➤ F1 2020: the review 🎮

La F1 2020 review it begins like all the others that we have dedicated to sports simulations released in recent months, not being able to help but detect a situation completely upset by the Covid-19 pandemic. Given its itinerant nature around the world, the championship of formula 1 it was in fact one of the events most affected by the uncertainty linked to the lockdown put in place in the various nations, managing to unlock only relatively with the first eight races scheduled in Europe during the summer. While everything is still in the balance for real Formula 1, the virtual one has paradoxically traveled faster than ever in recent months. In addition to gamers, the obligation to stay at home has in fact also pushed several drivers to resort to F1 2019 to somehow manage to drive on the circuits, guaranteeing Codemasters a truly exceptional return in terms of image.

The anomalous situation also meant that the drivers themselves could provide the developers with some extremely interesting feedback, allowing them to work better on some changes for this year's game. All this, combined with the celebrations for the seventy years since the first Formula 1 Grand Prix, makes F1 2020 once again an unmissable event for all lovers of the Codemasters series, which to do things big has added a new mode and some content dedicated to Michael Schumacher, still today the record holder for the highest overall number of victories. After being back racing on the virtual Formula 1 circuits in the last week, let's dive into our review!

PlayStation 4 Trophies

F1 2020 brings with it fifty-one Trophies, the same number as the previous edition. In addition to the inevitable platinum, we find two of the gold type, ten silver and thirty-eight bronze. To get them all you must naturally climb the peaks of the rankings between the various modes, with an eye to the new Team Career. There is no lack of specific objectives dedicated to the online world or to the victory of a specific GP with a specific rider.

The new My Team mode

After having welcomed the cars of the championship a year ago formula 2, F1 2020 is enriched this year with the new mode My Team. Translated into Spanish with the name Career Squadra, it is a twin mode to the existing career, with the difference that in the new one we are called to build what becomes the eleventh team in the championship from scratch. A very tempting idea even for those who were so far used to playing the career dedicated to the single driver, since in the Codemasters design the character played by the player is both the owner of the new team and its main driver. If we want it is also another way to celebrate seventy years of Formula 1 history, given that over time similar cases have really occurred: just think of Jack Brabham's Brabham, or Héctor Rebaque's Rebaque.

The creation of the new team passes in the first place from the choice of its name, accompanied by that of the sponsor who will define our budget to go and select the engine among those actually available for the F1 teams. In the event that the edition in your possession (here you will find a summary of all those available) is the one entitled to Michael Schumacher, it will also be possible to choose one of the liveries dedicated to the German driver, as well as the suit and helmet designs for your character. The final step consists in hiring a teammate, initially choosing him among some young hopefuls coming from F2.

To help us choose the second guide, Codemasters has decided to introduce some parameters related to the ability of the pilot we are taking on board, also summarized in an overall score that indicates his overall skill. During the course of our career we will still be able to make different choices dedicated to our partner, making what we already have grow up or going to court with pharaonic contracts to the most famous pilots present in the circus, bearing in mind that during the career the older ones will retire. to make room for new recruits. To attract Lewis Hamilton or another flagship, our team will need to grow in terms of prestige by obtaining successes that increase its fame, while equipping itself with state-of-the-art facilities. The F1 2020 Career Team wants to make us gods manager in the round, asking us between one race and another also to plan special activities dedicated for example to marketing, or to allocate funds to develop the areas that make up a level team. Pleasing the secondary sponsors with the achievement of some objectives, we will get extra money to spend together with the rest to unlock specific structures, thanks to which we will gradually evolve also from a technical point of view to try to move from an initial situation that sees us in the rear of the blocks of departure up to the first positions.

The other modalities

Although most of the time you spend playing solo in F1 2020 will probably focus on the Team Career, the Codemasters simulation does not forget to provide some alternatives for those who do not want to embark on a long journey. Naturally, we are talking about the "faster" types of play, thanks to which you can quickly get on the track for a dry Grand Prix on the circuit you want. However, let's not forget the Pilot Career, which benefits in part from the innovations introduced by the Team Career. One of the novelties of this year, for example, is the arrival of a second journalist to support the now veteran Claire. The two divide the tasks between the interviews on the track and the questions in the studio, thus offering the alternation that was missing with the possibility of going on a slightly wider range of topics. Jumping from pole to branch, the multiplayer of F1 2020 is now a world completely unto itself, within which, however, we have not had the opportunity to immerse ourselves as we would have liked: we will evaluate in the coming weeks whether to return to the subject with a second article. For the moment we just confirm Codemasters' attention to the world eSports, which was further accentuated also by the public thanks to the lockdown period. Finally, the developers wanted to dedicate a small gem also to those who want to play in company, while staying comfortably seated with a friend on the sofa: F1 2020 marks the return of the mode split-screen, thus splitting your television screen in two with some compromise in terms of performance.

The gameplay

Having made the necessary introductions with the elements that make up F1 2020, let's go and see our impressions after a week spent driving single-seaters around the world. The first thing to keep in mind when approaching the gameplay of this game is the intention of the developers to make it as much as possible usable by a wide audience of people, including those who love Formula 1 given its popularity but cannot define themselves as a fan of the world of motors. In addition to the usual driving aids in various sauces, with F1 2020 Codemasters wanted to take a step further, proposing a sporty driving model within which steering is also assisted, and any excursions off the track are not punished as in the realistic driving model. If in recent years you have given up trying your hand at the F1 series for fear of running into an unaffordable level of difficulty, now you really have no more excuses.

Turning instead to the driving model we already knew, the F1 2019 players will find to welcome them a feeling very similar to the one they experienced a year ago, accompanied however by a series of elements that stand out from the first laps. The first concerns the braking distance: The impression you get once driving is that the developers have reduced the car's general inertia, thus allowing it to stop in less time than in the past before taking a bend. Similarly, the feeling of having a greater traction control in the acceleration phase it is quite tangible, following what had been the indications provided by pilots like Lando Norris over the months. Both things allow you to attack corners more decisively, without ignoring the need to pay attention to acceleration out of the way to avoid a spin. As anticipated on the occasion of one of our previous F1 2020 tests, also the system ERS it has been revised to better adhere to what is the management by the drivers in the race.

Faced with some gameplay changes that once absorbed help make our lap times better than last year, we have a 'artificial intelligence which seemed even more combative, at times even too much. With the same difficulty settings compared to F1 2019, the CPU-controlled drivers seemed to us more ready to give life to duels and overtaking attempts, even if there is still something to fix. In fact, it has happened more than once that the drivers of the other single-seaters did very little to avoid our car, giving the idea that their trajectory was calculated taking almost nothing into consideration that of the player. Fortunately, the flashback to bring the situation back, but the behavior of the opponents is still unrealistic, as well as annoying. We remind those who should approach this series now that it is possible to play F1 2020 even with the controller, but the use of a steering wheel it is highly recommended to make the most of the feedback offered by the cars on the track. Also this year we preferred to use the TV Pod view to play, as the impression is always that of having too little field of vision from inside the cockpit to be able to maintain a correct trajectory.

Graphics: ready for the generational leap

The appointment with the end of this generation allows F1 2020 to take stock of the excellent work done in recent years, waiting to see what Codemasters will produce starting from the next edition. Both in the driving phase and in the replays, the general glance offered by F1 2020 is of an excellent level, also thanks to the work started a year ago on the use of lighting. Those who expected big leaps forward, however, will have to wait for the next generation. As for the details, it is good to remember that for the first time the developers found themselves in the situation of having to create the single-seater models before their real counterparts debuted live: waiting for a predictable update in the coming days, any shortcomings they can be forgiven. Similar to a year ago, the updated F2 championship will also come with an add-on package at a later date.

While in the real world the situation linked to the pandemic has also made itself felt in the choice to postpone or cancel the races scheduled in some circuits, the choice of Codemasters was rightly to ignore all this, proposing the 2020 season as it should have been. They are therefore included in the list of tracks in the game those of Hanoi in Vietnam e Zandvoort in Holland, two quite different circuits. Also this time the comment of Carlo Vanzini and Luca Filippi returns, who have now become a constant presence in the series. As in the past, their intervention stops at the presentation of the race and its conclusion, thus leaving the radio from the pits but above all the engines of the single-seaters to fill our ears with an audio that on the whole is really a lot. cured. The real negative side of the technical sector is represented by uploads: really too many and too long, forcing us in cases where we have to go from several successive screens before entering the track to different "Stop & Go" which inevitably end up irritating those in front of the screen.

Comment

Tested version PlayStation 4 Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store Price 69,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

8.7

Readers (23)

8.4

Your vote

The F1 2020 review concludes by welcoming the new Career Team with a favorable opinion, thanks to which Codemasters has added a piece that in fact was missing from its creation. The changes made on the driving model are also good, on which it is good to keep in mind that the developers have announced that they want to continue working even with respect to the version in our possession. Some concerns we must instead report on the artificial intelligence of the pilots controlled by the CPU and on the uploads, in the hope that both things can be fixed with the next updates.