Review of Formula D Circuits: Circuits 1: Sebring & Chicago, Circuits 2: Hockenheim & Valencia, Circuits 3: Singapore & The Docks, Circuits 4: Grand Prix of Baltimore & Buddh, Circuits 5: New Jersey & Sochi, Circuits 6: Austin & Nevada Ride

Blurb from the publisher: 'Circuits 1: Sebring & Chicago

Circuits 6: Austin & Nevada Ride'

What you get: Your USD 29,99 or equivalent will buy you any given Circuit package for the Formula D game line. For those not in the know, the game can accommodate from two to ten players. It is fair to say that the game lasts an hour, even though that depends on the number of players, the number of laps, and the chosen circuit.

Each Circuits package is sold separately, and includes two tracks. The Circuits are autonomous; no purchase has a prerequisite. All tracks have the same size as the tracks in the basic game, namely 98 x 66 cm, and come at the same high-quality, high-endurance cardboard.

Gameplay: These expansions are about circuits pure and simple; there are no additional rules, materials or components. Depending on the package one buys, he gets access to either F1 circuits, other car racing circuits like the one where the 12 Hours of Sebring (an endurance race) takes place, or made-up circuits like The Docks. The circuits are not just a figment of someone's imagination. They imitate the shape of the real world circuit they represent (if there is one), trying to convey the feeling of driving down that track.

The strong points: The quality of the material is on par with the basic game. Art-wise some maps have a more realistic feel to them, while others, especially in the higher numbers, reach back to tradition and the more cartoonish style of Formule Dé, the game's previous iteration.

One doesn't buy the circuits for the art, however; he buys them for the gameplay. I am very satisfied in the variety that these circuits have to offer. I playtested them on 6-vehicle, 3-lap games, and I am extremely satisfied with the results. There are quick races, slow races, and extremely technical races. In the most obvious example, not every circuit will allow you to go to sixth gear. In some it will be almost impossible, while in others it will be a well- (or poorly) placed bet. Some finish in around an hour and a half, and I am talking six vehicles and three laps here. India's Buddh and the Russian Sochi are for Formula D what Monza was for Formule Dé; a take-no prisoners race where tires, as well as the engine, are the most important aspects of your car configuration. That is the opposite of circuits like Singapore which allows only one chance for real speeding, while its succession of turns and its mighty 3-stop Carlton Millenia will put your risk management plans to the test. One can keep being lucky only for that long.

I recommend 'gaming' each circuit alone for a minute before playing the game. In other words,run something like an informal/freeform qualification round to get the feel of the circuit, to see what gear changes the circuit requires, where bottlenecks are bound to happen. Such a chilled piloting tour will allow you to have an informed opinion about how to setup your vehicle for the race. If everybody is playing with the same setup you don't need to do that, yet I still recommend it. Pilots know the tracks they are racing after all.

If you didn't like the two initial circuits of Formula D but still wish to give the game a serious chance to win you, I wholeheartedly recommend Circuits 4. Nothing can make the game more enticing than a circuit that continuously allows for the use of the 6th gear. Baltimore itself, even though it is considerably slower, still falls on the medium range when it comes to duration. A fast and a technical circuit is arguably what one needs in order to appreciate the game better.

The weak points: I am perplexed about the approach towards circuit publication. The track matches might make sense from a publisher's perspective, they don't make much sense however from a gamer's and motor enthusiast's perspective who likes a particular aspect of the sport. Personally I like F1, yet I don't care that much about endurance racing. I would have been much happier with focused releases, where the two tracks cover a single type of motorsports. Thus, some releases would have related exclusively to F1, others exclusively to endurance racing, while other ones yet could be fantasy tracks; bonus points if these were designed by actual race track designers with rampant imaginations. The way things stand tracks are mixed in an extremely unintuitive way. Even more so, the blurbs themselves don't go the extra mile to convince a fan of a racing style (e.g. F1) of how cool it would be to run their vehicles on a track designed for another style. This could have been handled a lot better.

I am extremely surprised that the game has had only six Circuits releases in nine years of existence, meaning 12 tracks plus the initial two in the basic game. I have no access to the Circuits' commercial success. Were it up to me however, the first thing I would have opted for would be to cover all 21 F1 Grands Prix, along with the most famous endurance races. That latter part would have probably required certain adaptations and a fair degree of design innovation, seeing how Le Mans, the holy grail of them all, is almost 14 km long with some serious straight parts. This isn't however something the designers can't handle, and who wouldn't want to have Le Mans as a possibility? I also recognize that such a proliferation of tracks might easily bankrupt a publishing company, but hey, I can still dream about what I would have liked to see, can't I? If you like racing tracks and have the wallet for it, hunting for the tracks of the game's previous iteration can pay off quite the dividend. They are OOP and not as easy to find, yet they covered quite a few of the F1 Grands Prix that are still part of the world championship.

At USD 30 a pop, these tracks are quite expensive. I really like the game, and I enjoy trying different tracks. If on the other hand you like one type of track more than another (e.g. you prefer the technical over the fast) I definitely recommend to check the map layouts before you buy. You don't need to be a motorhead to understand what is going on. A simple glance on internet pics of how the map looks like can be quite informative, if one understands how the game works.

Conclusion: There is no way Formula D can stand the test of time without additional tracks. Depending on what your preferences, some of these tracks will prove to be more enjoyable than others. Get those you wish, all of them even, and create the championship of your dreams.

For more info on the Formula D Circuits, visit Asmodee at https://www.asmodee.com.

Shameless plug: for more gaming news and content (including, for example, pictures of the Formula D Circuits that I am unfortunately not able to upload on RPG.net for the time being), and to better keep track of my reviews, subscribe to my Antonios S facebook and twitter page.