Out in pole position.

Much like nearly every other sports title out there, the official F1 games are a staple of the annual release calendar, and much like nearly every other sports title it has little competition from other games. Where it does differ is in the developer and publisher, Codemasters. EA may make a whole lot of money from Madden and FIFA every year, but they are just two stars in a stable of multiple games made by multiple developers and spanning various different genres. Codemasters on the other hand only deal in racing games, with the F1 and Dirt franchises being their biggest by far. This means that the people that make these games live and breathe the genre and have mastered the art of the driving game. And an art it is, one that not everyone can pull off.

Codemasters have been doing this for years now, ever since Sony gave up the licensing rights almost 10 years ago and have been, barring the odd blip, holding up their end of the deal. F1 2018 continues that trend, offering the same tight racing sim experience that fans have fallen in love with, even if it feels more of a refinement than an overhaul. But hey, don’t fix what isn’t broke. The core driving still feels great and incredibly balanced, with every turn feeling like a new challenge. The level of detail to not only the cars, but the F1 sport in general is second to none, making use of the license to its fullest. All the options available to the player remain; whether you prefer a more laid-back experience or if players want to revel in the minutest of details in their car set-up, F1 unashamedly caters to everyone. I have never been a full-on racing sim fan, always preferring a racing game to have a more arcade feel, and it is a testament to Codemasters ability that they have created a game that even I got stuck in to, having no interest in tyre variances and fuel efficiency. All of that is there for the initiated, but can be fully automated for those that just want to race.

Platform: PC, PlayStation4, Xbox One (Reviewed)
Price: $59.99
Price I’d pay: $59.99

The gameplay has also been made with that in mind as well. Choose the full-on sim experience and players get 3 practice days, qualifying and race day; all of which can be tweaked to thier preference. Want to skip the practice days? Not a problem. Don’t want to race the full number of laps? That’s fine, players can reduce the amount by up to 75%. It is incredible the lengths Codemasters have gone to here, to make F1 as accessible as possible. The main meat of the game is broken down in to different sections; Career, Championships, Event, Grand Prix, Time Trial and Multiplayer, all offer a wide variety of content to enjoy. As one would expect the Career mode allows layers to create a driver, select a team and battle it out with the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastien Vettel year on year, growing their legend as they go. Invest time in the practices and players will earn XP points that can be used to improve the car via the R & D Department, which in turn will help move further up the championship ladder.

Championships mode offers up the chance to play various different seasons of F1. There is the standard 2018 Championship, the Sprint Championship, Classic Street series and many, many more. It’s almost a full game in itself, with the objective to win each race and unlock a gold star and the more stars players have, the more championships they can unlock. Grand Prix allows players to race in either an individual race weekend, or create thier own Grand Prix with either the 2018 car models, or classic F1 cars from the past. The season can be as short or as long as you like, with up to 25 countries to choose from. The Event mode is a downloadable challenge that changes regularly that tasks racers with meeting certain criteria in the race and then stacks them up on a leader board.

Finally, there’s Time Trial and Multiplayer with both being exactly what one would expect. Multiplayer hasn’t changed too much from past games, with the players choosing between ranked and unranked races, as well as an online Championship. The unranked games allow players to try out multiplayer without too much in the way of consequence. However, ranked matches rate on the player’s safety and determines whether they will be matched up with good drivers or bad eggs. If I liked smashing in to other drivers, I shouldn’t expect to get much fun from online, as the game would put me up against similar players so that nobody has a fun time. Multiplayer works well and can be a great deal of fun, as long as everyone makes sure they’re a good driver and play by the rules.

There’s very little to turn your nose up to here. There may be the odd performance issue, but these are generally limited to times when you are outside of racing, such as screen tearing whilst looking around the car; with nothing causing an issue when they are on the track. The game also has an awkward dialogue section at the end of each race in the form of the racer being interviewed. If anyone has played The Journey in the last two FIFA games they will know what I mean. The answers players give can affect their standing with the different departments of the team, but I felt it was generally superficial and pointless.

F1 2018 may not be the next be landmark game in the series, but Codemasters have continued to develop and improve the franchise, making it more involved for those that care and more fun for those that don’t and it is these changes, and their commitment to making these games as appealing as possible, that continue to cement them as one of the best driving game developers out there.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • In-depth sim
  • All the teams, drivers and tracks
  • Comprehensive modes
  • Accessible
Bad
  • Not a massive upgrade from last year
  • A few minor performance issues
8.5
Great
Written by
News Editor/Reviewer, he also lends his distinct British tones to the N4G Radio Podcast. When not at his PC, he can be found either playing something with the word LEGO in it, or TROPICO!!!