{"id":22544,"date":"2022-07-22T19:13:48","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T19:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-new-formula-1-cars-are-pigs-to-drive-f1-22-reviewed\/"},"modified":"2022-07-22T19:13:48","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T19:13:48","slug":"the-new-formula-1-cars-are-pigs-to-drive-f1-22-reviewed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-new-formula-1-cars-are-pigs-to-drive-f1-22-reviewed\/","title":{"rendered":"The new Formula 1 cars are pigs to drive: F1 22 reviewed"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<figure class=\"intro-image intro-left\">\n  <figcaption class=\"caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-text\">enlarge <span class=\"sep\">\/<\/span> F1&#8217;s young guns stare out from the cover of <em>F1 22<\/em><\/div>\n<p>EA Sports<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside id=\"social-left\" class=\"social-left\" aria-label=\"Read the comments or share this article\">\n<\/aside>\n<p><!-- cache hit 213:single\/related:ff0a9844f89d52678d03b31c6270a73c --><!-- empty --><\/p>\n<p>Earlier in July saw the release of <em>F1 22<\/em>, the latest installment of the official Formula 1 racing game franchise.  Unlike in years past, a lot has changed in the year since <em>F1 2021<\/em>: radical new technical rules mean the cars are very different from the ones we&#8217;ve seen for several decades, several tracks have been revised, new tracks have been added, and the race format now includes the occasional shorter sprint race alongside the main feature race .  All of this is faithfully reflected in <em>F1 22<\/em>and for some die-hard F1 fans, that will be sufficient to pick up a copy.<\/p>\n<p>For everyone else, I&#8217;m not so sure.  Some of that is down to the game itself.  For the first time since EA Sports bought the Codemasters studio at the end of 2020, we can see the influence of the behemoth games publisher at work, and it&#8217;s not particularly positive.  For example, the sheer frequency of exhortations to spend XP or purchase microtransactions will probably be enough for most Ars readers to dislike <em>F1 22<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>But my frustration is not just with the game itself\u2014at its core are still wonderful physics that translate to engaging handling, whether that&#8217;s with a steering wheel or a controller.  No, it&#8217;s F1&#8217;s new cars, which are larger and somewhat heavier than they&#8217;ve ever been, and, frankly, of a pig to drive.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image shortcode-img full-width\" style=\"width:980px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"This year's cars are bigger and heavier than ever.\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-Paul-Ricard-from-behind-980x551.jpg?resize=980%2C551&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-text\">enlarge <span class=\"sep\">\/<\/span> This year&#8217;s cars are bigger and heavier than ever.<\/div>\n<p>EA Sports<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now riding on 18-inch wheels, the tires have shorter, stiffer sidewalls, and the suspension designs are much less complex than has been allowed previously.  Grip is limited;  Consequently, the front tires don&#8217;t like being asked to do two things at once, like braking <em>and<\/em> turning\u2014best slow down in a straight line before tackling that corner.  The rear tires will happily break traction in the lower gears, too, pitching you into a spin unless you&#8217;re extremely progressive on the throttle (or have traction control whacked up to max).<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad_wrapper\" aria-label=\"In Content advertisement\">\n    <span class=\"ad_notice\">Advertisement <\/span>    <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>All this was predicted before the 2022 F1 season, so Codemasters has done a faithful job of digitally re-creating the new machinery for our entertainment.  I don&#8217;t think the in-game cars are suffering from the same porpoising that affected the real ones this year.  But the aerodynamic phenomenon is very difficult to simulate, as we can see by the fact that none of the teams that have experienced the problem caught it during their own extensive computational fluid dynamics simulations while designing their cars.<\/p>\n<p>I have fewer positive things to say about adding supercars.  Based on the supercar hot laps offered to VIPs at an F1 race, they add nothing to the experience.  In particular, the handling and feedback you get from the in-game supercars is a far cry from something like <em>Gran Turismo 7<\/em>.  They&#8217;re sluggish to respond, and it&#8217;s annoying to have to complete them between driving F1 cars.<\/p>\n<div class=\"gallery shortcode-gallery gallery-wide\">\n<ul>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-22-overtake-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-22-overtake.jpg\" data-responsive=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-22-overtake-980x551.jpg 1080, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-22-overtake-1440x810.jpg 2560\" data-sub-html=\"#caption-1868776\">\n<figure style=\"height:551px;\"><figcaption id=\"caption-1868776\">\n                  <span class=\"icon caption-arrow icon-drop-indicator\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                      I know it looks like I&#8217;m steering into Lewis Hamilton here, but we&#8217;ve both just come through a left-hand corner.                    <\/p>\n<p>\n                      <span class=\"icon icon-camera\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                              EA Sports                                          <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1_22_Baku_Supercars_04_3840x2160-150x150.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1_22_Baku_Supercars_04_3840x2160.png\" data-responsive=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1_22_Baku_Supercars_04_3840x2160-980x551.png 1080, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1_22_Baku_Supercars_04_3840x2160-1440x810.png 2560\" data-sub-html=\"#caption-1868782\">\n<figure style=\"height:551px;\"><figcaption id=\"caption-1868782\">\n                  <span class=\"icon caption-arrow icon-drop-indicator\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n                      <span class=\"icon icon-camera\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                              EA Sports                                          <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-22-car-on-display-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-22-car-on-display.jpg\" data-responsive=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-22-car-on-display-980x551.jpg 1080, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-22-car-on-display-1440x810.jpg 2560\" data-sub-html=\"#caption-1868775\">\n<figure style=\"height:551px;\"><figcaption id=\"caption-1868775\">\n                  <span class=\"icon caption-arrow icon-drop-indicator\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                      The cars look great, they just don&#8217;t drive great.  But I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s the game&#8217;s fault.                    <\/p>\n<p>\n                      <span class=\"icon icon-camera\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                              EA Sports                                          <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-microtransactions-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-microtransactions.jpg\" data-responsive=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-microtransactions-980x551.jpg 1080, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-microtransactions-1440x810.jpg 2560\" data-sub-html=\"#caption-1868780\">\n<figure style=\"height:551px;\"><figcaption id=\"caption-1868780\">\n                  <span class=\"icon caption-arrow icon-drop-indicator\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                      Microtransactions are a turnoff.                    <\/p>\n<p>\n                      <span class=\"icon icon-camera\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                              EA Sports                                          <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-22-practice-session-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-22-practice-session.jpg\" data-responsive=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-22-practice-session-980x551.jpg 1080, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-22-practice-session-1440x810.jpg 2560\" data-sub-html=\"#caption-1868777\">\n<figure style=\"height:551px;\"><figcaption id=\"caption-1868777\">\n                  <span class=\"icon caption-arrow icon-drop-indicator\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                      The practice sessions have been stripped down a little.  This will make the game less friendly to new players or to players new to a track.                    <\/p>\n<p>\n                      <span class=\"icon icon-camera\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                              EA Sports                                          <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>You can still manage your own F1 team, or play as one of the 10 real teams, but this year doesn&#8217;t see a return of the story mode or Devon Butler, the fictional F1 driver we all love to hate.  As before, if you want to develop your car throughout the season there&#8217;s a strong benefit to participating in all the practice sessions to test things with your engineers.  But it&#8217;s been slightly stripped down from years past.  In particular, the track acclimatization test program is missing in action, which makes it harder for players to learn new tracks, or new players to learn any of the tracks, without relying on the driving line assist.  Putting in the hours then makes it doubly frustrating when all your R&#038;D fails and upgrades have to be redeveloped.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad_wrapper\" aria-label=\"In Content advertisement\">\n    <span class=\"ad_notice\">Advertisement <\/span>    <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>All of this is a shame.  The game looks great on the PS5 in cutscenes, transitions, and gameplay, and as already mentioned, there&#8217;s a darn good game engine under the hood, something that&#8217;s easily noticeable in the slower F2 cars.  But as you disable assists and increase the realism, the main event begins to feel more and more like a chore, and for someone with a limited amount of time for gaming that&#8217;s a real turnoff.  (Unlike bus drivers, F1 drivers get paid plenty, so don&#8217;t feel sorry for them having difficult jobs.)<\/p>\n<h2>the good:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Still brilliant physics<\/li>\n<li>Looks good, especially on the PS5<\/li>\n<li>F2 cars are fun to drive<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The bad:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>2022-spec F1 cars are pigs to drive<\/li>\n<li>The exhortations to buy XP microtransactions<\/li>\n<li>The addition of supercars, which are even worse to drive than the 2022-spec F1 cars, add nothing to the game<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The ugly:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It&#8217;s starting to feel more like an EA game than a Codemasters game<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Verdict:<\/strong> Skip, unless you&#8217;re a hardcore F1 fan.<\/p>\n<p><em>Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>enlarge \/ F1&#8217;s young guns stare out from the cover of F1 22 EA Sports Earlier in July saw the release of F1 22, the latest installment of the official Formula 1 racing game franchise. Unlike in years past, a lot has changed in the year since F1 2021: radical new technical rules mean the &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-new-formula-1-cars-are-pigs-to-drive-f1-22-reviewed\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The new Formula 1 cars are pigs to drive: F1 22 reviewed<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":802,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/f1-22-review-ign\/","url_meta":{"origin":22544,"position":0},"title":"F1 22 Review &#8211; IGN","date":"July 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a new era for the world of Formula 1, with some of the biggest changes seen in the sport in four decades shaking up not only the status quo, but also the spines of the drivers as teams wrestle to rein in the engineering quirks of this year's new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1416,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/f1-22-review-new-race-cars-shine-supercars-are-a-dud\/","url_meta":{"origin":22544,"position":1},"title":"F1 22 review: New race cars shine, Supercars are a dud","date":"July 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Like the drivers in real life, I've had to learn all over again how to drive a Formula One car. Ordinarily, the makers of an iterative sports title like F1 22 would avoid overhauling fundamental gameplay. But all-new F1 cars, with new aerodynamics and new, larger front tires, left Codemasters,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14843,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/f1-22s-new-cars-when-to-use-assists-and-how-to-drive-without-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":22544,"position":2},"title":"F1 22&#8217;s new cars: When to use assists, and how to drive without them","date":"July 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Eventually, it just worked. The engine didn't change. The torque through the rear axle didn't change. The clutch pedal, tighter than an eight-day clock, sure didn't change. I don't feel like I changed, either. But in the spring of 1990 I finally figured out how to operate my mother's manual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4058,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/formula-one-driver-survives-horrific-crash-thanks-to-halo-cockpit-requirement\/","url_meta":{"origin":22544,"position":3},"title":"Formula One driver survives horrific crash thanks to halo cockpit requirement","date":"July 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Formula One driver Zhou Guanyu likely wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for the partially closed titanium device that formed a protective layer around the cockpit of his race car. Zhou credited the protection device, known as a halo, for saving his life after a horrific crash during the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2758,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/f1-22-game-tips-and-tricks\/","url_meta":{"origin":22544,"position":4},"title":"F1 22 game tips and tricks","date":"July 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Share tweet Share Share E-mail It's a new-ish season for the most prestigious motorsport in the world, and with it comes the latest digital representation, EA SPORTS F1 22, just in time for the British Grand Prix this weekend. 1st July 2022 marks its non-digital pre-order Champions Edition early access.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"F1 22 beginner's guide","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/d1ztkyjcxhkkyv.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220627082218_1-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/F1-listing-image-760x380.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22544"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}