The PC sim racing scene is great for its third party content. Game-changing features, liveries and neat additions, here are the best F1 23 mods so far.
On PC, sim racing benefits from the contributions of the community in the form of third party content – otherwise known as mods. These can range from simple tweaks in a car’s design all the way to game changing additions akin to that of Custom Shaders Patch in Assetto Corsa.
Whilst the more open titles such as AC and rFactor 2 are the best-known for their mods, other titles get their fair share too. Even the F1 Series of games from EA features a plethora of community-driven pieces of content that allow for a personalised gameplay experience.
Despite only having been out for a few weeks, F1 23 is beginning to build up a good collection of bits and bobs available to modify the game. With a large bank of content at one’s finger tips on RaceDepartment, here are the best mods we could find for F1 23.
Updated F1 23 Performance Mod
If the Formula One community has learnt anything from the 2023 season so far, it’s that the order is ever-changing. Teams introduce upgrades at different races and cars’ respective speeds alter dramatically race-to-race.
This is something F1 23 cannot truly recreate as EA can’t possibly update the game each race according to car performance. However, this is where the modding scene comes in, as it allows a faster process of evolving the game.
That is exactly what this first mod is doing. Week after week, RaceDepartment user Herbert Vig is bringing changes to the pace differential between each car. Their mod, F1 2023 performance, makes for a realistic running order following each real-world event. No longer will McLaren struggle to keep up. Following the real world Hungarian Grand Prix, they seem to be the second best team.
Play as Female Drivers
In F1 23, one can take control of many drivers’ cars, donning their helmet and overalls, embodying their team position. This encompasses the entire Formula One and Formula Two grid. However, only one of these drivers is female; Tatiana Calderon.
However, there are a few other drivers that can appear in-game during a Career mode playthrough. Both Callie Mayer, a Breaking Point character and Jamie Chadwick, one of the top female racers in the world can find their way into the game. With this simple mod, all three women are made playable in the career mode and in all other game modes.
To run the mod simply called ‘Play as Calderon, Chadwick, Mayer‘, one will need the Semi Modular Mods Base Files. This is an overarching program that manages to extract game files and modify them. In fact, it is required for the majority of the best F1 23 mods.
Adding a bit of a personal touch to the game, this nifty little mod is certainly worthy of a spot on this list.
Real Track Sponsors
For many, sim racing is all about immersion. And F1 23 does that brilliantly with all the liveries, drivers and tracks from the real world series. However, there is one piece of the immersion puzzle missing in the new title; realistic track surroundings. In game, the majority of circuit sponsor boards relate to gaming. But that isn’t the case in real life.
This next mod adds true-to-life sponsors around the game’s tracks. Not only does this make the racing more immersive, it also makes screenshots look that little bit more accurate. It is a sponsors update and sees each in-game circuit reflect the real thing.
Throughout the year, the mod creator updates each track following its respective Grand Prix. The result is an ever-growing collection of up-to-date circuits that reflect their real life counter parts.
This is certainly a minute detail corrected in mod form. However, there are many players that tire of the standard F1 23 signage throughout each track. This appeases the needs of those fans, as well as making for a more diverse feast for the eyes.
Best Livery Mods in F1 23
Speaking of immersion, we have previously mentioned how there is nothing greater for enhancing the immersive experience than liveries. They enable players to embody a team and feel part of something larger than themselves. They also allow players to feel recognisable online and create a bond with their car.
With that in mind, there are already countless F1 23 livery mods circulating the web. Here are three of the best on RaceDepartment.
The first livery mod that interests us for F1 23 is a hand painted Toro Rosso design. The front end is certainly nothing revolutionary with its standard red paint. However, to the rear one will spot the artistic bull graphic that many F1 fans reminisce about from the team’s past.
Next up, we recently saw the McLaren MCL60 don a chrome design for the British Grand Prix to celebrate the team’s history. Back in the late-1990’s and early 2000’s, the team ran a gorgeous chrome colour. This was only accentuated when Vodafone joined the team making for a fantastic livery in which Lewis Hamilton claimed his first title. This mod by T13Ollie on RaceDepartment injects F1 23 with that vintage in a beautiful way, retaining the areas of carbon weight saving.
Finally, racing fans have been blessed with a great World Endurance Championship until now. One main protagonist in the series is the first customer Hypercar in the shape of the gold Porsche JOTA. The talented Jonniedesigns on RaceDepartment has taken the team’s WEC livery and fused it with the F1 model making for what can only be described as the most stunning F1 livery in years.
What is your favourite mod for F1 23 so far? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
