The Future Of F1 Games
As we all know this years game has been a complete disaster, from the early handling model to the complete lack of content within the game since, this has been a problem within the F1 games by Codemasters for a long time, I've played these games since F1 2014 and it's been up and down none stop, over the last few years Codemasters and EA should've grabbed hold of the continued boom and popularity of F1 and created the best games possible but that's not been the case whatsoever.
Let's start with what's important firstly, career mode and Esports, they should be the absolute priorities every single year amongst improving the graphics and handling of the game (obvious) but for whatever reason we seem to have the same problems at the start of every F1 game cycle and that is the studio focusing on things that no one cares about things like the MyWorld and Braking Point etc, these things are NOT what we want as players of the franchise, we want a crazy deep detailed and dramatic career mode focused on what it's like to be a F1 driver in the modern world, we should be having pre-season testing and the ability to bring early upgrades or something where we can have some form of influence on the car before the season starts and we still haven't got it, pre-season is one of the most important parts of the season and it's still not apart of the game or something that Codemasters want to incorporate for whatever reason, the R&D part of the game is still incredibly lacking and not enough detail or depth considering it's a huge part of the sport, we don't seem to have any development wars or teams like McLaren this season in real life suddenly becoming the best team on the grid after finding a development route or something that significantly adds a huge amount of performance to the car which leads me to the drama side of things, why isn't the game more interactive? why aren't we hearing rumours of a team that's suddenly doing well being investigated for cheating etc that could open up so much to the story side of things and helps create storylines and drama, which leads me onto why don't we see storylines being built throughout the career mode, why don't we see a proper detailed world to F1 within the game, once a rivalry starts to appear for the championship or somewhere else on the grid it should actually make a huge impact within the gameplay of the game, why is everything so surface level, I think the only thing that's been added is the "secret meetings" but that should just be a feature amongst so MUCH more rather than a "WOW LOOK AT THIS TINY LITTLE FEATURE WE'VE ADDED" and then it being the only thing that's been added after a year of development...
What's with the AI?! they're beyond shocking to drive against, they do the same things every single race, there's no individualism, they never make mistakes, they have perfect tyre wear and ERS usage, there's constant ERS/DRS trains throughout the race, they're so robotic and literally have no realism to them at all, the AI need a HUGE overhaul to make them more human as possible, the ratings should make an impact on the AI and it needs to be more detailed, we need more personalities on the track, we have drivers who are more aggressive vs more conservative, drivers who are better at tyre wear vs not, drivers better in the wet/interchangeable conditions, drivers who suffer under pressure vs thrive and the list goes on which would add a huge dynamic to the gameplay, drivers/teams should get boosts if they're driving home races etc there's so much detail that could be added to the AI and how they behave on track but it's the same simple robotic AI that do the same moves, that constantly fight around every corner rather than waiting to go for moves in realistic corners, they never have trouble with traction, tyre wear, ERS useage or anything they literally perfect everything none stop and it's so boring! they also need to be more human when it is interchangeable/wet conditions because they drive around like the track is bone dry, also there's no pressure on drivers either? it seems like every team is always happy with who they have no matter how poorly they're driving, there should be driver moves at the right moments at the end of each season just like in real life to reflect on their performances throughout the season rather than going into each season with the same grid all the time, why aren't we getting driver move rumours or like a social media feed or something that impacts the game?! that's a huge part of the modern F1 world and for some reason that's another thing not being used in career mode?!
Like where is the customization?! why can't we completely edit the calendar to what we want after the first season in career mode but you can in Grand Prix and online? why can't we remove sprint weekends or change what circuits that have them etc? I feel like there's so much and I mean SO MUCH that can be added to F1 games and they're always ignored while Codemasters focus on the most irrelevant things that no one is interesting in and now they're seeing exactly that because sales have dropped experientially and no one is interested in playing the game, like where is DLC?! why aren't we getting old tracks like Nurburgring, Hockenheim, Malaysia, Istanbul, Vietnam and so many of the other F1 tracks added to the game to use in career mode and online?! we have Portimão and that's it?! like come on! Where is the MyTeam liveries and why are they always so basic?! who cares about wearing some streetwear clothes in a menu we want to have more detailed customization for the on track things that we see for 99% of the game things like the helmets and liveries etc, it's genuinely mind blowing how ignorant and selfish Codemasters are, the game is made for the consumers so LISTEN TO US!
These are just a few ideas and things we (the community) have been talking about for the longest time so the game from here on out NEEDS a huge influence from the community, we should be the ones directing where the game goes, also can I just say that modding is a huge part of things too and now there's been a problem with all that, at least with mods we can make the game good and enjoyable to play but instead we're stuck playing the simplistic boring game that's been forced down our necks, the modders seem to do a better job than Codermasters! I feel like I'm wasting my time even writing this post because it'll be ignored just like everyone else's but there's a huge problem and if something is done about the quality of these games for the remaining part of this year and especially next year I don't see anyone will be interested in buying games made by Codermasters again
