New Formula 1 cars are pigs to drive: F1 reviewed 22

Earlier in July witnessed the release F1 22, the latest installment of the official Formula 1 racing game franchise. Unlike in years past, a lot has changed in the year since then F1 2021: The radical new technical rules mean the cars are very different from those we’ve seen several decades ago, many tracks have been revised, new tracks have been added, and the racing format now includes the occasional short sprint along with the main race. . All this is faithfully reflected in F1 22And for some die-hard F1 fans, that would be enough to pick up a copy.

For others, I’m not sure. Part of that comes down to the game itself. For the first time since then EA Sports bought Codemasters studio at the end of 2020, we can see the influence of the giant game publisher at work, and that’s not particularly positive. For example, the massive repetition of tips for spending XP or buying microtransactions is likely enough to dislike most Ars readers. F1 22.

But my frustration isn’t just with the game itself – at its core it’s still great physics that translates to handling handling, whether that’s using the steering wheel or the console. number, They’re the new F1 cars, and they’re bigger and heavier than they’ve ever beenAnd, frankly, kind of a pig to drive.

Now riding on 18 inch wheelsThe tires have shorter, stiffer sidewalls, and the suspension designs are much less complicated than previously allowed. Limited grip. Thus, front tires don’t like being asked to do two things at once, such as braking And the Turning — it’s best to slow down in a straight line before dealing with that corner. The rear tires will break the traction in the lower gears as well, forcing you to spin unless you’re very progressive on the throttle (or have extreme traction control).

All this predicted before the 2022 F1 seasonSo Codemasters has done an honest job to digitally recreate the new machines for our entertainment. I don’t think the cars are inside the game Suffer from the same porpoise That actually affected this year. But it is very difficult to simulate the phenomenon of aerodynamics, as we can see by the fact that none of the teams that experienced the problem caught it during their computational fluid dynamics simulations while designing their cars.

I have fewer positive things to say about the addition of supercars. Based on the supercar hot laps given to VIPs in F1 racing, it doesn’t add anything to the experience. In particular, the handling and feedback you get from in-game supercars is far from something like Gran Turismo 7. It’s slow to respond, and it’s annoying to have to complete it between driving Formula One cars.

You can still manage your own F1 team, or play as one of the real 10, but this year doesn’t see the return of Story Mode or Devon Butler, the fictional F1 driver we all love to hate. As before, if you want to develop your vehicle all season long, there is a huge benefit to participating in all the training sessions to test things out with your engineers. But it has been stripped down a bit from the past years. In particular, the track acclimatization test software is missing in action, making it difficult for players to learn new tracks, or for new players to learn any of the tracks, without relying on driving line assistance. Putting in hours makes it doubly frustrating when all of your R&D fails and upgrades have to be redone.

It’s all a shame. The game looks great on PS5 in terms of scenes, transitions, and gameplay, and as mentioned earlier, there’s a good game engine under the hood, something that’s easily noticeable in the slower F2 cars. But when you disable the help and augment the realism, the main event starts to feel more and more like a chore, and for someone with a limited amount of gaming time, that’s a real alienation. (Unlike bus drivers(Formula 1 drivers get paid big, so don’t feel sorry they have tough jobs.)

The good:

• Still great physics
• Looks good, especially on PS5
• F2 cars are fun to drive

bad:

• 2022-spec F1 cars are pigs to drive
• Tips for buying microtransaction XP
• The addition of supercars, which are worse to drive than 2022-spec F1 cars, adds nothing to the game.

the ugly:

• It’s starting to feel more like an EA game than a Codemasters game

Verdict: Skip it, unless you are a hardcore F1 fan.

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