STACK #235 May 2024

GAMING FEATURE

visit jbhifi.com.au/stack

OSCAR’S NO SLOUCH We couldn’t resist asking Lee his thoughts on our local boy, Oscar Piastri… “He’s part of my F1 Fantasy team, so I think that says a lot about my thoughts on Oscar. He’s obviously a fantastic talent and has a bright future ahead in the sport.”

This month sees the arrival of the latest in EA Sports’ officially licensed Formula 1 series, F1 24 , which means that it was time for us to sit down once again for a chat with Lee Mather, senior creative director at Codemasters, to get the inside track on what’s new. Words Amy Flower W hile there are no circuits this year – although we do see the return of China and Imola – that doesn’t mean that the F1 24 team haven’t been hard at work. NEW IMPROVED FORMULA!

nearest championship rival, and a driver who’s statistically similar to you.” Mather sees these Driver Career enhancements as the most significant step forward with F1 24 . “We’re excited to see how players will engage with the new Career and also the two-player version, where you can race with or against a friend, and also the new asynchronous multiplayer Career Challenge where you’ll be rated amongst other players.” But wait, there’s more! Will we be seeing the F1 Sprint Shootout in this year’s model? “You will indeed!” enthuses Mather. “The Sprint Qualifying will now take place on Friday, with the race and Qualifying for the GP on Saturday ahead of the GP on Sunday. We’ve also implemented the new parc fermé rules which go with the session changes.” Under the bonnet, we’ve been promised upgrades to make the handling even more authentic, as Mather elaborates. “This year we set ourselves the goal to push multiple areas of the handling and on-track model to not only add more depth and player agency to both the driving and the setup of the car, but to really push the authenticity of our aero, tyre, and power unit modelling. “We started by making changes to the fundamental properties of the chassis and replicating realistic weight distribution and underbody aero properties. We then built an entirely new suspension kinematics system which would allow us to recreate the unique setups run by each of the teams. “We also revised our aerodynamics work using computational fluid dynamics and a virtual wind tunnel to learn more about the behaviour of air over the body of the car and how it’s distributed across the chassis. “Finally, we’ve redesigned a large portion of the Power Unit. Opening up more settings to the player in how effectively the engine can generate kinetic energy, while opening up all of the deployment modes to players across all sessions will lead to some incredibly tense and strategic racing.

“There might be a lack of new circuits this season, but that’s not stopped us reworking two of the most iconic and popular circuits in the game,” Mather tells us. “Both Spa and Silverstone have been recreated to be even more realistic and visually impactful. Players will feel the changes after just a few corners. We’ve also updated Lusail and Jeddah to reflect the real-world changes.” Circuits are just the beginning for improvements, too. “We’re never short on ideas on how to keep the game feeling fresh,” continues Mather. “This year we’ve entirely updated Driver Career, which opens up new systems and ways for players to progress. We’ve carried out a significant overhaul of several key areas of the on-track experience with major physics updates, plus we have the new Fanzone feature to let players showcase their support for their favourite team and driver as part of the F1 World evolution. “Finally, we have the new Challenge Career game mode, where players all race a predetermined episodic version of Career where their performance is rated and ranked amongst their peers in one of four difficulty settings.” The team have really upped the ante on Driver Career. “With Driver Career being the backbone of the game, we felt that this was the right time to take it to the next level with a significant

• F1 24 is out May 31

overhaul. Each driver will have unique stats based on their careers and they’ll be impacted by their performance. Each driver will also come with a set of accolades attached to them. Accolades are key points in their careers which the player will be able to target. For Lewis, as an example, an accolade would be to win an eighth World Championship. For Nico Hulkenberg it could be take your first victory. Accolades give fun short, and long, term goals. “Also, Career has a new rivalry system where players can be part of regular, heated or career defining rivalries with other drivers. You can have up to three key rivals at any one time, these being your teammate, your

40 MAY 2024

jbhifi.com.au