With the 2022 Formula One season well underway, it's time for another entry in the extremely strong F1 series from developer Codemasters. F1 22 is here, but this is a slightly more important one for the developer than previous entries. After all, this is the first game in the series that has been fully developed since the company's EA buyout and the first for a new era of F1 regulations.
F1 22 is the official game for the 2022 season of Formula One. Included within is the 2022 championship with all of the official teams and drivers, but the F1 gaming experience has developed in a couple of key ways, with online multiplayer being a core component alongside a pair of extremely comprehensive career modes for single player or online co-op. One of these tasks the player with joining one of the existing F1 teams, and the other - My Team - is all about creating a team from the ground up and going on to dominate the sport.
Let's start by talking about what works incredibly well about F1 22. The minute-to-minute racing found in F1 22 is likely the best that the Codemasters-developed games have seen so far, with closer driving and aggressive but intelligent AI drivers who manage to make ‘human’ mistakes like lock-ups. It's a tweak to the way the game's AI has felt in previous F1 games, where at times things felt a little too rigid aside from the odd AI glitch, and it makes the gameplay feel the most dynamic it has been so far.
F1 22 is genuinely exhilarating to play. It's a game that rewards the player's muscle memory and quick reflexes, and there is a fluidity here that has been further intensified from previous entries. This certainly shows in the more technical circuits that were sometimes a little jarring and sluggish in older games, like the Hungaroring and Zandvoort, but now even these most niche of tracks are an absolute pleasure to drive.
There have been a few decent quality of life updates here as well. F1 22 includes Pirelli Hot Lap challenges as minigames before race weekends, throwing the player into a supercar to complete small time trials and slaloms before they get into the meat of the main race. Alongside this, there are also some other good additions, like VR support and the option to hop into My Team at any level rather than just as a beginner team.
Codemasters has been on the front foot with accessibility for sim-lite racing games in other F1 entries, and F1 22 is no different with some very strong accessibility options. Complex and varied difficulty settings ensure that the player can adjust things to their needs really well, meaning those with different reflex or dexterity needs can tailor the game to their enjoyment level thanks to a new Adaptive AI system. Meanwhile, there are also other solid options, including colorblind choices for the dynamic racing line.
Unfortunately it's not all good news with F1 22. There are some surface-level issues to be addressed, with odd graphical glitches here and there, particularly in the otherwise excellent-looking wet racing - although hopefully this will be addressed in early patches. There are other glitches that have a little bit more of an impact on the player's racing, such as a couple of instances where the engineer's suggested new strategy didn't appear and the option to even call into your team for information disappears.
Perhaps the most frustrating of these is attached to a new mechanic that gives the player the possibility of having issues in their pit stop, which seemed to happen far too regularly - even when the driver aces the new pit stop QTE. It's easy to see why this kind of irregularity was needed to keep things fresh, but when the player is being punished with an AI mistake every other race, resulting in lost time and positions, it does become quite frustrating. Upgrading the player's pit crew early in My Team seemed to resolve this, but it's a balance tweak that needs addressing fairly quickly.
Where F1 22 really starts to struggle is with its monetization model and microtransactions, and a lot of this is to do with the introduction of a new mode called F1 Life. This is the player's gameplay hub, and a place where they can design a room, throw in some supercars, and have some basic interactions with other players. There's an awful lot that the player can buy here, particularly with hundreds of clothing items attached to real-world brands versus the paltry options for player customization without spending a dime; seeing real brands appear here may sting a little for My Team fans, given that sponsorship options in actual gameplay have been fake companies since inception.
This kind of cosmetic microtransaction-based monetization is nothing new, but it pushes the F1 series over the edge into something that is annoying and unavoidable rather than purely cosmetic. F1 Life uses the same currency as actually useful items like car liveries, suits, and helmets, and this currency is extremely hard to unlock in-game. This means that if the player isn't careful they'll use up their 'Pitcoins' on useless F1 Life items, and then be more tempted to spend something a little bit extra to get something they'll get a use out of via the game's shop.
F1 Life items also come up as Podium Pass unlocks, whereas previously this was solely the realm of useful in-game materials, which means that the player will get less useful things out of the core service gameplay loop than before: unless, of course, they want to spend a little extra to get onto the VIP version of the Podium Pass. It's personal opinion, but the livery and helmet designs tucked away under VIP also seem to be far more enticing than the free version, whereas in previous entries there was a good balance between the two.
As such, although this is far from Gran Turismo 7 when it comes to predatory monetization models, it's still a disappointing move for a series that has been at the top of its game for a few years. It's a hindrance, like porpoising on an otherwise brilliant F1 car, and it holds back what otherwise would have been an extremely exciting racing game.
F1 22 releases July 1, 2022, with Champions Edition launching 28 June 2022, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X. Screen Rant was provided with a PS5 download code for the purposes of this review.