Sports around the world have been on hold for the past three months, for the most part. It's only now that leagues and tournaments are starting to get back underway. Everything from soccer to basketball to Formula One has been affected. When it comes to that last one, there's a silver lining. Formula One's season will finally begin this weekend. Due to the delay, the beginning of the season will coincide with the release of F1 2020.
As is the case with most major sporting franchises, F1 releases a video game each and every year. It has done so since 2009. Annual releases like these pose a challenge to developers. They are tasked with making every game unique, without changing it so much that it turns away its loyal fanbase. Offering up a different game from last year, but not so different that its unrecognizable is an achievement F1 games have knocked out of the park time and time again, and F1 2020 is no different.
Start Your Engines, Virtually & For Real
F1 2020 will be released in conjunction with the real-life Formula One season that is about to begin. The season's start has been delayed by four months, hence the blessing in disguise for F1 2020 developer Codemasters, and also fans who plan to watch the season unfold while playing the franchise's newest title alongside it.
F1 2020's aim, as it should be for all sports-based video games every single year, is to appeal to new and casual fans while not driving away its established followers. Make a game too difficult to understand and no one new will come. Make it too easy/change too much, and dedicated fans will leave for pastures new. Other genres, such as battle royale titles, don't have the pressure of striking that tricky balance, hence their popularity.
F1 games through the years have been notoriously tricky to get the hang of. Watching an established F1 gamer play F1 2020 for the first time will probably be pretty intimidating. However, Codemasters has added new layers with each passing year to make the series more accessible for newcomers. The difficulty level and assists have been more customizable than any game we have ever seen for a number of years, and Codemasters has added to that this year via the addition of a "casual race style." It is quite literally what it says on the tin and is recommended for anyone who hasn't played an F1 game before.
Driving Alone Is A Team Sport In 2020
On the flip side, there is, of course, plenty for the hardened F1 gamer to sink their teeth into. F1 2020 lets players become more involved in the behind the scenes goings-on of Formula One than any game before it. Largely due to the addition of a brand new career mode called My Team Mode. Players not only take on the role of the driver, but also the team's owner. They hire a teammate, pick a sponsor, and have to balance the team's checkbook on top of competing in races every week.
As always, the game is visually stunning. It offers up a view of tracks around the world that are normally reserved for the drivers alone. There are two new tracks in F1 2020 that will be making their video game debuts: Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands, and the Hanoi Street Circuit in Vietnam. Only a handful of people are talented enough to see these circuits like this for real, but F1 2020 does a terrific job of successfully delivering the next best thing.
Breathtaking graphics aren't the only way F1 2020 lets players fully immerse themselves in the Formula One experience. The newest chapter in the franchise builds on the Formula 2 aspect of real-life racing it introduced in the past. Players are now able to compete in a full season on what is the training ground for Formula One before making the step up. As for the aforementioned My Team Mode, everything from the way a driver looks to the paint job on the cars is fully customizable, so like I said, more immersive than ever before.
Split-Screen's back!
F1 games of the past can feel like quite lonely affairs. Its seasons and career modes are designed to be played alone, and split-screen mode abruptly disappeared more than half a decade ago. It has taken a while, but Codemasters has now righted that wrong. Split-screen is back, and with the new Casual mode added to the mix, playing with friends, no matter how experienced in the F1 video game world they are, has never been easier.
As for other forms of multiplayer, such as playing online, it's clear that has never been the focus of Codemasters when it comes to F1 titles. It wants to offer Formula One fans an in-depth experience when it comes to careers, seasons, and customization, and online play is an option merely out of necessity. Leagues and such return in F1 2020, and the franchise's esports scene is even featured, but it will always be secondary compared to the single-player experience.
F1 2020 wants to appeal to as many people as it possibly can, and it does a better job of that than any other F1 game to have been released in recent years. In terms of adapting the game for the established players, although it has added new modes and features, the gameplay itself feels a little too familiar. There's just enough added to F1 2020 to make it feel different to F1 2019, but there were occasions when it slipped our minds that we were playing a new chapter in the series. A terrific offering overall from Codemasters for hardened and casual players, but we wouldn't say no to an overhaul of the established systems and features in place for F1 2021 which we're assuming will be the series' first foray onto next-gen consoles.
A digital PlayStation 4 copy of F1 2020: Deluxe Schumacher Edition was provided to TheGamer for this review. F1 2020: Deluxe Schumacher Edition and F1 2020 will be available on July 10, 2020, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and PC.
F1 2020