F1 2011 is Codemasters' second officially licensed Formula 1 title, delivering a number of season oriented updates such KERS and DRS, as well as co-op multiplayer, 16 human grid places in online races and the introduction of the safety car. The question on everyone's mind is: are these improvements enough to warrant another $50 purchase just 12 months after the excellent F1 2010?

I've had a bit of a system upgrade since last year and to my pleasant surprise F1 2011 was very accommodating. Without any prompting the correct triple monitor resolution was selected for my three Alienware AW2310 displays, as was the 120Hz refresh rate. The menus are intelligently presented on the middle screen, and the game automatically switches to span all of them come race time. Importantly, the HUD remains centered while in the car too.

The default field of vision is far too high across three screens, however. Without any options to change it in game, you'll have to manually tinker with each car's camera file. Thankfully, camera modifications created for F1 2010 still work as expected, so a quick Google search had me sitting back in the cockpit view happily in no time at all.

My only real gripe regarding configuration is the unchangeable degree of rotation for steering wheels. With racers such as iRacing you can leave your G25 or G27 on 900 degrees in the Logitech profiler and let the game do the rest; your real world movement always matches that of the car you're driving. Not so in F1 2010, nor this successor. With a bit of playing around I found that setting my profiler to 210 degrees matched it up nicely with the wheel range seen on screen.

Once in and racing, with all graphics settings on ultra, I was ashamedly a little unimpressed by the visuals. It's not that it looks bad by any means - F1 2011 looks every bit as good as F1 2010 did. But perhaps that's where the disappoint lies; there is no noticeable improvement when I hoped there would be. Make no mistake, it's still a great looking game, especially so in wet weather conditions.

Kicking off my career, the format and options available to me encouraged interest. The race calendar and laptop facility instill a sense of ownership and involvement. Akin to Dirt 2's caravan, there's nothing ground breaking here, but the changes since F1 2010 are certainly welcome.

The voice acting across the board is hit-and-miss but passable. The questions presented during your interviews along with the list of selectable answers are as ambiguous as ever, yet do add a nice touch to the season experience anyway. The sound is generally superb, with the roar of the engine and the wind whipping past your helmet being nothing less than exhilarating. My only wish is that they worked on implementing race commentary for this instalment.

Looking towards the meat of the game, the racing, it's obvious that the AI has leapt ahead. Competitor drivers seem more dynamic, driving and reacting far more like a human might, even if it still isn't quite there. In your own cockpit, it feels like progress has been made with handling too. Arguably, the car feels better, with a rework of the suspension model. The Pirelli tyres also create considerable difference from last year's title. The cliffs and peaks of the changed compounds create not only a different drive, but scenarios that force conscious management of your car and put a greater emphasis on strategy.

Beyond all else, there are three things that make this year's F1 title really enjoyable: DRS, KERS and the safety car. The drag reduction system lets you move the rear wing to alter your downforce and close the gap on cars directly ahead, while the kinetic energy recovery system essentially acts as a turbo boost. Apart from being technologically cool, this mechanic would typically only ever be seen in arcade racers - it promotes exciting, fun racing situations.

Using those two functions on track generates a new level of appreciation for how busy these drivers are inside that cockpit. It's really quite tricky hitting the DRS at just the right moment, while maintaining control of your rear-end as you up-shift. It's not much easier managing KERS and ensuring the best apex is still found after charging up a straight beside a competitor's car. Of course, inside a real car they're managing another dozen buttons, knobs, and padals as well.

The third and final feature that really impressed is the aforementioned safety car. Your speed limit is enforced while queued, but you do have full control of the car to try and keep your tyres warm, and manage the gap ready for the race restart. More important than the safety car scenario itself is the race immersion that it adds. Out of no where, a high speed collision in front of you rips the field apart. A safety car is deployed as you quickly try to work out who's out and who you're still racing. It's a "shit just got real" moment that results in the frantic re-assessment of position and contemplation of strategy options. Like a real race, it can completely change the face of it, and often does.