F1 2014 is racing simulation game surrounding the world of Formula 1. Developed and published by Codemasters, this game is a sports simulation to the hilt with everything from individual races to full-length seasons (including a co-op season mode) to a lifetime career mode.
While F1 has become an annualized franchise, Codemasters has not lost what it means to be a top-flight racing simulation. For 2014, they seemed to have focused on the two things I actually care about in a racing simulation: the car models and the feeling of driving. The car models are gorgeous; their reflective surfaces and light physics are beautiful. They have also exceeded what I would think would be the limit of the old PS3 technology with how the rain beads on my faceplate as I’m driving in the game. Codemasters seems to have squeezed a lot of juice out of the console.
The other aspect I really enjoyed and felt was improved were the driving mechanics. The car always felt solidly planted on the ground. None of that “floaty” feeling you sometimes get from racing games that lose sight of g-forces being applied in a real race setting. F1 also appears to be catering to a new audience with a new evaluation feature. On top of the evaluation, I also felt the driving assists did not hinder me as much as they did when I reviewed F1 2012 a couple years ago. I wasn’t fighting them the whole time, which made my experience more enjoyable.
In F1 2014, Codemasters does what I can only expect to be a stopgap measure on the last-gen console to hold them out until they finish a new engine to put F1 2015 on next-gen consoles. Other than a couple new tracks like the Sochi Autodrom, the game is a bit lacking in new features, which is a bit disappointing. I also found that the AI did not seem to scale at all to my level or to the level of the drivers the bots were supposed to be impersonating.
Overall, F1 2014 is solid racing simulation game, but lacks in the new feature department. Even with the few graphical mentions I made above, I will admit that the game and the engine are starting to show their age on a system that’s reached the end of its lifecycle. Unless you really love racing games or this franchise, I’m going to say pass this year and let’s just hope F1 2015 is on the PlayStation 4.