24.8.2018

F1 2018 is a progression of the yearly F1 title by Codemasters, it takes 2017 and builds on it in several small areas. Those that have 2017 be warned, the step up isn't that big aside from the new looking cars, improved engine noise and handling.Again there are 2 main areas; Career and Multiplayer modes. Career is virtually a carbon copy of last years outing but with more cutscenes with driver interviews/ media events and the research tree for upgrading your car is much easier to level up (as opposed to the nightmare of 2017 where each upgrade costs an arm and a leg). You can start your career in any team although the higher the team the more they will expect from you so i would advice starting in a lower to middle rank team for your first season.I myself chose to go with Mclaren and intend to stick with them throughout my career. Audio wise the cars sound much better and the weather effects have been improved especially the cloud cover but aside from that the game looks near identical to 2017. Zero effort has been made with the damage engine and the mechanic and options available are the same as last year too. The cars naturally feature the halo and while it can't be removed entirely you can have a section removed when in cockpit view should you so choose.Classics basically feature a set of older F1 cars and classic versions of tracks, it's good fun and if you get the headline edition you also get included access to the 2009 Brawn championship winning car and the FW25 Williams from 2003. The Brawn is nothing short of stunning and sounds amazing!Multiplayer is where you'll be spending most of your time once you've finished your first season or possibly sooner. Much like 2017 you can either create a lobby or search for one based on a set of parameters. There are ranked and unranked lobbies. It's a peer to peer based system which does let the side down and introduces a level of instability. If the host leaves the session it basically means the lobby crashes and everyone either gets booted out or your game will stop, forcing a reboot! One of my main gripes is codemasters really should be using dedicated servers at this stage especially given they've had the franchise for 8 years now! Unlike 2017 each racer now gets a super licence and you are graded for being a good or bad racer, the worse you are and it will reflect on your super licence. One good feature is the hopper system will pair good drivers with good drivers and vice versa for the bad ones meaning those bad racers that cause destruction should be kept separate from the rest of us (something that plagued all past outings) Sadly given the game hasn't been out that long this system is in its infancy so it will take time before the game can recognise the good from the bad. I also have to report (sadly) that multiplayer is currently unstable with lots of bugs causing crashes, network issue and empty lobbies to appear. The driver interviews are also pointless as they often ask the same or similar questions and sometimes don't relate to what actually happened in that session.. the worst part about it is there's a timer that counts down for you to answer and it isn't nearly long enough especially if you want to read the options first... i mean 10 seconds to read 4 options? Each a sentence or two long? Remove the timer and this aspect of the game will automatically be better albeit still irrelevant.I'm pleased to see a return of Hockenheim to the game which has always been one of my favourites and was sadly missing from last years. Overall this is the best codemasters game to date and i approve of the subtle improvement to the game such as the slightly more responsive handling, manual deployment of ERS, improved audio and super licence system online but equally there are STILL issues that codemasters haven't bothered to address over several years. The corner cutting penalty system for example is far too trigger happy and the AI (computer controlled cars) in career are either far too dumb or far too aggressive! Also the super license system online is stupid, if you get taken off by someone else or go through a ghosted car you lose your status and your rating as a good driver goes down, the algorithms are clearly wrong! In career you can also select an "audible name", this is the name the game will use to describe you in cut scenes and i'm genuinely shocked at how few proper English names codemasters have decided to include. They might as well have not bothered!VERDICT: The best outing yet regarding career mode but only minor differences and improvements over 2017. The added cutscenes may be for some but for me they add little value given the generic options you can select. Multiplayer needs a big update and fast to make it playable and stable and I do find it bad of codemasters to release the game with multiplayer as it is, The super licence idea is a good one but it has been poorly integrated into the game making a good reputation virtually impossible. Overall however and based on a hope that these issues will be resolved swiftly I will RECOMMEND this game. Just be aware of the problems before you buy it!September 10th 2018: there has now been a series of updates to the game which appear to have fixed nothing. Single player works fine but multiplayer is full to the rafters with bugs. Ranging from crashes and freezes to not being able to see other players names and worse of all a corner cutting system that has been updated so it is beyond strict. Gifting you a straight penalty if you touch the line let alone cross it (remember you're classed as being on the track if you touch the line with any part of your car) the system has been updated so that now it is so trigger happy that if you dare to push to the limits of the car (like what most racing drivers do) you are instantly penalised and this adversely affects your safety rating. Codemasters say it's to create a more competitive game style but all it has done is hamper it. As of the 10th of September multiplayer is borderline unplayable. If I could rate the game now I would give single player 5/5 but multiplayer 2/517th September: There has been another update, there seems to be a small and i really do mean SMALL improvement in online stability but the penalty system is still ridiculously strict. You can now extend the time or turn off the time limit completely in the driver interviews in career mode but sadly you can't turn the interviews off completely. There have been new visual car updates to reflect the cars in real life, so the Mclarens new Nose and ferrari wing mirrors on the Halo are now featured in the game. Aside from that the game remains the same. Still no ability to have 50% or 100% race distances online though.

26.8.2018

This 2018 version of the F1 game series is the best one yet. Issues in previous years games where the handling felt wrong and brakes too soft a thing of the past. You only have to hear a rookie driver on TV say how impressive the car felt and how quickly the car stopped. Something which I felt never translated over to the game. Until now that is.In F1 2018 you can brake a good 50 to 75 meters later and the cars feel alive in the corners. Like you’d imagine they would be.F1 2017 always felt numb in its handling. You feel like your hustling the car around every turn and that’s great. The handling is a vast improvement.The graphics are pretty much stagnet from last year. They haven’t evolved much.Whether that’s because we are nearing the end of this generation of consoles life time or not I don’t know. Maybe Codemasters have maximised what they can achieve out of this generation....again I don’t know. I am using an Xbox One S and not the beefed up Xbox One X with all its graphical magical wizardry. So maybe that maybe why. It’s not a deal breaker by any stretch of the imagination. Just a minor quibble.Here it’s just minor improvements like the front tyres. Which on F1 2017 looked soooo wide. Unrealistic when you compared to the onboard TV footage. Here on F1 2018 they look as they do in real life.The halo makes its debut on this game and whilst some will moan that it’s there in the first place. You do kind of get used to it. If it bothers you too much then you can remove the central column in the options anyway. Plus if it’s still an issue then try playing another game with a LMP1 or LMP2 car in. The windows on those cars are infinitely smaller and make driving a lot harder than here on F1 2018. Halo is here to stay so better to get used to it.What did impress me was the dynamic weather. As last night I drove a full race distance of Spa-Francorchamps with Dynamic weather on and it was beautiful. The transition from dry and overcast to full on rain and then to bright sunshine was smooth and gorgeous. Some parts of the circuit would be drier than others. It felt natural and I was fully immersed in the game.The cut scenes are....well thankfully skipable. They look okay but once you’ve seen them you don’t need to see them time after time after time after.....well you get my point. They are pretty much the same scenes used in F1 2016 and F1 2017. So if you don’t think you’ve seen them.....then you most likely have.The interviews are a nice touch. It’s just a shame you have to read three answers in 10 seconds to each question. Now I’m not the slowest person to read. However reading a sentence in 3.3 seconds and making a judgment of which one to use is a little tight to say the least.The AI or artificial intelligence to anyone my age or older is.....hmmm well they will fight you and each other more for postion. Sometimes it’s quite entertaining to see two AI cars fighting out ahead. They just like the whole banging wheels thingy a little too much for my liking. Maybe a tad overly agressive at times. Like 19 Pastor Maldonado’s all jostling for postion if you like. I think it’s an improvement. For the most part.So to conclude because this review has gone on for quite awhile.F1 2018 is the best F1 game yet and I’ve been playing F1 games since the 1990’s. Whilst the graphics haven’t improved much. The handling most definitely has and that ladies and gentlemen is where most of the fun is. It feels like you’d imagine an F1 car should. On the limit and maximising it’s corner entry and exit speed to perfection. Nail it on a lap and you’ll be smiling until the chequered flag.Hopefully Codemasters can take it to another level next year as there are elements that could be improved. But that’s another story and another review. This will keep me happy until then.

9.9.2018

So, first things first, I bought this game in a store and not on Amazon hence the no 'verified purchase' note. I bought the Headline edition on Xbox One and I play it on the One X console.Graphically, the game is very good, it runs smooth and looks exceptional, especially in the rain where reflections of lights and trackside furniture are outstanding. However spray effects are not as good as in Project Cars 2 which is a touch disappointing. I do notice some kind of ghosting though, some of the 'signs' on the side of the track and the 'racing line' show a slight blurriness, nothing detracting but it is noticeable. The cars look great although as with all Codemasters F1 games,

11.8.2019

Formula one racing has been lucky enough to have an amazing game release each year for fans to be able to take to the track in their favourite cars but with this offering they have once again pushed on with ensuring that the game doesn't simply update with the cars liveries and the driver line-ups. This game has delivered on ensuring that the cars feel fast whilst also having a variety of settings to change to allow you to deliver a game which is going to challenge you to the right level meaning if you try to push things too much you will find you are going to have that spin or need to correct your car before you crash into the wall.

21.12.2018

Great graphics and game play. If you enjoy racing around real F1 tracks like Spa, Silverstone and all of the other 2018 race tracks this title is a must. The ability to upgrade/research your chasis, aero, power and reliability is brilliant. Get the car to work how you like it. Then you can adjust all parts during free practice to make the car work for that specific track. Then you can hit targets set to allow you to upgrade even more...... BRILLIANT!!!There is so much more in the game it's simply mind boggling how they have made such a fantastic game. I simply can't do it enough justice.Simply put; If you like racing,

19.11.2018

F1 2018 improves on the previous years yet again, the overall game experience is very good though much like other yearly platforms (Fifa etc) the physics is the biggest change. I've used it with both the controller and Logitech G920 steering wheel and it worked well with both, though the steering wheel does require a good amount of fine tuning.All in all a good game. Improvements I'd personally like to see next year -- More interaction around the paddock and a 'story line'- Could do with something similar to 'the journey' in Fifa, taking a young driver from karting to f1- You don't seem to get crashes or safety cars when doing the 25% race weekends

24.9.2018

Best edition of F1 by Codemasters. Managing ERS offers new challenges, which is an improvement. The overall handling of the cars has improved and therefore the overall quality of the game improved. Definitly worth the money for F1-fans. But still not the simulator that fanatic gamers require. Thus they can probably live without this game in their collection.

25.8.2018

The difficulty can be annoying at first until you get it right for you, and you can’t change the difficulty settings until the end of the weekend. Then the graphics are sometimes bad and look blurry (like the Rolex advertising on the podium)If the developers fix them faults then the game is 5 stars.

12.1.2019

As a hardcore sim fan, I love this game. The physics might might not be rfactor levels but they are pretty competent for an all accessible game. The main positives come from the absolute simulation of the F1 seasons down to a T. It’s highly immersive and a thrilling experiencing. I’m addicted to it.

15.1.2019

Great sim. I thought initially I'd set it on its hardest setting and take the worst car and prove I'm the greatest driver on the planet. Turns out I'm not! However with more adjustable features than you will ever need and great graphics it's a really good sim.

28.11.2018

Fantastic game one of the best in the series. Still lacking minor thing of possibly having to go through lower categories or bringing back the drivers test to be signed to teams by impressing them as you can just choose whatever team you like.

24.8.2018

It’s really good upgrade from 17 the handling and the brakes are so much better than 17 I’m really enjoying career mode and I ain’t tried Multiplayer yet I will review it when I’ve tried the multiplayer

16.1.2019

This game looks amazing and plays very well. It’s quite the tough game to get to grips with initially but still enjoyable. I’m not sure how long I’ll get for this but worth the discounted price anyway.

25.8.2018

Graphics are stunning on a 4k tv with Xbox one X. There are a few glitches that need patching but a much improved game from the 2017 version very happy. Online has had a massive revamp for the better.

15.9.2018

Game now includes media integration that affects R&D and Value to other teams. Also regulation changes in upcoming seasons make the game more realistic. Graphics and audio are also great as ever.

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