EA Sports F1 22 will launch on 1st July – has VR support for the first time

EA as announced that EA Sports F1 22 – the newly EA Sports-ified name for Codemasters’ long-running F1 game series – will release on 1st July. The game is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. For the first time in the series, PC will get VR functionality to be played with Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets.

F1 22, as I’m sure most people will call it, has to handle the biggest shake-up to the sporting regulations in a long, long time. There’s brand new car regulations that have transformed the way that they look and drive, there’s new rules for the racing weekend that include F1 Sprint races, and there’s new tracks, such as the inaugural Miami Grand Prix. Australia, Spain and Abu Dhabi have all been updated to reflect the track layout changes made in the last couple years.

Within the game, you can define what a race day entails with new Immersive and Broadcast options that affect how formation laps, safety cars periods and pit stops are depicted. In Immersive mode, you’ll have risk-reward opportunities that could propel you up the order if you make the right choice, while Broadcast will get rid of some of the tedium with cinematics that keep you in the action.

New Adaptive AI is being added to more dynamically offer players a challenge, alongside new accessible menus and handling to get newcomers into the game more easily. People embarking on a 10 season career will be glad to hear that the practice session challenges are being spruced up with more variety, scoring systems and on-track visualisations.

Trying to depict the life of an F1 driver will be the new F1 Life mode, a customisable hub where you can fiddle with a collection of supercars, clothes and accessories that are all earnt through gameplay. No idea what that looks like, and we also don’t know what the game’s rendition of this year’s cars truly looks like – all of the screenshots feature liveried versions of the 2022 mock car that the FIA created, with final car models still in the works at Codemasters.

PC VR support is a big deal, and I’m sure there’s plenty of people eager to strap on a headset. Will the PSVR2 get something similar later this year, or with F1 23?

Lee Mather, F1 Senior Creative Director at Codemasters. “Alongside the real-world changes, we have updated the physics to accommodate the new aero rules and re-worked the tyre model, making the handling more true to life. With new and updated circuits, Adaptive AI, F1 Life, and expanded gameplay options, there has never been a better time for players to take their seats and live the life of an F1 driver.”

While the official release date is 1st July, the Champions Edition includes three days early access, and a time-limited content pack inspired by Miami.

All of this means that Codemasters have shifted away from the story mode that featured in F1 2021 – Braking Point – thought the MyTeam mode will return.

Looking back at last year’s game, we said in our F1 2021 review:

“F1 2021 is one of the broadest depictions of the sport ever created, building on familiar cars and handling alongside returning multiplayer, esports, and My Team career modes, while the new Braking Point story gives you a taste of the teammate drama you loved to watch (and mock) in Netflix’s Drive to Survive.”

F1 22 isn’t the only Formula 1 game coming out this year. Frontier Developments has been working on a new management sim series that will debut this summer – head here to see the latest about F1 Manager 22.

Source: press release

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• Source: https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2022/04/21/ea-sports-f1-22-will-launch-on-1st-july-has-vr-support-for-the-first-time/