Despite the recent international COVID-19 outbreak, causing F1 2020 races to be postponed or outright cancelled (Monaco!), here’s a blog I began writing over 5 years ago, about what I think should come to future F1 games.
Although this is the first time I’ve uploaded it, each year I updated this blog post – always with the intention of publishing, but never quite getting around to it – to reflect all the changes that Codemasters had implemented in corresponding installments of their F1 games series.
Some of the features I’ve talked about below have already been implemented, but I feel they could still be further improved and developed…
A brief history
F1 Games by Codemasters started with F1 2009 on the PSP and Nintendo Wii, and spent 5 years on the PS3 and Xbox 360 with F1 2010 through to F1 2014.
While F1 2009 was lacking the polish of earlier F1 games by Sony, F1 2010 carried on the tradition of previous Codemasters games, with an interactive world around the gamer: interviews with the press, for example, as well as a motorhome – harking back to the interactive menus of Colin McRae DiRT 2 and Race Driver: GRID.
F1 2011 brought improved graphics and sounds, but also had some questionable lightweight handling physics; whereas, F1 2012 was the first game in the series that offered up the perfect combination of both graphics and car handling.
F1 2013 was, however, the game-changer: alongside further development of the graphics and handling, the introduction of Classic F1 cars and tracks to the series was much appreciated. Cars from the 80s and 90s featured, as well as 4 classic circuits: Brands Hatch, Estoril, Imola and Jerez. Unfortunately, all the Classic F1 content (both the cars & circuits) were gone in the follow up game, F1 2014.
F1 2014 was the last game on the last-gen consoles (PS3 & Xbox 360), and while it introduced one new track and one returning circuit – the Russian GP in Sochi, and the Austrian GP in Spielberg (now the Red Bull Ring, but formerly the A1 Ring in F1 games of the early ’00s) – we lost classic cars and tracks. It was also the first years of the new V6 Turbo hybrid, meaning cars were noticeably slower and quieter.
F1 2015 was, for many, a huge disappointment. It was the debut F1 game on PS4 and Xbox One, but although it offered the 2015 content as well as a playable remaster of F1 2014 for the new consoles – 2 games for the price of 1 – F1 2015 ultimately failed to deliver on its promises. Gameplay was reportedly awful by contrast with past F1 games, and there was no player career mode – the Career mode on offer only gave the option to select a current F1 driver, and run on Pro difficulty (no driver aids).
F1 2016 was much improved on its predecessor, delivering on the promises that F1 2015 failed to live up to, and introduced us to the practice session goals to aid car development. (It was also the 1st game on which 4 YouTubers competed in the F1 YouTuber Championship: aarava, Noble2909 Tiametmarduk, xMattyG.)
F1 2017, however, was the best game by far, applauded by fans and game critics alike, and won the coveted [Racing] Game of the Year Award. Classic cars were reintroduced for the first time since F1 2013, career mode was more in-depth, as was car R&D. It took longer to develop the cars in Career Mode, but the game was overall a huge improvement from F1 2015 and F1 2016. (The F1 YouTuber Championship entered its second season on F1 2017 – with aarava being replaced by popular F1 alien comedy YouTuber IntoTheBarrier.)
F1 2018 improved even further on F1 2017. Codemasters made sure the regulation Halo wouldn’t impede cockpit view by enabling the player to remove the central stem from it to improve visibility – and, it worked! Also, car Research & Development didn’t take as long as in F1 2017, and followed in the footsteps of F1 2016 but with F1 2017‘s R&D Tree. Press interviews made a return too, for the first time since F1 2010 – except they now had more impact on the player and their career – just like in The Journey in EA’s FIFA 17, FIFA 18 + FIFA 19 titles, as well as the Mass Effect game trilogy.
F1 2019 expanded even more than F1 2018, and further reduced the R&D time needed to upgrade career cars with increased Resource Points on offer during race weekends. Simulated driver markets were also introduced, adding a whole new level of immersion to the Career Mode – just imagine Vettel driving for Mercedes, or Hamilton driving for Williams! It was all possible in F1 2019’s Career Mode!
F1 2019 also added Formula 2 content and a Career Story similar to that of the first ToCA: Race Driver. With the F2 cars and drivers, Codemasters had essentially reintroduced players to a pre-F1 career intro: similar to the Young Driver Test that featured in both F1 2012 and F1 2013. Some of the F2 drivers even featured in the player’s Career mode, including story characters Luke Weber and Devon Butler.
My ideas in brief
It’s important that the F1 games remain as realistic as possible, but also accessible: this may mean 2 separate games – 1 realistic arcade (e.g. F1 2019), and 1 pro-simulator (e.g. iRacing) – or it could be as easy as an in-game slider, allowing the player to pre-select realistic arcade, or realistic simulation.
F1 2019 was a brilliant game, and the best game so far in the series. However, there are still areas for improvement. Here’s my list of ideas for the future:
- Time Trial revamp
- Live or artificial/simulation driver markets (like in FIFA games)
- Realistic damage (on consoles) – or a mod available as DLC – now available in F1 2016, F1 2017 + F1 2018 as ‘Simulation‘ damage
- Own team/car/number/sponsors/audio name (e.g. Race Driver GRID) – was incorporated into F1 Mobile Racing, but needs to be in F1 2020/21
- Invitations (sponsor/charity events, Race of Champions, etc) – also now available in F1 2017 + F1 2018, as a way of including the Classic Cars content on the career mode. It would still be nice to see something like the Race of Champions make an appearance though…
- Pause Menu >> Race Director >> Race Incidents – now available in F1 2017, F1 2018 and F1 2019.
- Pit Assist – now available in F1 2017, F1 2018 and F1 2019.
In more detail:
1. Simulated driver markets in career mode: although this feature was added in F1 2019, I believe it can still be improved. Drivers switching teams, just like in real life – rather than just the player moving teams – make Career mode feel more interactive and more immersive than ever before, and finally gives you a reason to play it other than earning Trophies/Achievements. Could still be improved with junior F2/F3 drivers stepping up into race seats from the Official F1 support series’. It would also be an idea to see some of the drivers from the Classic F1 invitationals in the main Career mode, for example to replace an aging driver.
2. Own team/car/sponsors (like in F1 Mobile Racing, Motorsport Manager/2/3, DiRT 4 and DiRT Rally 2.0 – and a feature which harks back to Race Driver: GRID on PS3/Xbox 360): Creating & developing your own team, car, and race livery; managing drivers, sponsors, racing numbers; and team overall colours – which would all add even more re-play value to future F1 games.
In previous FIFA games, for instance, the player can graduate from Player, to Player-Manager and eventually Manager of their team. If F1 2020 had a similar system, the player could start as a junior driver, work their way up the F1 ladder to become a race winner/World Champion… and eventually, with enough money and sponsors, start their own team. Example driver: Graham Hill, who, after many successful years as an F1 driver and Champion, started his own team, Embassy Hill Racing.
Immersive, also, if the player has the choice to drive for their own team, as a driver/owner (following in the footsteps of Bruce McLaren, Jack Brabham & Graham Hill), or retire from racing to run the team full-time as owner/team principal. This would introduce a whole new method of gameplay to the F1 series, in the style of Championship Manager and Motorsport Manager, but with the flare and polish of Gran Turismo 5‘s B-spec, AI driver-assisted championship.
However, with the recent announcement that Frontier will make an official F1 Manager game, scheduled for release in 2022, it would seem that this sort of driver/team gameplay might not feature in future F1 games by Codemasters…
3. F1 2012 (or was it F1 2013?) had a Young Driver Test as a way of introducing you to the game. With F1 2019’s F2 content, we sort of have this back, but it would be great if the YDT made a return in future F1 games.
What would also add realism to Career mode, is the ability to be demoted to the role of Test Driver (rather than being fired & having to sign for a new team, as is currently the case) for a season.
If I recall correctly, this was a feature of the Career modes in Sony’s F1 ’05 (PS2) and also F1: Championship Edition (PS3), and if introduced into Codemasters’ F1 series, it would accurately mirror what actually happens in Formula 1 (e.g. Esteban Ocon in 2019, and Felipe Massa in 2005) – or, even more so, a switching of drivers between the senior team and their junior/B-team, if performances do not meet targets (e.g. Kyvat’s forced switch from Red Bull to Toro Rosso +Verstappen promoted to RBR, 2016; Pierre Gasly, demoted to STR + Albon promoted to RBR, 2019).
The ‘Young Driver Test‘ also allowed you to select your dream team, and depending on how many gold medals you earned during the pre-season test, you could then select which midfield or backmarker team to sign up to, and drive for… with your selected dream team watching your progress over the coming seasons.
This gave the game a sense of progression, because after 2 or 3 seasons of successful driving, your ‘dream team’ (be it Red Bull, McLaren, or Ferrari) would send you a contract for a drive: realistic, and similar to a driver academy scheme. In real F1, Vettel, Verstappen, Leclerc, Ricciardo and Gasly have all risen through the ranks in this way.
4. Test Sessions: Sony’s F1: Championship Edition (PS3) featured in-season testing sessions. Whilst there’s no mid-season testing today, we still have Winter Testing, as well as a few official test days through the season, so why not feature these in the game?
I’ll admit that earning R&D points via Practice Sessions on Race Weekends sort of covers this, as do the non-championship Classic Invitationals, but it would still be nice to have a couple of pre-season or mid-season testing sessions in there as well, to add to the immersion.
5. Combining points 3+4, you could be a Ferrari junior driver at Sauber/Alfa Romeo, be promoted to Ferrari but not perform as expected, be demoted for a season to the role of Ferrari Test/Development Driver, and then take part in official tests. Then, if your lap times or performances are considered exemplary, you could then be re-considered for a race seat in future…
6. Incorporate Time Trial into career mode and multiplayer modes (especially now with the new 1pt for Fastest Race Lap being awarded in real F1, as well as F1 2019). It’d be better if Time Trial was available in the Practice Sessions, for example, encouraging you as a player to try different setups (sometimes, in F1 2018/2019, one of the Team Objectives is just that) and learn the circuit, and to have the Time Trial Leaderboards incorporated into the pause & post-session menu’s Race Director.
They could also include Time Trials during the pre-season tests I mentioned above, but with an added bonus: similar to the +1pt for setting the fastest lap time during a race, setting the fastest lap time during the testing sessions earns Resource Points, which you can then spend on further developing the car before the season starts.
Hopefully we’ll know soon what Codemasters has planned for the next installment in the series: F1 2020. Traditionally, they’ve released their F1 games between July and September, although it’ll be interesting to see if the game will release with the original 2020 calendar of circuits, or a reduced in-game calendar re- the postponements and cancellations of many F1 Grands Prix this year.
– Chris JK.
KPH car blog 