Can F1 23 Hope to Match the Drama of the Real Thing?
Formula 1 is back for another year
but, while pundits fruitlessly flail with trying to parse meaning from pre-season
testing times ahead of the Bahrain GP, let’s consider what Codemasters has been
doing with this year’s inevitable F1 23.
Back in 2021, amid the continuing dusk of a global epidemic, Codemasters introduced a completely- fledged story mode – dubbed Braking Point – into its long-running Formula 1 series for the first time. Threading an original story through the real sport, Braking Point told the story of a fictional rookie’s rise through the ranks via a series of curated racing challenges.
This fresh-faced driver was Aiden
Jackson, a talented Brit who demanded experience on the big stage. Jackson was
originally placed at odds with his veteran Dutch teammate Casper Akkerman, but (spoiler
alert) the two ultimately repaired their prickly relationship and joined forces
to bring down their devious rival Devon Butler – Braking Point’s commemorative
slimeball.
One particularly intriguing element
of Braking Point was that it didn’t introduce a custom team for Jackson and
Akkerman; the driver actually contended for one of five real teams build on the
player’s choice – Williams, Haas, Alfa Romeo, Alpha Tauri, and Racing Point (which
became Aston Martin during the story, as it extended the years that branding
change occurred in the real championship). Another driver from one of the four
remaining selectable teams was replaced with Butler. The storytelling didn’t
really push the boat out but overall, it was a humorless trouble well executed,
and it was neat that real teams had been induced to sideline either one (or
both) of their actual drivers for the purposes of the story (which, at one
stage, indeed involved their team cars being depicted getting embarrassingly
tangled up on track).
It was neat that real teams had been convinced to
sideline either one (or both) of their actual drivers for the purposes of the
story.
The work this supplementary story
mode needed has reportedly placed it in a two-year meter. This means that,
while the coming chapter of Braking Point skipped last year’s game, it should
arrive as part of this year’s F1 23.
However, this places Codemasters in
a bit of a tricky spot, because how on Earth do you fashion a fictional F1
drama that could conceivably compete with what we saw last season?
Forget the overall outcome, which
was kind of an anticlimax – and I’m not talking about the rain-docked Japanese
GP that decided the championship in similar inelegant circumstances that not even Max Verstappen himself knew he’d locked it up. Rather I’m pertaining to
what was described as the widest set of rule changes the sport had seen in four
decades, and the same car and driver combination from 2021 wins the whole
shebang again? Yawn. Yes, I know the RB18 isn’t the same car as the RB16B, but
you know what I mean. And sure, F1 isn't a spec series – and F1 fans are
further than accustomed to seeing the fastest cars dominate over successive
seasons – but I don’t suppose you can hold it against those of us who were
hopeful the drastic technical overhaul and a grid full of brand-new cars would
produce a different result. Or, at least, some more intriguing results. That
is, rather of the same car winning further races in a single season than any
other in the history of the championship. Let’s face it 2022 wasn’t exactly a
seesawing contest for the ages. Hell, in 2021 there were 10 podium performances
from drivers outside of the big three teams of Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes.
In 2022, there was one. One solitary podium from outside the top three teams,
when Lando Norris grabbed a cocky third at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
No, I’m actually talking about all the controversy, scandals, and surprises along the way. Like I said, I do remember back being authentically impressed that real-world racing teams were happy with having their actual, contracted drivers step away for fictional characters in F1 2021’s story mode, and indeed seeing their team cars colliding for added drama. I do, still, find myself wondering how far real F1 racing teams could be pushed for dramatic purposes. Indeed, how would these same teams react to a Braking Point follow-up featuring some of the shenanigans that went on last season?
Would any real F1 teams ever truly
consider subscribing on the dotted line for a narrative that would see them
cast as a bunch of wankers? A candid docuseries they’ve agreed to be observed
for like Netflix’s Drive to Survive is one thing; a video game is another thing
entirely.
Would McLaren ever consider
approving a plot where they would find themselves sacking one of their drivers
with a year left to run on his contract, taking a huge and public financial
kick- in- the- balls in the process?
Would Alpine dream of saying yes to
a sequence where they would lose a former world champion and their next big
thing within moments of one another over a set of contract debacles of their
own?
Would Mercedes have approved the
idea of having Lewis Hamilton going a complete season without a win or pole for
the first time in his astonishing F1 career?
And would Red Bull be happy with
copping an enormous fine for a budget rules breach, also dealing with a civil
war between its drivers that culminates in their established champ petulantly
refusing to help his teammate for the world to hear?
Now I could be fully wrong. Perhaps
the needed parties are better sports about this sort of thing than I’m giving
them credit for. After all, Codemasters has been on the scene in and around F1
for over a decade now. But I don’t know something about it all feels enough
doubtful. Despite the fact they all passed I’m guessing story beats similar to
these would’ve been laughed off the desks of every department in every F1 team.
And who could blame them, really?
So where does Codemasters take the next
chapter of Braking Point? How bold can it get? That’s a challenge I leave up to
them, and it's one I expect the studio is deep into tackling. I do look forward
to seeing it, however. I’d be disappointed to learn it’d fallen by the
wayside, but I expect it hasn’t.
After all, if it works in F1,
perhaps Codemasters can ultimately roll it out in the superior motorsport
rally.
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