F1® 23 Review Summary

Stunning Visuals and Graphics: The game features impressive and realistic graphics, with detailed car models, circuits, and atmospheric effects. Visuals are consistently highlighted as a strong point, contributing to the immersive experience and making the game visually stunning.

Overall Game Improvement: The game is widely considered a significant improvement over F1 22 and F1 24, often cited as one of the best F1 titles in recent years. Players find it highly enjoyable, fun, and a solid entry in the series, offering a compelling and immersive racing experience.

Improved Handling and Physics: Players consistently praise the improved handling and driving physics, noting a significant upgrade from F1 22. The cars feel more predictable, responsive, and realistic, enhancing the overall racing experience for both controller and wheel users. This improvement makes the game more enjoyable and challenging.

Engaging and Accessible Experience: The game offers a comprehensive and engaging experience, appealing to both newcomers and seasoned sim racers. It provides a good balance of realism and accessibility, with various driving aids and difficulty settings. The content, including career mode and other features, is robust and well-executed.

Rich Content and AI: The game offers substantial content, including a deep career mode, F1 World, and various customization options. The AI is noted for being improved and providing challenging yet fair races, contributing to a long and enjoyable gameplay experience.

Lack of innovation and value: Players feel the game lacks innovation and significant improvements compared to previous iterations, often feeling like an overpriced update. Many core features and game modes are perceived as recycled or worse than older titles, leading to a general sense of disappointment and a lack of value for money.

Unwanted 'F1 World' mode: The new 'F1 World' mode is widely criticized as an unnecessary, poorly executed feature that feels like a vehicle for microtransactions. Players find it complicated, unmemorable, and a distraction from core gameplay, often preferring traditional modes.

Frequent crashes and bugs: A significant number of players report frequent and severe technical issues, including constant crashes, freezes, infinite loading screens, and general instability. These bugs often make the game unplayable or severely disrupt the experience, indicating poor optimization and quality control.

High price and microtransactions: Many players believe the game is overpriced, especially given the perceived lack of new content and persistent issues. The inclusion of microtransactions and a battle pass in a full-priced game further exacerbates the feeling of it being a 'cash grab' and not worth the investment.

Weak story mode: The 'Braking Point 2' story mode is criticized for its unskippable cutscenes, cliché writing, and annoying characters. Players find the narrative shallow and less engaging than previous iterations, with some feeling it detracts from the overall experience.

Deep MyTeam Customization: The 'MyTeam' mode allows players to create and manage their own F1 team, including choosing engine manufacturers, second drivers, sponsors, liveries, and logos. Players can start at different competitive levels and manage their team for up to ten seasons.

Flexible Controller Support: The game supports both gamepads and steering wheels, with many players finding it enjoyable with an F1 wheel and pedals for maximum immersion. While playable with a controller, some find the force feedback intense or the overall feeling 'weird' with either input.

Extensive Customization & Assists: The game offers extensive settings and car setup options, along with various driving aids like a racing line assist and flashback function. Players are often advised to deactivate most driving aids early on to improve long-term skill.

Minimal Grind Required: The game generally does not require extensive grinding for progression, with grinding only necessary for those focused on leaderboards or ranks. Replayability is considered medium, depending on player mood.

Precision Driving Required: Mastering the game requires precise braking and surgical negotiation of turns, adapting to asphalt conditions and weather. The flashback function helps correct errors in Career and Braking Point modes.

Average PC Requirements: Some players find the game's PC requirements to be average or decent, suggesting it can run on mid-range to high-end configurations without extreme demands.

Large Game Size: The game has a notably large file size, which players have pointed out.

Potential System Conflicts: One player suspects that their specific system configuration, possibly involving Windows 11 or dual graphics cards, might be contributing to performance problems.

Fluid Controller Performance: One player noted that performance remains fluid even when using an Xbox controller, suggesting controller input does not negatively impact frame rates.

Excellent for F1 fans: F1 23 is highly recommended for Formula 1 enthusiasts, offering an authentic and immersive experience. Many players consider it superior to F1 22 and F1 24, suggesting it's a better purchase than newer iterations.

Buy on sale: While generally recommended, many players advise purchasing F1 23 only when it's on sale, citing that the full price is too high for the content offered. Discounts of 50% or more are frequently suggested.

Requires steering wheel; VR issues: For the best experience, players strongly recommend using a steering wheel, as playing with a keyboard is not advised. VR support is noted as broken, leading to refund requests from some users.

Consider other racing sims: Some players express a desire to move to other sim racing games or older F1 titles (like F1 19, 20, or 21) due to perceived issues or lack of innovation in the current franchise.

Improve story mode integration: The story mode (Braking Point) is appreciated, but there's a suggestion for more integration with the career mode and continuous story development in future iterations.

Older F1 games preferred: Many players compare the current F1 game unfavorably to older iterations, particularly F1 2020, citing a decline in quality and features like classic cars and progression systems. There's a general sentiment that past versions were superior.

Varied playtime, large size: Player feedback on game length is mixed, with some finding it average, others short, and some noting its unlimited sandbox potential. The game's file size is also considered large.

Evolution, not revolution: Despite being under EA, the game is seen as an evolution rather than a revolutionary change, maintaining a similar core experience. It offers significant playtime, though it has faced some controversies.

Broad age appeal: The game's accessibility and appeal span across various age groups, from children and teenagers to adults. This indicates a broad target audience and user-friendly design.

PC optimization concerns: Some players feel the game is not optimized for PC, requiring high-end specifications to run smoothly. This suggests potential performance issues for users with less powerful systems.