WATCH: Sony's PS2-era Formula One Games - As Good As We Remember?

f1 2005 and f1 2006 are the goat of ps2 era in f1 games

Since playing Grand Prix 3 on PC, I've never experienced anything better in terms of gameplay, even when playing with a gamepad.
If the game were remastered for Windows 10 and kept the three car settings panels (without changing anything else !), I'd buy it right now !
Since F1 2019, which I still own, I've given up on the sport or this class of car.

I played F1 2005 & F1 2006 a lot back in the PS2 days.

I had and played both 05 and 06 but somehow I have no memories about them. GT4 just dominated racing on the PS2 for me. I weirdly have way closer memories from the EA/Visual Science F1 2000 for PS1.

Going back F1 grand prix from 2007 a few months ago was very pleasing. It was so ahead of it's time with all the podium celebrations, and handling was so much better than it is now, even with the weird controls

I first got interested in F1 when I discovered the F1 95 game on the PS1. Was hooked from then on and bought each seasons game right up through to F1 championship edition on the PS3. It's all I played, they were such great memories. I wish they would remaster some of those old games, but now as a purely PC gamer would love to see those old f1 titles modernised.

FS7 said:

I played F1 2005 & F1 2006 a lot back in the PS2 days.

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2006 most f1 game i played in my life in psp and ps2 what a legendary game and i unlocked every car and the special track

pierre lavis said:

Since playing Grand Prix 3 on PC, I've never experienced anything better in terms of gameplay, even when playing with a gamepad.
If the game were remastered for Windows 10 and kept the three car settings panels (without changing anything else !), I'd buy it right now !
Since F1 2019, which I still own, I've given up on the sport or this class of car.

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GP3 made for some great memories. VRC and RSS have done brilliant jobs bringing the machinery to modern sim racing, but unfortunately AC's abysmal AI bring down the offline experience. In my book, Reiza's F-Ultimate Gen 2 in AMS2 is the best all around hybrid formula 1 racing experience to be had offline as of their latest rounds of updates. Drives well, AI can race wheel-to-wheel more often than not, FCYs and safety cars can change a race, pitstops and strategy is a consideration.

EA's F1 games have nailed the atmosphere and career aspects, but I just can't jive with the driving experience on offer. I get why it is the way it is, folks with full rigs, VR, triples and "hardcore" sim ambitions are the minority relative to their audience...just wish we could spread that license over multiple developers/publishers.

I liked Infogrames' Grand Prix Challenge on PS2 (released 2002 in Europe, 2003 elsewhere) which covered the 2002 season. It might've been the only F1 game I had on the platform anyway. It would be fun to take a look at it now. There sure was an abundance of choice back in the day.

Well if I've played any F1 titles on PS2 then for me, yeah, they're forgotten.

I loved F1'97 on PS1 - back then it felt like a simulation (of sorts) and Murray commenting blew my mind. I think nothing on PS2 appealed due to (as the video states) the arcadey nature - so I skipped right through until Formula One Championship Edition on PS3 which had the allure of being a next-gen launch title. After dabbling with F1 mods in rFactor (1) for a while after I craved an official F1 title, and I remember being genuinely excited when Codemasters obtained their deal so we could finally get a dedicated big-budget title for once. That said, despite me owning nearly every CM F1 title, there's only been 2013 (still PS3 era) that peaked the franchise for a good while, until '23 and particularly '24 started to get close to delivering a great F1 experience (especially in VR).

Maybe it's my personal preference to keep looking forward in life and not backward, but yeah, there's no fond nostalgia from the PS2 F1 era - I think mainly because F1 is obviously a sport built on the world's most advanced car technology, and simplifying all that down to arcade racers meant losing F1's true identity. I mean, who would want to play Mario Kart in full-on simulation form? Ok that could end up being some fun, but it wouldn't be Mario Kart anymore.

Besides, I was too busy back then playing Gran Turismo 3 & 4, Burnout 3 & Revenge, Need for Speed Underground & Most Wanted, Midnight Club LA, Test Drive Unlimited, TOCA Race Driver 2, Flatout, and Wipeout Fusion to name a few. Now those I'll always remember.

pierre lavis said:

Since playing Grand Prix 3 on PC, I've never experienced anything better in terms of gameplay, even when playing with a gamepad.
If the game were remastered for Windows 10 and kept the three car settings panels (without changing anything else !), I'd buy it right now !
Since F1 2019, which I still own, I've given up on the sport or this class of car.

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Good times those were. Having had all the games from the Gran Prix series, and having first assembled a flight yoke with a mouse placed right where the hands would be to allow for changing, even just with Grand Prix 1 it became much more meaningful. Then I connected two PCs, and with the first racing wheels , I managed to drive all my friends crazy. In my house (not to boast), there was a line to play; no one had ever seen anything like it. As I said, good times!

Somehow I missed this article, but nevermind, better late than never.

I played the hell out of the original PS1 Formula 1 game - in fact I bought it together with my very first wheel and pedal set - A Mad Catz wheel with bungee cord, errrm, FFB.

However come 1998 Formula 1 games on Playstation had a big problem, two in fact, Gran Turismo and Colin McRae Rally both of which offered a more immersive driving experience. Those two game franchises pushed the F1 games well in the the backseat for me.

Even today I find driving Formula cars to be somewhat meh, even with good mods in AC or rF2.

Anyway if you're interested in going back in time and playing these titles, but you no longer have your original hardware, or you're simply curious about how sim racing on PS was back then, then I can highly recommend the following:-

DuckStation for PS1 emualation.
PCSX2 for PS2 emulation.

With PCSX2 you can pretty much use any wheelbase and pedals with FFB on titles that have wheel support, It's likely possible with DuckStation but without FFB.

Now, you're almost certainly going to have to "sail the high seas" to obtain these titles. Even if you have the original media this is likely going to be more convenient. Personally I have no moral issues with this for games that are effectively abandonware and can no longer be purchased, but you may feel different.

It'll be down to you to find the titles, as for obvious reasons I can't tell you where to locate them. However I would recommend that wherever possible try to get the US NTSC, or J NTSC if you speak Japanese, versions as these versions will lock to 30/60FPS. The PAL versions will only do 25/50FPS.