The new aim of F1 24's driver career is to increase your recognition levels, and ultimately, your ratings, as the mode receives its first major overhaul in eight years.
Following a deep dive into updated handling characteristics, the next ‘campaign beat’ for EA SPORTS F1 24 is... the ‘all-new’ driver career.
The driver career, with extensive resource management, was first introduced into the Formula 1 gaming series in 2016, followed by the fictional squad-creating option with the My Team mode in 2020.
Since then, though things have remained largely stagnant. Quick practice, refreshed research and development menus and pre-order icons are the only notable changes in recent years.
For F1 24, the driver career (but not My Team, seemingly) will see an overhaul. By the looks of things, it is worth noting that the main R&D elements seem to be mostly the same.
As expected, based upon prior F1 games, the updated mode will be available online too, for two players to compete in rival teams or with the same outfit.
Instead, there is a new layer above that. This time you can select a real-world driver (from F1 or F2, the latter linked to an academy) and then alongside your team, develop their ratings. Focus, pace, awareness, racecraft and experience remain the main factors, each change in those being factored into an overall driver rating.
This is enhanced thanks to completing objectives, scoring strong results and beating rivals. Fresh on-track, in-race, objectives will pop up periodically, with the chance to further increase your recognition levels. If your recognition dips, your team-mate may even take over R&D from you.
It seems as if the aim is to provide an additional reward loop alongside car development – this time not just keeping an eye on the relative car performance bar graph, but a line graph of relative driver performance. Love a good graph, Codemasters...
The rivalry system returns, this time with up to three at once and with three levels of intensity: Team-mate battle, championship narrative and driver rating. Once again, doing well here boosts your scores and can even see you unlock car upgrades ahead of your colleague.
At the end of your first season, there are set to be ‘R&D modifiers’ such as inflation, unlimited funds or chip shortages - which are not very serious but could add an extra challenge. There are also ‘accolades’ to aim for, based on each driver’s real-world career – an eighth title is a target if you select Lewis Hamilton, for example.
Further targets to hit, and experience points to earn, appear with the implementation of ‘specialists’. These are represented with avatars seeming borrowed from F1 23’s F1 World mode, which was a bit of a damp squib. These can help the weight of you in the team, or car development progress. Time will tell if they are a worthy addition.
As you progress through a season, you will now be offered the opportunity of having ‘secret meetings’ with rival teams. Aside from a meeting room cutscene, this provides the ability to negotiate deals across a period of several in-game months.
If another team finds out about the potential collaboration with another team, your reputation level could be impacted.
Your current contract is also set to be under scrutiny, which can be across multiple seasons and if you fail to meet targets, a renegotiation phase can begin.
This is a new asynchronous competitive career derivation, whereby the Codemasters development team will curate scenarios available for a period of time. Race results, driver ratings and R&D remain, and your progress will be given a score posted on a leaderboard.
Rewards are then paid out in an F1 World-style (think clothing, crash helmet designs etc) based on your finishing position.
Then, a new scenario begins, and so-on-and-so-forth. Future challenge elements, such as the driver selected, are being touted as community-impacted, with social media polls deciding the format.
Following the claimed physics changes and now details on the updated driver career, what are your thoughts about F1 24? Let us know in the comments below. More gameplay footage is expected on Monday 29th April.
Following a deep dive into updated handling characteristics, the next ‘campaign beat’ for EA SPORTS F1 24 is... the ‘all-new’ driver career.
The driver career, with extensive resource management, was first introduced into the Formula 1 gaming series in 2016, followed by the fictional squad-creating option with the My Team mode in 2020.
Since then, though things have remained largely stagnant. Quick practice, refreshed research and development menus and pre-order icons are the only notable changes in recent years.
For F1 24, the driver career (but not My Team, seemingly) will see an overhaul. By the looks of things, it is worth noting that the main R&D elements seem to be mostly the same.
As expected, based upon prior F1 games, the updated mode will be available online too, for two players to compete in rival teams or with the same outfit.
Increase driver ratings
Instead, there is a new layer above that. This time you can select a real-world driver (from F1 or F2, the latter linked to an academy) and then alongside your team, develop their ratings. Focus, pace, awareness, racecraft and experience remain the main factors, each change in those being factored into an overall driver rating.
This is enhanced thanks to completing objectives, scoring strong results and beating rivals. Fresh on-track, in-race, objectives will pop up periodically, with the chance to further increase your recognition levels. If your recognition dips, your team-mate may even take over R&D from you.
It seems as if the aim is to provide an additional reward loop alongside car development – this time not just keeping an eye on the relative car performance bar graph, but a line graph of relative driver performance. Love a good graph, Codemasters...
The rivalry system returns, this time with up to three at once and with three levels of intensity: Team-mate battle, championship narrative and driver rating. Once again, doing well here boosts your scores and can even see you unlock car upgrades ahead of your colleague.
At the end of your first season, there are set to be ‘R&D modifiers’ such as inflation, unlimited funds or chip shortages - which are not very serious but could add an extra challenge. There are also ‘accolades’ to aim for, based on each driver’s real-world career – an eighth title is a target if you select Lewis Hamilton, for example.
Team Specialists Set To Add A Hint Of F1 World To Career
Further targets to hit, and experience points to earn, appear with the implementation of ‘specialists’. These are represented with avatars seeming borrowed from F1 23’s F1 World mode, which was a bit of a damp squib. These can help the weight of you in the team, or car development progress. Time will tell if they are a worthy addition.
Revised Contract System
As you progress through a season, you will now be offered the opportunity of having ‘secret meetings’ with rival teams. Aside from a meeting room cutscene, this provides the ability to negotiate deals across a period of several in-game months.
If another team finds out about the potential collaboration with another team, your reputation level could be impacted.
Your current contract is also set to be under scrutiny, which can be across multiple seasons and if you fail to meet targets, a renegotiation phase can begin.
Challenge Career
This is a new asynchronous competitive career derivation, whereby the Codemasters development team will curate scenarios available for a period of time. Race results, driver ratings and R&D remain, and your progress will be given a score posted on a leaderboard.
Rewards are then paid out in an F1 World-style (think clothing, crash helmet designs etc) based on your finishing position.
Then, a new scenario begins, and so-on-and-so-forth. Future challenge elements, such as the driver selected, are being touted as community-impacted, with social media polls deciding the format.
Following the claimed physics changes and now details on the updated driver career, what are your thoughts about F1 24? Let us know in the comments below. More gameplay footage is expected on Monday 29th April.
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