F1 2021 – PC Review

It’s lights out and go go go!

Another year has passed and we are up to the 2021 season of the popular
F1 racing game from Codemasters. I get giddy and all kinds of excited
every time we close in on release time for a new F1 game, thinking about
what the new things could be that Codemasters has in store for us.

And

This year we have a story mode, called Braking Point starring a young
up and coming driver named Aiden Jackson, and an old fox named Casper
Akkerman who is coming to the end of his career, right at the beginning of
the story mode you get to choose from a few teams whom you would like to
drive for in this pretty lengthy story. Williams, Haas, Alpha Tauri,
Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin. I’m not going to spoil the content of the
story mode, but it involves a ton of chapters that I clocked in around
5-6 hours playing through, the content here is a mixture of Drama
(think about Drive to Survive), some superb cut-scenes, and traditional
racing scenarios, some of the chapters are shorter with less racing and
more drama, but all in all though a bit cheesy at times, and a phone
that keeps constantly ringing I had fun playing through it. And would
recommend you do the same if you aren’t feeling like committing to
a full race in the normal modes available, it’s good fun. Check it out!

While F1 2021 has not added a whole lot of New things to this years game,
they’ve for sure updated a ton on making the game feel more realistic
than the previous years iterations. I feel that in general the AI has been
updated to have more situational awareness, and the AI takes more risks
in trying to make an overtake. Also the driving in general feels like you
need to be more focused on taking corners, the throttle use could put you
in some serious pickles if you mess around on curbs or in the wet, bumping
over curbs also can cause damage to your car here more easily, so there’s
definitely improvements to the drive-feel to folks who are familiar with
the series from previous years. For new and old fans of the game alike
there is plenty of customization options for the difficulty levels in game,
so don’t worry, you will definitely find your own settings that work for
you, and once you get more comfortable with the game you can always ramp
the difficulty up.

My Team has had some minor changes to it in 2021, but nothing ground breaking
if you are familiar with it from the 2020 version, a welcome change though
has been in the practice session programs that they have been reduced
severely, which to me always felt like a really rough chore to do for those
points needed in upgrades. For those new to 2021, My Team is the mode
where you create your own team, logo and colors, hire and manage drivers,
just like in real life you have to start somewhere, so that means you aren’t
going to be the overnight success straight up, having to hire cheaper
drivers and sign less generous sponsors, it’s a great mode to insert your
own touch and feel to the F1 2021 series and definitely a mode I enjoy.

One thing you will notice rather quickly is also that not all the tracks
on the calendar right now are in game, these will be added to the game as
free DLC addons a bit later on, so that’s all fine and dandy.

The biggest update to the game besides Braking Point in my opinion
would have to be the inclusion of a 2 player career mode, which is fantastic
if you have that friend you’ve kept time trialing with and beating,
now both of you can play on your terms a full season and see who comes
out on top of things, nothing better than a rivalry between you and your
friend who supports that other team you don’t right?

Graphically the game this year I feel has taken a step upwards again,
there is definitely more detail to be seen in game, and with RTX (Raytracing)
shadows and light (on compatible graphics cards) also present is DLSS support
Nvidias AI controlled feature that helps you get additional frames out from
the game at higher resolutions while using Raytraced options.

I have included quite a few screenshots from in game that you can check out
above, and there is also benchmark information there for the tech savvy.
But the game on my i5-9600k with 16GB ram and a 3070 (8GB) card, playing at
2K resolution (1440p) garnered around 130-144 frames per second with DLSS
enabled. It’s truly a joy to play with high frames and if you have made
the switch from Console to PC recently, you will definitely enjoy the above
60 fps content if you have the hardware capable of it.

As a long time fan of the F1 series from Codemasters, F1 has also become
my favorite franchise within the racing genre, it’s a ton of fun to play
and now with added modes like Braking Point and 2 player career, there’s
never been a better time to jump into the franchise and take it for a spin
yourself, I highly recommend it and I am pretty darn sure you will too have
a blast playing it for months and months until the next release in the series.

Thank you to Codemasters for the review code
Appreciate the kindness.

F1 2021 is out now on all major platforms, Steam, Playstation and Xbox.
Please see your local store / console / steam store for regional pricing.