So Short question: How do Engine sounds get recorded?

@Tibi2199

Yeah, but Codemasters themselves are, as far as we know, "trying" to replicate the TV Broadcast engine sound, and they have been doing so for quite a while (hell, they even have a audio option in the game that literally says so, since F1 2020).

Of course there is lots of compression, filtering, and layering to the audio that the official FOM / SkyTV / F1TV uses. Question is, if Codemasters is using the EXACT same mic placement as used for the official footages, how come they still end up with a vastly different result? Can they not get access to the official knowledge on what official audio mix (compression, filtering, and layering etc.) was used for the official TV footages? Why do Codemasters have to create their own mix? Are they not allowed to use the official audio mix? And even if they have to be working from scratch, why is it still miles off from the real deal? Are they contractually bound to make the engine sound as different as possible? Or is this their own choice for "game design" purposes? Or are they limited in software and hardware?

So many unanswered questions, and open question marks linger over this topic.

PS: Even if we entertain the idea that Codemasters were possibly trying to create a realistic onboard engine sound (that sounds the same as what the drivers might hear and thus the engine sound for obvious reasons will not be the same as on the official TV footages), which as discussed above already is absolutely NOT the case (as Codemasters are actively trying to replicate the TV Broadcast Mix since F1 2018 til now): Codemasters are not doing a great job at that either.

I have been to real life races (Hockenheim 2016 & 2018 & 2019; Austin Texas 2018 & 2019; Spa 2016 & 2018 & 2019 & 2021; Nürburgring 2020; Silverstone 2021; Monaco 2021; Red Bull Ring 2018 & 2019; Hungary 2018; Catalunya 2016 & 2018 & 2019 & 2021; Turkey 2021), i was in the paddock, in the pitlane, and had the privilege to be up and close to the teams, even having the opportunity to get into the garages, seeing, smelling, and hearing how the cars actually are right in front of me, and neither the representation in the official FOM / SkyTV/ F1TV footages nor in the official F1 video game are ANYWHERE close to the real deal. Still, many people do not have the privilege to go to real F1 races, as it is in fact quite expensive, so their only experience of F1 is from home. These people also usually drive the cars in the TV camera angle in the official F1 games and mostly only have access to the official TV onboard & offboard footages from the FOM / SkyTV/ F1TV during real life race weekends, so they can only compare it to what they hear on TV and quite rightly so also expect the game to sound the same as on TV.

As to making a realistic engine sound:
Codemasters have already given us a Helmet Cam Audio Mix to replicate and represent what "the drivers hear". How accurate it is? I can not tell. But from my own experience (i was privileged enough to have been able to drive a lower tier Formula car around Spa a couple of years ago), when you sit in the cockpit you do hear the wind noise very loudly and violently, even with the helmet on your head and the radio pieces in your ears the sound is deafening, this effect is not really audible in the F1 games. Of course the engine noise of F1 cars are much much louder, but is there really no wind noise that the drivers can hear (as what Codemasters have chosen to create in the game for gameplay purposes i assume)? I doubt it, but, perhaps the type of helmet and earpieces that F1 drivers use is of a different quality, and hence they possibly can not hear a thing, except of the muffled engine noise and the crystal clear voice of the race engineers.

Regardless of any of that, it is a fact that Codemasters have failed to give us a close representation of the audio mix if compared to the official TV audio experience (to this day, only the Ferrari engines in F1 2018 were pretty close to how they should sound like if compared to its offical TV counterpart, everything that came after was nowhere near as good and actually got worse over the years imho).