We had the good fortune of being invited to a preview of F1 22 featuring Senior Creative Director Lee Mather, a constant throughout the F1 series. The F1 series is getting to that point where the initial structure and groundwork are solid, and the team at Codemasters appears to just go with the F1 flow to see what is new and hot about the sport. It also intends on bringing in the biggest audience it can to get interested in F1, including novices like me. Of course, the mention of next-generation (this gen) graphics and the power of the PC were prevalent in the preview as well, so don’t worry console gamers, the game appears to be getting the visual upgrade you wanted.
Anyway, there is a lot to talk about from the preview, so let’s get it going.
New Era
The first big change for this year’s F1 game was the drive and look of the game. While last year was hitting on all cylinders, the improved graphics with another year of hardware under the dev team’s belt mixed with the actual visual changes to a new car design seemed to work out perfectly. What we saw in the preview makes me think we’re getting closer and closer to an actual F1 experience, which also includes the ability to play the game in VR. I’m sure there is nothing more frightening and thrilling than being in an F1 car and your brain convinced that you’re driving at 200mph on a realistic track with flowing animation. Get those buckets ready. There were a lot of visual improvements to the experience for this year’s game.
The preview also featured the balance of getting novice and expert players an F1 experience that satisfies everyone. F1 22 was built to get new players in while satisfying expert players as well. This balance is not a common achievement with sports titles, as Madden NFL has been trying to find that perfect balance for the last few titles. It’s difficult to balance both new and old players and somehow bring a rich experience, but Mathers seemed confident that it was going to happen. I wish them well on this one because all sports should be accessible to all types of players and that hasn’t always been the case.
New rule changes are also included in this new era of the game. Mathers mentioned that they’re trying to get a more ‘wheel to wheel’ accuracy with the game and player. I know from watching other folks play this game that it’s certainly getting there and I’m glad that they’re focusing on that accuracy.
The game is also going to feature new tire regulations. The rules change in the game and the game reflects that, which is brilliant. I think that’s important to bring the actual experience of the real sport to the console and PC and even small things like this build closer to a perfect F1 experience. Beyond just rule changes, the game will also feature three sprint races, which include Imola, Austria, and Brazil races.
All of these are wonderful additions to this year, of course pending on how they work out. Hoping for the best.
Game Improvements
The preview event quickly shifted from new era additions to game improvements. It does seem like there are some significant tweaks and additions to the game this year.
Mathers started out by mentioning better handling of the cars, which went hand in hand with the ‘wheel to wheel’ improvement. I know one of the biggest issues I had in previous games in the series is keeping control over the cars around turns, even when I put the difficulty to its lowest setting. Anything that can improve that for a terrible driver like me would be a Godsend.
Related to handling, the dev team at Codemasters worked on aerodynamics and suspension to get it closer to actual car attributes. I know that the former was a big deal when it came to adjusting your car and getting it to catch some solid speed and maintain it. I like that they’re working on smaller issues and tweaking what will give cars the best chance for performance.
Other small developments include team performance order, which was interesting, but makes sense. And improvements here and there to My Team/Career which include more branching narrative choices when it comes to reporter responses and player development as the F1 season goes on.
Again, it’s the small attributes that make the big splashes in sports games. Madden NFL fans know this very well.
My Team/Career
Riding the coattails of the interview branching narrative expansion, the game also features My Team entry levels that include:
– Newcomer
– Midfield Challenger
– Title Contender
The reason for the three entry levels to choose from is so that players can come into the game mode with their own comfort level. I know for many in the past, entering the F1 series was overwhelming when it came to choices and what to do. I’m no car expert by any means, but I had some comfort with the series. There were still times when I felt lost. One of the bigger themes of this year’s preview was how the series was going to be more accommodating to all experience types of players. It should be flexible and allow for a good time. Not all of us are hardcore F1 fans, but we still enjoy racing, so it should accommodate us few who just want to play a game for a good time. The point of gaming.
The preview also featured expanded department events. As previously mentioned, there are extended interview branching narratives, where your player can either get in favor with media or create a con where you’re in a hole. There are more choices in F1 22 than in previous years, which bodes well for the experience. This also includes how you keep up with your racing facilities. How you treat it, upgrade it, and maintain it will affect how your team does. It’s like a racing simulator that goes beyond the track, which makes it more than just another racing game.
To make things even better in this mode, the game also features extensive customizations. This means you can customize your car’s paint which comes in gloss, matte, metallic, and satin. You can also copy and paste your car’s colors to your suit and facility. Imagine everything all pink. Yep, I’m in.
F1 Life
F1 Life is a hub for players to get into, customize, and show off. You can showcase cars, clothing, trophies, see friends, and pretty much put your stamp on your own collection. One of the customizations that Mathers mentioned was that the game was going to include popular brands you can choose to customize your space. While he couldn’t mention specific brands, he said they were coming to F1 Life. I’m sure contracts are still in the works.
Driving Supercars
One of the last items of interest mentioned in the preview was the ability to showcase and driver supercars. This is the most Gran Turismo thing that I have heard from the F1 series, and I’m more than okay with this option. The game will feature the Pirelli Hot Lap Events in the My Team/Career mode. It will feature new track modes, and challenges. This means drifting, average speed zone, and rival duel. Time attacks and checkpoint challenges are returning as well. You will also be able to drive the safety cars because why not.
Racing Goodies
There was a large chunk of racing improvements and additions announced during the preview. Formation laps that are player-controlled were mentioned, which allows players to position cars offensively or defensively. There was also a big emphasis put on pit stops, which allow players to position themselves against other players while in the pit. There were success and consequences mentioned about pit stops as well, though nothing was expanded on during the presentation. Still, it would make sense that you could strategize during a pit stop, much like a real race.
The conversation also mentioned practice programs that had specific additions like AR heat mapping, which was just wild. The preview touched upon improvement on performance adjustments and how the game, in this respect, adjusted to the level of difficulty set by the player. That difficulty and balancing between experienced and novice players kept coming up repeatedly. I was okay with that if it meant the F1 audience increased in size for the series.
Sticking with that theme, one of the cooler mentions, though not a lot of details provided, was regarding adaptive A.I. in the game. The adaptive A.I. works in a way that races are a lot closer or harsher depending on the difficulty level set. For novice players, you can be more competitive in races without having to be an expert driver. Laugh at this if you want, but two F1s ago, I got frustrated because the cars absolutely kept leaving me behind due to my severe lack of knowledge about F1 car adjustments, and that was even on a lower difficulty setting. It’s nice to know they had this in mind for players experienced like me. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how this works out.
On that note, let’s wrap up.
Conclusion
F1 22 looks like a major and more refined improvement from last year’s game. It appears to be more friendly to all player types and improved on some levels that draw the series closer to the actual sport. There looks to be a lot of good thought put into this and we can’t wait to dig into it.
We’ll have a full review in the coming months. Until then, we’ll keep you in the loop.
