Creating a Formula 1 game that suits everyone must be a nightmare for a developer. Getting the balance right between a game that’s accessible, while also catering for eSports drivers who want to have the challenge of more real cars, means that there’s literally no chance of an F1 game being right for everyone as soon as you load it up. Whether people mean it when they say they want it to feel just like racing a real F1 car is up for debate – very few people in the world have the skills to do that – but you need something that covers every part of the spectrum. F1 24 does a decent job of this, and while it’s clear the early handling model was wonky and the top difficulty is still a bit low for those top end gamers (nobody should be winning in a Sauber…) a few updates later and we’ve got another very decent F1 game. This year, however, unless you put yourself in the “F1 Fanatic” bucket I’m not convinced there’s enough to warrant an upgrade from F1 23…
Quite often the intrigue from one season to the next is new drivers coming into the sport, or drivers switching teams for a new challenge. For the first time ever though (and through no fault of Codemasters, obviously), there were no lineup changes between the 2023 and 24 seasons, so we have to look elsewhere for the new things to enjoy. In this year’s game it’s the career mode that’s had a bit of an overhaul and gives us the most to talk about, although some new handling and car behaviours have also been getting people talking.
Compared to last year most of the game modes are the same, with the same kind of online racing available again. If you’d spent time working on your safety rating in F1 23 and didn’t want to start with the chaos again, you needn’t worry – this year’s game will pick up where you left off and let you start in the same lobbies you were in previously. Nice! You’re obviously beholden to the others on the track around you in terms of how clean your racing will be, but that’s the same with any racing game online. The races I’ve taken part in worked really nicely, with very little lag and a seemingly stable connection overall. Again, you’ll see different results depending on yours and others’ connections, but the infrastructure is there and seems to be reliable and solid.
Away from all that though is the improved career mode, letting you create your own character and team to build up into a championship winner. Or drop your character into an existing team if you like, or even take over a real life driver and take their career off in a new direction. We’ve not had this full set of options before, so it’s a pretty neat addition. Reckon you can save Perez’s Red Bull future? Want to see how Piastri would’ve got on at Alpine if the whole Twitter debacle has turned out differently? Maybe see if Verstappen can still win championships in a Williams. As you progress through a season, other teams will instigate secret meetings to try and win your services for the following season; follow these through and there’s a good chance of being offered a drive at the team of your dreams… or you can choose to walk away and remain loyal to your existing team, seeing if you can build them up to become even better than where you’ve been offered a job. Where you take your career is entirely up to you, and it’s a great way to sink serious numbers of hours into your racing.
A lot was said early on about the handling model as well, but Codemasters have issues a number of fixes which have really sorted the issues, leaving this to be one of the more accessible F1 games for a while. If you want to turn off all the assists and drive like a Pro, you can do. Or you can still bring in automatic braking, driving lines and all the usual driving aids you might look for. Personally I’ve found the more grippy cars great to drive, and with slightly reduced traction control in my personal settings there’s still some finesse needed coming out of corners which can make or break your lap times. The AI drivers are aggressive without being ridiculous, and with some longer races you’ll see your fair share of crashes, breakdowns and mistakes being made by the AI drivers – if you’re after safety cars and red flags (both of which serve up some interesting strategy options) the longer races will keep you satisfied when it comes to that kind of thing.
So is F1 24 a must buy? Well that depends on what you’re after. If you wanted new liveries, drivers lineups and different online modes then you might as well stick with F1 23. But if the new driver career mode sounds good, and you want the newer handling model and most up to date tweaks, you shouldn’t shy away from F1 24. In isolation it’s still an excellent game, but the world of F1 needs something to change in order to give Codemasters something to actually work with.
Reviewed on PS5
