With Codemasters being acquired by EA, many racing fans have been concerned about the F1 game and where the series is headed. We wouldn’t say it’s EA’s fault, but F1 22 brings something new that we really don’t think is necessary in our favorite open-wheel video game.
Let’s start with the obvious stuff that isn’t needed in the F1 game, supercars. In F1, 22 supercars were introduced as an extra gimmick. The Pirelli Hot Lap Challenge and Time Trial can be played in one of ten McLaren, Aston Martin, Mercedes or Ferrari supercars (including two safety cars, if you pre-order the game) Once completed. Challenges include drift, average speed zones, checkpoint challenges and more. It doesn’t really give you any rewards other than getting total driving miles, you need to unlock these supercars for time trials, but in career mode it will come in handy as you get money and R&D points, This is always welcome.
The supercar handles so badly that it can’t compete with racing games like Gran Turismo, Assetto Corsa or rFactor. This is what we said at the beginning; a gimmick, nothing more. We see absolutely no reason for this to be in the game.
Here is an ad:
However, new additions are also welcome to the series. The new Miami International Speedway and updates to Spain, Australia and Abu Dhabi are sure to be a nice addition, along with the corresponding race weekend sprint races that reflect real life. Of course, new designs of cars, sporting rules and aeronautical rules were also introduced into the game, and they reworked the handling, tire models and physics to give us a sense of the difference. on the paper. We have to admit, when we put ourselves behind the wheel in the F1 22, the difference wasn’t huge, but a slight adjustment could be felt.
F1 Life allows us to showcase a range of fashion, accessories, trophies and, of course, the “fantastic” supercars we own. How do I get new clothing and accessories? Of course, microtransactions. Sure, some things can be unlocked by playing the game or by passing a podium pass, but in general, it’s clear they want you to use your hard-earned money to make your social hub look good. Thankfully, these are cosmetic and don’t affect performance at all. Supercars can only be obtained by racing, not purchased. To unlock all the supercars, you’ll need up to about five hours of gameplay. Make the Pirelli Hot Lap Challenge the only ordeal in the game if you’re as obsessed with getting a gold medal in every challenge as we are.
Here is an ad:
An immersive style of pitstops, formation laps, and safety car cycles is introduced, making you have to deal with the various elements of these scenarios yourself, and with that comes great risk. If you miss getting into the pits, you could lose a whole second, and in F1 every second counts. Your task is to occupy your position precisely on the starting line, and there is also the risk of making mistakes that will cost you at the start of the race. Thankfully for those of us who just want to drive an F1 car on the track there is a broadcast option that leaves everything to the computer while you get the exciting camera view we know from the TV watch it.
Finally, the way we launch MyTeam mode has also changed. We can choose between Novice, Challenger or Front Runner, which allows you to choose what performance and budget our team will start with. Career mode has also seen some small improvements, expanding sector events and threading cross-racial issues. Minor changes, but changes are welcome.
The audio section brings an EA Music playlist to the series for the first time, featuring a global roster of electronic and dance artists. It’s a far cry from the genre we find ourselves listening to, so we’re glad the choice of theme music is still there, which will also speak to streamers who are worried about playing licensed music.
If you’re the lucky owner of a gaming PC and VR headset, you’re in for a treat. F1 22 brings VR support for the first time, and while we’re sorry we don’t have a VR headset available for this review, it does sound exciting. We hope to come back later to talk about our thoughts on patterns.
The last addition we’re going to mention this time around is the new adaptive AI system. If you choose a casual play style in the simulation settings, you can choose Normal or Fully Adaptive AI, the latter provides a more detailed experience as the AI uses the player’s position on the track and adjusts its speed and competition based on that force.
Now finish with the important part. How does the gameplay feel and sound? Well, as we mentioned before, there’s not much difference from F1 2021, which we don’t mind as the handling in that game is fair. Small tweaks have been made to fit the new regulations and improve last year’s feel, but nothing revolutionary. The audio graphics are pretty much the same (except for the aforementioned soundtrack), and there’s said to be some new commentary content in various regions, but things like the engineer’s voiceover will be released in Patch Zero, which we didn’t have access to at the time of this review.
There are a lot of players who want to play F1 games on a controller, and they’ve been lucky lately because the game plays fine even without the wheel setup, but for the F1 22, we highly recommend the wheel setup, even though it’s a cheaper wheel one. This year’s gameplay isn’t as good as it used to be, and it’s completely lacking the feel of past few games, especially F1 2021. I didn’t fully enjoy the game for what it was until I plugged in the Logitech G923 wheels.
Overall, F1 22 is a better game in some areas, but replacing Aiden Jackson, Casper Ackerman and Devon Butler in the Braking Point series with supercars is a bad move. The game is still well played, and the content is good for those F1 fans, but they could have used resources elsewhere and got better. That being said, we’ll continue to play this with last year’s version as new regulations and cars roll out, but only because of this.
