F1 24 PS5 Review

Summary Career mode remains strong, including My Team & new Driver Recognition System - offers a familiar but enjoyable experience.

Practice sessions are important for boosting resources. Challenge career introduces competitiveness for online play.

F1 24 offers something for all player levels with different gameplay modes. Moment to moment gameplay excels, but AI needs improvement.

Formula One hasn't been the most exciting sport over the last few years. With Red Bull absolutely dominant, there's been little at stake in a racing series that is described as a procession by critics at the best of times. As such, games like the varied and enjoyable F1 23 have been the nearest fans have felt to the top thrills of F1, and now Codemasters and EA Sports are back with F1 24, the latest game in the series.

F1 24 is the latest official Formula One game, bringing the sport to the digital world. Included within are all the official F1 teams and circuits, as well as the previous year's F2 championship. As well as this, there are a wealth of other features that will be familiar to players of previous games, in a title that is of excellent quality without bringing anything revolutionary to the table.

F1 24 Pros Excellent career mode is once again a highlight

Great graphics

Captures the authenticity and excitement of an F1 race Cons AI needs work to feel well-adjusted

Creating A Legend

Once Again, Codemasters Succeeds In Career Mode

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Codemasters struck gold with its F1 Career Modes some time ago, and since then has been building on its excellent formula of car development and light sim racing. The biggest of these additions was undoubtedly My Team, where the player could create their own team and try to reach the highest levels of F1, and this is once again back and as effective as always - albeit with limited changes and feeling a little limited in terms of immediate customization.

Other elements of Career Mode remain too, such as its traditional mode where the player either starts their career in F2 or dives right into F1 with an existing team. There's also then the two-player career, for those who want to run through a career online with a friend. One big addition this year is taking on the career of an existing driver and the introduction of a Driver Recognition System, although things generally work in a familiar way to before. Between these modes, there's a lot here for those who want something that feels like a strong facsimile of the real Formula One.

Although it's tempting to skip practice sessions during the race weekend, they're useful to complete: not just for those unfamiliar with the circuits but also, for those looking to get a boost to their resources by completing specific activities.

Then, there's the Challenge Career, where the user competes against others to top online leaderboards. It's a solid enough idea that brings the Career Mode into a versus space, introducing a competitive element to those who don't want to take part in driver-to-driver online play. It might not be something that hardcore fans of the sport spend too much time with, but it works well enough as a reversal of how FIFA Ultimate Team's Squad Battles worked with a single player setup.

Something For Every Familiarity With F1

F1 24 Provides A Scope Of Experiences To Different Players

With the F1 games, Codemasters does deliver a form of racing game that gives a little something to everyone. With a set of brilliant difficulty and gameplay customizations that seems to expand with each entry, it can reach nearly the level of a sim racer at its hardest difficulty, or something more arcade-y and lenient for newcomers. This is also seen in the different gameplay modes.

F1 World is one such example, providing an umbrella to a wider gamified approach to the F1 experience, with a progression route for the player based around tech levels and upgrades. It's a gameplay mode aimed around objectives for the player to complete as a radiant gameplay model. It's decent enough, something F1 purists might not delve into too much, aside from the odd individual race as it lacks authenticity, but there's a fair bit here for those who want it.

F1 24 still has brilliant moment to moment gameplay, creating a racing experience not quite found elsewhere.

F1 24 lacks a couple of bits and pieces from previous entries - the story mode that occasionally pops up isn't here this time, for instance - but there's a solid number here for all levels. Returning players will undoubtedly spend the bulk of their time in career modes or online multiplayer, but there's something here for all skill levels or just to try something for a change of pace. Players should just be a little mindful of the in-game purchases for cosmetic items, which F1 24 both includes and occasionally likes to try and promote.

Moments of Quality Among Consistency

Outside Of Big Picture Changes, Things Remain Strong

F1 24 still has brilliant moment to moment gameplay, creating a racing experience not quite found elsewhere. Codemasters doesn't strive for the tough sense of realism of Assetto Corsa, but instead creates a replica of Formula One that has a sense of real in very different ways. Every race is an absolute thrill with challenging but fluid gameplay, absolutely nailing the feel of emulating the real sport.

There are some noticeable tweaks here and there. Handling feels a little smoother, improving on the previous model, and it feels better this year when using the slipstream of the car ahead, while tire degradation has also had some improvements. There are also aesthetic changes that work well, too, with real world driver models and tracks getting a refresh, wet weather looking good alongside feeling better to drive in, and smaller tweaks like the HUD having a bit of a refresh.

More pressing as an issue is the driver AI, with drivers hitting the player due to their aggression and missing obvious openings or defensive maneuvers, breaking immersion and becoming frustrating quite quickly.

That said, there are a few issues here and there that need to be addressed for quick but noticeable improvements. There are occasional audio glitches in terms of what the player's engineer tells them, such as getting the gaps to teammate or closest cars wrong, which breaks immersion, while it would be nice to have the team appear excited about getting a back marker team into the points. More pressing as an issue is the driver AI, with drivers hitting the player due to their aggression and missing obvious openings or defensive maneuvers, breaking immersion and becoming frustrating quite quickly.

Our Review Score & Final Thoughts

4/5 - "Excellent" by Screen Rant's Metric

F1 24 is another excellent entry in the franchise from Codemasters. It's not the most exciting update of all time, lacking any major changes that give a wow factor, but those tweaks that have been made work well and provide players old and new alike with something substantial to enjoy. It might not be a necessary purchase for those who have owned an entry from the last couple of years, but Codemasters once again proves its ability to make the best racing games on the market.

Screen Rant was provided with a PS5 download code for the purposes of this review.