Highly enjoyable
Featuring all the cars, drivers and circuits from the 2000 F1 season, this game allows you to truly live the experience of a demanding F1 season (well, aside from the millionaire lifestyle and gorgeous women), with challenging, exciting races.
The graphics are of good quality, though at the time of release you really needed a top-end machine to really get the most out of it. On modern machines though, it looks brilliant. The sound to is realistic, with ITV-F1 presenter Jim Rosenthal giving voiceovers for the championship tables and introducing each Grand Prix. A nameless voice also talks to you over the cars radio while you are out on the track informing you of dangers on the circuit, when to pit etc. The sound effects are realistic though the sounds during crashes are a bit weak.
The cars all handle realistically, though at times a little too realistically. Playing with a keyboard means that you will have to use a few of the driver aides to have any success, as the throttle is so powerful without them that your car will simply spin as you try and accelerate.
Crashes are spectacular, however the damage modelling isn't particularly realistic, and short of losing wheels, wings and generally looking battered the cars don't sustain any truly severe damage. When they are damaged they handle badly which adds realism to the experience, though it does not mean they are impossible to drive. I have won GP's completing 40+ laps with no wings and two wheels hanging off for example. This is probably due to the weakness of the computer drivers. They have a tendency to be overly aggressive and to not be particularly fast. Even with the difficulty turned up they aren't really a serious challenge over long race distances.
You choose the race distance, as a percentage of the real-life race distance. I personally always choose 100% and keep a 2 hour slot free for a truly realistic experience. Each circuit is unique and very accurately modelled in the game and some at full race distance are incredibly challenging. You can also use a quick race mode whereby you do not take part in practice or qualifying, but simply choose your start position and go into the race. This makes for an interesting challenge if you deliberately start last and try and work your way through the field as quickly as possible.
On the whole this is a solid game, and caters well for its market. It could be improved though, and I long for the day when a current day F1 driving sim game is released, as with today's technology it could be spectacular. For now though I shall continue to be happy with F1 2000, and would recommend it to fellow F1 fans.