F1 24 Aims To Be As Close to the Real Thing As Possible, but Will it Succeed?

Now, onto the realism features. Graphically, it's clear by simply looking at the gameplay footage that Codemasters didn't overhaul anything in particular, "increments" being the keyword. The graphics of the EGO engine used to develop the game have been improved through Ray-Traced Dynamic Diffuse Global Illumination. Technically, this should make the cars have better shadows and reflect light more accurately, which in turn, provides the game with improved visuals.

The F2 lineup will use the same CAD technology as the F1 cars, so there's no loss or discrepancy in visual quality. Don't expect miracles, especially when you need a beefy PC to run everything at max settings with ray tracing on Ultra and other such geeky nonsense.

They also brag about introducing new hair rendering techniques with improved eye and skin shaders to the driver character models. The drivers look above and beyond the F1 23 models in the presentation video. Ironically, taking a good look at the people from the paddocks, this doesn't seem to be the case across the board. Some characters look straight from the PS3 and Xbox 360 era.

It's not a next-gen upgrade by any means, so maybe when they stop making iterations for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, we'll finally see a full step toward graphics worthy of current-gen consoles like PS5 and Xbox Series X. At the end of the day, marketing-wise, it makes the most sense to have a game as popular as F1 on every possible platform.

They added things like extra cutscenes between races to liven up the atmosphere, but usually, the novelty wears off pretty fast with these sorts of gimmicks. Just think of how fast you get over the fatalities in Mortal Kombat, no matter how funny and gruesome they are when you first see them. After a while, you just want to skip the "immersion" and jump straight to the gameplay.

However, the hundreds of driver audio samples from real-world F1 broadcasts might do the trick. If you're playing with a famous driver like Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, or Fernando Alonso, you will hear them react to key moments from the game, like crashing, losing, winning, etc.

The My Team Icon feature from the Driver Career means you can play with a racing legend and expand their journey. Some famous names include Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Jaques Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, Mark Webber, Nigel Mansell, Kamui Kobayashi, Pastor Maldonado and Jamie Chadwick. Those buying the Champions Edition get special ones like 1976 champion James Hunt and seven-time race winner Juan Pablo Montoya.

If you create your own tiny legend and build upon that, you can hire Icons as your teammates, which doesn't sound half-bad. For the more enthusiastic bunch, know that F1 Sim Racing champions Lucas Blakeley, Jarno Opmeer, and David Tonizza also make a special appearance.

Everything F1 24's marketing machine has said about the game so far actually sounds like good news. Unfortunately, a true current-gen upgrade is still sorely missing. We'll have to make do with gameplay improvements like the EA Sports Dynamic Handling system, which supposedly offers the most immersive driving experience in the history of the series. Racing legends like Max Verstappen collaborated with Codemasters to tweak this improved handling system.

The game comes out on May 31, but the special edition grants 3-day early access and other benefits. F1 24 Standard Edition costs 70 dollars, while the Champions Edition is 90 bucks. The good news is that if you own  F1 2021, F1 22, or F1 23, you get a 15% discount.