F1 22introduced a number of new features compared to its predecessors, and while the game might not be perfect, it does have a number of significant improvements and gameplay changes. While some of these features are purely up to a player’s preference, others might provide a competitive advantage on the racetrack, or some nostalgia for race fans of the mid-to-late 2000s.
With the newF1season commencing, it is a perfect time to jump in and become reacquainted with the cars and tracks of the world’s fastest motorsport. Hopefully, these things will be also featured inF1 23.
5Change Commentators
While David Croft certainly brings the energy to aFormula 1broadcast, it is no secret that some more veteran fans of the sport find his style and volume a bit much at times. Fortunately, inF1 22, these concerns were addressed with the option to switch out “Crofty” for Channel 4’s Alex Jacques, who brings a slightly more nostalgic vibe from his time covering races as far back as the Michael Schumacher era.
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Anthony Davidson continues to feature as co-commentator regardless of the player’s choice. These segments occur at the beginning and end of a session, giving a real-world atmosphere to the broadcast, and a sense that your racing is beingviewed by millions at home around the world. Though the difference between the two really comes down to personal preference, with Croft narrating the last few entries into the series, it can be pleasant for fans to mix things up and hear new lines of audio coming from a different voice.
4Change Race Engineer
Although “Jeff” has become an iconic and meme-worthy part of F1 fandom, who wouldn’t want an experiencedGrand Prix-winning race engineerin their ear to give them advice in moments of tension and uncertainty?F1 22features a new voice actor for the role, Mark Elvis Priestley, who happens to be an experienced real-life engineer who worked with the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, and Mika Hakkinen in the McLarenF1team.
For Mark’s debut in the series, he does an outstanding job and feels very authentic; however, there will almost certainly continue to be plenty of jokes and meme content made at his expense, unfortunately.
3Immersive Broadcast
In order to really hype up the significance of a Grand Prix event or to simply capture more appealing highlights for Youtube/Twitch,F1 22features a range of new broadcast options that allow a cinematic style -cut-scene to play out during both formation laps and pit stops.While there may be some tactical disadvantagesto this in particularly competitive races, as time can be won by acing interactive pit stops and angling the car on a formation lap (see “Formation Lap Angling” on this list for more), this feature certainly adds a degree of entertainment value as well as immersion for players in a career-mode setting.
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For drivers looking to feel an extra degree of prestige and grandeur as they prepare to start the race, or for those seeking a small moment of respite in the middle of it, knowledge of this feature and how it works simply open up options for the player and how they wish to approach playing the game.
2Customize Sprint Races
As things currently stand, theF1calendar has sprint races in Imola, Austria, and Brazil, and that’s how they will appear in thegame’s career modetoo. However, it is also possible to customize the sprint race option and apply it to any track on the calendar. In the Weekend Structure option of the setting menu, there will be three options: Standard, Authentic, and Sprint & Race.
“Standard” will feature a practice, qualifying, and race event as in an ordinary Grand Prix. “Authentic” will feature sprint races at Imola, Austria, and Brazil, while “Sprint and Race” will enable players to manually select whichcircuits on the calendarthey’d like sprint races to take place at.
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Keep in mind that different session lengths will affect the number of laps included in a sprint race. “Short” races contain only five laps, while “Long” ones will increase sprint races to 50% of the full race length. Therefore, if you normally race 24 laps, it will be reduced to 12 for the sprint race.
1Formation Lap Angling
When battling for small margins in the tenths or hundredths of a second, it can help to use every trick available in order to maximise lap time from start to finish. Thanks toF1 22’s manual formation laps, which differ fromF1 21in that they don’t necessarily featureautomation or ghost cars, a small trick is possible on race starts.
When arriving at the grid, players will see a bright glowing box and arrow in which they are supposed to drive, with green light signaling good optimization and purple being perfect; red, obviously, means poor. At this point, if the car is angled slightly towards the breaking point for turn 1, or slightly towards a rival that needs to be cut off early, this can gain a small competitive margin which could make the difference between victory and defeat.
It helps to have a rough idea of the circuit layout, and how toapproach the entry into the first turnin order to optimize this angling of the car on the formation lap. Be careful, though, as getting the formation lap wrong could also lead to a serious disadvantage and possibly even a penalty!
F1 22is available on Playstation, Xbox, Steam, and the EA app.
