F1 23 review

In our F1 23 review, we take a close look at all the details from the game’s story mode, graphics, new tracks and gameplay dynamics.

F1 23, which is eagerly awaited by both Formula 1 lovers and racing game lovers, is out. As you know, after Electronic Arts bought Codemasters, the producer of Formula 1 games, in 2021, the series underwent some kind of change. They added a story mode to the game, just like they did in FIFA 17, which would never happen in the first year, for example. They started to give raiting to drivers just like in Ultimate Team and made the series an EA game.

F1 23 review / PS5

Predictably, the Formula 1 game series didn’t really progress nicely in both 2021 and 2022 after the switch to EA. Both games had a lot of bugs and problems. Especially the gameplay side of 2022 was a complete disaster in my opinion, after the game came out, they lowered the graphics just for optimisation, then they broke the broken gameplay and never fixed it again, and so on and so on. Surprisingly, F1 23 has done the opposite. Without further ado, let’s take you to our review article.

Breaking Point 2 (Story Mode)

This story mode, which appears for the first time in F1 2021, exposes us to a classic Formula 1 drama. In this story, where we started as a rookie pilot named Aiden Jackson, we were arguing with our teammate Casper Akkerman, who was much more experienced than us, criticising and improving ourselves, and on the other hand, we were arguing with Devon Butler, whom we saw as our arch-rival, both on and off the track, and the game continued like this.

All in all, I think the story mode in F1 2021 was not very good. It had some problems such as a simple scenario, not very beautiful cutscene animations, but if we call it an introductory story, of course it was at an acceptable level. As a result, they couldn’t have made a AAA game story for a Formula 1 game. The guys realised this and thought to make a stronger comeback with F1 23 instead of bringing the continuation of the story to F1 22.

This story mode, called Breaking Point 2 in F1 23, is presented to us in a much more beautiful way as a continuation of the story mode included in the F1 2021 game. We are trying to finish the story we started in the 2022 Season by continuing with the 2023 season and we are doing this with a brand new team. In the story mode of F1 2021, we continued our career in teams such as Aston Martin, Alpha Tauri and Alfa Romeo.

But in F1 23, we continue our career in the team owned by the father of our arch-rival Devon Butler, and this is where the drama begins. We are racing with Devon Butler in the team founded by Devon Butler’s father and chaos follows. Both off-track and on-track dramas haunt us. For this reason, it is very enjoyable to experience the story of the game. While all this is happening, Callie Mayer, the previous season’s Formula 2 champion, is quickly involved in the story. A number of events are developing on this. More would definitely be spoilers, so this is enough.

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Breaking Point 2 Story mode really impressed me with a beautiful scenario prepared in a better quality, with much better made cutscene cinematics. Of course, it doesn’t have the story of a AAA game again, but it’s much better than before. The only problem is this; I felt like it was quite similar to the story mode called “Journey” that we saw in FIFA 17-18-19. Especially the fact that there are 3 playable characters and 2 male and 1 female characters makes it very similar to the Journey mode in FIFA 19.

Gameplay

If you ask someone who is engaged in Formula games around, which F1 game has the best gameplay, he will give you the direct answer “F1 2020”. Because 2020 really had a tremendous gameplay. From the use of vehicles to the artificial intelligence of rival drivers, it was at a level that could be called perfect.

The subsequent 2021 was a disgrace in terms of vehicle control, and the 22 that came on top of that was a mess in terms of artificial intelligence. I naturally predicted that F1 23 would have such problems, but I was quite wrong. I can honestly say that I can definitely say that F1 23 is the Formula game that I enjoyed the most and the most beautiful Formula game in terms of gameplay.

Vehicle handling is much, much more comfortable. Since I am not a very professional player, I could not drive perfectly and comfortably on every track in the old games. But things have changed in F1 23. Now I can race fast on every track with the comfort of driving on every track. So what we can infer from here is; the gameplay has been made much more comfortable and easy. What I mean by easy is that there are no ridiculous vehicle physics. In addition to these, it is useful to say that the accident mechanics of the vehicles have become more realistic.

Another thing that attracts my attention is that we can now make sudden turns comfortably in bends. It is very nice that we can make a sudden turn to the other side while turning the bend more comfortably and quickly without spinning the vehicle. I think this is an important innovation. Because the number of tracks with such turns is very high in the game.

To talk about opponent artificial intelligence, this point is very important especially for those who play the game only in career mode like me. Don’t worry, we have a near-perfect artificial intelligence. As you know, in F1 22, the rival vehicles, regardless of the difficulty level, were always half a second ahead of us from the moment they took the corner, no matter what we did, and this was very unpleasant.

Although it took 1 year, it is good that they solved this with F1 23. For this reason, the races we play against artificial intelligence are much more enjoyable. In addition, it is worth mentioning that artificial intelligence is now more aggressive. Our wheel-to-wheel battles are now much more enjoyable.

In addition, they finally added the feature we have been waiting for years to F1 23. Of course, the red flag. Those who watch Formula 1 races know what it is, but if we assume that there are those who do not follow F1 among those who read the review, the red flag can be called a flag that is raised when an important event occurs during the race and the race has to be stopped.

The red flag is raised when there is a major accident or when the track becomes unusable due to rain during the race. It was perfect that they integrated this feature into F1 23 and in this way, the game became more realistic.

On the other hand, another innovation is the 35% race length option. Previously, we used to play races with 5 laps, 25%, 50% and 100% lengths, but there was no middle point where these were fully enjoyable. The production team realised this and listened to the voice of the players and added the 35% race length option to the game.

To talk about the Player career and Team career modes; As in every game of the series, there has not been any change in F1 23. Only the animation of the vehicle introduction shown at the beginning of each season and the cinematics of the newly opened career shown at the beginning of each season have been changed.

New Tracks

Most of the tracks in the game have been renewed and made more beautiful, and in addition, Qatar and Las Vegas tracks have been added to the game. Especially the Qatar track offers us players a marvellous driving experience. With its wide and exciting straights and sharp bends, racing on the Qatar track is a very nice experience. On the other hand, the Las Vegas track also attracts attention with its eye-catching environmental design.

This track successfully reflects the bright and colourful Las Vegas atmosphere, offering players a unique racing experience. The brightly lit buildings surrounded by the bright lights invite players to immerse themselves in the energy of Las Vegas. Feeling as if you are in an impressive city while racing provides players with an extraordinary atmosphere and makes the races more enjoyable.

Graphics

If we talk about graphics, F1 23 is one of the games that cannot leave the old generation. So we should not expect such an extreme graphic. It cannot be said that there are very good graphics, but it is obvious that it is better than F1 22.

Especially the better lighting in the night races and the more realistic and yellowish atmosphere of the daytime races have caused us to see the game in a more realistic and pleasing to the eye.

Vehicle Designs

If we need to talk about vehicle designs, every vehicle is perfectly transferred to the game. From the exterior colour schemes to the modelling of the vehicles, everything is exactly the same as the real thing. I only found Ferrari’s colour scheme unpleasant.

Even though Ferrari has changed its colour scheme this year, it looks closer to pink in the game. I don’t know if it’s my monitor, but there is definitely a problem. Apart from that, everything from Redbull to Williams is perfect. Vehicle sounds are also very realistic and harmonious. Apart from these, there is a redesigned main menu and interface changes in the race.

Conclusion

With its cons and pros, we can say that F1 23 is the best game of the series. We wish that the tracks shown as legendary would be added to the game and old vehicles would come back like in F1 2020. No matter how much we ask for these from the production team, it seems like it will not happen, but we should never stop hoping.

You can buy the game from EA Games Store.