F1 2024 - the worst dev quality to date?

I do have to admit this year has been the worst ive seen since i first played f1 2010. It’s been frustrating from both sides it would seem

What kills me in this game is the incnosisnency of driving from patch to patch. Since 2-3 released the tyres are gone after 2 laps and I slide like a maniac. Impossible to drive like this. That was not the case before. Every patch bring new broken things. 

Without doubt, F124 has and continues to be poor. Rushed out with very little attention to detail with obvious bugs that should never have been in the game if it had been properly tested in the first place.

All EA have done since taking over is fill the game series with gimmicks that absolutely NOBODY is interested whatsoever. Fanzone, stickers and F1 World just show how far detached they are from actually understanding what everyone wants to see. They just do not listen to any feedback back at all. 

F124 has the worst handling model, the least customisation, the most bugs, the worst engine sounds, tacky pointless and unrealistic content. Less helmet designs. Repetitive engineer audio. Invisible bumps in tracks, to which they can't fix. The worst AI with game breaking DRS trains.

Tell me, is it any wonder why customers are complaining and completely fed up? 

Until they start listening and actually improve the base core element of the game, with more focus on alignment with real F1 content rather than the gimmicks. This game franchise under EA will continue to loose customers year on year.

The time and resources spent on some of the things they perceive as important such as Fanzone, stickers and F1 world can be used to make a more realistic, accurate and immersive experience for the players.

I hope all the deserved criticism of F124 has had a profound impact on dramatically improving the game going forward. But I doubt it!

For balance I have loved playing f124. Yes I acknowledge issues and as a pc/wheel/ single player career mode I recognise there are issues on controllers/ multiplayer etc. That I just don’t see. However I think that handling model is very good, the whole r and d element, and I love the increasing of the ers  sophistication as a tool to race with. And some of the criticisms about the handling being changed was because of customer feedback so in some ways EA are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. I also don’t agree with the criticisms of the dev and Qa team, I’m sure they do their best within constraints of time/resource/product planning that are put on them. I would 100% agree that the peripheral nonsense like f1 world should be got rid off and the time/talent invested in the core simulation of f1 and f2.

@Cpayne32 both sides? What do the Devs have to frustrated about? They have done nothing to try and improve this game. Community feedback has been completely ignored both before and after release, so they can't be upset over that. 

Neither Codemasters or EA have shown any remorse for the state of this game. The only thing they have to frustrated about is that the fans aren't putting up with their nonsense anymore and it'll cost them the licence. 

there are some good things about the game for sure: some elements of how the car handles at different stages of development, but this is exactly the problem!

say 2 months ago I would be able to finish a eace normally. I would build build a gap while leading and it will consistently increase through the race. This is expected. Since last 2-3 patches I struggle as tyres are done after 2 laps and the car would slide like a rally car or a drift car. Insane! Impossible to play! 

we are in December and the game is nowhere. New patches only multiply problems. 

at no stage of the year I felt the game is ready and I can rely on it. I was always afraid what they will break again with the new patch. 

In a normal life you get your money back. Imagine buying anything that is not ready and requires months and month of fixing and 6 months later still not done.

the whole concept should be changed. The game should not change so dramatically year on year. It should be same or similar just updates to keep it in line with real world (teams, drovers, visuals). Then you purchase the game one time per the new regulations period and then purchase an update for a year, but not redesign the game time and time again and pay full price. 

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@Darthsausage44 wrote:

For balance I have loved playing f124. Yes I acknowledge issues and as a pc/wheel/ single player career mode I recognise there are issues on controllers/ multiplayer etc. That I just don’t see. However I think that handling model is very good, the whole r and d element, and I love the increasing of the ers  sophistication as a tool to race with. And some of the criticisms about the handling being changed was because of customer feedback so in some ways EA are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. I also don’t agree with the criticisms of the dev and Qa team, I’m sure they do their best within constraints of time/resource/product planning that are put on them. I would 100% agree that the peripheral nonsense like f1 world should be got rid off and the time/talent invested in the core simulation of f1 and f2.

The alternating year dev cycle is largely to blame. Trying to release an annual title every year now takes longer than a year, so at the start the code base is always behind, and the resources are split, so less attention and effort. Lower priority Bugs persist forever

The game engine should just continue development over several seasons, to match the real world regs. Continuos improvement over the period would be the benefit as stuff could actually get fixed rather than return zombie like from before. Buy the game and then the seasonal changes would come as DLC every year

The game economy needs to be simplified - one type credit to earn, spend as you like. And typical features like a livery editor, good online racing etc

That would allow better alignment w the actual F1 season, so events could line up w the races. Have time trials or races and post the results on the F1 site or broadcast to get some fan tie ins. Win some real F1 swag or something big at the end. Have cockpit setups at the races w prizes

Plus so much F1 history to use in game if FOM actually wanted to leverage the game and promote fan interest rather than just collect $$

Don’t know if its in EA’s DNA these days for a really promotional effort like Polyphony does w GT7 live events

But given the cycle, F1 25 is already being baked so can only dream…

OT the PS5 Pro patch really looks nice - great job on the visuals

I have all of the games since 2017 except 2023. I also played Geoff Crammond’s GP2, GP3 and GP4 and Sierra games Grand Prix Legends.

Legends was the worst, needed the highest of high end computers and still unplayable. 

One of the versions, 2018 or 2019 was near perfect until a handling patch made the cars undriveable in the wet. Which is why I keep calling for editable weather in career and my team, in case they break the game. They never fully got it back to where it was in that game. 

2024 is the worst of the rest, with the caveat that right now for the way I play the game is fine. Did they miss with the lack of content in the store and how they did the podium pass? Resounding Yes. Blew it in fact. That set me up to have little good will towards the game. 

A lot of the issues that broke in the subsequent patches didn’t affect me, and the game got better. Is it the game I thought I was paying for in terms of quality and features? Again No.

Will I but 2025? Right now my answer is it depends. If MyTeam gets an interesting over haul I might. If they allow more customization of weather, calendar, and a way to calibrate one AI setting for the year so I don’t need to remember to change it I probably will. If they give me a deep discount for having bought this game then I might even pre-order. 

This game though, was not worth half of what I paid for it at pre-order. And since I have zero interest in Braking Point, if that is there focus for next year it won’t go well with me. 

I agree that F124 has been incredibly poor and quite simply nowhere near worth £90. I also played and enjoyed Geoff Crammonds GP2, GP3 and GP4. For the time they were unequaled in terms of handling and provided a real insight into the world of F1.

I've said this until I'm blue in the face and at times my frustration with the current game led to some strong criticism. I'll try to keep this more constructive if I can.

I am intrigued to see if all of the negative feedback from F124 will be taken into consideration when they start to programme and develop F125. The post that EA themselves created here to obtain feedback has given me some hope of improvements for the future.

There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever if they decide to continue down the same path as normal for F125 and as a direct result it flops big time.

EA need to change their approach and ideas for the game in order for it to be much more successful. There are so many good things they have done which I applaud. Although the engine sounds have come in for some heavy criticism this year, I do stand by the fact that to my ears the Mercedes and Renault engines sound excellent. The Honda, average. The Ferrari engine sound is actually beyond diabolical. At the games release is was poor, but made so much worse with a patch.

I think the game has never looked better from a graphics perspective. It does look excellent in my opinion on my PS5.

I also absolutely applaud the fact that they have tried to change the sounds from the TV camera replay. And to be fair, I think this is a massive improvement and adds a huge amount of realism compared to what we had previously. However from a visual perspective the sounds sometimes do not match what the car is doing, mainly when watching back a hot lap in TT. In races when multiple cars are on track, I think it sounds really good.

Although I do not like the handling using a controller you do tend to just get used to it. Although I am expecting a sciesmic improvement for F125.

The AI DRS trains although improved with some small adjustments, still happen, this also has to significantly be improved for F125.

Also the quality of the patches in F124 has been atrocious. Never tested at all. The amount of additional bugs through patch fixes have not gone down well whatsoever. This absolutely has to be improved going forward.

Now on to my biggest gripe of them all. The gimmicks!

This to me is a major fail for any racing game, especially F1. All F1 fans and players want is realism and immersion. That is still possible without making the game a full on sim. They have to of course cater for all types of players. 

I just think if EA dropped the silly gimmicks and concentrated more on the actual game it would benefit them just as much as the customers/players.

By gimmicks I mean things like Fanzone, stickers, lampshades, endless supplies of shoes and F1 World.

Can you just imagine how good and successful the game would be without all that being added in. The amount of extra time and resources could then be used to make massive changes and improvements. The addition of a helmet editor is just one small example. But there is no way we would ever get that because of this live season stuff they keep pushing. Hiding two cartoon like helmets behind a pay and grind system is in no way productive and completely sends out the wrong message to the customer.

In order for F125 to be successful and for me to preorder it, they need to drop the gimmicks and actually implement a few of the great ideas that this community has come up with.

I think F125 will be a defining moment for the game franchise given the criticism of F124. Next year's game focus should without doubt be "attention to detail"

Let's see what happens.

If F1 25 is on similar schedule, release is only 5-6 months away. So whatever will come has already been in work for quite a while now, likely before 24 shipped