IMMERSION: Formula One, two thousand thirteen is a driving game, so it gets some immersion from the familiarity of the experience. Beyond that, the game has several camera modes with various degrees of immersion to be obtained from them. The car cockpits are well rendered, as are the exteriours of the cars in those modes. Audio in game seems accurate enough, though it might not be completely accurate or unique to each car and aficionados of the sport might notice and lose immersion from it. Visually, the experience seems immersive enough. Cars seem well rendered, but environments are not necessarily wonderfully well rendered. The in game menus are functional and not unattractive, although they don't impart immersion. Pre-race menus are not bad either. It is possible to tweak the cars to player specific desires in a variety of ways, which fans of the sport will enjoy. One more note before we move on. The way everything comes together in a race day is impressive, the fewer assists the player uses, the more the game forces the player into an artificially enhanced immersion. (12/15) Only starting our own fictional team and having personal liveries could make it more immersive. As it is, cars are just cars, the player doesn't experience a sense of agency over the car itself.
DIFFICULTY: Difficulty in the game is very adjustable, almost everything can be extensively tweaked. Opponent AI is the only exception, though it probably does get tweaked, it's just not declared. It is highly suggested that players instead of using the gross adjustment, use the "custom settings," option as the difficulty settings can make races seem impossible to win when the assists interrupt too aggressively. Braking assist is likely the chief offender in this category, sometimes seeming to reduce acceleration drastically, to the point that several positions are lost. It is possible to compensate by adjusting the car setup so it is high speed and low downforce, the simple slider is the suggested way of doing this (10/15) Good options, but not great and having to compensate for aggressive interference pulls it down.
LASTING APPEAL: With a variety of game modes including classics mode, which is deep enough to support it's own game, this game will keep players going for a while. Players are encouraged to increase the difficulty on themselves. It won't keep the player going as long as a GT racing game, but it has staying power that should keep it in player collections. (9/15)
OVERALL (10.5/15) a good game that offers good immersion, but not as good in any other category. Good for a driving game, just don't binge play.