Paul Jeffrey
Premium
So how does F1 2018 stack up from the perspective of a sim racer?
I’ve had F1 2018 installed for approximately 48 hours now, and if I’m honest with myself the game has done much to surpass my expectations already, and I’ve only just begun to scratch away at the surface of what the new title has to offer.
By nature, my personal preferences are firmly rooted in the “hard core” sim racing camp. In my middle 30’s and without thousands of pounds’ worth of disposable income, I am very much a frustrated racing driver without the time or resources available to go out and scratch that itch on a regular basis in rear race cars, on real circuits throughout the UK and Europe. As such, and with the blessing of my ever understanding wife, I made the conscious decision to focus my love of motorsport on sim racing, using the ever increasingly realistic racing simulations to bring me as close as possible to the thrill of driving and racing a real car.
As sim racing has progressed over the years the level of quality of the various sim on offer has grown considerably, with many of the heavier duty titles now producing a driving and racing experience commendably close to that of the real world in which it proposes to simulate. The closer to reality the game can get, the more interesting to me it will be.
So where does that leave me in relation to the Codemasters Formula One series of games? Well like many petrol heads I’ve got a soft spot for Grand Prix racing, and can clearly remember my hero’s Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna fighting it out on the tracks of the world stage in the late 1980’s and early 90’s, closely following the sport as it develops and engrossing myself in the rich history of Formula One right the way back to the very beginnings of the automobile.
Sadly, at least for me, the appeal of Grand Prix racing has steadily fallen away in recent seasons due to a direction the sport is travelling that does not agree with my own preferences, but a deep rooted love of the high performance open cockpit car remains, which has been in years past the strongest pull towards the F1 games franchise for me, despite what could be deemed as a more broadly appealing physics model than I would ideally be used to enjoying when on my sim racing rig.
As such, despite repeated attempts to fall in love with the games as I do with the real series, I’ve just never quite found what I was looking for from the franchise.
Enter F1 2018, a game that I am slowly starting to find a rather rewarding experience indeed, surprising myself in the realisation that when a developer does so many little things so very well, the overall package can produce a very satisfying experience, even to someone who has such strong preferences towards the more serious end of the sim racing spectrum.
Now before we go further, I want to be clear that this latest release into the franchise isn’t a whole leap and bound different to F1 2017. We haven’t suddenly gone from accessible to hard core simulation, and those wanting to get a driving experience close to the real deal, or one step removed from the team simulators back at the factory will be disappointed – at its core F1 2018 still remains a game designed to broadly appeal to the widest cross section of motorsport fans and gamers as possible – but that does mean the new title is arcade, or not worthy of a serious sim racers time? far from it.
To my mind, and I’ll freely admit I’m not super exposed to the last two or three F1 games, the biggest improvement over previous editions has to the handling of the cars, and the force feedback transferred to the wheel. This is an area that has improved nicely, and gives a solid and reliable feel to the driver through the force feedback wheel in their hands. Certainly not at the level of sims like AC, rF2, AMS, RaceRoom, but a step up from what has gone before.
The wheel has a nice weight, the track surface feels like it transfers to the FFB output nicely, and to a certain extent I can feel the car underneath me more than has been the case in the past. Don’t get me wrong, putting this side by side with the official Ferrari F1 content in Assetto Corsa and it still feels comparatively numb, but for the purposes of the way the game encourages you to play, and the nature of the cars being so fast and agile, what we get from the wheel is more than good enough, and doesn’t detract from the driving experience one little bit. An improvement over previous generations of the title? Yes. Still a way to go for that final big push? Absolutely.
As for the car handling, this is probably the best it has been since Codemasters took over the Formula One licence. The car now feels nicely lively under braking and acceleration, and the way that Codemasters have represented reduced grip on cold tyres is very well done. The player can experience a very firm difference in the behaviour of the car as the tyres reach different stages of their life expectancy, and thanks to the in car MFD (multi-function display), a wealth of information is available to review and action as the race unfolds.
I’ve never driven a real Grand Prix car so I’m unqualified to tell you if the experience behind the wheel and behaviour of the tyres is close to real life, but I can safely say it feels believable, and when dealing with such a secretive world as Formula One, that’s probably about the best one can expect to achieve.
At present I haven’t had enough time with the game to decide if the tyre wear and reactions are more leaning towards scripted behaviour than as a result of driving style and technique, although I would say I’m leaning more towards the latter at this stage. I’ll report back on that one at a later date…
Graphically F1 2018 has been in receipt of a visual overhaul from the last release, getting some nice step improvements and a few little details like under car sparks from the plank as your rivals bottom out on the circuit dips - this is a nice immersion technique, and really does look good from inside the cockpit. For someone like me, who has been away from the franchise for a few years, the improvements are highly noticeable indeed, and I’d be minded to rank the game rather highly in the graphics department. The various tracks all feel full of life, and as usual David Croft and Anthony Davison do a sterling if not slightly wooden performance voicing over the various introductory cut scenes, all updated to match the new for 2018 F1 theme, and are all the more professionally presented because of it.
This really is one area where F1 2018 shines, and makes it stand out and apart from its sim racing rivals. Codemasters have spent a lot of time and energy in developing F1 2018 into a cohesive game experience, really bringing together the on and off track aspects of life as a Formula One driver and bundling it all together in one package, which for us sim racers is a pretty new experience, and although personally I’m not one for cut scenes and career modes, I’ll have to admit it does a pretty good job of adding atmosphere, without being overly invasive on the important parts – like getting out on track.
Once you do go out on track you’ll be greeted by what for me was the biggest surprise of all - a remarkably robust and intelligent AI! Even using this early access build in the video, the way the AI behaves is already very, very impressive. I’ve had the pleasure of several close wheel to wheel fights with the computer, and in almost all situations I’ve found the racing to be clean and close, without much in the way of unnecessary contact or obvious deficiencies in the way the AI recognise where you as a player are out on circuit. This is, for me, a very impressive achievement from Codemasters, and is something that instantly makes a long term investment of my time all the more realistic in the weeks ahead.
As well as the AI in close connection with the player, it also pleases me to see that more often than not a realistic looking pecking order is achieved in the various practice / qualifying and race sessions, something that is often overlooked in other games, annoyingly placing the obviously dominant cars in unrealistically low positions, a trap that Codemasters and F1 2018 have skilfully avoided falling into, again just adding that little bit more realism to the game and massively improving the experience because of it.
As I indicated at the head of this article, I have only had the pleasure of 48 hours with the game, of which equates to about 2 hours play time, but so far I’m pretty impressed, far more than I expected to be at any rate.
So at this early stage how would I sum up my experiences in F1 2018 so far? I can’t wait to get back on track again, even without my favoured VR, and for me to want to play a race game without VR, well that’s pretty much the highest praise I can give.
Stay tuned to RaceDepartment.com for more videos and a more detailed review and look at the game mechanics in the coming days.
Also you can check out our 'Talk n Drive' video HERE from the very first time behind the wheel.
Formula One 2018 is scheduled to release for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC August 24th 2018.
For more news and discussion around the upcoming new Formula One title, don't forget to check out the F1 2018 Sub Forum and get yourself involved in the discussion today!
Like what you see here at RaceDepartment? Don't forget to like, subscribe and follow us on social media!
For more news and discussion around the upcoming new Formula One title, don't forget to check out the F1 2018 Sub Forum and get yourself involved in the discussion today!
Like what you see here at RaceDepartment? Don't forget to like, subscribe and follow us on social media!
