In the same year that Formula 1 underwent a number of rule changes in an attempt to make it more interesting for fans, Electronic Arts has taken something of a new direction with its video game interpretation of the sport. Rather than merely adding a few token enhancements and updated team information to last year's model, the team at EA's UK studio has incorporated a number of new features into its 2003 game--not the least of which is a career mode spanning four entire Formula 1 seasons.

F1 racing returns to the PS2.

The usual quick race and multiplayer options are still available in F1 Career Challenge, of course, but the game's primary mode of play is undoubtedly the new career mode. Unlike in previous F1 games, in which you'd be able to sit at the front of the starting grid in a scarlet red Ferrari only moments after navigating the options screens for the first time, F1 Career Challenge really forces you to earn your seat. After customizing your driver's appearance using the limited number of options available, you'll be required to pass a series of license challenges before you're even allowed to drive for a team. The tests are divided up into three main categories covering basic driving, cornering, and racecraft. The tests are fewer in number and easier than those in previous F1 games, but they do a good job of ensuring that you're familiar with all the controls.

Once you've obtained your license, you'll receive a number of job offers from teams with vacancies for the 1999 season. Since you're a rookie, the offers will come only from smaller teams at first, and we initially received offers from Benetton, Sauber, and Prost--teams that would be unlikely to see a lot of use in the game if it weren't for the new structure of the career mode.

Upon arriving in Australia for the first race of the season, we were presented with a testing opportunity in addition to the usual options for practice, qualifying, and the race itself. The testing option is quite ingenious--you have three attempts to achieve a respectable time on a flying lap, and, if you succeed, your mechanics will use the telemetry data from your lap to improve your car's performance in advance of the race. To keep things interesting, the testing won't always be quite as straightforward as simply completing a fast lap. Indeed, as early as the third race of the season, a defective rear wing fell off our car at the beginning of each fast lap attempt, forcing us to drive more cautiously every time, since the lack of downforce left our car handling as if it were on ice. It's unlikely that this would ever be allowed to happen on three consecutive laps in real life, of course, but occurrences such as this do keep the testing from becoming monotonous, and the testing itself is a great way to ensure that you have at least some knowledge of the circuit before you attempt to qualify.

Qualification in F1 Career Challenge can be a little tricky because, unlike in real life, you have no way of knowing when congestion caused by other cars might hinder your progress. Since the game doesn't require you to drive "in" and "out" laps, qualification basically consists of four flying laps, with an opportunity to fine-tune your car's settings in between each. After each attempt, you have the option to check out the current standings, and, following a particularly bad qualifying session in wet weather, we were pleased to find that--in the preview build, at least--we were allowed to race, despite failing to record a time within 107 percent of the driver in the pole position.

The game will offer a number of different objectives throughout the career mode.

As in Codemasters' Pro Race Driver, the teams in F1 Career Challenge have fairly realistic expectations for the season ahead. When driving for Sauber, for example, our goal in the first race was simply to finish in 17th place or higher. The team's expectations will change according to your performance as you progress through a season, and your reputation as a driver will change according to how well you perform in relation to expectations after every race. Needless to say, the better your reputation, the better your chance of driving for one of the top teams in the following season, and the better the team you're with, the better the chances you'll have of becoming world champion.

As you progress through a career game, you'll also notice that Electronic Arts has seen fit to incorporate EA Sports cards into its F1 series for the first time. Using a system similar to those found in the Madden and NHL series, the game features 12 cards to collect on each circuit. It's not yet clear what collecting all the cards in a given circuit might unlock, but since earning them can require anything from outqualifying or beating your teammate to winning a race or holding the lap record on a track, the addition of the cards is sure to provide a lasting challenge.