Codemasters has been developing and releasing the F1 series of games since 2010. They did release a game for the Nintendo Wii in 2009, but we'll pretend that didn't happen and focus on what happened from 2010 onwards.
When F1 2010 was released, it came as a breath of fresh air. It featured all the official cars and tracks with really good graphics for the time. The handling model was arcade at best, but we saw it as a decent first release and expected Codemasters to build on it over the coming years.
The games that followed did improve things, but we got used to the usual bug fest initial release that slowly got patched over the game's life cycle, only to repeat the following year.
In recent years, we have gotten the impression that F1 2020, 2021 and F1 2022 are essentially season updates with a few extra tracks and one more gimmicky features like supercars. The handling model is still nowhere near Assetto Corsa Competizione (ACC), Rfactor or iRacing, and the force feedback is also very limited compared to these racing sims.
We don't expect the f1 series of games to be a full-blown simulator, but we expected that after so many years of development, decent handling, detailed force feedback and maybe an interface that makes use of a mouse isn't too much to ask for.
Simulation mode
One other feature we hoped would have been part of the F1 series by now is a proper simulation mode. This would allow the player to have a more authentic handling model with detailed setup options and a realistic tire model. This would make the game more suitable for both sim racers and casual drivers alike.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality (VR) was added to this year's game, but it's not properly optimised. Many users state that it's a flickering mess, and for us, it's very blurry regardless of what resolution setting changes are made. Our VR headset works great with relatively crisp visuals in iRacing and ACC, but the same settings in F1 2022 show a relatively ok cockpit, but everything else is blurry and soft. It feels like VR was added as an afterthought, and not much effort was put towards optimisation.
Final thoughts
We appreciate the efforts that Codemasters/EA have made over the years in the F1 series of games but think that they could have done so much more. The game has become much more expensive since EA took over, with the price essentially tripling here in South Africa. We expect more for our money and not just what seems like an upgrade season pack. That, combined with the same pile of bugs that the game gets released with every year, makes us think that maybe it's time that another game developer takes over the reins of the F1 series of games.
