F1 2020 Review Racing At Its Best The Nerd Stash

Title: F1 2020

Developer: Codemasters

Publisher: Codemasters

Genre: Racing

Available on: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Version Tested: PS4

Official Site: F1 2020

Release Date: July 6th, 2020

It’s lights out and away we go! F1 2020, the newest iteration from developer Codemasters, continues the streak of incredible Formula 1 racing games.

F1 2020 brings the racing spectacle and speed of Formula 1 to your console or PC. With a multitude of different modes and player supports, this is perfect for a longtime Formula 1 diehard or someone just getting into the sport.

The single-player focuses on two main options: Driver Career and My Team. Driver Career allows you to work your way up from F2 to become a Formula 1 champion. My Team on the other hand lets you manage your F1 team by choosing sponsors, building facilities and hiring drivers.

F1 2020 My Team Mode Allows You to Manage Your F1 Team

Even in the My Team mode, you can still get behind the wheel and race for your F1 team.

On the multiplayer side, you can race either online or on your couch with a friend. This year’s game has added in split-screen racing, so you can get in on the racing fun on the same television.

Online contains the usual ranked and unranked modes but also includes a weekly challenge mode. Players can select a range of cars and go against other players to earn high scores.

Even if you are not a driving games person, F1 2020 has a lot of great features for newcomers. You can toggle race styles between Casual and Standard, which varies the number of assists you have while racing. You can also go in and select assists manually, whether that is AI driver level difficulty or steering assists.

Another example of how the game assists players are with car management. Before you start a race, you can set up your car depending on how you would like it to perform on the track.

F1 2020 Provides Assists and Accessibility Options For New Players

For players that are still learning the concepts, the game provides a set of different car setups like increased downforce or maximum speed. For players that want to get in there and mess with settings, they can fully customize their car setups from the suspension to the tire pressure.

On the track, the game is a juggling act between trying to drive through corners and straights at high speeds, while managing your car settings and tire levels. It’s kind of like rubbing your stomach while patting your head, but if you get something wrong you are going to flying into a wall at 200 miles per hour.

Once you get it down though, it is one of the most rewarding driving experiences a video game can offer.

In addition to these modes, you can also race in Grand Prix, championships or in time trials.

While this is the official video game for Formula 1, there are some stark differences between the game and the ongoing season. The coronavirus pandemic has forced F1 to cancel or add some races to the season, which is the case with the recently added Portugal Grand Prix.

F1 2020 does not feature the Portugal Grand Prix, but it does have two new tracks with Hanoi Circuit in Vietnam and Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands. While some of the tracks may differ in quality, they each have a lot to offer and take time to master.

A Look Into Another World

In the game, it’s a look into an alternate dimension where the pandemic never happened. Swarms of virtual crowds around the track seem bizarre now given the current state of living, but it’s a welcome reminder of what life was like before the pandemic.

Another way the game does not relate to real-life racing is the performances of certain cars. For example, in the game Ferrari’s engine has a top power rating in both performance and durability. However, in reality, the engine has been lacking after Ferrari was caught pushing the limit on the legality of their engine.

The game is fantastic in providing assists and information to new players. However, F1 2020 dumps a lot of the information at once and forces players to learn through text logs or YouTube tutorials. A more in-depth tutorial that guides newer players through a race and what it means in the direct gameplay would work well to help explain concepts.

Concepts Could Be Confusing For Newcomers To The Sport

Another disappointing aspect is the lack of a story mode, which is interesting given the previous years game came with the mode with wholly unique drivers for the mode. I love it when sports games implement story modes, as the best parts of sports are the people and the drama that goes with the sport itself.

The mode was not loved by players, but I hope Codemasters returns to the idea of a story mode in the next game. Formula 1 is a fantastic groundwork for fun interactions with drivers and their teams, and hopefully, some of the issues could get ironed out.

Verdict: F1 2020 brings the heat with some of the best racing players that can get on a console and PC. With a multitude of different single-player and multiplayer modes, as well as accessibility options, this is perfect for anyone wanting to jump into Formula 1.