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A modern Formula One car has more in common with a UFO than it does with the hatchback parked in your driveway. With an engine that revs to an artificially limited 18,000rpm, an electrically powered boost button that delivers an extra 80bhp on demand and enough aerodynamic downforce that it could, legend has it, drive along the ceiling, it's stretching the definition of car to the point of distension.The five 1980s-era vehicles that are introduced in F1 2013 are spectacular too, with their fat slick tyres and the occasional monstrous turbocharger. The difference is that there's an identifiable thread, however tenuous, between their mechanics and those found in more conventional automobiles. Hamilton and his peers have to wield their cars like scalpels, whereas these are vehicles that beg to be hustled and danced around corners - something that translates beautifully through a controller.
The inclusion of vintage machinery is a welcome one, but also a necessary one. The yearly Formula One games are forced into lock-step with the sport and this season has been one of virtual stasis. For the first time since Codemasters assumed control of the license, there hasn't been a single new circuit added to the calendar and the cars are essentially identical. Had F1 2013 settled for just replicating the current season, it would have felt like a cynical update.
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