F1 2019 is a Serious Contender – Review (PS4)

F1 2019 is the most ambitious title in the franchise to date and it pays dividends for Codemasters. The biggest addition in this jam-packed game is the inclusion of the F2 circuit this year. This adds a new depth to a series that had already taken big steps last year to add more content to their tried and true formula. F1 2019 doesn’t just want to be a great racing game, it wants to be a great sports title as well.

Career Mode

This year in career mode you’ll start in F2. All of the rules from F2 are implemented here which helps to make the game feel more realistic than ever before. The F2 cars even feel different than the F1 counterparts. It’s an incredible feat and they really nailed it.

After an extensive character creation, you’ll jump into the 2018 F2 season as you and teammate Lukas Weber take on your heated rival, Devon Butler. Though little is known about Devon as you play out the events in F2, it doesn’t take long to realize that you two don’t like each other. Though things are as civil as they can be off the track, on the track Devon almost takes you out during a race and Lukas takes offense with this. How the F2 season ends is completely up to you. Beat Devon and become champion or lose and go into your F1 career from under his shadow. Either way, at the end of your F2 season you’ll have a big choice to make – finding the right team to sign with as you begin your F1 career.

Your agent will collect the best offers and, after careful consideration, it’s time to choose. Choosing a more well-known team like Ferrari will come with the perks of better R&D and the money to back you, but they’ll expect a lot out of you. Look over each contract and see what the best fit for you is.  

Once your selection is made you’ll be thrown right into the season. Unlike F2 where all the cars are the same and it’s really up to the drivers to stand apart from the rest, F1 involves a lot more money and car customization. R&D will be crucial to your success. You’ll want to use the points you earn carefully in order to put the best car on the track come race day.

Each race has a lot more that goes into it than you’d ever imagine. You’ll start in the office working on your car, answering emails and taking care of all the pre-race work that needs to be done. When you’re ready each race will have three practice runs where you can really get to know the tracks that you’ll be racing on. After completing that you’ll go into the qualifying round and finally compete in the race itself. Where you start the race is determined by how well you did in all the events leading up to the big day.

After each session you’ll be able to interact with the media. How you answer their questions has a direct impact on a lot of different areas. You can focus on sportsmanship or showmanship and different teams are looking for different things. Racing for a team that wants you to be a showman requires you to answer the reporter’s questions accordingly. Answer them differently and your reputation with your team could go down. Every answer is important but time is limited when doing so, so think fast but cautiously. This addition to the career makes each play through completely different. You’ll never have the same experience twice.

As you go through your career, drivers continue to move up and down between F1 and F2 based on how well they did the prior season. Drivers can move to different teams in the middle or end of each season and all moves will be communicated to you by your agent through email. You’ll want to check your email often, so you don’t miss anything important.

In between races there are other events in which you can participate. These have no impact on the season but can help your reputation grow and improve your standings with your rival. These are usually one shot races that help break up the intensity of the actual season races.

The career is deep this year and will probably be where you spend most of your time this season.

Multiplayer

Online leagues will keep you coming back long after you’ve retired from racing in career mode. The league is only as strong as the members in them. You’ll be rated based on your participation so if you want to have a steady online presence, you’ll want to make sure that you are an active participant in any league that you join.

There are voting systems in place to postpone events if the majority can’t make it. This could be pivotal around holidays and busier times of the year.

You can earn trophies for your in-game display case which you can show off proudly.

This year there will also be weekly events. Throughout the week, in real time, you’ll have the chance to live out all your F1 fantasies. The week is split into two parts. Part 1: practice and qualifying and Part 2: race. During the practice phase you can earn competition points and set a qualifying time that will help set your position in the match made races that you’ll compete in at the end of the week.

All of these new additions are here to make F1 2019 stand out in the sports field and we expect to see nominations for best sports title this year from multiple outlets.

Other Features

Rounding out the content this year is a deep character customization that allows you to pick your avatar, helmet, and color scheme that you’ll use both online and in your career.

The Showroom is where you can take a more complete look at every car in the game. F1, F2, and classic cars are all on display in all of their glory. Most of the game you’ll be viewing the road from your cockpit. Make sure to spend some time in the showroom in order to see how glorious the cars look.  

Recommendation: F1 2019 is a must have for fans of racing and sports games alike. Easily the most complete package in the F1 catalogue to date, you’ll be uncovering new things to do all the time. This is the kind of game that you can get lost in and forget about all the other great games being released. You’ll want to make sure you carve out plenty of time to experience everything that the game has to offer, but if you do you’ll enjoy every damn second you spend with it. Normally releasing in August, this year F1 is coming on June 25th with the Legend’s Edition and June 28th with the Anniversary Edition. This gives you the chance to play through the season as it unfolds instead of after it’s well into it in real life.

*F1 2019 was provided to the reviewer by the publishing company but this fact did not alter the reviewer’s opinion*

Check out our Review Guide to see what we criteria we use to score games.