F1 24 Review | Xbox Series X

There haven’t been any noteworthy racing games that have come out lately apart from Forza Motorsport and Pacific Drive if you consider them under this genre. Racing games fans, especially those who enjoy the Formula One series, were anticipating the debut of the latest installment in the series. So, Codemasters is back with another yearly release; F1 24, published by EA Sports. With revamped handling, a new career mode, and some little additions here and there, will this be enough to appeal to racing simulation addicts and casual fans alike?

 

Codemasters is no stranger to racing simulations. Having had humble beginnings making racing games for the Commodore 64, they have been at it for quite some time. Notable titles from them include the DiRT series, GRID, and previous F1 titles. EA’s acquisition of the company in 2021 has not had a significant impact on the quality of the games.

However, there have been some misses like F1 22 which received criticism due to its unrealistic handling system. History seems to have repeated itself with F1 24 as the racing simulation community loathes the brand-new dynamic handling system introduced in this game.

The developers have intended to redefine the feeling of the car to produce a more realistic and predictable performance across the wheel and the pad. Following that, they claim that the handling gives the driver a more realistic feel of weight distribution and the car’s reaction through varying speeds and corners.

The moment you start F1 24, the driving will feel dramatically different from last year’s release. There’s are mixed feelings while driving because the cars feel both heavy and light and the same time. The front end feels exceedingly grippy while the rear end kind of feels very light. During turns, you feel like you are oversteering at the start of the turn, and then understeering right at the end.

It doesn't feel like you can find the perfect middle ground between them to do the turns you want. I noticed this especially when doing medium-speed corners. With how developers talked much about pouring realism into this driving experience, I would be surprised to learn that this representation would be more realistic compared to last year’s game.

 

The rear end’s grip feels subpar as well. You are allowed to be incredibly aggressive right after turning a corner as soon as your wheels turn straight, and while the camera shake is more pronounced this year when going over curbs, going over them leaves your car nearly unaffected. In addition, you are locking up if you even touch the brakes while you are turning. The result of this is extra aggressive gameplay that would never be possible in a real F1 race.

It isn’t all consistent though, as when you turn medium-speed corners, you get random kicks of snap oversteer where the rear end feels completely very light. It doesn’t seem to make sense at all. It also feels like the game was designed for controllers first, and then was transferred to the wheel.

It was quite easy to avoid lockups in F1 23 as the game gave us plenty of leeway, which wasn’t very realistic, to be honest. You need to get used to locking up in F1 24 as it is quite prevalent, especially when braking late into corners which feels a bit more realistic. Upon getting more used to the driving though, it didn’t feel as unpleasant as it initially felt.

But at the same time, it's so dramatically different that the experience almost feels arcade-y, rather than a realistic representation of what it is like to be an F1 driver. Codemasters have already acknowledged all the feedback around the handling and have announced a patch to address it, though only time will tell if the update alleviates the concerns voiced by the community.

 

Speaking of what it is like to be an F1 driver, the new career mode, Driver Career, lets you play as one of the 20 in a complete, multi-season career mode experience. You can play as one of the current top 20 F1 drivers, starting with the past F1 legends, or create your custom character. The mode focuses solely on the driver and the races, unlike MyTeam Career which has aspects of worrying about team sponsors, contracts, and whatnot. It adds driver ratings and contracts that can be longer than a year. You can also compete on an online leaderboard by doing the Challenge Career mode which rewards you with stickers and emblems.

The Driver Career mode is pretty fun. You get to play this game from the perspective of an F1 driver. You can conduct secret meetings concerning your transfer, which helps with immersion. Your reputation goes up when you stay loyal to one contract, which comes into play during the Research and Development aspect, where you may be offered secret upgrades, more upgrades, or faster upgrades depending on the situation. If you are playing as a custom character, you will gather awards and make a name for yourself, or you can pick an icon and add to their achievements.

Alongside this, you are also given in-race and career-wide objectives to meet as you play, but they don’t seem meaningful or specific to how you are playing, and you don’t lose out on anything by just ignoring them. Another nice touch is that this game now includes real voice lines from the F1 racers that come from the radio chatter during races. As you would expect, there is commentary during your races, but they’re rather generic and don’t change much according to your performance. There’s also the Two Player Career, which is the same experience shared with another player.

Usually when a new F1 game releases, the AI is completely and utterly terrible, and they race like blind bats. However, Codemasters finally got it right this time. The AI drivers are pretty competitive at every level and don't make blunders as much as they did in the previous installments. During my playtime in all the races that I took part in, there were a few issues with them here and there, but overall, they seem to be doing pretty well.

 

Other than that, there were some other minor changes like the tracks being updated to match how they are in real life. Tracks like Silverstone, Spa, Jeddah, and Lusail have been completely redesigned, but also the most of other tracks have received updates such as Spain and Las Vegas. However now, there are twenty-five tracks as opposed to the twenty-six tracks available in the previous game. What you see when you crash is a little janky though, as I’ve seen wheels come off and clip into the car or the road several times.

Visually, F1 24 looks fantastic this time around with upgraded lighting, shadows, dynamic weather, and improved character design. The game uses Codemasters’ Proprietary Engine which has given stable performance so far. The cockpit and the race tracks along the dynamic weather look stunning. Plus, the top 20 player characters appear to be rather realistic when compared to their actual selves. The music is also different from last year, and the soundtracks are not as good as compared to last year in my opinion.

Overall, there haven’t been too many noticeable changes to the game as a whole, but I do think the places where they have made a change are a step in the right direction. The handling is a miss, but hopefully, the upcoming patch announced by Codemasters will address the issues encountered. I think while trying to achieve a middle ground between being accessible to casual players and appeasing hardcore racing sim fans, the developers have found themselves in no man’s land. Admittedly, finding that balance is very difficult to achieve.

 

In its current state, F1 24 is not worth the $70 price tag for the avid fans who buy the F1 games every year, and the same applies to the ones chasing a close-to real-life experience with their racing setups. If you are an F1 fan who buys a game from the series now and then to see what changes have been made, then maybe it’s worth it. The new career mode, enhanced graphics, and ease of use on a controller do seem appealing, but then again, $70 is a steep price. Before you buy this game, it would be wise to consider previous titles like F1 23 which still has an active online player base, or at least wait until the upcoming patch to see if the handling issues have been resolved.

Ahnaf Tajwar,
Editor, NoobFeed