Last year’s F1 23 was great because it offered three compelling single-player pillars, including the lavishly-produced, Drive To Survive-esque story mode. Take that away, in the now-predictable two-year cycle for such major features, and you’re left with something that really does invite the question of whether it could have just been DLC instead, despite a new emphasis on assuming the role of real drivers.
Without the story mode, there’s a definite feeling of having done this before. Even the supposedly all-new career mode is predictable. Will we start the new weekend with a practice session in which we fulfil three R&D tasks? Yes, we will. What was once an innovative and enjoyable practice session which taught you the track and how to play the game is now some seven years old and overly-familiar. Sure, you can skip the practice targets using the ‘simulate practice’ option, which is a sort-of-fun minigame of risk, reward and quick thinking as you balance time left with percentage chances of failing the task, but if you’re skipping the part of the game where you play it, why did you buy it?
The handling has been tweaked and feels a touch lighter
You bought it for the racing, of course. And in that respect at least, it’s still very good. Fast, responsive driving on all the real tracks, including four that have been entirely remodelled. The handling has been tweaked and feels a touch lighter than last year’s game. Max Verstappen himself has apparently helped Codemasters tweak the handling to make it more realistic, which is probably why it feels so smooth and driveable. Unfortunately, the rest of the gameplay is less polished than we’ve come to expect.
Cars still exhibit a tendency to turn in on you even when you’re clearly alongside at the apex, but now the difficulty balancing seems a little off, with cars suddenly displaying way more pace than you even though you’ve got a decently-charged ERS battery and the AI difficulty level’s at the top end of medium.
ICONS OF THEIR SPORT
F1 24 allows you to play career mode as several famous drivers
JAMES HUNT
• World champion in 1976.
• Beat Niki Lauda in the year of Lauda’s horrific crash.
• Was later a commentator for the BBC alongside Murray Walker.