Catalogue No. -  GS-9035

The very first and last real formula 1 game for the Sega Saturn.  So it's a good job that this is one excellent game or is it?  Well, actually, no.  What could have been a pretty cool arcade style F-1 game is just average I'm afraid to say.  It's been a very long time since I last played this title but from memory I remember it ran at something like 20fps until you switch off the "live view" box in the corner of the screen.  Switch that off and this game does actually run at a fairly nice frame rate.

Control wise, F-1 Live Information is more arcady than simulation which is no bad thing.  Even the graphics look more arcady and this is the ONLY Sega Saturn racing game to feature a 3D sky.  All other racing games on the Saturn and PlayStation come to mention it have 2D images in the background that scroll left or right.

So, this game looks ok for it's time and plays ok but here is the major killer to any F-1 game with an official license (which this has) and that is the lack of circuits.  There are only 6!  Yes, SIX!!!  And out of those 6, only 3 are real F-1 circuits, Suzuki, Monaco and Hockenheim.  The other 3 courses are all Sega Motorland courses, which are fun in their own right but I would have preferred more real life courses.  This killer of only having 3 official F-1 circuits to race around is what really kills this game if you are looking for a good F-1 racer.  On the other hand, if you are looking for an arcade style racer, well.... there's enough variations of play and customization to keep most people happy.

On a side note, you are probably wondering why this game is called F-1 "Live Information".  That's because in this Japanese release there is a full running commentary of your race provided by famous Japanese F-1 commentators.  Of course, this commentary was completely removed from the western release.