Recent reviews by Blue

A very disappointing game. Rather than focusing on core gameplay features, CM/EA have focused on superfluous features like in-game sofas and lamps for your avatar's virtual house(!)- and these items have to be bought with in-game currency which is very expensive! I bought this game to race F1 cars, not play dress up with Ken doll.

The base game is essentially the same as last year's game with a few tweaks to the handling model. CM have unfortunately broken a few features, for example the singleplayer is currently unplayable because the AI is ridiculously fast in a straight line. There are also some baffling decisions, such as the inability to have both singleplayer championship and one-off GP saved at once! I'd like to be able to do a full length championship and have a one-off GP saved at the same time.

There are no classic cars in this year's game, which is a shame. Some circuits have also been removed, such as Portimao. The tracks are still not laser scanned which is a shame so there are some inaccuracies, although Barcelona and Australia have been updated to reflect the IRL changes.

The fact there are 10x more monetised sofas and t-shirts than in-game helmets shows how far this series has fallen.

Overall, I would not recommend this game, especially at full price. If you want to drive round Miami and the updated Barcelona/Australia in this year's cars then it may be worth a punt if it's ever on sale for £15~

Positives:
My Team mode is a nice addition to the game
ERS deployment is more realistic than in F1 2019


Negatives:
Online is still quite glitchy, especially when it comes to the safety car and also the application of penalties
No update to graphics compared to last year
Cars seem to regularly desync online which causes problems.
Hackers still top every leaderboard, CM never do anything about them
Doesn't include all tracks from IRL 2020 calendar like Imola

Overall, it's a shame the online has so many bugs considering CM have been making these games for years now. They seem unable to make an F1 game with a stable multiplayer.

Having purchased all the previous Codemasters F1 games and played them competively in online leagues, I actually approached this one with some quiet optimism for once, naively thinking that CM would pull out all the stops for this "next gen" title. Unfortunately, my hopes have been dashed for the 2nd year in a row. F1 2014 was a complete disaster and now F1 2015 ranks up there amongst the worst. (Not that F1 2010/11/12/13 were without glitches)

Firstly, the positives:

• 2014 season is included. This is good, CM have included the full '14 season with all the teams and tracks. It's a nice addition that does add some depth to the game.
  
• The new handling model is less forgiving than F1 2014 and certainly better than F1 2013. (Using a wheel at least) I can't speak about the FFB because my wheel doesn't have any, but the handling is exciting, the car slides out from under you under braking and it is difficult to accelerate out of low speed corners. On the other hand, there is a real sense of grip at high speed corners.
  
• The car models themselves look very good, with all the steering wheels this time round.
  
• Although I haven't tested it fully, the AI seems to be quicker and more aggressive offline.

Unfortunately, these improvements are offset by a myriad of problems. Here are the negatives:

• Graphics are overall quite poor, aside from the cars, everything is permeated by a strange blur. CM's awful filter returns
  
• Wheel support is poor. I have had a lot of problems with keys randomly rebinding - to such an extent that I have to use my keyboard to navigate the menus
  
• Voice command support is confusing - I'm still not sure if I am able to use it.
  
• Online is broken. Ghost cars are back - proper, competitive online racing is impossible at the moment because people's cars do not synchronise properly. I might be racing through Becketts, but on someone elses screen I'll be 20 seconds further back.
  
• AI is slower online it seems.
  
• Glitches when exiting the pits, the car will randomly shift into 2nd gear even with pit assist off.
  
• Corner cutting is AGAIN an issue. It's so lenient that anyone could shave seconds off their lap times by cutting corners without gettting penalised. This really is disgraceful considering it is CM's 6th attempt at an F1 game.
  
• No co-op or career mode. Also no custom helmets online. Audio is boring and flat too.

There's other glitches too, but there are too many for me to remember off the top of my head.

Overall, this is a truly dismal effort by CM. After so many years Codemasters are still failing at the basics which is truly awful for a company that has spent years churning out F1 games. Something must be fundamentally wrong in the development process for this game to have got cleared through quality control. A very basic testing of online functionality would have revealed that this game was not fit for release.

If you just want a very casual playthrough with the latest cars and circuits then this is the game for you. If you want a more in depth experience then steer clear of this wreckage.

If this CM was an F1 driver it would be Pastor Maldonado: Somehow still involved with the sport despite constantly disappointing us all time and time again.

Insanely detailed game, very addictive. The learning curve is very steep, and the interface has definitely not aged well, but don't let that put you off - the game is very rewarding once you get the hang of it.