Review Details

Formula D

Product Review (submitted on September 11, 2015):

I'm a casual race fan at best, but Formula One has always been intriguing to me. So, when my sons wanted to try out Formula D, I decided to give it a go.

The game components are nice, for the most part. There's a full set of custom dice, one representing each gear in the race car. The individual player boards representing the car's gear shifting, tires and damage is really well thought-out and made of thick, durable cardboard. The plastic cars are very small and a bit simple, but they have to be small to fit on the track. Making the track fit larger cars would cause some compromises in the track - either making the board unreasonably large, or reducing the number of spaces on the track. This would significantly impact the game, and I'd rather keep the small cars.

The game does a pretty good job of simulating a race, forcing players to make some decisions that are often very difficult. The amount of strategy is higher than I was expecting. You have to decide whether pushing your luck heading into a turn is worth the possible damage you're risking to your tires and vehicle.

This game has a pretty large footprint, so you'll want to make sure you have plenty of space. The race track spans two boards, and each driver needs space for the smaller individual setup - plus space to roll the dice.

We really enjoy Formula D. We have a great time joking around with each other when one of us takes a turn too fast and ends up off the track, or when someone is overly cautious and falls way behind. The fun family time is at least half the enjoyment of the game.