In the early part of the day of Summer Game Fest Play Days we had the chance to sit in an elaborate racing rig to try EA’s F1 22. EA’s PR team and support on site were more than patient as we attempted to get used the precision, power and nuance of controlling an F1 racer. Principal Game Designer Matt Skingle was on hand to talk us through how even an automatic transmission approach to the game required immense care/precision, as well as careful cornering.
The presentation using a fully immersed sit down rig, clearly helped create the fantasy, but just knowing with a flick of a switch and the twenty plus buttons on the steering wheel front and center would all be necessary was intimidating just to think about hypothetically. And while several thousand dollar gaming control mechanisms might not be worth it to any but the most dedicated aspiring eSports competitor, feeling the torque and resistance of the whole apparatus really added a crushing sense of realism. This might be as close to driving an F1 vehicle as most of us will ever get to do.
Skingle pointed out how the intricate realism of the game was fueled by their direct partnership with F1 (and its numerous driving teams and vehicle creators) receiving all cab data and carefully tweaking the cards to have the nuance/characteristics their real-life counterparts worked so hard to achieve. He also spoke about Codemaster’s Lead Handling Designer David Greco worked hard to make sure the experience for each car felt as authentic as possible. It’s even created an impressive art-imitating-life-becoming-life-again as former sim play Cem Bölükbaşı has now graduated into real-life cars and is driving professionally on the F2 circuit.
F1 22 comes out July 1st and a championship edition comes out later that month on July 28.