Are you sick of racing by yourself, on the same track over and over and over in Gran Turismo HD? Do you long for something more? Does your inner Mario Andretti yearn for a real, technical challenge and not another candy-coated street racer? Well you better buckle up because you're going to be racing with the big boys on the PS3 in Formula One Championship Edition. F1CE is set to bring all the action, excitement and realism of the 2006 season of Formula One Grand Prix racing direct to your living room!

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!
F1CE includes all 18 circuits, drivers and teams from the 2006 Formula One season. Racers will get to experience nearly every detail of a Grand Prix racing weekend, even down to the parade lap before the race! Throw in realistic car damage and strict adherence to Formula One rules and you get an experience that might be a little too close to the real thing for the more casual racer. Those hungry for a technical challenge will find themselves right at home in a Formula One driver's seat.

Race options in F1CE cover nearly all the bases. Drivers can choose to jump into a quick race, a single Grand Prix event, enter the Grand Prix World Championship event or put their skills to the test in career mode. Grand Prix events include all practice and qualifying sessions as real Formula One events. The rules that govern the events here are lenient, letting you turn off realistic damage and cut a few corners here and there. However, things get real very quick when you start the Career mode.

Career mode starts you off as a rookie driver at the start of the season. You'll have to complete time trials to get your spot on a race team, but don't think you'll be signing with the Ferrari team right off the bat. You'll have to earn your way up the ranks. Finish well in races and you'll get offers from other race teams. Career mode isn't for the feint of heart. It's the real thing: simply grazing a wall or another racer will damage your car. Get too aggressive and you could end up with a wrecked car and a grand stand view of the rest of the race. Oh, and there's no hitting the restart button. If you're forced to retire from an event, it's on to the next race with no looking back.

Rookies Welcome!
Even though F1 is a hardcore racing simulation—Burnout Revenge, this is not—it's actually quite noob friendly. Thanks to several driving assists, most anyone can pick up F1 actually take it for a spin around the track without ramming into too many walls. However, the real driving starts when you take off the steering and brake assists. Using a virtual racing line can help ease those with their learner's permits find their way around the track. Veterans of racing sims should be able to get by without the virtual line since the wear on the track is enough to tell you how you should approach each turn. In the best of conditions, holding the racing line while weaving around hairpin turns at 150mph is tough. A thunderstorm can turn it into a nightmare. Realistic weather affects not only the slickness of the track but also obscures your vision! The last thing you want to do is lose your composure while hurtling along a slick track at 200 mph; the two just don't mix.

Previous generations had would-be racers squinting at the screen, trying to discern exactly where the next turn was coming. Those of you with Hi-def displays will revel in your jaggie-less racing, but beware of a new threat creeping up in this new generation; realistic lighting! We all hate driving into the sun in our cars in real life, in F1 you'll be cursing the evil yellow-face when you're roaring down a straightaway at 200mph with a hair-pin turn coming up that you can't see because of the sun in your eyes. Of course, as you make your way around the track, you'll find that the shadows can be just as dangerous.

Off to the Races!
Formula One Championship Edition is the racer's racer. It's highly technical, challenging and perhaps more than a bit unforgiving, but thankfully the difficulty is scalable enough that everyone should be able to find their own happy place on the track. Unfortunately, we weren't able to take the online mode for a test drive before the release but it's set to include stat tracking and leaderboards. Sixaxis motion control is supported but doesn't quite emulate a proper steering wheel or even replace thumbstick control. The lack of rumble isn't necessarily a deal breaker but it is sorely missed. Serious racing fans won't want to miss out on the complexity and strategy of Formula One racing. The casual crowd will be able to get their car around the track using the steering and braking assists but will be missing a lot of the depth that Formula One has to offer.

- teal