will be blisteringly quick around most circuits, at the cost of being somewhat... feral. Using Oversteer takes some getting used to and it's bad for your tyres, but this setup will serve you well on most any dry tracks.

So, you've got your car set up, now for the race itself. Your best shot at winning the race on Sunday, comes on Saturday. Qualifying is absolutely CRUCIAL as even on low difficulties you can easily get stuck behind slower cars you'd normally never be racing. It even happens in real life, so make Qualifying count-it's absolutely vital.

The trick to good qualifying is to do two runs. The first is called a "banker" lap. This is when you drive to about eight tenths of what you're capable of. Push, but not so hard you risk damaging the car-it's all about just having a consistent lap under your belt so that if you wreck your second run, you haven't lost everything.

The second run is, as commentator Martin Brundle once put it "the full Banzai" Go nuts. Everything you've got, some more, and the kitchen sink. Give it everything. Because you've already "banked" a representative laptime, and the race is 24 virtual hours away, there's no consequence for a mistake or accident(unless you hit another car) so go berserk.


Now, the race itself. Starts are tricky, but regardless of track or car it comes down to timing. As you're waiting for the lights to go out, focus: don't be nervous, don't think about the race-just focus on the start, and getting to the first corner alive.

As the lights go out, your car will jump forward and as soon as you're moving, pin the throttle and KERS wide open. Your rear tyres will scrabble around for traction-they always do, so just keep the throttle pinned and your eyes down range. Wait for the car to find it's "footing" (IE stop skidding) before you shift up, otherwise you'll bog down. Time your shifts to the blue lights-timing is everything and you can afford to spend some fuel here.

The next critical moment is the first corner, which is always an absolute madhouse. Hold your line if you can, but don't worry about losing a place or two. Your main goal in turn 1 should always be survival-a crash here can ruin your race, wheras a position or two lost by taking evasive action can always be regained.

The first thing you really need to know about racing, is that it's not about being the fastest-it's about being just fast enough. Races aren't won or lost in the first corner and you can't finish first if you don't finish. Strategy trumps everything in F1, and it's better to be smart than skillful.

The most important part of strategy is to preserve the car. The harder you drive, the more you damage your tyres and the more fuel you use, so only push when you really need to. If you have a lead, then back off. Sure they'll close in, but they'll have to push much harder than you to do so, and that'll just hurt them later on.

The same goes for passing-when you're in the lead you're in control. Make them work for any pass they try and make them stress their car and tyres. Any time you aren't pushing as hard as the other guy, you're getting an advantage. Starting from Pole, preserving your car and maintaining a 2-3 second gap is the easiest way to win.

If you do find yourself behind someone, the key point is to stay cool and I don't just mean you. Whenever you're behind another car, you'll start to overheat your tyres and engine, and lose downforce. I recommend you give one, maybe three goes at overtaking them. If you're not past by the fifth try, back off and try something different-you'll only be hurting yourself by tailing them.

If you just can't quite pass someone on track, there is another good option, it's called an undercut. With an undercut, you'll need to stop usually a lap earlier than them or a lap later. This will give you some clear track to drive in, at which point you'll need to go out and set 1-3 of the fastest laps you're capable of. This will hurt your tyres later on, but it's usually enough to vault you past a pesky slow car.

One of the better new features with F1 2013 is the classics mode, which lets you drive various classics form the sport's history. This little mini-guide is designed to bring you up to speed on just how to drive these. Unfortunately each car has it's own driving needs, and I don't have the space to do them all, so until I have the time to write a full guide, I'll be sticking to the ones you're likely to drive.


1980 Williams FW7C. Introduced: 1979. Engine: Ford "DFV" 3.0L V-8(508 HP @ 11,000 RPM). Trans: 5-speed manual. Drivers: Carlos Reutemann, Alan Jones. World championships: 1980, 1981.

Sleek, sexy, and a superb Ford V-8, the F7 is your ideal entry-point into '80s racing. It was a very successful car in it's day, winning the 1980 world championship with a combination of excellent mechanical balance, high grip and extremely light weight. It's a classic in it's own right, but also a great vehicle to practice '80s style driving in, given it's got way more grip than it has power.

The trick to driving the FW7 is to keep your speed up. That gorgeous bodyshell hides a pair of "venturi tunnels"-aerodynamic parts that produce immense amounts of downforce. To get the most out of this car, keep your speed high and like any '80s car, rev the engine hard. It's a very rewarding car when driven well, able to keep pace with more powerful machines.



1986 Lotus 98T. introduced: 1986. Engine: Renault-Gordini 1.5 L Turbo V-6(1100+ HP @ 5.5 BAR boost) Trans: 6-speed rear-mounted manual. Drivers: Ayrton Senna, Johnny Dumfries.

This is possibly the best looking car in the game. It's also without doubt the most powerful, the scariest, and possibly the most fun. The 98T is hellfire unleashed with an un-regulated turbo engine that could produce well over 1000 horsepower at 5.5 BAR. It's achilles' heal is it's turbocharger, which takes time to work up to full boost. Watch that boost guage.

The key to driving this magnificent, crazy beast is throttle control. Too much throttle and you'll just spin, not enough and the turbo will "lag" and you'll bog down as if you missed a gear. Overall this car is very light and has great balance and handling, but you will need to practice controlling it, or you'll not get much out of it besides spins and frustration. It's worth it-this car is a thunderbolt when driven well.


Ferrari 87/88C. introduced: 1987. Engine: Ferrari 1.5L V-6 turbo(650 HP @ 2.5 BAR) Trans: 6-speed manual. Drivers: Gerhard Berger, Michele Alboreto.

The final '80s car I'll be covering, in the abscence of the McLaren MP4/4 this is the best '88 car in the game. The 88C was a very good design that just happened to appear at the wrong time. Caught out by regulations, and a magnificently good McLaren entry, it never really did as well as it could have.

The 88C is one of the game's 3 turbo cars(along with the two '80s Lotus) and though it only has half the power of the 98T, it's still got explosive, somewhat unpredictable power delivery so you'll need to be employ the same tactics with the throttle-just enough to keep the turbo going. All in all this is a very nice car to drive: great balance and grip, and better than the 98T on the slower tracks.

The '90s cars are a bit different to their '80s counterparts. With the banning the unregulated turbos in 1988, and then turbos altogether in 1989, teams switched to increasingly high-tech engines not too dissimilar to what's still used today, while huge advances in aerodynamics were also made.


1992 Williams FW14B. Introduced: 1991. Engine: Renault 3.5L V-10. Trans: 6-speed semi-automatic. Drivers: Nigel Mansell, Riccardo Patrese. World champion 1992.

This is a personal favourite of mine. The FW14 looks and sounds fantastic, and is one of the game's best handling cars. It's got just about every electronic gadget you can imagine, and is at home on nearly any circuit. Just be careful not to get too confident, as grippy as it is it's not a modern car, and it's reliance on electronics means if it does start to unstick, it'll do so very rapidly.

This car, along with the equally wonderful Ferrari F92, relies heavilly on electronics. This is good and bad: it's good because they're both very quick and very consistent, but also bad because when something does go wrong, it'll happen instantly, with no warning, and potentially wreck the car. Drive it hard and fast, but be wary, especially over the kerbs. That self-levelling suspension can be a curse as well as a blessing.


1996 Williams FW18. Introduced: 1998. Engine: 3.0L Renault V-10. Trans: 6-speed semi-automatic. Drivers: Damon Hill, Jacque Villeneuve. World Champion 1996.

The Williams Fw18 really is a gem. It's got superb handling, tremendous grip and a very powerful engine. Of all the classics this is the most similar to a modern car, as it tends to behave in a fairly similar manner and isn't vastly slower either.

It's not a modern car though, so be careful: it's got a hugely powerful engine, so be gentle with the throttle or you'll be exiting corners sideways on a column of tyre smoke. Braking can be an issue as well, the only real problem with this car being a slight instability under brakes. This can be countered by moving the brake bias forwards, but that reduces the brake's effectiveness. Your call-consistency or raw speed, I tend take the hit and go for safety.


1999 Ferrari F399. Introduced: 1998. Engine: 3.0 Ferrari Tipo 48 V-10. Trans: 7-speed sequential. Drivers: Michael Schumacher, Mika Salo, Eddy Irvine. World champion 1999.

Probably the hardest car in the game to drive, the F399 is superbly fast but very difficult to drive. The aero and engine on this car are just brilliant, and it backs them up with great brakes. The problem is, it doesn't have slick tyres, and tends to struggle for grip even when set up well.

This isn't an easy car to drive. It's great in the fast bends, but in the slower corners without downforce it's a real handful. The tyres don't give much grip at all, so expect a lot of understeer and then snap oversteer when you apply the throttle. This is one car you will need to practice with a lot, though it's extremely competitive once you can handle it.