Plenty of F1 game players with early access were allowed to post the first three chapters of Braking Point 2. Here is what we noticed in the F1 23 storymode.
In F1 23, which will release 16 June (or 13 June for Champions Edition owners), there is a follow-up to F1 2021‘s Braking Point. In this year’s story mode, protagonist Aiden Jackson and rival Devon Butler are now teammates at a brand new team; Konnersport.
There was plenty of indication that F1 23‘s Braking Point would be a massive step up from F1 2021‘s. But now, we have seen the first three chapters courtesy of F1 Esports drivers and content creators, and there are many things that are worth noting.
Consider this your official spoiler warning, as we are going into plot details on Braking Point 2. If you would prefer to experience the storymode for the first time when actually playing the game, proceed at your own risk.
Overachieving Still Goes Unnoticed in F1 Braking Point
In F1 2021 Braking Point, the objectives would often be something along the lines of ‘Finish in the top 10’. But, because of how low the AI difficulty would be, it wasn’t unheard of to end up winning the race.
Considering the teams that the characters would be driving for, it’s safe to assume that any of those teams winning a race would get at the very least a mention from the commentators. But no. If you somehow dominate a race in a Williams or Haas, David Croft commends you for getting a top 10 finish.
It would seem that hasn’t changed. In the second chapter, Jackson has to recover after a tangle with Butler. He only has to get to 13th, or even 10th for an extra objective. But F1 Esports champion Lucas Blakeley managed to win, and all he got was “he did well to recover”. A bit underwhelming, considering he had taken victory after being in P17 only six laps earlier.
Plus, the team afterwards were too fixated on the initial clash with Butler. Not that they had actually won a race. If Codemasters and EA really wanted the player to just achieve the bare minimum, perhaps it would have been better to turn it into a cutscene after getting into P10.
Where is Akkerman?
In the first three chapters, Jackson and Butler are front and centre along with team principal Andreo Konner and main sponsor Davidoff Butler, Devon’s father. From F1 2021, Jackson’s former team liaison Brian Doyle appears in an email he sent to Aiden, stating he has retired and is enjoying the beach life. So we probably won’t see him in F1 23.
But as for the other primary player in the first Braking Point, what has come of Casper Akkerman? We see him in the official reveal trailer talking to new character Callie Mayer, who is set to race for Konnersport in the 2023 season, displacing either Jackson or her own brother, Butler.
Initially, we thought Akkerman had a role in Konnersport as team principal, with Andreo Konner serving as more of a Gene Haas role to Akkerman’s Guenther Steiner. But as it turns out, Konner is in fact the team principal and in an email to him, Akkerman has asked Konner to keep an eye on Mayer.
This is a bit perplexing. Why would Akkerman feel the need to tell him about Mayer? Konner probably hears enough about her from Davidoff Butler, Callie’s father. There may be a further reason in the chapters following regarding why Cas is telling Andreo to follow her progress, and why she doesn’t even go by the name Butler.
Jumping Around
The story already doesn’t seem to have much in the way of a coherent flow. F1 2021‘s Braking Point had a habit of leaping forward in the chronology, it didn’t feel like the weight of the scenario that took place before had any consequence. Well, what we have already seen from F1 23 shows that old habits die hard.
Chapter 1 takes place in Miami, Chapter 2 in Canada and Chapter 3 in Hungary. Immediately, there feels like there was an opportunity to show the immediate aftermath from Abu Dhabi in the first Braking Point. Maybe Aiden and Devon both realising they’ll be teammates in a new team? But there is no such thing.
Even without that, the chapters seem very far apart, and it feels like you’ve just been dropped in the middle. None of these chapters feel like scenes, but rather just moments with scenarios in between them that are merely surface level. Of course, these are just the first three chapters and F1 2021‘s Braking Point had 17, so hopefully there are plenty more cutscenes still to come that can add depth.
But if Codemasters and EA are serious about this storymode, they can’t continue leaving so many big gaps. There is already way too much that the player could feel like they’ve missed. Here’s hoping the remainder of the story addresses these concerns.
What do you think of F1 23 Braking Point so far? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
