It is the first Formula One game developed by Studio Liverpool to contain a 'Career Mode', which allows players to work their way through the Formula One teams over the course of a fixed number of seasons[4] (albeit a repeat version of the 2004 Formula One World Championship each time). Players start out testing in a generic Formula One car, and if they are doing well enough in the test they are offered a contract by a small team such as Minardi. Players then work their way up the grid throughout their 'career' through a mixture of good tests and impressive race performances. This game also had Net Play available.
This is the only F1 game in the series to be changed in terms of gameplay after the original release. In the original version, there was a bug which during the timing of AI pitstops all the field crawled at pit lane speed, then they sped up once a few of the AI cars had made their stop, and it was common to be following a car which suddenly came to a halt and the player would end up hitting their rear and ending their race. Studio Liverpool responded to the fans' concerns about this issue and fixed this bug upon the release of the Platinum version.
Steve Boxer of The Guardian praised the graphics, the car handling, and the inclusion of all eighteen tracks but criticized the difficulty of the career mode and the lack of help in the car setup.[10] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 30 out of 40.[7]
References
^"Formula One 04". Gameplanet. Archived from the original on October 24, 2004. Retrieved May 24, 2024. Release date: 6th August, 2004. List price: AU$99.95.