More McLaren than Mercedes
The flashy world of F1 operates in cycles. Years of consecutive dominance from one driver or team will inevitably – often desperately – dissipate, resulting in a short burst period of who-knows-who-will-win-what mayhem that lasts between six and twelve months. This is usually as teams scramble to adapt to new rules and regulations imposed by the FIA to make the sport more interesting again, as drivers switch to new teams, rookies work their way through the ranks, and the racing calendar burgeons under the weight of Bernie Ecclestone’s relentless drive to push more investment into the sport.
In many ways, Codemasters’ licensed series reflects this ebb and flow. After years of stagnancy, and with the developer’s promise that F1 2014 was essentially a stop-gap to allow the team to pour more time into its current-gen debut, many expected this year’s entry to be a frantic, exciting new racing year with all to play for. Better graphics, new features, new cars, and so on. Right?
Wrong. The studio has clearly struggled in the last few years, and the sad, seemingly continuous downscale of this once great studio is pretty evident in its output. F1 2015 is one of the most bare bones entries in the series, devoid of much new and – here’s the real kicker – missing a lot of the once-brilliant old.
Thankfully, less stuff doesn’t necessarily meanit’s the series’worst.At its heart, F1 2015 is the purest example of F1 racing that Codemasters has made in its six years at the helm. A lot of what has been cut is superfluous distractions. The create-a-driver championship season is missing entirely, which is a shame, but gone too are the annoying interviews and dilly-dallying between menus to answer emails. You’re free to get straight into what F1 should be about – racing.
Wheel change
Despite there being no option to take your own personal Joe Bloggs from zero to hero, F1 2015 succeeds on the track. Once you’re through the slimmer menus and behind the wheel, it’s very apparent where Codemasters has invested its time.
It definitely hasn’t delivered the next Driveclub or pushed out Project Cars 2 with F1 2015’s looks, but there’s a noticeable improvement in clarity and colour that amplifies the generation jump. Monte Carlo feels denser and more alive, without the flat textures that meant this jewel in the calendar was little more than a grey building block in previous games. Night race classic Singapore is so much more vibrant, too. Atmospheric effects such as sun-glare and the weather system have also been improved, with rain offering a new level of visual finesse.
Overall, it’s the feel of F1 2015 that’s so much more impressive than its predecessors, thanks to a 60fps frame rate on consoles that manages mostly to stay stable despite some hitches and minor optimisation issues.
Not only is the sense of speed heightened, but handling is more responsive too. The tight, brutal maze of Monaco is a perfect example. In previous F1 efforts, navigating through the barriers of this riviera glitz-fest was almost too tough. Your skills with sticks didn’t equate to skill behind the wheel because the controls didn’t feel fit for purpose – whizzing between crash barriers at 200mph safely requires a little more than 30fps to actually feel manageable.
The new level of control and enhanced frame rate means those iconic and infamous Monaco moments – the uphill/downhill sweep at Massanet, the hairpin at Mirabeau, the sudden slow of La Rascasse – remain unforgiving, but can be navigated with decent reflexes and a strong understanding of course and car.
This applies to the entire calendar. The extended sweeping turns of Malaysia’s Sepang, the impossibly quick left-right switches of the Hungaroring, and the incredible elevation changes of Belgium’s Spa Francorchamps are just a handful of individual moments that are made ever so stronger by F1 2015’s very welcome technical improvements.
Tyred out
Newer tracks are always another point of excitement in a fresh F1 game, and the Mexican autodrome makes its first appearance on the calendar since 1992. With the Russian circuit at Sochi included for its second outing in 2015, neither track is particularly stunning to look at, but each gives you a fresh reason to study a course, learn its nooks and master its various sticking points; the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez can be an absolute swine to get right.
More than any game previously, F1 2015 manages to provide a huge range of different entry points depending on skill. Turning traction control on and off, using ABS, enabling the braking assists or using the driving line to ascertain where best to place the car can all make it much easier or incredibly difficult depending on your preference. Fiddle with the aerodynamics in F1 2015’s simple but relatively deep menus and you experience big shifts in how your car handles. There’s a glorious sweet spot to hit as you get into a rhythmic zen-like state and can really feel the vehicle sucking itself to the road. The feeling of the car’s backend is much more noticeable, especially in the rain, and you can quickly lose control by snapping back in the opposite direction too quickly. More than ever it’s a game of patience and knowing when’s best to slam your pedal to the metal.
Outside of the aforementioned single championship there’s only Pro Season mode, which boils down to full-length races on the toughest difficulty settings, as well as multiplayer modes that range from beginner challenges to full-length Grand Prix. There’s also the leaderboard-based Time Trial mode we’ve seen time and time again in the series. F1 2015 offers absolutely nothing new. Sure, you can load up the 2014 season if you want to take a look at last year’s horrifically ugly cars, but why would you do that?
Fantastic track action is something we expect from the F1 series – it’s why it’s survived for the past half-decade. But Codemasters has always struggled to provide new, different reasons to entice you back in, and begun to lag behind as each yearly release becomes an almost monotonous routine. F1 2015 is a strong racer that’s arguably one of the best in the series, and its technical upgrade makes a world of difference on track. But it’s also one of the least exciting, safest racing games of the year. For a sport this glamorous, dangerous, and full of itself, that’s almost unforgivable.