Racing titles such as Burnout and Need for Speed have allowed players to experience both speed and sensational smash ups to varying degrees from the safety of their home with arcade experiences that deliver plenty of excitement. For other racing fans, titles such as Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport, and those based on NASCAR bring another degree of competitive flavor with a greater emphasis on real world racing. Feeding part of that hunger for a realistic racing experience is Studio Liverpool's Formula One series. I wasn't sure what to expect from their latest title, as the simulation mentality can be intimidating to newcomers whose closest experience with an F1 car might be as an unlockable in Burnout, but plenty of options to help the player made it a relatively painless session in F1 driver's ed. Still, while F1 can be a fun game, it's not for everyone even when it finally comes together.

F1 Championship Edition for PlayStation 3 is based on the 2006 season of the sport which can be rewritten by the player as they start up a career of their own. For the fans, the official racers, their cars, and the tracks that will take them from Indianapolis to Shanghai are all there adding a remarkable degree of authenticity to the title. Outside of career mode, fans can race as any of their favorites in a quick race, time trial, or a Grand Prix event. But in creating a profile for the game and in building their own avatar for the career mode, they'll be able to participate in a full season of racing as they take part in the try outs, picking a team to join if they make the cut, and in racing against seasoned veterans.

At first, F1 might seem to be a difficult game for newcomers to grasp, although there are plenty of options to help out the newbie player with how an F1 car handles and what to expect on the track. Racing options such as Time Trials, Quick Race, and the Grand Prix Weekend offer plenty of opportunities to accidentally smash up a car or end up in last without taking the additional risks that Career Mode will offer. Fortunately, there are some learning aids--training wheels in the form of automatic braking, the option to toggle off damage modeling, and removing penalties are among the game's settings. Much of this works exactly as advertised and with the help I soon managed to put up a respectable showing in eighth place. As the player grows in experience, these aids can be discarded, switching to a fullly manual transmission mode, turning off the steering assistance, or removing the virtual race line that shows the best path along a track. By default, all of these options are enabled so veterans may want to dive into the options right away to change these if they already know what to expect. In fact, I suggest turning the steering assistance off regardless, simply because it can cause you to have to fight the steering wheel, creating bad situations where the control is to blame.

F1 CE can be driven with either the d-pad or the analog stick on the Sixaxis. It can also be configured as a wireless wheel. While the car handling wasn't bad with the traditional solution, using it as a motion-based substitution for a wheel was not as exciting. It will mainly serve to give rumble fans ammunition for their argument that Sony should have included the rumble feature in its PS3, and will likely urge others to invest in Logitech's supported steering wheel and pedal setup to get a more authentic feel. Some more tactile feedback while watching my car rub dangerously close to another F1 racer, or in hanging onto a hairpin turn while skirting a gravel embankment, would have added to the experience. While Monster Games' Excite Truck (Wii) worked just fine with its take on wireless action, it is an arcade racer in which arm twisting fits in with the offbeat fun of its gameplay. In trying to weave in and out of traffic in F1 with the Sixaxis, working with the light, tiny controller in alongside the conservative action onscreen felt awkward.

After the initial learning curve, there are plenty of other technical options to experience and the game will guide the player through each of them. These include the ability to tweak many of the details of your car, from deciding what tires to use on the track after checking the weather to adjusting how much fuel you want to put in to stay light and fast. Many factors, such as weight and traction, will play key roles in how the car performs, and the player is able to influence them all. Hardcore racers who seek the perfect racing machine should go right straight into the garage, which is filled with carspeak covering many of the available options. These range from adjusting the PSI in the tires to setting the 'toes' that adjust how quickly the tires warm up during the race for better grip.

Newbies will want to stick to using Car Evolution as they get the hang of things. Available only before the player starts a Grand Prix event, Evolution works by automatically adjusting several key propertites, allowing the player to run with certain settings to see how they feel. By running laps with the recommended settings, the car can be modified and set up for the upcoming qualifiers and, eventually, the Grand Prix race itself. Although it is time consuming, it is actually quite helpful in several ways, not the least of which is in getting a car adjusted to your play style along with free practice on the track on which you will compete next. This is particularly useful during Career mode.

Career mode is where the player's custom racer will be taking his chance against the best that the world has to offer. During Career mode, the player will watch the season and the development of his or her racer through a PDA that tracks news as it happens, along with any accomplishments that the player has achieved. Before the player's career can actually start, however, he or she will need to try out for a team and see if they can make it into a starting spot. I was able to place high enough to be considered a second racer, which at least put me on the track to participate in races. Performing less well might land you as a test driver, which is somewhat less exciting. The recruitment tryouts also vary in their requirements, although the same three teams are always looking for a driver. The recruitment tryouts vary in their requirements. One team might ask for the best lap time in three laps around the track, while another might want to see the best time in a single loop, and they mix up these requirements with every new career started. Fortunately, the player can always repeat the race and try for a better time, or quit and start a new career if they don't like the kind of runs that the three teams are asking them to perform.

Turn the page for more on Formula One Championship Edition.