F1 22 review

₹4,499

The sport of Formula One is enjoying one of its biggest changes in years. With a number of regulation changes, the cars now look sleeker than ever before, allowing the drivers to race up close, and as a result, the contest for the world championship between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc is thrilling, to say the least.

It is only fair then to expect the same kind of changes and excitement from this year’s iteration of the official Formula One game – F1 22. And to an extent, Codemasters delivers on most fronts but there are others where fans will feel let down.

What’s good?

Let’s start with the good bits, and it all starts with life on the track. The in-game cars look different this year courtesy of their added bulk, bigger wheels and tyres, and handle differently as well. Similar to Daniel Ricciardo’s struggles with the 2022 McLaren MCL36, returning fans might take a bit of time to adjust to these new cars’ tendency to understeer.

Having said that, the line-long list of driver aids and accessibility options do help in making this game accessible for newcomers. The driving experience is still the best and as close to reality as a racing simulator can get. You can pit your talents against your friends in the split-screen mode or humiliate yourself by racing against the pros in multiplayer mode.

F1 22 has dropped the ‘Braking Point’ story mode, which divided opinions, and instead has focused on refining the already excellent career mode My Team mode. In career mode, you start in F2 and build your reputation and skills to race for the championship in F1. If you’re feeling confident enough, you can even jump straight into the F1 starting grid.

The My Team however gives you a more wholesome experience by letting you set up an F1 team. This time around, there are three entry points so you can either fight at the top of the grid against the Ferraris and Red Bulls or start lower and fight for each point against the likes of Haas and AlphaTauri. The sense of achievement of earning a single point with a team on a shoestring budget is unparalleled.

Rounding off the whole experience is F1 22’s presentation bits, which accurately ape Sky TV’s coverage style. Codemasters did this with Grid Legends as well. It feels like the only thing missing is a small segment on Netflix’s Drive to Survive featuring your driving avatar.

What’s not so good?

The Formula One Life. Before you start wondering what we’re on about, it is a new mode in F1 22, which sort of replaces the story mode. This lifestyle-oriented mode focuses on an F1 driver’s lavish lifestyle away from the track.

Right at the launch, you’re given a pad to customise, decorate, and make it into a larger-than-life space to show off how well you’re doing in life. While it may be an attempt at giving a glimpse at Lewis Hamilton’s life, it fails to be anything more than a shallow lesson in interior design. Where some of the older versions treated us to classic F1 cars, here we are given a choice between designer rugs and couches.

Fortunately, there are cars here too. Injected by purchasing supercars and driving them on tracks akin to the real-life Pirelli Hot Laps. While you get to experience some nice-looking cars from Ferraris, Mercedes-Benz AMG and Aston Martin, they pale in comparison to the mightier F1 cars. Handling of these cars is not the most fun and the small variety of driving challenges get old real quick.

Then there’s the graphics. While the cars and drivers look fantastic, you can’t say the same about the things that are just beyond the track limits. That also applies to car crashes and the damage to the bodies. Even the weather effects look a few years old especially when you compare them with the visually stunning Gran Turismo 7 or Forza Horizon 5.

Verdict

Despite some of the letdowns, F1 22 is still the best way to enjoy the wildly upgraded Formula One cars of this season. From car physics to driving dynamics, Codemasters has got the important elements spot on.

It however is way too similar to F1 21 and comes across as more of a DLC than a brand-new game. If you already own last year’s iteration, we would recommend waiting for next year’s entry. But if you absolutely can’t wait to drive the latest cars then you should wait a bit for the F1 22 price to drop to a reasonable level.

Stuff Says

Still the best way to enjoy Formula One from your couch, despite the F1 Life mode letdown

Good stuff	Bad stuff
Top-notch car and track physics Accessible for new players My Team mode rounds off the experience	F1 Life is a letdown Supercars feel pointless

Good stuff

Bad stuff

Top-notch car and track physics

Accessible for new players

My Team mode rounds off the experience

F1 Life is a letdown

Supercars feel pointless