Very few of the inner workings of
F1 2001 were changed for the transition to PS2. This is good, because the PS version was very much not broken. Some fine-tuning for this release includes a more defined way to choose how you set up the car. Before, you could pretty much change anything, but now there are 3 levels of detail. Basic gives options like tire choice, gearbox, and suspension. These all make sense to most racing fans, and drastically affect how the car performs. Medium and Advanced levels start to bring in elements like the foils and stabilizers that control aerodynamic response in the car, and also result in more discreet performance changes. If you really know your stuff, this is great, but most of us can get by with the Basic settings. Setting up the car eventually takes a back seat to trying out the track. A number of settings outside the car make a huge difference in the racing experience, including weather conditions, damage, and things like penalties or engine failures. Most often, in the Championship and GP Mode, all features outside the car are set automatically, but there's plenty of replay value in just trying different weather combinations on familiar tracks. Analog control is reliably smooth, but if ever I would consider buying a steering wheel, it'd be for this baby.
F1 Championship Season 2001 is truly perfection, and although the audience may be somewhat small for this niche, don't miss a chance to try this if you own a PS2. Apart from the loss of Scenario Mode, EA Sports didn't miss a thing in the translation, and you won't see a better precision racer for a long time on PS2.