The Formula 1 series returns in video game form with the release of F1 2019, the tenth Formula 1 game from British developers Codemasters. After spending quite a bit of time with it over the last week, it’s safe to say that Codemasters has a real winner on their hands.
Like other officially licensed sports games, it can be challenging to release a new game year after year. For the 2019 game, Codemasters has expanded the entire game. Career mode has received a big overhaul to make it feel more authentic, the feeder series into F1 known as F2 is now in the game, and multiplayer and esports has been given a huge focus. This all leads to a very impressive package that will keep me hooked for quite some time.
Codemasters stated that this game has been in development for two years, and you can tell almost immediately. I haven’t run into any glaring bugs that I can think of, unlike previous editions of the game. Plus the graphics have been given a massive overhaul with a new lighting engine that makes the game look even more real. The most impressive update comes with night racing. It looks phenomenal in motion, and really makes you feel immersed in the game.
The main mode in the game is the career where you compete for 10 years to see if you can become a F1 legend. Since F2 is in the game this year, that’s where you’ll start in the career mode. You drive in three different scenarios that sets up a story between your created driver, your F2 teammate, and a rival driver from another F2 team. After a strong F2 season, the three of you get promoted to F1 to compete at the highest level. Although you choose a young driver program to join before you start your career, you’re able to join any F1 team after you complete the three scenarios. I was hoping for a more realistic approach where you’d get promoted to a team based on which young driver program you chose. Maybe in future games this is how career mode will operate.
The F2 scenarios in the career mode are short, but I think the correct length. The first two scenarios drop you into the last few laps of a race after specific incidents, like a wing breaking during a dual with your rival. The last scenario in F2 before getting promoted to F1 is a full race that’s around 13 laps. I like these short scenarios to get you into career mode because I wouldn’t want to start my F1 career save and then be required to play an entire F2 season before I start racing in F1. The scenarios are pretty neat, and while Codemasters say that they have an impact on your F1 career, it wasn’t made clear in my playthrough. Even if I performed terribly in the scenarios, I could still go join any team I wanted to after F2. Also included with the F2 scenarios are little cutscenes shown through first-person where you interact with the two other F2 drivers. It’s a neat little touch that adds personality to a mode that is usually only about racing and improving your car.
Introducing F2 is a great addition to the game, and what’s most impressive is how different the cars feel. If you’re not familiar with the motorsport world, F2 is the league right below F1 where young drivers get to show off their talent and get recruited by F1 teams. A lot of the drivers in F2 are part of a young driver program that the F1 teams operate to groom young talent before they make the jump up to F1. And from just driving the different cars in F1 2019, it is a massive jump between the two leagues.
It can be difficult going between the two leagues. The cars in F2 are not as fast, and do not have the braking ability that F1 cars have, making it very easy to lock the brakes when going into corners and losing control of the car. Even though the cars are not as fast, you’re still getting up to around 300 kph (186 mph) on the straights.
If the three scenarios in the career mode didn’t satisfy your itch for F2 racing, you can play the entire 2018 campaign, with the 2019 campaign being added later this year. With F1 2019 being the earliest a F1 game from Codemasters has ever been released, it’s understandable that some things needed a bit longer to finish. But the F1 series has always been a game that has improved drastically over a year, and 2019 seems to be no different.
In addition to F2, you can compete as one of the 20 drivers in the F1 2019 campaign and avoid all the extra stuff that comes with career mode, like media interviews and spending resource points to upgrade your car. Other campaigns include racing in just specific areas of the world, or racing classic cars.
The classic cars make a return, with a total of 22 this year. Some of the favorite cars to drive are from the 90s and earlier. It really shows how far the cars have improved over the years, but it’s a lot of fun to race around Monaco in Aryton Senna’s 1990 McLaren.
The multiplayer is the last area that has seen a big improvement this year. Codemasters worked with engineers from the Formula 1 series to create a “spec” car that meets all of the rules in F1. You can customize the livery so it feels like your car, and you’re not just driving a car from one of the F1 teams. It makes it feel more personal.
The netcode still has some work to be done, as cars seem to jump all over the track if you have a poor connection. I’m hoping this is something that improves over the year because I really like the multiplayer in this game. I have actually always avoided multiplayer in the past games, but I’ve already spent a good amount of time in multiplayer this year, and continue to race online. There is a ranked mode that puts you into different tiers, and also gives you a safety rating based on your driving. You’ll get penalized for things like crashing into other drivers or leaving the track. It’s much more fun than unranked where the goal of every other driver is just to knock you off the track. Once there is a number tied to how well you drive, it seems like people want to drive better, which makes the experience more enjoyable for others.
Ranked still can be a bit chaotic, but I’ve really enjoyed avoiding the massive pile ups at the start of races. I’ve had plenty of races where I qualify outside of the top 10, and after the first few turns I’m up in sixth, or higher. You feel like a real F1 driver avoiding obstacles at the last minute as you open up the car on a straight and get up to 200 mph.
I’ve been playing F1 games since F1 2015, and I can easily say this is the most fun I’ve ever had with an F1 game. Everything just feels fantastic with the game, and the changes with career mode, adding F2, and the improved multiplayer makes this game a must own for fans of Formula 1 racing. If you’re not a fan of Formula 1, then it’s harder for me to recommend as you’ll be rather lost with all the different teams, drivers, and circuits. But if you’re trying to get into the sport, F1 2019 is a great introduction to the world of Formula 1.
Score: 4/5
