Official F1 Timing App 2011 for iPhone and iPad, is it worth $33?

Formula 1 has always been the pinnacle of the FIA's motor racing roster. It's the most technologically advanced motor racing championship on Earth, with the teams and drivers pushing their cars to the absolute limit every time they hit the track.

Everything on the cars is monitored remotely via a wireless data link; Formula 1 isn't a solo effort by the racing driver by any stretch of the imagination, it's most certainly a team game. From sector split times to track position, the amount of G experienced in the corners to the tire pressure and brake temperature, the team monitors it all from the pit lane wall and in the garage.

But what about the fans? How can they get a bigger slice of the data-pie when it comes to the race? That's where the officially licensed, universal Formula 1 Timing App 2011 for iOS comes in.

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Functionality

By hooking up via the internet to a data server run by the developer, Soft Pauer, the F1 Timing App will either download for later viewing or stream the live racing data, adding to the F1 fan experience. From the initial practice sessions, through qualifying and during the Grand Prix, you get a data stream that rivals what the commentators on the ground at the race track receive. In the mix you get track position monitored by each cars' on-board GPS, which is displayed on a map of the track in real time.

You also get to follow the sector times of each of the cars as well as the lap times and racing position. You can monitor the times of each car, seeing who goes fastest in each sector or lap, and the time gap between each racer and the next car. You can also track the cars as they go into pit, indicated by either PIT being displayed in the cars' readout or by watching the car drive into the pit lane on the real-time track feed. If you're only interested in one racer, then you can follow them as they hurtle round the track, singling in on them and racing around the track with them. Text-based commentary is also included, highlighting important events, crashes and fastest laps, but unfortunately, there isn't any audio feed.

Adding to the experience

Having all that data is nice, but what does it really add to the F1 experience? There are lots of things one can track and infer from the raw data. Increasing sector and lap times in the first third of the race, for instance, can indicate when a car's tires have seen better days and are losing grip, allowing you to predict, in real time, when the racer is likely to pit, but it also gives you insight into how hard a particular driver or car is on their tires. Of course, increased lap times towards the end of the race can also indicate a switch to fuel saving mode, showing that the car is running low on fuel, or the team thinks that the driver has enough of a lead to warrant turning the engine power down to increase its lifespan.

When a car pits, it's often a matter of mere tenths of seconds that make the difference between coming out ahead of the competition or shooting out of the pit lane behind your nearest competitor. The app gives you the gap times between racers, but by tracking the position of the different cars on the real-time track map, you can visually see how close the car behind is, and whether it's likely to be able to overtake when the car in front pits. You can also see where the pitting car is likely to come out in the pack, and whether that's going to include traffic in the form of lapped cars.

Graphics

The layout of the F1 Timing App is dependant on the orientation of your device. In portrait mode, you get all the car times listed by racing order. You can also divide the screen in half with a smaller track map on the bottom half and the car data in a scrollable list in the top half. By rotating your device to portrait, you're presented with a full-screen track map with the car order listed down the left hand side of the screen. Touching the screen-split icon in landscape switches to a full-screen car data display.

When in the track map display, the track can be rotated, tilted, moved around or zoomed in on, allowing you to get a different perspective on the action. When you select a particular racer to follow you can also angle, rotate and zoom the map, essentially giving you the option of a kind of on-board view.

At the bottom of every screen is a toolbar that displays the split screen icon and the race flag color, which indicates if the race is under a green, yellow or red flag (depending on whether there has been a crash or disruption to the race). To the right of that, you get the number of racing laps remaining, which in qualifying counts down the remaining session time. Finally, to the right of that is a race information ticker, which scrolls through with track conditions, driver positions and other at-a-glance information.

Verdict

While the commentators on your local F1 TV feed are likely to give you this kind of information in drips and drabs for the race leaders, or top drivers who have dropped further down the field, having the information upfront and always there really adds to the experience. The track map is useful as well, especially if you're following one particular driver, as you can get a sense of their position on the track in relation to the rest of the pack. It can, however, be a little distracting when you're trying to watch the Grand Prix on the TV, but that's really only the novelty factor when you first start using the app. If you couldn't get to a live TV feed of the race, this app on its own would certainly be a decent substitute, especially if you combined it with your local radio commentary. It's a shame then that the app itself doesn't include an audio commentary feed of its own, but then it's not hard to stream radio on your iOS device if you don't have a traditional radio handy.

The big question is, is this app worth US$32.99? It's certainly not cheap, and if Soft Pauer does what it has in the past, releasing a new version of the app each year and making you buy it again to get the next season, then you're looking at $33 for just 20-odd races (minus Bahrain) if you buy it at the start of the season.

It's a universal app, so it'll work on both your iPhone and iPad if you have them, but if I'm honest, I think $33 is a little too much for an app like this. Yes, I understand it's more of a service than an app, and it's great to have the information there, but I don't think it adds 33 bucks' worth of value to your watching experience if you have a decent TV feed already. Having said that, if you can't get enough of Formula 1 and you go to races in person, then what's $33? In fact, the app might make the live experience even better, because for the most part, you won't get the stats and information that you would do if you were watching TV.

So it comes down to this: does having $33 in your pocket make a difference to your life, and are you a big enough fan of F1 to use it religiously? If the answer is no to the first and yes to the second, then you won't be disappointed with the F1 Timing App for 2011. Recommended for major F1 fans then, but for the rest of us, not worth the cash.

F1 2011 Timing App CP [iTunes] - $32.99

Put off by the $33 price of entry? There is a free alternative, just for the iPhone, in the form of the Formula1.com 2011 app. It's not as detailed and requires registration, but it's a whole $32.99 less expensive.