Which Simracing Game has the Best F1 Content?

Is F1 22 really the ultimate Formula 1 racing game.jpg

Which racing games do you use to drive F1 cars?

  • Raceroom Racing Experience

    Votes: 21 2.3%
  • Automobilista 2

    Votes: 238 26.1%
  • F1 22

    Votes: 222 24.3%
  • Assetto Corsa

    Votes: 560 61.4%
  • iRacing

    Votes: 53 5.8%

  • Total voters
    912
Formula 1 is racing again this weekend, and many simracers will be looking to enjoy these beastly cars at home. But which game should you jump into to for the most immersive, realistic and fun experience? Emily Jones has all the answers in this OverTake video.

Image Credit: EA Sports/Codemasters

This weekend, Formula One heads to Saudi Arabia and the Jeddah Corniche circuit for Round 2 of the 2023 season. With the sport returning to our screens, most simracers will be looking to experience the thrill of driving an F1 car at speed in the many games at our disposal.

The big question however is which simracing title is the best for simulating F1 racing? With plenty of games and mods on the market, Emily Jones - better known as Emree online - has compiled a list. In this video on the OverTake.GG channel, find out which game you should jump into for the ultimate F1 experience.


In the video, Emily, who often appears in videos with our good friends at Overtake, lists five games that feature modern F1 content. A lap of the Red Bull Ring in the most recent F1 machinery available in Raceroom Racing Experience, Automobilista 2, F1 22, Assetto Corsa and iRacing gave her a good idea of each game's handling.

F1 simulator: More than just driving​

Whilst Emily clearly has a favourite car to drive, handling and feeling isn't all one wants from a good F1 game. In fairness, each simulator brings its own unique selling point to what an F1 sim should be.

While iRacing certainly has the most accurate representation of a 2022 F1 racer having been created with real-world data, many will argue it is too hard. Furthermore, with little to no participation online, it doesn't get enough love in-game. As such, there really isn't much of a reason to use, or even buy the iRacing Mercedes W13.


When it comes to F1 22, as Emily mentions, the game simply feels off. The handling model requires many unrealistic inputs to be fast. From rapid downshifts and excessively early upshifts on corner exit, driving in F1 22 is almost a robotic experience. However, when it comes to the gameplay and visuals, the title is exquisite. One can manage their own team as they rise the ranks all whilst competing as a driver. This is a career mode style only present in the Codemasters and EA release, something that sways many a racing fan.

Despite being an older simulator and having some of the least attractive visuals in modern simracing, Raceroom brings excellent force feedback and a great tyre model to the fray. Simracers around the world praise this game on its feeling through the wheel. In fact, out of the five simulators, Emily claimed the Raceroom representation of F1 was the most intuitive and easy to get into.

Automobilista 2 has lots of F1 content both old and new.jpg


From a content aspect, it's tricky to surmount Assetto Corsa, but Automobilista 2 does a fantastic job. Whilst AC gets almost the entirety of its F1 content past and present from third party mods, AMS 2 features plenty of cars made in-house representing the pinnacle of the sport. Sure, Assetto Corsa can more or less recreate every F1 race from the past 70 years including full grids and correct tracks. But AMS 2's content hits an insanely high level of quality unrivalled by other sims.

Each game has its own, unique reason to be used for simulating the most prestigious championship in motorsport.

Which racing simulator do you use to drive F1 cars? What do you look for most in an F1 game?
About author
Angus Martin
Motorsport gets my blood pumping more than anything else. Be it physical or virtual, I'm down to bang doors.

Comments

RSS F1 is not in the same league or accuracy as the iracing or the codies one
RSS not in the same league? I have heard the exact opposite of that opinion from many people here or on the youtube. I definitely enjoy driving experience in AC much more than in any Codemasters game and as for the iracing I've never even played it because many people told me that driving model is terrible to say the least.

Also AC as a game has much more to offer (content, even the graphics) and I don't like Esports so there's no point buying iracing for me.

Anyway I don't even care about that because as I mentioned before I don't drive V6 cars too often. V10 or V8 is my sort of thing.

Oh and AC has a mod for entire 1967 season which I defnitely need to try in the future. I don't think that iracing or Codie have anything like that (aside from single cars).
 
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For me Grand prix racing does stop after 1967 season and should be in VR. Never could get AMs1 working with the VR mod, while other games are very limited in different opponent car brands and historical tracks.
So here another AC voter.
 
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Premium
And who decides what is "sim", you?

Please show exactly why are the physics of the codies games less "sim" than the games you mentioned, with actual facts about game engines, systems simulated, tire models, and some telemetry to go along with it please. Or even just some onboard video comparisons.
I think everybody is taking the fact "it is a sim / it is not a sim" way to serious. Just drive in it and you like it or not. Choose the game / sim you like to drive in and be happy. It does not make other people happy if you try to convince the rest of the world that your choice is the best choice (with "you" I do not only mean you, but anybody else).

I have different racegames / sims on my computer. My son drives often in the latest Codemasters F1 edition. It does the whole "F1 thing", that is why he likes it. I don't like the userinterface and the way it drives. I like to drive F1 cars in rF2. I don't need the entire F1 thing, I just like to drive. But other people may like other sims. Ok for me. I believe no sim is the best, It is about which one you like most.
 
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RSS not in the same league? I have heard the exact opposite of that opinion from many people here or on the youtube. I definitely enjoy driving experience in AC much more than in any Codemasters game and as for the iracing I've never even played it because many people told me that driving model is terrible to say the least.

Also AC as a game has much more to offer (content, even the graphics) and I don't like Esports so there's no point buying iracing for me.

Anyway I don't even care about that because as I mentioned before I don't drive V6 cars too often. V10 or V8 is my sort of thing.

Oh and AC has a mod for entire 1967 season which I defnitely need to try in the future. I don't think that iracing or Codie have anything like that (aside from single cars).
If we go by how many mods we have, nothing, and i do mean nothing beats the original rfactor, or even F1 challenge.

Well what people say is obviously biased, and not that objective.
 
I think everybody is taking the fact "it is a sim / it is not a sim" way to serious. Just drive in it and you like it or not. Choose the game / sim you like to drive in and be happy. It does not make other people happy if you try to convince the rest of the world that your choice is the best choice (with "you" I do not only mean you, but anybody else).

I have different racegames / sims on my computer. My son drives often in the latest Codemasters F1 edition. It does the whole "F1 thing", that is why he likes it. I don't like the userinterface and the way it drives. I like to drive F1 cars in rF2. I don't need the entire F1 thing, I just like to drive. But other people may like other sims. Ok for me. I believe no sim is the best, It is about which one you like most.
Oh i agree with you. I just think that the codies game belongs in the sim category, just like the big names of the past, Grand Prix series, F1 challenge and others did.
 
And who decides what is "sim", you?

Please show exactly why are the physics of the codies games less "sim" than the games you mentioned, with actual facts about game engines, systems simulated, tire models, and some telemetry to go along with it please. Or even just some onboard video comparisons.

Do read my edit. And if you're interested, you can start by listening to the real guns in the sim business. Heusinkveld (AMS1), Kaemmer (GPL, iRacing), Kunos (AC, ACC), etc.
 
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Do read my edit. And if you're interested, you can start by listening to the real guns in the sim business. Heusinkveld (AMS1), Kaemmer (GPL, iRacing), Kunos (AC, ACC), etc.
I already listened to them, i talk with Niels frequently, i know what his opinion is, and its not dissimilar from mine, so dont need to try to be condescending.

Again you dont provide any facts.
 
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I already listened to them, i talk with Niels frequently, i know what his opinion is, and its not dissimilar from mine, so dont need to try to be condescending.

Again you dont provide any facts.

Really now? You "talk to Niels frequently" AND he thinks F1 22 is a good sim, knowing what he has to say about real competition for years? Now, if you ask for facts while providing this as a counterargument, forgive me if I think this is starting to feel like kindergarten talk. I'm off looking for a clip of him saying that. In the meantime, enjoy sims. ;)
 
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Really now? You "talk to Niels frequently" AND he thinks F1 22 is a good sim, knowing what he has to say about real competition for years? Now, if you ask for facts while providing this as a counterargument, forgive me if I think this is starting to feel like kindergarten talk. I'm off looking for a clip of him saying that. In the meantime, enjoy sims. ;)
Kindergarten talk is indeed what i think of "elitism" of the kind you demonstrated here. I dont really care if you believe me, and i tell you to do the same, and stop trying to decide yourself what others should or not include in the list of "sims".
 
You write a lot, but you could communicate the same ideas in a more condensed way. The first word in "simracing" is sim.
And the second is racing, not whatever you imagine or wish to be, but that doesn't seem to concern you, because it doesn't fit your point.
Here's your error, bolded out:
The point is that no game from Codemasters/EA F1 franchise has a reason to populate a list of simracing titles next to iRacing, rFactor2 or Automobilista 2 simply because it doesn't simulate the cars
First you say simracing, then you say it's about simulating cars.
You think simracing is about simulating a car, when the word clearly indicates it's about simulating racing. And to simulate racing, you need more than a well-replicated car. You need a set of features that recreate the workings of a given discipline of racing.

In that sense, F1 games are more complete simulations than any of so-called "hardcore" sims, because they recreate the discipline of Formula 1 racing in most detail. Now if we rate those games on how good "car simulators" they are, then obviously F1 games will go down the order, because no car there is as well represented as in those hardcore sims.

But F1 games are not car simulators, as you appropriately called those hardcore sims initially, and you don't get to appropriate the entire simracing genre for your own liking and exclude F1 games from it just because you prefer a simulation more tightly focused on the machinery, and not much beyond that.

Surely AC doesn't have all of the features which you mentioned, but this is not something I would care about.
That's fine, but that doesn't justify stating that there's not much difference between how the seasons play out in those games. They're clearly different in that regard.
 
Obviously iRacing. Ease of driving =/= realism. Assetto Corsa has probably the least developed physics after F1.
 
Premium
They are all games, and they are all simulating aspects of the real world experience to varying degrees..

Still all games.

Ask my wife, She will tell you, She often asks why we have a motion simulator in our lounge for my racing games. im sure she would prefer a nice table with a vase in its place.
 
How about just what ever software makes you feel like you are a grand prix driver for a while? A bit of immersion.

I'm not personally using my sim rig for any driver in the loop car dynamics testing, so as long as the handling isn't inaccurate to the point of breaking the immersion I don't care. F1 22 works for me, the career mode and the authentic race experience is great. If F1 22 is so different to your experience, or expectations, of driving an F1 car that it breaks you out of the world it's trying to build then I can see why you don't like it.

For the same reason I love ACC for GT3 racing. I like iRacing for V8 Supercars AI racing with a 2022 skinpack. AC for freeroam and roadcars. I want to love rF2 but the AI skins are immersion shattering, so I struggle, but I acknowledge that it's a good sim otherwise.
 
*EDIT* Just to add... I do have experience racing Vees, and as far as representation in sims go, AMS was undriveable and completely unrealistic, AMS2 is pretty good, iRacing is just about spot on handling wise but the engine isn't configured like they are here and there is no penalty for doing things that would result in replacing gearboxes and engines almost daily.

No grip doesn't equal realistic, I think we've finally moved on from the legacy of GPL and hard to drive = real.

As a result, I don't drive it because it being almost right but not quite is so distracting.

I guess the point being, it doesn't really matter how close to reality something is unless you are specifically using it as a training tool, and even if you are it probably has flaws (or 'simisms') you need to work around. As long as your brain is tricked into having fun. We are having fun right?

**EDIT for real this time** That went well, sorry for the double.
 
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As of today Automobilista 2, I don't know what EA thought to remove the classic F1 cars... The people who work on MotoGP22 for example, between the classic bikes and the 2009 season, are much better organized than F1 21 and F1 22, not to mention that we would need an F3, and not 2 seasons of F2
 
Premium
I thought that everything has been said on this subject more or less, and that the discussion is now just a repetition of moves. Until I realized that rumors that are now circulating on the internet could also touch on this subject.
The reason is a recent YouTube video by Jimmy Broadbent
about cheating in Esport. He wonders what his viewers think of this. Most of the comments on that video are about what his viewers think about cheating, but not how that would work.

I've thought about that. Racing games (let's not call them sims for now to avoid the discussion of whether or not something is sim or not) like rFactor (the old one), rFactor 2 and Assetto Corsa are made with modders in mind. It is not complicated to make a car or track for it or to modify an existing car or track. In an online race it is useful if everyone uses the same version of the car or the circuit. That is why the moment you want to participate in an online race, your files for the track and the cars will be checked. If a deviation is discovered, you will receive a checksum error and you will not be able to participate. If you thought it was smart to make your own car a little bit faster, you can't join the online race. Anyone who already participated at that time can see that you received a checksum error. The first thoughts at that point is that you forgot to install the latest update, but in theory it could also be a bad attempt at cheating.
I know this because I build circuits myself that are also used in online races and therefore I know what can go wrong.
After Jimmy Broadbent's video, I wondered what this would be like on Codemasters F1 2022, for example. This racing game was not made with Modders in mind, but to use it as is, without modifying it.

A second video from Jimmy Broadbent has given the answer.

According to this video, Codemasters F1 2022 does not contain anti cheat software. That means that in this racing game you can change the driving characteristics of your car to your advantage so that you are faster than your competitors and that this is not checked in an online race. That is about like a cycling sport without doping control. And Codemasters F1 2022 is not just a game where many people race against each other for fun, it is also used for high prize money E-sports events. That doesn't change how good or bad Codemasters F1 2022 is for me as a racing game, but it does make it absurd that this is used for an official E sport event with a lot of prize money.
 
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AC + RSS + F1 Rules App + Pyyer track extensions + CSP + CM + Simhub = heaven

NB: for the F1 game fans, even their Las Vegas track public presentation was made with AC...
I had enjoyed the RSS cars and community skin packs, but I wasn't aware of the Pyyer extensions, I had a look, subscribed to his Patreon, and the one for Pure and CSP with rain.

Just finished doing some laps of Bahrain with the latest CSP, Pure, RSS FH-X and 2022 skins, with the track extensions. I must say very compelling. I'll have to set up some AI.

Thanks for sharing the setup.
 
Premium
Got it for a discount at Xmas.
It never detected my wheel and pedals properly or at all. Be prepared, I have ... A Thrustmaster wheel : Base TX + T3PA Pro
Asked for refund
Got refund
Don't want to see this software anymore
I tried the F1 games bit every time its a disappointment. Tried AM2, rFactor2 and iRacing (can you spare a dime…?) AC and ACC are the best for me.
 

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What's needed for simracing in 2024?

  • More games, period

  • Better graphics/visuals

  • Advanced physics and handling

  • More cars and tracks

  • AI improvements

  • AI engineering

  • Cross-platform play

  • New game Modes

  • Other, post your idea


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