F1 2020 Reviews

Formula 1 is back with F1 2020, the latest game in Codemasters' annual franchise. Each game has seen steady improvements over a number of years, but does F1 2020 keep with the current trend? Whilst there are some issues, Codemasters have gone above and beyond to provide a brilliantly realistic F1 experience.

The F1 2020 season was curtailed due to COVID 19 earlier this year, so the worlds most popular motorsport series’ such as NASCAR and Formula 1 moved to televised online racing. While most eschewed their official games and went with premier racing sim iRacing, Formula 1 stuck to their guns and went with last years F1 2019. Depending on your taste in racing, Formula 1 is either incredibly exciting or a little technical, a little dry and a touch repetitive. They have been racing – more or le...

F1 2020 is the complete package and a massive value for anyone interested in racing games, Formula 1 fan or not.

This is the pinnacle of Formula 1 in videogame form. In a year fraught with difficulties for real world motorsport, Codemasters have delivered a solid experience that should keep you in the hot seat, especially with the immersion factor of the new My Team mode.

Codemasters has been diligently chipping away at the gap between its licensed F1 series and the real sport for a decade now, and this year the sport’s response is a courteous: “No, after you.” So it is that we play F1 2020 before a single tire has been flatspotted in the 2020 season, before a single tantrum has been captured over race radio. Before Grosjean’s first DNF, even.

Creating a team in F1 2020 brings together a decade of evolution.

Last year’s F1 2019 was one of the best racing games released during this entire generation. Codemasters surpassed everyone’s expectations by delivering a game with way more content than its predecessor, featuring the Formula 2 entry-level series, as well as the franchise’s sublime visuals and gameplay. I was a bit worried about F1 2020, however, not only because of the sky-high standards set by F1 2019, but also due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This not only crippled the developmental pro...

F1 2020 improves on virtually every aspect of the series, combining a satisfying and detailed on-track experience with a variety of old and new modes that allow for a comprehensive and engaging racing simulation.

If it wasn’t for the addition of My Team, F1 2020 would go down as being great for newcomers, but past the best before date for those who have enjoyed recent iterations. Some elements are now very tired, but being able to oversee the running of your own team proves to be incredibly satisfying and just enough of a distraction – for now. F1 2020 highlights just how much of a team sport Formula 1 is, and that can only be a good thing.

At the time of writing this paragraph, the very first Formula One event of the 2020 calendar is about to take place at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. This is the Austrian Grand Prix. Due to the current pandemic a brand new GP, the Styrian Grand Prix, will be taking place just one week later at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. At the moment there are only eight confirmed events, taking place on just six tracks. This truncated and limited calendar presents a perfect opportunity for F1 2020 to draw people in and show its quality. Even if only to let people experience the full race calendar.

F1® 2020 is an amazing step in the right direction for Codemasters. By adding the My Team mode to the series, it gives this racing game a different personality; one sprinkled with adventure elements, and it works.

F1 2020 feels daunting for first-timers, but it lets you learn and adapt as you continue to progress and challenge yourself. Barring a few downsides with its My Team and Driver Career modes, it remains a true marvel in the sim-racing genre where every competition is nail-bitingly fierce and exciting.

If this is how F1 goes out on current-gen, Codemasters should be proud of where it's taken the series, not only in making it more open and accessible to players of all skill levels, but also in bringing unprecedented depth, detail and immersion. Make no mistake, F1 2020 is the best Formula One game money can buy and a stellar racing experience in its own right.

F1 2020 is the best F1 game ever made, of that I have no doubt. The mighty fine engine at the heart of Codemasters’ F1 series has been fine-tuned over these last few years and now it’s at peak performance. Even better, what surrounds it – the bodywork – has been substantially upgraded for this release, making it fuller, richer, and more desirable than ever. F1 2020 is racing perfection. The question is, where does it go from here?

F1 2020 is as good as it gets on the current generation of consoles. Codemasters has perfected its craft to make F1 2020 the pinnacle of the series. My Team is fantastic and will keep people interested in a single player experience engaged. Featuring Michael Schumacher was the right decision for the adding the classic cars, but having him as an actual presence in the game would be better. The casual difficulty should help attract some new players, while the overall racing gets a boost thanks to refinements and the new Overtake Button. The online multiplayer needs a new innovation as the current state still leaves a lot to be desired.

2020 has been hurtling down the grid in turbulent air. You know something’s gone awry when Codemasters release the latest in its annual Formula 1 series in line with the beginning of the real F1 season. Usually the developer’s fashionably late; this year, thanks to a worldwide pandemic delaying the start of the season, it’s downright punctual. We’ve become accustomed to seeing modest changes to the series on an annual basis – there are only so many things you can change to an already superb Formula 1 simulator, after all – and the same is also technically true this year. However, given that this is the only way to get a full season of the motorsport in 2020, perhaps this is a more important release than usual – especially for fans.

Even if F1 2020 feels a little tired in some aspects and My Team isn't the revolutionary mode I hoped it would be, F1 2020 is still the best the series has ever been.

F1 2020 continues the positive trend the series has had over the last multiple years by not only improving on existing game modes and game mechanics, but also introducing the brand new My Team mode and even new racing options that make the game more accessible than ever.

Codemasters’ stewardship of the F1 licence finally gets into top gear with a thrillingly rigorous simulation that also makes every effort to make its appeal as broad as possible.

All things considered, F1 2020 offers a fantastic experience for Formula 1 fanatics. The MYTEAM mode is anything but a tacked-on bullet point and will likely be the most popular way to enjoy the game offline. It encompasses the entire Formula 1 team experience, save for the political red tape, dubious origins of financial backing, and the countless euro-trash orgies the top drivers are certainly participating in after making podiums. On the technical side of things, all systems are solid and the PC version is a strong performer. The lack of VR support stings, but maybe Codemasters is holding that back for the next generation. If you’ve ever dreamt of trying to pilot the fastest contraptions that human engineering has yet produced at breakneck speeds through astoundingly dangerous circuits, this could be the game for you. I know that if I keep playing and disabling more assists, my heart is likely to explode from the sheer terror of simply trying to qualify in a decent position for the Monaco Grand Prix. 9/10 flatspots

F1 2020 is simultaneously the deepest yet most accessible Codemasters Formula One experience to date. The heavy reliance on recycled vignettes and the same old faces we’ve been seeing for virtually an entire generation admittedly means F1 2020 doesn’t necessarily look as fresh as it feels but, between My Team and splitscreen, this is the most fun I’ve had with the F1 series for years.