Community ManagerAfter playing F1 24 for some time now, too, I'm going to write down a bit of feedback, too:
Handling
First of all the positives: The Frontend feels way better this game. The response on turn in is great and fits the downforce and firm suspension those cars should have. In comparison to previous F1 games this is the biggest step up as those cars lacked responsiveness which was just not fixable without destroying the balance of the car completely. My 1600 kg road car is more responsive than the cars in F1 23, and lets not talk about those monsters in F1 22 ... so somehow those cars managed it to feel heavier than that. So finally in F1 24 there's some bite and grip there which seems to be fitting to a grip monster like F1 cars. The front end is intuitive for me, at all times I now what it's doing and how I have to attack the corner. There is some mid corner understeer which in theory can be fixed, but then the problems already start to show.
While at least there is some weight transfer it's a bit weird. Depending on the track and the grip available, softening especially the ARBs too much starts to feel wobbly and extreme amount of visible roll probably adds to that feeling a lot. The ground effect cars have a very firm suspension as a baseline as they are meant to be driven very low. However the feel of slow weight transfer comes very early. So of course the ARBs are driven extremely stiff in this game (extreme in the sense of the available scale).
Although the car feels very wobbly, the car never becomes significantly unstable when changing direction quickly, which arouses some distrust in the grip simulation here.
So much about the front end. The problems on the front end show way more extreme on the backend and I have a really hard time telling what is going on there. The backend feels floaty all the time. In the wet it shows that the rear somehow has way less grip, but I get later to that. In the dry it's just hard to tell because of different things. On the initial step on the throttle the back end feels like it's making a step to the side (it doesn't, it keeps "planted") just to then push the car straight on. In theory this makes sense. The car is light on the rear as you are braking, then weight transfers back and the rear grips, the front doesn't anymore. However it's just extreme and comes back to the absolutely weird weight transfer. While the traction itself seems to be alright, probably still a little bit too less, loosing grip on it is also weird. This brings me to the differential. A fully locked differential should induce a lot of understeer but be extremely snappy when breaking traction. As is we're definitely gaining a lot of traction from a locked differential. It definitely is getting a little bit more snappy, but I couldn't really tell that the tires refuse to turn independently from each other. 100% differential feels the same as 0% differential, WHEN driving inside the available traction. This shows in that the car is driven close to 100% differential for the power ramp all the time. So something is wrong there. It was never right in previous games to be honest, but the bad feel of the weight transfer makes the feel for it worse.
Also adding to this is the handling when loosing grip. And this game is the opposite extreme of the previous game. While in F1 23 the tires forget they consist of rubber and just turn to ice, the tires in F1 24 seem to instantly throw an anchor. The car just stops. That makes slides too easy to catch and adds another weird behaviour to the car on throttle especially in traction zones. but somehow here is the opposite about the back and rear. While the front seems to grip way more than the rear, it gains it back far later, which leads to really weird slides when counter steering, as the car turns just back into straight line itself ... I don't know what this is.
But worst it gets when in rain. I don't know how but the car just gets oversteery. The front doesn't seem to lose any grip while the rear wants to overtake the car on almost every turn in. I'm exaggerating a bit here, but basically that's the feeling. I think that's the only sim-ish game (don't know how to tell it. Not NFS) where I have to lower the front wing a few clicks when it starts to rain to manage the balance a bit. In rain the car should start to understeer more on turn in (hence the higher front wing) and oversteer on exit (usally more toe in on rear, softer suspension in the rear), somehow this car manages to do the opposite. What has gone wrong here?
That all said, it's sounding worse than it is. I'm enjoying the handling very much, the front in (in the dry) is good and this is definitely the baseline on which should be worked on. Fix the weight transfer, fix the weird grip simulation.
Tire Thermal model
The temps are all over the place. You cannot warm up the tires, on some tracks they just will overheat no matter what. But it just doesn't matter because yeah grip changes, but not really enough to care too much about it. Brakes don't have any influence. I don't know why, the system was already there, even if also in an extreme.
I like the tire wear depending on track characteristics, and in comparison to F1 23 finally the tires are wearing on the right side, the not grippy one :D However, it just also doesn't matter, as the balance of the car doesn't really changing in a scale that we have to care about it and is again way to linear. In the end, as of current state, I'm enjoying the tire model of F1 23 more.
AI
They don't know how to use ERS, seem to have another simulation about it, just give up when racing you and are generally too slow. They are a massive step back. They are not fun to race against. However, they can run out of ERS which I think is good. That wasn't really the case in previous games despite of the last lap and in terms of deployment the first lap.
ERS Model
I like to have the option to switch to every mode I want to. I also like that the deployment map despite of the hotlap mode is closer to reality and we have the derating at the end of straights. That those ridiculous top speeds are constantly reached is somehow fixed by that a little bit. However, in Qualifying we shouldn't have to manage the ERS modes to get the best lap time. Hotlap mode should mean all energy in one lap, period.
Also: 8 MJ of deployment. Why?
Career
MyTeam is untouched which is a shame. The lack of content like liveries, helmets and so on is a shame.
I like the changes to Driver Career a lot, but it just isn't enough better than the previous one to catch me more as it did already. The worse AI does also a big job with that, as gameplay itself just is worse. The improvements off-track don't help enough with that.
Multiplayer
I don't care about multiplayer in F1 games and I didn't try it out since F1 2021. I cannot say anything about this. But I think absolutely nobody cares about F1 live, so please, just screw it. Give the people a stable multiplayer so they can race in their leagues and forget everything else about it, because nobody cares. This is not FIFA, this is not NFL, you cannot get money out of it besides of some really lost whales probably, so stop trying.
All in all I'm already burned out of F1 24 and probably going back to F1 23 for now. The reason for it is solely the AI. F1 games are my go-to racing game for singleplayer career and AI battles. F1 had the best racing AI and the most immersive career modes. While the handling is good, for those things I have other sims. Handling just has to make fun. Even tho I definitely welcome more realistic, or also just authentic handling models.
The best AI in my opinion was F1 22, so a step in this direction in terms of aggressiveness and racecraft would be my wish. However, there the handling was really not good and didn't make fun
