F1 22 review – The best F1 game, but can’t quite match last year’s model

F1’s bold new era is just halfway into its inaugural season and it’s proving to be a lot like the old F1; maybe a different team dominates and the running order is slightly reshuffled, but there’s a sense that 2022’s regulated band There are as many problems to come as there are to solve, and for some, the positive effects of the new ruleset won’t really be felt for years to come.

The F1 22 isn’t a bold new era for Codemasters’ long-running series, and it’s certainly a familiar racer. It features the new season’s cast and cars – including Ferrari’s heartbreakingly beautiful F1-75, which may be the best-looking car Maranello has launched since Enzo himself called the shots – as well as this season around parking Hard Rock Stadium in downtown (if you’re shriveled enough to remember the game at Caesars Palace, condolences first – but old is new again, isn’t it fun?)

The race in Miami always felt like the final fight in the original push for the sport by F1 owners Liberty Media – a push that, of course, has seen the face of F1 change immeasurably, and largely because of the drive to Survive through Drive to Survive. and a new generation of social media savvy drivers.

The F1 22 reflects this, for better or worse, with its new F1 Life feature that lets you outfit your avatar with new lines, while decorating your pads with gorgeous artwork on the walls and showing off a supercar in the living room . I love the idea of ​​embracing the sport’s more glamorous side, but instead of lavishly browsing the railings of Monaco boutiques, it feels like you’re in a Sports Direct bargain box with a Puma T-shirt and EA Sports branded hat in the middle There isn’t much to choose from.

Basically, it’s kind of pointless, and certainly nowhere near as engaging as this suspended F1 2021’s ‘Brake Point’ story mode, but the launch of F1 Life does bring a small slice of supercars – and it’s a welcome one The additions provide some variety to a range previously focused solely on single-seat machines. They’re very different beasts that require fancier driving styles and always invite you to throw the rear of the car out with a bluff. The challenges inside are often just as demanding, modeled after the Pirelli Hot Laps, which take advantage of downtime on the track to get lucky passengers around during the F1 weekend.

The supercars work so well, and while they don’t bother the likes of Assetto Corsa and Gran Turismo, I’m impressed with how Codemasters – more specifically, handling guru David Greco – has adapted one in history A game with a very different focus. There’s weight and power to match the impressive scream of a Ferrari Roma or the thunder of a Mercedes-AMG GT. It’s promising stuff as a foundation for wherever the Codemasters want to take them next, but most importantly, as a temporary distraction from the single-seater, they’re not just doing the trick.

There are a few changes to the single-seater, most of which are required by the new ruleset – and that’s where things get a little tricky. The F1 22’s race car is faithful to the current neo-style cars – aside from that Ferrari’s flamboyant aesthetics – and isn’t a particularly flattering bunch. They’re bloated and sometimes inelegant things, and that’s before you run into the dolphin and bouncing problems that sometimes mock what should be the pinnacle of motorsport engineering.

In F1 22, the dolphins and bouncing that have wrecked most of the ground this season are absent in F1 22, perhaps wisely – although even without the unpleasant effects of a slamming, you can immediately see that these are a more Harder, more inflexible machine varieties to fight with. When they collide along the curb, they have a new kind of stiffness (not enough to give you back pain for someone like Sir Lewis after the Baku Grand Prix, but enough to give you hand pain after a mid-range race) while you The extra weight can be felt when cornering at low speeds. In mid-to-high-speed corners, meanwhile, you can feel the ground effect sucking the car onto the tarmac, which means they reward a certain amount of confidence.

It’s impressive, but in stark contrast to last year’s offering, it’s never been more intriguing, and underscores that the new generation of F1 cars raises a field of suspicion – to borrow a purely technical term – the dumpster. This will improve over time, and you can’t blame Codemasters for being loyal to the sport as it is now – in fact, one of the issues the series raises is when reviewing the latest F1 game model , you can finally censor the movement itself, so the two are intertwined.

The relationship between the two has been further strengthened, with driver ratings now reflecting real-life events (it’s a little fun to watch on F1’s official YouTube channel when drivers first learn about their scores). Basically, this is all FIFA is from.

Of course, being motorsport’s answer to FIFA isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and let’s not forget that in terms of providing the foundation of the sport, nothing really comes close to what F1 has to offer right now. It’s not a simulation – for many obvious reasons – but it provides simulation elements like iRacing and Assetto Corsa. There’s dynamic weather, yes, but also a deep and often very complex ruleset across F1, along with mechanical glitches, associated with upgrades and development systems. Playing a full-fledged career mode – a hugely popular option to enter a season at any time by creating your own team or overseeing existing gear – you’ll manage your limited number of powerplants, seemingly forbidding everything right now New budget cap for in-game simulations.

Safety cars have been a staple for a while, but are now presented in a new broadcast mode that brings more of a taste of the real thing, while still offering the same tactical opportunities as in-race neutrality – just like you can now fluff your progress The stand, or how the full formation lap is now presented in a reduced form, allows you to bring home the most important atmosphere in the final moments before the lights on the starting line go out.

It’s a dream for F1 fans and I love the adaptability of these races. For those looking for a quick burst, three lap sprints can be played on the pad via split screen, or VR support is now finally included (and it’s well included, it’s worth mentioning that full support should be on mid-to-high-end PCs) Running well). For true nerds, nursing a bad car to a lonely 10th on a long Sunday afternoon is a true paradise – a true hero when you manage to bring it home Feel. I don’t think any racing game captures the essence of the sport as accurately as F1 22, and it deserves a big round of applause for that.

Still, though, there’s an overly familiar feel to running the same race on a slightly bloated car in a now slightly bloated game. It should be noted that F1 22 is also a very wide-ranging race – a sport that is now enjoyed by more and more spectators. Mind you, it’s also a very familiar game, and while it’s no fault of its own, it’s never really measured up like last year’s model — the sport is in trouble right now as it struggles to match the classic fireworks and fury match. 2021 season. As such, perhaps the F1 22 itself is a little too real.