Codemasters’ F1 2016 is the best Formula 1 title released in a very long time. F1 2016 isn’t just a new coat of paint with some small updates, as F1 2016 looks to reinvigorate F1 fans with a number of their most requested features. F1 2016 features a 10-season long career mode, manual starts, pit control, the safety car, virtual safety car, formation laps, multiplayer championship, and up to 22-player multiplayer.

The new features along with the existing features help create a far more immersive F1 experience. In all my years playing F1 games (I did stop for a bit after F1 2011), I don’t think I’ve played a more enjoyable F1 game than F1 2016. The reason for this is probably down to the fact that I love playing career mode in F1 games. The 10-season long career mode feels like the complete experience as you evolve with your team by completing practice programs during free practice sessions, these programs are straightforward and include track acclimatisation, tyre management and qualifying pace. For every program you complete you gain resource points, which can be used to upgrade your car. Apart from the enjoyment of growing with your team career mode offers the suspense of an F1 weekend, which is spiced up nicely thanks to the new features I mentioned earlier.

Racing in F1 2016 is also a lot more difficult as the computer AI has being improved, although it doesn’t stop other cars making dumb blocks (surprisingly enough not done by Verstappen). While I said the AI is improved I still found racing to be relatively easy in medium difficulty, in one race I found myself at the back of the field following a crash and by the end of the thirteen lap race, I was 2nd only 2seconds behind the leader. Maybe if I increased the difficulty it would be more challenging, but the medium difficulty is what I consider normal mode.

Regarding the online multiplayer, I don’t have much to say, as every time I attempted to find a session it would put me in a race in progress, which meant sitting in a lobby waiting for others to finish racing.

So, what if any issues are there with F1 2016? Well, apart from the AI deciding to perform the occasional dumb move there aren’t many. As far as licensed F1 games go, F1 2016 hit the nail on the head and delivered a good package. However, if I were to dig for issues I would have to point to the scenes between races during the career mode, they are a bit dull and the character models aren’t exactly eye-catching.

Speaking of character models let’s talk about the graphics and audio. If you look past the indifferent character models, the cars and tracks are beautiful as they bare a strong resemblance to their real life counterparts. In terms of audio, I saw no issues as to me the cars sounded very much like they do on TV during race day.

Conclusion

F1 2016 is the best Formula 1 game released to date. The game contains many fan requested features and is an overall fun driving experience minus one or two crazy AI drivers.

Score: 8.5/10

For more information F1 2016, visit http://www.formula1-game.com/uk/home