F1 2022 - PC version thoughts after several hours (both flat screen, and VR)
It wasn't very long ago that I played F1 21 on the PlayStation 5, using it as a break from Gran Turismo 7. Since then, I think I've found my sim racing home in the open wheel classes within Project Cars 2. Sadly, that game isn't available for sale anymore, due to licences expiring, so I am glad I listened to people who told me I should get it now.
I was marginally interested in F1 22, as I've come to understand and enjoy the sport an awful lot in the few months since I watched my first race. It is an interesting, strategic sport, with highly technical bits and pieces moving about to make cars go very fast around tracks.
They are afterall, the fastest cars in the world.
Initially, F1 22 got some terrible community reviews on the Steam store, with poor performance, and it got lambasted by hard core sim racers, too.
This review is based on the time I've spent with the game during the Free Weekend that ran (last weekend), and I played the entirety of the first round in a career, in its full length. This consisted of:
- Free Practice 1 (1 hour)
- Free Practice 2 (1 hour)
- Free Practice 3 (1 hour)
- Qualifying (30 mins) - I qualified 1st!
- Full Race (1.5 hours)
I'll tell you the story of the race shortly, but first I want to tell you about the new features in this game.
First, it has ray tracing. This doesn't really add much of an impact to the game, as there aren't all that many reflective surfaces on a F1 car, or around a F1 track. I ran the game's benchmark around Monaco, and it isn't exceedingly obvious that water glitters and sparkles, and owing to the cars themselves typically having a matte paint scheme, adds little visual quality. It looks dull.
I preferred the visual style of F1 21, to be honest. When everything is whizzing past at absurd speeds, you don't tend to notice the details anyway, and while it does look pretty (and the details on the cars in particular are spot on) - the speed at which the gameplay propels you through doesn't let you stop to appreciate the sights.
Instead, what you have on offer is pure racing action.
I played with pretty tame settings:
- Manual Gearbox
- Steering Assist off
- ABS On ( a feature real world F1 cars don't have)
- Driving / Braking Line on
- "Amateur" Difficulty
I used my Logitech G29 wheel and pedals, and I won't lie, I had a blast. I was braking for corners way too early, not carrying enough speed, and generally pretty clumsy when it came to navigating around traffic, but the game treated me well for a beginner, and it didn't take long to find a rhythm and start to put in consistent lap times that improved slowly.
Just don't ask me about adjusting braking ratios, downforce, or other car features while hurtling down a straight at in excess of 250km/h, because that is entirely beyond my ability.
The other thing that is beyond my ability is to conceive of the fact that character models and "story" (which was present in the last game through "Braking Point") is absent to some extent, with it instead being replaced with some between race features where you get to drive some super cars around F1 tracks, as well as there being a pretty clumsy and poorly implemented "F1 Life" thing, where you get to pretend to be a F1 influencer and deck out your rich-boy (or girl) apartment with your trophies, triumphs and F1 themed paraphernalia.
It adds nothing in terms of the drama and tension of F1 (on or off track) - and this is slightly angering, as I would have preferred(particularly in the full length race I completed) for there to be more cohesive and informative radio chatter from the race engineer, keeping you up to date about things through the course of a race.
Here's the story of my race. I drove for Ferrari. I qualified first, and got a terrible start off the line. I found myself in fourth, but some lucky weaving in traffic saw me get back to second place, where I battled with Verstappen for a few laps, before taking the lead.
Shortly after this, he retired due to a mechanical failure, and I was free to carve my own path through the circuit.
This all felt really immersive for the first few laps, with encouragement given over the radio from the race engineer for good overtaking, information on opponent positioning on track relative to my vehicle, and information about the gaps between me and my on track rivals.
Then began the long and lonely stint in first place, which I stayed in until about lap 22, when I decided to replace my soft tyres with some new hards, which were expected to last the rest of the race.
Looking at the pit menu while driving around the track is definitely not recommended, and using the voice chat (to use natural language) to talk to your race engineer would probably be a better choice. In any case, I must have fumbled the buttons, because I came into the pits P1, expecting hard tyres, and drove out of the pits on Wet Tyres (on a dry track) in P6, and over the next two laps, proceeded to lose a further 4 positions to P10.
I was angry, but to me it felt like an accurate simulation, owing to the many strategic blunders made by Ferrari in the current F1 season. Simulation good, right?
I jumped in the pits and decided to risk Medium tyres for the rest of the race, in order to help that make up time for me. It worked, but I found myself in P16. There were long stints between cars, and silence on the radio.
There was encouragement, again, as I worked through the field; but no information about how I was gaining on opponents, or in one case, no ecstatic praise when I overtook three cars in the space of three corners.
I fought long and hard, and managed to get myself back into P1, and eventually ended up winning the race by about 20 seconds.
Probably because the difficulty was too low for me; but it felt genuinely heroic, and felt like an amazing F1 race story. The commentary and summary at the end failed to capture the monumental nature of such a task, making it a little bit less special.
This is just one race, but it is enough to let me know that a game like F1 22 needs more work, particularly for people who like me, will play the game like a complete degenerate, putting myself in the shoes of a F1 driver and going through every session (even Practice, where you complete programs, to earn points allowing you to upgrade your car's function throughout the season) - with the highly technical development that comes along with that.
Even at half price (A$44.97) at the time of the free weekend, it doesn't seem worth it. It has one thing going for it, however, and that is the fact that it is the only option for officially licenced F1 with the officially licenced tracks for the 2022 season.
This means (eventually) that the licences will expire and EA will probably take down all the online functionality (of which there is much) meaning that in a few years, the game's online community will dead, and along with it the roster of drivers and cars that are present here, which is a truly historic one, seeing Vestappen win his second title (depending on whether the FIA remove his last season's title), Vettel's last season, and of course, a tennous future for the likes of Ricardo.
The additional PC features...
VR. VR makes it so worth it, but it feels that it is not yet a silver bullet. I wish the radio chatter was better. I wish the game was more technically accessible.
It makes me wish I had a better VR headset, it makes me wish I had a full motion sim rig, to leverage the telemetry data.
I have none of these things, and F1 22 is unlikely to give them to me.
I, as a result, feel so conflicted about this game. I want to love it, because I love the underlying technical and diverse nature of the ways in which people can appreciate Formula 1 racing. It is the best that is on offer, but it is not the best that it could possibly be.
I can only hope that the instalment next year will be better, and hope that it will retain the VR support. It is really is a burgeoning feature in a main stream game like this, and I'm glad it is present. I just hope that it gets better.
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There is a new F1 game (FIA licensed) coming out every year since many years now. Usually there is not much improvement. Over time they have gone with the latest standards in graphics, but thats about it.
Whats changing is mostly the driver names, the rules, new race tracks, liveries ect., to make it look like the F1 season that its named after. Mainly its a money making machine, that is aimed at F1 fans who always want the latest F1 feel, as they know it from TV.
But its good to hear you got yourself Project Cars 2. That gives a much more diverse experience, regarding tracks and cars, at a high realism level. I also like that you can drive every car on every track, without having to unlock things by winning challenges.
And you can drive at Bathurst as well... :)
You're entirely correct. I remember reading such good things in the mid 90s or early 2000s about a game called Grand Prix Legends, which had a whole handful of vintage cars, tracks, and was a pretty good retrospective simulation; I never played it, and I don't think that we'll ever see such a game ever again, even though today's technology makes that very possible.
Meanwhile, Project Cars 2 is an incredible game through and through. I love the open wheelers and have already spent countless hours racing around in VR. It's a brilliant title.
Not so interested in Bathurst, but it is a nice track to actually race around, as opposed to watching on TV.
Yeah, Grand Prix Legends was pretty cool, I had that back in the PC gaming days.
In PCars 2 you find a lot of vintage stuff as well. Do you have all the expansion packs? There are some race tracks that dont exist anymore, and others that were heavily changed over time. Like the original Hockenheim Ring. But there are a lot of tracks that are pretty cool. Sometimes I even just cruise on the California coastal highway, or the Cote Azure road, in the `67 Mustang, or the Super 7.
The open wheelers are not so much my thing in Pcars, at least not the Formula. Though it depends on the track. In Monaco it can be fun, or a old Indycar on a oval track.
Thats just the thing, there are so many different combinations possible. Btw, Bathurst is among the real difficult tracks. May be just behind the Nürburgring Nordschleife. This part where its steep and windy downhill is a true killer. One little mistake and you are in the wall.
But usually a track "grows on you" after you drive it for a while. There are tracks that I like and have used a lot, while I almost never use some other. Sometimes this goes back to the old TOCA2 days even. Like Brands Hatch, its not much really, but its fun if you know it well. Or the short Watkins Glen track, that surprises by how fast you can get there if you know a few tricks. That scenic Scottish road is good fun as well, and there is a easter egg in it.
And some of the cars are amazing, too. Have you tried the Toyota Hybrid LMP yet? That goes as if its arse is on fire! Or this 50s Aston Martin, which is great to drive in LeMans - until you go over 240 kph, then it tries to kill you.
Another special field in PCars are the setups. Setups for each and everything, and another setup for the setup.... Its a entire science to master that, and some people have written entire books about it. I always found it to be a bit dry, I rather drive a bit instead. But if you want to take part in competitions, its very important to master this as well.
I love Watkins Glen, though my first exposure to it was in Gran Turismo 7. I've not even scratched the surface of PC2, and I'm so grateful there's so much content in there.
The open wheelers I refer to are just the Formula Rookie, and when they're raced around the tracks they're intended for, they're challenging, unforgiving vehicles that are very satisfying once you get them right.
I like the career progression aspect of it, and the move from vehicle type to vehicle type. It is also incredible in VR, which makes it so much more immersive.
Bathurst comes alive in VR, you can't really appreciate it as much if you're using a standard chase cam.
Unfortunatly VR is not integrated in the PS4 version. Well, its ok, I easily get sick from VR driving games anway.
But I never use a chase cam or other outside cam. Drivers eye is the only real thing.
Absolutely. In car, or bumper cam (where the game doesn't offer in car) is the way to go. I find that the VR works well with the Quest 2 on PC, and when you're using a wheel, it feels very natural, like wearing a helmet in a race car.
The only thing missing is the sense of G-forces as you go around corners, and well, the volume could always be louder... and the smell of oil and rubber...
I assume the missing Gs are the problem for me in VR. Because what you see does not match to what you feel. And then the brain goes into alert mode. Thats how you get sea sick, too. I have a rally game that has VR mode - and I cant do this longer than 5 minutes, then I begin to feel queazy.
Would that be Dirt Rally 2?
Dirt Rally, yes. In other VR games, without driving, I don't have that problem.
I find Dirt Rally to be very unforgiving, I can't handle the lack of grip. :D
I find rally driving a bit crazy over all. But I got the game anyway, because of the VR thing - well, that didn't go so well. The only other VR racing game I have is Assetto Corsa, which I can handle better for some reason.
There was a time when I was crazy about these F1 racing games but I don't know why I don't feel like playing them now even after they're doing better with the graphics with their new game.
F1 seems so dull to me nowadays when other racing games like NFS, Asphalt, Horizon seems so exciting.
I'm really looking forward to the next Forza Motorsport game. :) Should be great on PC!