F1 22 Video Game Review: Fan Service From EA and Codemasters

Formula 1 fans waited with rabid anticipation to see what changes new regulations for the 2022 cars would bring. As it turned out, this F1 season has so far proven itself to be thrilling, unpredictable, and full of drama. It's just what fans needed to keep the momentum of a wild 2021 campaign going, especially the fans new to the world's most prestigious motorsports series. Meanwhile, fans of the long-running Codemasters F1 video game franchise had to wait even longer to get their hands on the simulated wheels of the new-generation car.

The wait is now over with the arrival of F1 22, the 14th installment of the series developed by Codemasters, the U.K.-based games developer acquired by EA in 2021. We got our hands on some copies and gave it a run on our at-home sim-racing setups to see if this latest F1 video game likewise maintains the momentum established by the excellent 2020 and 2021 virtual seasons.

As the first Codemasters-developed F1 game overtly branded as an EA Sports title, there are some key changes to a product that overall looks and feels like a subtle step forward from F1 2021. As soon as the opening credits finish, players are smacked in the face by a new F1 Life feature—a hub where you can personalize and customize your avatar and profile. There's a space to showcase a collection of supercars, and players can decorate their virtual home with furnishings of their choosing. It's all easy enough to navigate, but people eager to jump into the driver's seat may be frustrated by the emphasis on the après la course elements of F1 22.

Podium Pass returns, as well, serving as the leveling system for unlocking customizations and items for the F1 Life world. However, this isn't a standard feature in F1 22; you need to buy into it with in-game credits in order to unlock the tier system. The upside is that players who are in this for the long haul may enjoy having a level-up system and tangible rewards to show off the fruits of their racing success.

Fortunately, the actual racing is lifelike and engaging. Players can choose between a variety of game modes, from F1 and F2 career campaigns to custom seasons and free-play hot laps. As part of the new F1 era, the full roster of 2022 cars is available to drive on all of the season's tracks, including the Miami International Autodrome we visited earlier this year for the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.

The circuits are once again rendered in solid detail, though some of them (like Spa) are a bit out of date when it comes to some of the latest track changes. Regardless, gamers will want to play F1 22 on the most up-to-date hardware to fully appreciate the textures and surfaces seen on the cars and environments. Some tracks do in fact reflect recent changes made to their real-world layouts, with updates affecting Spain's Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Australia's Albert Park Circuit, and Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit.

The cars' steering/handling is the most significant improvement we noted and appreciated over F1 2021, as those cars required a lot of fine setup work to dial out the handling model's inherent understeer on corner entry. Now we find it's easier to flick a Ferrari through Monaco's tight streets or to navigate Australia's technical sections. Every other component of the game is as action-packed as before; wheel-to-wheel racing is intense and satisfying. Players can also tune the amount of realism from a fully assisted setup to a hardcore configuration that considers factors including tire wear, fuel management, and simulated damage.

We particularly enjoyed driving the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, home of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with its wild high-velocity sectors and tricky technical zones. On other tracks like Imola, our experienced players quickly set lap times that challenged the real-life qualifying times recorded by F1 drivers at the same circuit earlier this season. Yes, the cars are intended to mimic this year's heavier, ground-effect-dependent grand prix machines, and they might not be as quick through slow corners as before. But even if they're somewhat more cumbersome in those types of turns, we found the actual car balance is noticeably more to our liking right out of the box, even when using the game's preset car setups. And the ground-effect aerodynamics model inspires massive confidence through medium- and high-speed turns, resulting in the ability to get into a strong rhythm behind the wheel. This all allows you to feel like you can really attack the circuits more aggressively than ever.

Career mode is highly engaging, as well, and players can work their way from a driver academy in Formula 2 up to a career in F1. Familiar components of the real-world race weekend are included in the campaign mode, which adds to the immersion of the gaming experience. Sprint races have also been added as a new format for F1 22, reflecting the format occasionally used over the course of an actual F1 season. There's also a new Broadcast mode for safety-car periods, pit stops, and formation laps—or you can choose Immersive mode to keep yourself in control of the proceedings during such moments.

We love the driving and the racing in EA's F1 22, but the experience is not positive across the board. With no assists enabled, starting races from a standstill proved to be a difficult feat, especially with F1 22's vague indicator for optimal-launch rpm. Online services aren't perfect, either; players need an EA account to access the full breadth of the game's connected features and services. Additionally, the lifestyle element seems only partially developed: Character customization features are limited, and although it's fun for a moment to drive supercars on proper F1 circuit layouts, the cars don't feel as alive as they do in other modern racing games like Gran Turismo 7 or Forza Horizon 5. And since you can't actually race them against anything but the clock, this aspect of the game is one we'll essentially ignore while sticking to GT7, Forza, and Assetto Corsa Competizione for our fix of road-car and GT-style racing. That said, one cool aspect of the supercars' presence is how it demonstrates the massive performance delta between F1 cars and even the world's best six-figure sports cars, without having to switch to a different game.

Because the actual core driving and racing are so good, the game's less enticing features shouldn't tarnish the overall enjoyment for hardcore fans. If anything, there's simply more content than ever, and players will be able to sink hours of gameplay without repeating tracks as they tackle seasons of career mode or participate in online play.

Fan service isn't necessarily a bad thing, and in the case of EA's F1 22, folks brought into the motorsports fold by Netflix's Drive to Survive will feel welcomed by the hub world that melds the familiarity of street cars with the motorsports world. The endless game-mode options and various assistance levels also make it easy for newer fans to ease their way into driving F1 cars.

Pros

Cons