So, a month earlier than before, with the bases loaded and prime for take-off, this year’s F1 game feels like one step forward, two steps back. The new career mode has some good features but one aspect of the game really drops it from a top position to now languishing on the back of the grid.
So, how’s F1 24? It’s a mixed bag, unfortunately.
Presentation
The main course for this year’s game is of course the new and improved career mode that brings back the aspect of being a part of the paddock in greater detail than ever, perhaps since perhaps the start of this era of F1 games, so around 2016.
The return of cutscenes with you meeting your agent (appearing once again after a 4-year absence) and now even seeing the starting grid in their suits of teams that can change each start of the season is quite neat and sells that feeling of being there like in that Netflix show.
One other great addition to this new career mode is now getting to your player character’s Driver Rating as you play through the game. This tracks your Experience, Racecraft, Awareness, and Pace as the season goes on, and it is one of the more contentious things within any Sports series that has them getting to build your player card is a neat touch to make you feel like you’re in the sport quite well. 
Also, fun fact, playing through the F2 campaign and winning it before starting in F1, will net you a higher driving rating than Logan Sargent in the Williams during his sophomore year, which is quite funny to note.
But besides that, F1 24 still has the most convoluted menus in any Sports title that came out this year, with the quick race and practice modes still within the F1 World menus, and if you’re booting for the first time, it takes a long time for the tutorials to do their business before handing in the controls to you, which for someone like me who hasn’t skipped an entry since 2018 feels counter-intuitive. 
Moreover, the game runs as well as you expect, with solid 60fps on all platforms without the hitching issues of last year’s launch edition during the night races. And the fact that you can also now exclusively listen to the hugely underrated F1 Games soundtrack by Ian Livingstone and Lapalux, the former who have done music on older games like Race Driver Grid, is a nice addition for long-time Codemasters fans like I am.
Gameplay
I will be frank and say that this new handling is a step down for both wheel and gamepad users, though this launch version that we have now is miles better than many have witnessed during the beta period. 
The Dynamic Handling system, along with their new suspension mechanics added in, makes the car far too front-driven, making it feel like you’re driving one of the older classic F1 cars from the 2000s than the speedy landboats of 2024, with how snappy it is and while you can now take curbs better, the understeer effect afterward is unbearable at times. This makes racing in F1 24 not as enjoyable as last year’s due to the ability to go side-by-side and make passes is now as hard as real life.
ERS also got a bit of change-up, with the ability to switch battery modes coming back once again but the caveat is the ERS batteries now drain faster than my iPhone, so you might need to do the ol’ switcheroo of turning it off on corners and back on during the straights like the older F1 titles, which might catch out some newcomers but once you have it nailed, you can do the battery drain shuffle well as the pros, perhaps.
Nevertheless, some other new aspects do help improve the gameplay elements by taking pointers from real life. Marc, your engineer, will now also let you know about some in-race goals that you have to get, like making sure you don’t damage the final front wing of the team this weekend or see if you can average lap times with the car ahead, stuff you’ll hear in the main broadcast of watching an F1 race are now being included into the game and that’s pretty cool.
Your team members will also have their own set goals that you have to achieve during a race weekend, to get more resource points to upgrade the car, coupled with your teammates also pooling in their upgrade points too, does highlight the team aspect in F1 more than ever, with everyone pitching in to make the car better.
And once again, the F1 game is another mixed bag in its gameplay department, and it’s kind of a shame that the handling has been changed for the worse in execution.
Content![]()
For what it’s worth, the new career modes add some more value to content that was missing from the game.
A typical career mode run now goes with some value in making your worth towards other teams, with them trying to poach you to race for them, as the regulations changes that are more frequent in this edition make it a fun challenge going from season to season. And like in real life, you can even break a contract to join another team.
Besides that, the stuff like F1 World and Multiplayer is still the same as you would expect, with the F1 World being the hub for all things online and also including the F1 Challenge Championship, where you get to do a challenge that is driver-specific and when it is completed, you will be on a leaderboard to compare it to other players on the grid as well.
Altogether, it looks to me like a pretty solid installment for the F1 Series once again.
Personal Enjoyment
Speaking as someone who has been playing this series for quite some time, this edition has got to be the most mixed-feeling entry that I have ever played, ever. My praise of the old handling is now a fading memory as the devs went to try out newer things but somehow landed on the handling of the 2022 game, for the worse in my opinion.
Perhaps it’s mirroring the actual F1 season with how stagnant and adamant they are to change like newer teams. So this one, in a sense, is the most realistic simulation of the Formula One series that they have so far. Right down to cars that aren’t raceable in some tracks and such. And I do feel they might need to go back to the drawing board before switching to a new engine, really
Verdict
F1 24 has the makings of being better than last year’s edition but the handling just lets down the entire package. It drowns the goodness that is the new stuff that the career mode has bought on. And while I wouldn’t advise getting it on launch, try it out on EA Play’s Game Trials to see if it suits your fancy.
Played on PC, Review Copy provided by EA.
F1 24
Has the makings of being better than last year's edition but the handling just lets down the entire new stuff that the career mode has bought on.
- Presentation 8
- Gameplay 6
- Content 7
- Personal Enjoyment 7