F1 23

The varied, substantial game last year's should have been

- Justin Towell

For all its authenticity, F1 23’s biggest new feature is the CGI-tastic, fictional F1 soap opera Braking Point 2. Brilliantly manipulative antagonist Devon Butler and our wishy washy ‘hero’ Aiden Jackson return, and there are some ten hours of new racing drama to enjoy. But what if we told you that’s not even the biggest new element? The ambassador really is spoiling us…

Meet F1 World, which sees you completing mini championships, bite-sized challenges, and even non-F1 supercar events in a constant quest for loot. And it is ‘loot’ as gamers know it, with the universal colour coding of blue, orange, and purple denoting a mod’s rarity, before you equip it to your custom F1 car to raise its numerical rating from 100 towards 1,000. This score is a very broad performance indicator when entering F1 World events, which also have a rating. It’s still the same activity on track, essentially, but does give seasoned veterans something new to get their teeth into, while introducing newbies to how the game works. It should have legs too, as community events are added over time.

There’s also a new, Gran Turismo-like emphasis on good-mannered driving, with a Player License level from D-A indicating your conduct level on the track. This will affect collision detection in online lobbies and lock off some F1 World events until you’re deemed civilised enough to partake in them.