F1 24 PC Review
Summary: A suite of changes make many improvements to the formula employed by Codemasters on an annual basis. A divisive handling model may turn players away, however.
4.3
Driving forward!
Codemasters and EA have made some bold claims around F1 24 and the overhauling of several of its key features and modes, with big changes under the hood of the handling model and the career mode receiving substantial updates this year.
If you saw our preview coverage, then you will have seen that initial impressions were good. With the preview build updated to the full game, it’s time to see if F1 24 can build on the initial optimism generated by the preview.
The most obvious and upfront changes come from career mode. In previous years, My Team was where the core of the experience lay. For those unfamiliar, in this mode, players would create a driver, a new eleventh team, and have to both manage the day-to-day running of things, as well as the on-track action.
F1 24 sees the removal of My Team, albeit in name only. Now it’s just called career mode, however, the fundamental experience is largely the same. This time it’s possible to select a driver and team from the existing pool. Taking a struggling team such as HAAS or Williams to glory, upgrading the car and hiring new drivers, or extending the dominant form of current champions Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen.
Anyone who’s played My Team on F1 23 or other previous years will feel instantly at home. Other changes have been made though. Driver contracts and the system that surrounds them have been expanded massively. Each driver’s unique rating, based on various attributes such as pace and experience, can fluctuate over time based on performance and even the passage of time. Older drivers’ abilities deteriorate.
Should the players rating fall below a threshold set by the team, then they’re in danger of being fired and conversely, perform well, and more opportunities will be made available. From negotiable contract extensions to other teams making a play for your services, sometimes in secret!
It’s taken the driver moves from the previous games and expanded on it significantly. Due to this career mode feels like there’s so much more going on, there’s a real sense of progression of your character or chosen driver, rather than just the car getting faster over time because of upgrades.
Speaking of upgrades, the system that was first introduced in F1 2016 and expanded on over the following years returns. Performing objectives in practice and races awards development points that can be used to upgrade the car over time. It’s a well-implemented mechanic that makes practice worth taking part in, where it otherwise may not have been for seasoned players who are already familiar with the tracks.
Beyond these few changes, career mode is largely the same as in previous years. It’s a solid experience that has only been improved upon.
Another new addition to the suite of single-player modes is Challenge Career Mode. An episodic take on the traditional career formula, offering competitive play through leaderboards. Each scenario and event has unique challenges that offer up a new take on the established formula. It’s not something I spent a huge amount of time with, but it’s a nice distraction from the main career, nonetheless.
Along with this, two two-player career makes a welcome return to the franchise, allowing for cooperative or competitive play mimicking the main career mode. Players can join the same team and work together to achieve glory, or go their separate ways and play as rivals, trying to out-develop each other constantly throughout a season.
Fans of F1 23’s ‘Braking Point’ story mode will be disappointed to find out that the mode hasn’t returned for 24. It isn’t something that I’ve personally missed, I never found it to be particularly engaging on a narrative level or challenging on a gameplay level, but the characters and storylines weren’t to be found anywhere else, and as such some people may bemoan its removal. Historically it seems to skip every other year, however, so perhaps we will see it return next year.
The updates to the myriad of single-player modes come with what EA is calling ‘EA SPORTS Dynamic Handling’. Developed in partnership with Max Verstappen, reigning F1 World Drivers Champion (and cover star), this complete overhaul to the handling model does a lot to mix things up compared to previous years.
Designed to make cars both more realistic and immersive, the system features a whole host of sweeping changes under the hood. Everything from new aerodynamic modeling and a whole new suspension system to a new and improved tyre model has been tweaked or remade. Anyone familiar with the sport in real life may be aware that Verstappen is known for liking a ‘pointy’ car. What this means is that he prefers a car to be very responsive at the front, and this is highlighted in F1 24’s new handling changes.
Cars are incredibly quick and nimble. Lightning-fast changes in direction can be made, and they’re astonishingly responsive now. On a pad, this feels great. Understeer woes and slower directional changes that have plagued pad players for years are largely gone and F1 24 feels like the most accessible it has ever done on a controller thanks to this and a massive library of assists and accessibility options to tweak things.
When using a wheel, however, the changes take a little getting used to. I didn’t have much trouble with it due to already using a high wheel rotation setting, but users with lower settings may find things a little on the twitchy side and have to take steps to adjust. F1 24’s new dynamic handling is going to be divisive. You’ll likely either love it or hate it, depending on your preference for the previous games. I loved it, but not everyone will.
The final major change to F1 24, is to some of the game’s legendary racetracks. Most notably, Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone, hosts of the Belgian and British Grand Prix respectively have been completely redesigned to bring them more in line with their real-world counterparts, with massive sections of track being reprofiled and changed to closer reflect reality. This is along with a host of smaller changes to many of the other tracks in the game such as the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and Losail International Circuit.
Graphically, F1 24 remains largely the same as it was, though this isn’t to say it looks bad, because it doesn’t by any means. It doesn’t come anywhere near close to competing with the likes of Gran Turismo 7 on PS5, though that’s hardly surprising as there isn’t much that does. It’s a very good-looking game that runs exceptionally well across a wide range of systems thanks to an excellent graphics settings menu that allows for a great deal of customisation and scalability.
Final Thoughts?
On the surface, F1 24 doesn’t seem to be all that different from last year’s game.
F1 World, the vestigial vehicle introduced last year and used primarily to funnel players towards microtransactions, unfortunately, remains, with many previous seasons customisation options now locked behind a paywall. A black mark on an otherwise excellent game.
Thanks to some much-needed updates to circuits and the expansion of career mode, however, there’s more here than is initially apparent, and assuming you can get on with the new handling model there’s a lot to like here.
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