As in past titles, owners of F1 2012 have the opportunity of driving around the newest track of this season ahead of the actual race (which will take place in November, during the weekend of Friday 16th-Sunday 18th). You've probably had plenty of time already to drive around it. But in case you haven't, or, for whatever reason, you just haven't acquired F1 2012, we've taken it upon ourselves to drive around the latest creation of the controversial designer Hermann Tilke.
A mix of everything... again. But it somehow works.
Well, there isn't a corkscrew. But that's the only thing missing, really. It's not wihout reason that many people criticize Tilke's designs as they feel they're devoid of personality.
CotA is no exception to this rule. But, surprisingly, the elevation changes at some points help give the circuit a few fun turns where racing action will surely be interesting. Turn 1, for example, has a completely blind entry and apex. You won't really know if you've missed the apex until you're in front of it. Also remarkable is the pressence of a three apex turn (Turn 16-17-18) that, at least in-game, doesn't look as hard to nail as the one in Istanbul.
And despite all this, the circuit still looks fun to race, as there's a constant feeling of chasing your rivals waiting for the next slow turn for an overtake opportunity taking advantadge of the huge amount of tarmac available on all of them.
A lap around the Circuit of the Americas in F1 2012
As with the Buddh International Circuit in F1 2011, we won't really know how well Codemasters have nailed this circuit before the actual F1 race takes place. Much less if the compounds selected and the DRS zone will be exactly the same, or how fa off are the in-game times compared to the real deal.
This track rewards smooth driving over everything else. The better you nail the apex on those slow turns, the more you'll cut down your lap times, as most of them are followed by fast sections. In fact, it might be a great track to practice in-game for players that feel they need some more experience, as opposed to Yas Marina, which is quite more technical and doesn't allow for as much error as this track (and still come out with a clean, valid lap time).
We'll see how popular this track becomes over the next year (while in 2012 it will only host the Formula 1 race, apparently it wil be hosting the V8 Supercars and American Le Mans series in 2013 as well) in the real world, but surely online action at Tilke's newest creation will be popular in the coming months among the F1 2012 community.
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If for some reason you've missed it (perhaps you've just landed on Earth, have been living under a rock, or just suddenly popped into existence, who knows), F1 2012 is already available on the usual platforms (PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3).
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