After roughly 940 million kilometres, the Earth has reached the point on its 12-month celestial march around the sun where it\u2019s time for another Formula 1 game. Fitting, perhaps, considering I feel like I\u2019ve driven roughly 940 million kilometres in this series over the past decade-and-change. Jokes aside, it\u2019s a testament to the incredible robustness of Codemasters\u2019 brand of open-wheel motorsport magic that climbing back into the cockpit each year remains a pleasure, and F1 23 is no exception. Alongside noticeably improved handling for the new-era cars, F1 23 also adds the next chapter of the Braking Point story mode introduced in F1 2021 \u2013 plus a new reward-based progression system with daily, weekly, and seasonal goals. The result is plenty to keep us busy, even if your personal mileage may vary substantially depending on your taste in both curated, solo campaigns and live service-style game modes.<\/p>\n
Last season\u2019s sweeping regulation changes ushered in a field full of brand-new F1 cars, and with their bigger wheels and tyres they were the best-looking cars the sport had seen in some time. However, they were also the heaviest cars in the championship\u2019s history. In F1 22 this translated to a model that made manhandling that additional bulk quite tricky. Relearning the limits of these new cars was admittedly an absorbing challenge, but it wasn\u2019t always a fun one; there was definitely a fickleness to the way the cars had a tendency to both understeer coming into corners and oversteer while trying to throttle out of them.<\/p>\n
Driveability has improved dramatically.<\/p>\n
In F1 23, driveability has improved dramatically. There\u2019s still a sensation of bulk here in the hefty new-era cars, but they feel considerably more cooperative; grippier and more stable, especially clipping kerbs. Better still, for those of you without a wheel there\u2019s a truly excellent intuitiveness to the game pad controls this year. This was most evident to me while navigating slow corners in narrow street circuits and snapping out of early slides when getting on the throttle a little too hard. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve ever really been able to catch oversteer so effectively on a humble analogue stick in any F1 game, ever. F1 23 is easily the best the F1 series has ever felt on a traditional controller. The cars feel lively and dangerous, but they respect your commands. It\u2019s like walking an obedient Dobermann through a butcher\u2019s shop.<\/p>\n
Braking Point 2 is the continuation of the story Codemasters kicked off in F1 2021 and, despite the fact its 17 chapters ultimately only lasted me a few sessions over a couple of days, it\u2019s definitely my favourite part of F1 23.<\/p>\n
For the purposes of a good yarn, Braking Point 2 adds a fictional eleventh team called Konnersport to the grid (much like we\u2019ve been doing ourselves in My Team mode since F1 2020). The upshot here is that it seems to have resulted in a story with a bit more substance this time around. Emotion and conflict both run a little higher than I would suspect might have been possible within the bubble of an existing team with real-world sponsors. Also, while Braking Point 2 may move to a predictable enough conclusion, I was pleasantly surprised to be caught unawares by at least a couple of unexpected developments.<\/p>\n
While Braking Point 2 may move to a predictable enough conclusion, I was pleasantly surprised to be caught unawares by at least a couple of unexpected developments.<\/p>\n
While the original Braking Point concentrated on the chalk-and-cheese driving pair of rookie Aiden Jackson and retiring Dutch journeyman Casper Akkerman, Braking Point 2 broadens its lens. The focus here is really the whole Konnersport team, from the drivers (Jackson and his long-time nemesis Devon Butler) to likeable team principal Andreo Konner. Also in the frame is Davidoff Butler, Devon\u2019s father and the CEO of Konnersport\u2019s primary sponsor \u2013 plus up-and-coming F2 driver Callie Mayer, who\u2019s being managed by Akkerman.<\/p>\n
As with the original Braking Point, the events in Braking Point 2 are a mix of scenarios with specific challenges to achieve as Jackson, Mayer, and even Devon Butler himself. Some events are full races but most are mid-race situations where you may find yourself asked to finish ahead of specific drivers or teams, salvage or defend your position after dealing with some bad luck, or capitalise on some smart strategy. Overachieving this time around can earn you bonus objectives, and doing so ranks you up within the story mode to unlock new responses to press questions and internal staff queries, but it doesn\u2019t change the overall story \u2013 just minor side stories and conversations along the way. That said, I really like the structure; I appreciate the variety and I enjoy having goals. Make up so many spots. Don\u2019t finish behind so-and-so. Maybe I just like being bossed around.<\/p>\n
Perhaps surprisingly considering his role in F1 2021, Jackson takes a bit of a backseat in Braking Point 2. This actually may be for the best as I found him even harder to warm to this time around, although some of that may be to do with the fact he\u2019s still probably the least fleshed-out character. We learned very little about Jackson in the first Braking Point and we learn even less here. The spotlight instead has shifted to the ambitious Mayer and the smarmy Devon Butler. Intriguingly, while his stint as Braking Point\u2019s heel continues, Devon easily emerges from Braking Point 2 as its most interesting and layered character.<\/p>\n
Braking Point 2\u2019s cutscenes are a big improvement over the original and the facial performance capture in particular is far stronger. The interview sequences make for some clever script segues but I do wonder whether it would\u2019ve benefited from a more documentary-style, fly-on-the-wall approach to the dramatic scenes also. The inability to prod the mode with the team you actually chose in the original is a minor miss, but it seems like it would\u2019ve been an easy win for immersion\u2019s sake. As it stands, the Braking Point 1 recap has Jackson and Akkerman wearing Alfa Romeo gear \u2013 in my game two years ago they drove for Haas.<\/p>\n
The other big new addition in F1 23 is F1 World, which is a standalone mode that appears to be built on the bones of the naff, lifestyle and apparel focused F1 Life mode from F1 22. You could probably describe F1 World as a secondary career mode where, instead of taking on traditional championship seasons, you complete a range of daily, weekly, and seasonal goals and races to earn rewards and upgrade your F1 World car.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t really know what to make of F1 World, but I do know I keep bouncing off it. I can certainly appreciate the appeal of a mode more suited to dipping in and out for short bursts of F1 action than the more time-consuming full race weekends in the normal career mode, but I\u2019m just not attracted to the upgrade loop that comes alongside it.<\/p>\n
Upgrades in F1 World come in the form of miscellaneous and eccentric parts and performance boosters, like brakes that will make my tyres last a tiny bit longer \u2013 but only on North and South American racetracks. Or a bloke called Robert who will make my engine more powerful for 60 seconds after I make a pitstop, like some kind of motorsport warlock.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an elegance in having what\u2019s essentially an evolving quick play mode all housed under a single umbrella that rewards you for time spent, but there\u2019s a mobile game tone here that I\u2019m just not sure I have the constitution for. If you\u2019re in the same boat, the traditional career and My Team modes remain present. Just know they\u2019re essentially the same as last year, only with some extra tracks: Lusail and Las Vegas. It\u2019s hard to say what kind of race the Vegas Strip street course will make for in real life this November but it\u2019s a cracking-looking track in F1 23, daubed in a busy neon background and brimming with verticality just beyond the track boundaries. It\u2019s extremely eye-catching.<\/p>\n\n