F1 2020 Review: Another Sterling Entry That Also Makes a Play For Racing Casuals

[Zlax45]

Quote: Originally Posted by mercalnd

He's saying he wants to make practice longer, not shorter.

Could run some hot laps....🤷🏻*♂️

[bcruise]

Few more comments about my experience so far:

I really like how the program goals are tuned to the difficulty. For the qualifying program on the first F2 course, Bahrain, I tried running at at 100 AI level first and it gave me a target time of around 1:38. Then I reset the session, changed the AI level to 50, and the target time became 1:45. That's a good sign for me because I don't like messing around with difficulty settings mid-career - I feel like it cheapens the experience some. I want to find a setting that's balanced for me and then hopefully not have to touch it again once the career gets rolling.

One thing that's bothering me that I'm probably missing how to do it - is it possible to bring up the lower right HUD (with the DRS panel, among other things) in cockpit view? Honestly I'm not a huge fan of cockpit in these cars anyway because of the bar directly in the middle, but I wondered if it was possible to do that. For now I'm enjoying the TV pod cam.

[BIG CAROLINA]

Quote: Originally Posted by bcruise

Few more comments about my experience so far: I really like how the program goals are tuned to the difficulty. For the qualifying program on the first F2 course, Bahrain, I tried running at at 100 AI level first and it gave me a target time of around 1:38. Then I reset the session, changed the AI level to 50, and the target time became 1:45. That's a good sign for me because I don't like messing around with difficulty settings mid-career - I feel like it cheapens the experience some. I want to find a setting that's balanced for me and then hopefully not have to touch it again once the career gets rolling. One thing that's bothering me that I'm probably missing how to do it - is it possible to bring up the lower right HUD (with the DRS panel, among other things) in cockpit view? Honestly I'm not a huge fan of cockpit in these cars anyway because of the bar directly in the middle, but I wondered if it was possible to do that. For now I'm enjoying the TV pod cam.

You can remove the bar in the middle while in cockpit view, I think it's in the camera settings, not sure exactly where but I have it removed.

[Zlax45]

Quote: Originally Posted by BIG CAROLINA

You can remove the bar in the middle while in cockpit view, I think it's in the camera settings, not sure exactly where but I have it removed.

Press the menu button while in the game, go to preferences and then down to camera customization and on the bottom is the halo option

[itsmb8]

Quote: Originally Posted by bcruise

Few more comments about my experience so far: I really like how the program goals are tuned to the difficulty. For the qualifying program on the first F2 course, Bahrain, I tried running at at 100 AI level first and it gave me a target time of around 1:38. Then I reset the session, changed the AI level to 50, and the target time became 1:45. That's a good sign for me because I don't like messing around with difficulty settings mid-career - I feel like it cheapens the experience some. I want to find a setting that's balanced for me and then hopefully not have to touch it again once the career gets rolling. One thing that's bothering me that I'm probably missing how to do it - is it possible to bring up the lower right HUD (with the DRS panel, among other things) in cockpit view? Honestly I'm not a huge fan of cockpit in these cars anyway because of the bar directly in the middle, but I wondered if it was possible to do that. For now I'm enjoying the TV pod cam.

Just a warning, those qualy programs can be misleading in F2. I've ran a couple and always missed (on 100ish AI difficulty) but when it comes to real qualy and the race that level is pretty solid for me.

What I would suggest is running an F2 qualy program in grand prix mode, one shot, and making sure you hit every corner perfectly. Keep running it again, same process, until your time matches the top AI driver. For races I would suggest turning up the difficulty another 3-5.

That way if you really nail your qualy session you'll be towards the top, and any mistakes will send you down the leaderboard.

[voodoo_magic]

Casual racer.
Put more time into the game so far than probably the last 5 combined.

Couple things I really love and some have been in the game already but when combined with the new casual setting it's just about perfect.
Turning off damage, driving with a controller seems to be less jumpy with casual, mid session saves for races and the ability to change the ai so I don't easily win or finish last all the time.
I like that I can change to standard setting later and try to up the challenge.

For me turning off the damage has allowed me to race hard into the corners and not constantly damage my wing when I bump the ai or get passed by 3 cars because of braking to avoid running into the ai. With damage off I still try my best to avoid collisions as if my car can be damaged.

I imagine if I didn't use casual setting and had most assists off I could be quicker but it's nice to be able to set it so the game is fun but can be a nice challenge.
In my game with my ai setting on a certain track Hamilton's fastest lap might be 1:30, in your game 1:22 but I'm around 1:33 and challenging for points.

Right now I'm finding myself spend a couple hours with practice, qualifying and the race and when I'm done I can't wait to do another one tomorrow.

[KSUowls]

I found F1 2019 last year, knew next to nothing about F1 in general, and I quickly fell in love with it as the best sim racing game I've ever played.

Picked up F1 2020 last weekend on the Steam sale, and I like the improvements. The new owner mode is a nice addition for those of us who like that total sim experience. The controls are still insanely good. While I wish that I had a full racing setup, I honestly can't complain about the responsiveness of the controller.

I would like to see some expansion of the team owner mode. I like the feature, but it doesn't feel all that different from the standard career mode. It would be nice to be able to do things like hire your own pit crew, and a bit more in various "corporate" decisions.

Great game though. Easily 9/10

[brandon27]

Quote: Originally Posted by KSUowls

I found F1 2019 last year, knew next to nothing about F1 in general, and I quickly fell in love with it as the best sim racing game I've ever played. Picked up F1 2020 last weekend on the Steam sale, and I like the improvements. The new owner mode is a nice addition for those of us who like that total sim experience. The controls are still insanely good. While I wish that I had a full racing setup, I honestly can't complain about the responsiveness of the controller. I would like to see some expansion of the team owner mode. I like the feature, but it doesn't feel all that different from the standard career mode. It would be nice to be able to do things like hire your own pit crew, and a bit more in various "corporate" decisions. Great game though. Easily 9/10

I love "My team" mode which is what I assume you're referring to when you say owner mode. However I do agree with you in the sense that it needs more meat to it. First year of the mode, I get that but they've got a solid foundation there. Problem is I'm in year 4 of my one save and my facilities are all maxed out. I'm the top team on the grid performance wise, even after having regulation changes hit durability, aero & engine all in one offseason. Now I'm halfway into season 4 and I'm sitting here with $50m in the bank with nothing to spend it on unless I wanted to hire Hamilton or something; no thanks on that because I like Norris as my teammate and I like the rest of my current driver lineup with the top teams. So I'm sitting here now going ok, what's the point? Still love it, no doubt, but now it just feels like I'm playing career mode with my own livery and no ability to change teams. Maybe if I get another regulation change it will lower my facility rankings? I haven't noticed that yet though if it does. Hopefully it does as it gives me a reason to keep signing sponsors and earning cash.

I think there is a ton of opportunity to build on this mode, it's going to take time though. I'm actually surprised that your pit crew wasn't one of the "facilities". There used to be part of the R&D tree back several years ago that boosted your pit crew to reduce pit stop times and such. I'm surprised they went with "Marketing" over that, but I think it's something they should add back in.

Curious to see what they add to the mode for year 2 because it has tons of potential. I think the challenge they have though is how "tough" to make the mode. Like I said, I'm in season 4 and I'm maxed out even after 3 reg. changes in one offseason. I'm sitting here going well this was too easy. Why do I need a 10 year "my team" mode. If they nerfed R&D points given out, or made parts more expensive then people would complain it takes too long because "who ever plays a 10 year career" would be all you'd hear.

Personally I dont want them to change that stuff, I just want them to add more things to do in building my team. I've recently started a new game save with a new team, this time I wont run practice sessions myself to earn more R&D points, Ill just sim them. I also won't max out the facility upgrade that earns R&D points weekly as fast as I did in my other save. This should help slow down the progression of my team through R&D and hopefully I wont be the top of the grid as fast. That doesn't help me with the money issue, but maybe they can find other things to "buy" and "pay" for, such as pit crew, engineers, strategist etc. etc.