Annual releases always seem to struggle to bring major features to the games that add any sort of depth with most getting little more than updated rosters. But, with Codemasters’ F1 2020, one massive addition has thrown my preconceptions in the bin.
What better place to start than the all-new My Team Mode. Think Football Manager but for Formula One.
It’s an incredible in-depth mode, which runs for 10 years, where you become the 11th team in the paddock. No corners were cut when it came to My Team mode. You design your car, your driver suit, add sponsors, pick engine and power unit suppliers as well as a 2nd driver and even develop your team facilities.
But bear in mind, in order to invest in your team, your going to have to balance the books. So pick your main sponsor carefully. You don’t want to pick a sponsor that offers the most cash upfront because they’ll have harder goals that you’ll have to meet and you might struggle to get the cash bonus on offer.
Technical Consultant
As you progress through your career, you’ll regularly visit the car development tree. Here is where you can improve your cars weight distribution, chassis, aerodynamics etc.
Each new component that you want to be designed has a 40% failure rate at the start, that can be reduced with investment. It’s a very much appreciated added sense of realism which gives a lot of weight to the particular area you want to invest. It’s not just a simple click and see the benefits.
As I said previously, You can work down the failure rate by investing in your team, but maybe equally as important, you can reduce development time.
You’ll also have to deal with the press after races as well as at certain media events throughout the season. The answers you give affect how you are perceived by the public as well as affecting the morale of the various divisions in your team. But, to be honest, those press interviews are probably the worst part of My Team and add little to the overall atmosphere.
Let’s face it, F1 2020 is the closest thing we’ll be getting to a full Formula 1 season. All the new tracks that were supposed to feature this season are included.
Both the prestigious Circuit Zandvoort and Vietnams Hanoi street circuit are welcome additions to the more classic circuits like Canada and Monaco. If a full season is too long for you, they’ve now included a 10 race season. All the official teams, drivers and tracks are included in F1 2020.
Mechanically Smooth
But what’s a racing sim without fluid gameplay? Yet again, Codemasters has made progress from last years entry with the handling more responsive. If it isn’t what you’d like, more options have been added so you can tweak it to suit your own style. The same applies to the AI. If you’re finding their driving too good or easy, you can up their difficulty in the options menu.
All the weird tech quirks that make up Formula 1 these days are in the game including DRS and ERS. To take even more advantage of DRS, you can tweak the setup of your car in practice so that it would have less downforce and go faster in straight-line speed. Just be wary of those pesky corners. less downforce means trickier turning.
A bunch of classic cars that Michael Schumacher drove during his record-breaking career are included as well as the car that won Red Bull 4 World Championships. Throughout your My Team playthrough you’ll be invited to compete in invitationals where you’ll drive some of the classic cars.
With F1 2020, it’s most likely Codemasters last entry on current-gen hardware. It does seem that they’ve maxed out every last piece of juice from even the Xbox One X. With every new entry, They’ve built on the previous entries until we now have a F1 sim that can challenge the behemoths of Forza and Gran Turismo. The My Team Mode has been a long time coming, and for a first entry, it more than does the job. I can’t wait to see what they add for Next Gen.