We participated in the virtual presentation of F1 2020 and chatted with its director, Lee Mather. The Formula 1 season will begin on our consoles and PC.
Codemasters has had an important month of May for their immediate future. Although we knew about the intergenerational bet with DIRT 5 in the last Inside Xbox, today we reveal our first impressions in the F1 2020 car. As usual, the first half of the year is the chosen framework to know what the circus of virtual Formula 1.
The nuances are important in this installment. Beyond the symbolic that turns out to be the last before the arrival of Xbox Series X and PS5, the company has wanted to leave its comfort area. Being the eleventh team on the grid involves a series of decisions that make it one of the most ambitious installments in its history. For this reason, at FreeGameTips we sat on the other side of the screen with Lee Mather, director of the game, to chat about its news and test a build in development.
My Team: from magnate to professional pilot
Accustomed to the traditional career mode, F1 2020 shines with its own light by incorporating the My Team mode. We will be the main team and at the same time the official pilot of our own team. If we choose the path of independence, we will not only have to give the maximum with the wheel, but we will have to manage the departments during the days before the grand prizes.
All menus have been redesigned to include the director panel. But, before, we must choose what will represent us on the track. We will have a wide range of vinyls with which to customize the chassis, as well as to choose the main colors and the shield. Once the details are finished, the real work begins: the contracts.
We will be nothing without a main sponsor. We must choose our main publicity sword to raise the necessary funds to found and maintain the team over the months. The contracts will follow the same line that we know, with different goals and bonuses when completing certain challenges. Of course, the economy will be present, necessary to maintain the salaries of the drivers and to continue developing the car. The research points will share space with the monetary budget of each field.
It will be necessary to sign on paper from one of the four official power unit manufacturers on the grid, in disparate conditions, as is the case with sponsors. But it won't be the last time you use the pen. It will be up to you to hire your teammate from all the available quarry in Formula 2. In the future, if this is the case and you manage to make a place for yourself, you will be able to test other personalities of the same category. Throughout the trip the pilots will be jumping between teams, and may even withdraw. Having Lewis Hamilton as a squire? It is possible if the results accompany.
It is unlikely that during the ten seasons of My Team mode you will remain under the same patronage. “Your main sponsor will continue for a natural season. It will be up to you to stay with them for the next one or switch to another that offers you better opportunities, ”says Lee. By choosing your main image, you can use a maximum of five additional trademarks at the same time.
As the main person in charge of the team, you must select what the team will do during the days off. Two new teams are added to those already known in career mode: marketing and personal. Between advertising events, tests and meetings the entire transition to the next match will fly by. As Lee points out, you shouldn't lose track of the game's true intent. "The player will always be the pilot. We are not creating such a simulator, you know, 'sit down and be the viewer.' ” We will also not see a storyline, like the start in 2019. “We have continued to build the F1 experience so as not to be so aligned with the narrative. It is not something that fits with the concept of being in charge of your own team ”, he explains.
Interviews change register. Responses have been improved to increase future impact. For example, now the rivalry against another similar pilot on the grid will arise from a conversation with Will Buxton, the journalist in charge. Other moments of anecdote, such as the presentation of the vehicle, will vary according to the words we choose. The morale of the team and its workers will have an impact for what you say in the press.
The classic career mode has not lost the opportunity to improve its offer. The aforementioned economic methodology of contracts has been moved from the moment you choose which shield to defend. The money, in this case, we will use to unlock pilot advantages. These perks add bonuses to the statistics of the rest of the departments, including what public opinion says about us. This will carry over to any team you jump to.
In either of the two main modes you can adjust the length of the season. If you only want to participate in your ten favorite circuits, you can. The long-term modes are tailored for the type of player you are. These accessibility improvements allow you to adjust the F1 experience the way you want. Two running styles have been included: casual and standard. The first reduces penalties for touching surfaces outside the limits of the track, while reducing menu options and re-introduces you to the race in case you get out. Instead, standard is the same thing you've been playing in these past editions.
The driving aids follow a similar line to that seen in Dirt Rally 2.0. F1 2020 allows the assistance of an AI that facilitates the movements of the steering wheel. This comes in especially handy for those who don't adapt to turns with a stick. Taking corners will be somewhat close to the driver's natural gesture, as we saw with traction in the rally game. Accompany you the possibility of automatic fuel adjustment and DRS. The console version will incorporate the long-awaited modification of the interface.
Adaptation to current times
The development reaches its final stretch without having started the natural season for the first time since the British took the reins of the license. Lee acknowledges that there have been some difficulties in transferring the level of loyalty to which they always aim, especially in terms of data. “We don't know how the cars will perform. We have good forecasts based on what happened at the end of last season and what we saw during the preseason tests. ”
Although the latter is a theoretical result, especially with tests that can alter times in different sectors, they went to the heads of the organization to learn about their cabal. “They make their performance ratings and score teams based on it. We have a starting point, but until the cars run, we will not know exactly the performance of this season, "he concludes.
Since we are in 2020, the door is open to update if the official season has not yet started before its launch. "We have a team dedicated to 'live' updates, so we are open to tweaking later if required." Right now they have a data package prepared to accompany the day of departure. What will be present are the two new circuits, Zandvoort and Hanoi City.
The current circumstances have made F1 2019 a regular on official broadcasts. Drivers like Charles Lecrec or Albon took the step to make visible the only current way of experiencing the competition they love so much. The director narrates his surprise at seeing the most enthusiastic people vibrate watching the game. “Seeing him on Sky TV every weekend is something I didn't expect to see this year. What we all expected was to see the real races. The best I've seen so far is seeing old-school F1 fans take an interest in watching broadcasts of the game. It's fantastic".
This adaptation also takes into account the community, the user base that is there year after year. Therefore, collecting your comments for the next game has great value, especially when they come from official pilots. "Lando Norris told us at an eSports event how ERS worked in the game and how it does it in real life," says Lee, but not before continuing with the anecdote: "He said, 'well, I just press a button.' It is the team and the car itself that manage it. They tell him when he can overtake and use it, "he concludes. Therefore, this year the battery will work with the maps that the teams usually use so that you simply dedicate yourself to using it with a button, focused on the overtaking phase.
The behavior of the tires improves one more year. As Lee points out, the grip sensations "on and off" is something they have worked on thoroughly. “We have refined the physics of the tire model so that inertia affects them. We have also added that the pressure affects the simulation of temperatures ". We saw it in previous installments. Another reason to add to the list of systems that continue to improve.
Those who are fierce defenders of the local game will see in F1 2020 a new workhorse. Finally the split screen returns, this time for two simultaneous players. It will be playable in all offline casual modes, so career modes are excluded. This year will be a celebration for the Google Stadia base, as it will be the first title in the series to debut on the platform. It will do it in the same version as in the rest of consoles and PC. Unlike GRID, it will not have extra functionalities.
F1 2020 excited
We are excited to see that the study has not been left by the branches. The latest edition before the new generation arrives is positioned as one of the most ambitious to date. The first laps of the F1 2020 circuit give us all the good things they built on this stage of Xbox One and PS4. It is controlled better than ever.
The My Team mode aims to be one of the pillars for the future of the franchise. We are left with the thorn of not having been able to access it. However, the good work in the playable section leaves us in no doubt: Codemasters is difficult to disappoint us. For its part, the game will arrive on July 10 on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Google Stadia.
