F1 23 screenshot, 2023

Games like F1 23 ‘getting better’ but other titles are more realistic – Norris

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Lando Norris says the official Formula 1 game series has made its impression of driving the cars more realistic.

However he said gamers who want an authentic impression of what racing cars are like to drive should try other titles.

“They are still very, very different, like an actual simulator to a game,” Norris explained. “Even the new game, it’s honestly nothing like it, it’s so far from it.”

Driving a car in the official F1 game is much smoother than it is in real life, said Norris.

“The games are so easy and nice, there’s no bumps, kerbs you can just drive over. Generally on the game they’re [lapping] like five seconds quicker than we ever do on the track, which makes no sense.”

F1 23, the latest edition of the official Formula 1 series, has been released today. Norris published a video of him driving the new Las Vegas Strip Circuit on it earlier this week.

“I’ve not driven the new one that much, I just did Vegas on it the other day, which was cool. I think it’s still getting there.”

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In 2020 Norris entered IndyCar’s iRacing-based official online series. He said simulations like this offer a more realistic impression of what driving a racing car is like.

F1 23 screenshot, 2023
Review: F1 23 – Do new additions and return of story mode make it a must-buy?
“You have games and you have actual simulation programmes and there’s a big difference between these two,” he said. “One, it’s a game at the end of the day, it’s meant to just make you happy and you’re meant to enjoy it. It’s not often that you enjoy driving on the simulator because it’s a very different experience. You’re actually driving it rather than just playing.”

The official F1 game is “getting better, little bit by little bit,” said Norris. “But if you actually look at the programs which are designed to be a simulation like iRacing, rFactor, they’re way better than the F1 game because [that’s] a game, it’s not designed to be exactly like Formula 1, I think.”

IndyCar ended its collaboration with iRacing at the start of this year. It agreed a deal for Motorsport Games to produce an officially-licensed title, which has been delayed until next year.

Video: In-depth F1 23 review by RaceFans

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...
Claire Cottingham
Claire has worked in motorsport for much of her career, covering a broad mix of championships including Formula One, Formula E, the BTCC, British...

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15 comments on “Games like F1 23 ‘getting better’ but other titles are more realistic – Norris”

  1. Not sure about the current F1 games but on iRacing which now has both the 2021 and 2022 Mercedes, the car’s setup and different configurations are so ridiculously vast. They can take it very far, way beyond what a normal player would want. I remember when they released the LMP1 Porsche and Audi they made a whole guide of the different hybrid configs and it was a huge file…

    Not that you’d ever use any of it, but it’s cool to have all that in hand.

    1. And yet they have a very simplistic fuel consumption model (gear and rpm make no difference) and many similar issues, probably caused by the ancient engine they use. Of course, comparison with a game for kids and casual players like F1 is comparing apples to oranges, if not watermelons.

  2. I last played the official gane in 2010. I think i did 3 last and never went back to this game series. Sim games are the way to go, like norris said, you actually drive in the sim games instead of playing.

  3. The official game series can/will never give a decently realistic feeling like simulators as long as it’s only an arcade rather than a simulation game like Assetto Corsa, iRacing, etc.

    1. F1 game series would fall under simcade, not full arcade. Arcade is way more unrealistic.

      1. F1 game is “way” unrealistic. Driving it after a sim feels so awkward, like learning to walk again or something.

    2. The game needs broad appeal to the masses and making it actually realistic makes it insanely difficult. Indeed not anyone can just hop in an F1 car.

      I’m quite happy pretending I know what I’m doing—knowing full well I wouldn’t even get out of the pit lane in the real thing.

      1. I’m always reminded of Richard Hammond utterly failing at driving an F1 car—and he knows cars!

  4. greasemonkey
    16th June 2023, 14:44

    To be honest, at this point, most of the “sims” (LFS, PC2, iR, AC, ACC, AMS1, AMS2, rF1, rF2, etc) do the most important thing, which is (usually) reward the same styles and techniques that work in real life. Although they all still have exploits in some or many of their cars, be that setup and/or technique. But if you treat them as real, they mostly correlate well with “good technique works”.

    Some do over punish or under punish for bad technique or mistakes, but they mostly do not reward bad technique, (in game) cheating, or mistakes.

    That is where I draw the line between “game” and “sim”, as my own definition for myself…if practicing in a title helps me race better in real life, that is “sim” enough for me.

    F1 series does not do that for me. That list is sims above does.

    1. I haven’t had to opportunity to get into many sims, so I may be speaking out of turn here. But I remember years ago when I got myself a wheel and fired up DiRT Rally. Not a simulator, but definitely more sim than most rally games.

      Instantly I felt more at home as it felt “real”. Also quickly learnt that after decades of driving almost exclusively RWD and 4WD vehicles, despite knowing what to do to get a damn FWD to turn, I just can’t execute it because it feels so unnatural to me. Also it turns out I just generally suck because I just wasn’t quick in the modern rally cars, but absolutely loved throwing around the Ford Escort because it reminded me of driving cars of the same vintage growing up.

      Once my kidlets are a bit older and don’t require quite so much attention, I’m keen to actually get into some proper racing. Although being acutely aware of the time investment required to be mildly competitive it does actually put me off a little.

  5. Tim (@tsgoodchild)
    16th June 2023, 17:10

    I’d be far more interested to know Max’ view on F1 23…someone who has openly criticised EA/Codemasters’ F1 series in the past for not being realistic. But now Max has that big ol’ EA logo on his helmet, I wonder if his view has changed? ;o)

  6. These are games meant to be played on consoles with tiny joysticks standing in for a steering wheel. Of course it’s not going be realistic, nobody is trying to make it so.

    If anything these games could do with some more focus on fun. Hopefully the story mode provides some of that.

  7. “At the end of the day” he is a young kid with a brutal amount of people and followers behind him who play IR, RFactor etc etc… and he wouldn’t even think of questioning or “letting down” his people by saying or implying that this F1 is not that far :cool: . He barely “touched” it and it was in a single circuit… Why? Because where it is most comfortable is in IR or similar. What a pilot of all these “programs” really thinks, we wouldn’t want to know [laughter] [+laughs]. They don’t “train” when we see them behind a screen… They’re just playing. If the Ferrari simulator was declared a while ago “very far from reality” (said by the director of the Ferrari team himself…). What do you think is left for the rest, when any “little game” is supposed to be much inferior to that simulator? You have to play, enjoy and period. I do not close myself to anything :) . I give “everything” but I like to see things with perspective.

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