Codemasters has shown off the first episode in a new dev diary series for F1 2018. In it, Lee Mather discusses the expanded career mode, and how players’ off-track performances can influence the experience on-track.
In F1 2018, players will get to know Claire. Claire’s a media rep that drivers will interact with at regular intervals over the course of a season. Whether its questions about your teammate, other drivers, or your performance at the last grand prix, the important part is your answer. Players will have multiple choices, and those choices will affect various parts of the game.
Answer one way, and your engineers may feel demotivated, which will feed into the car’s progression (or lack thereof) over the season. Reliability may be affected as well. There’s also the option to simply not comment — something we’ll refer to as the Kimi option.
Not only that, but other teams will take note of your general attitude. Are you calm and professional even after a chaotic race, or are you willing to call out another driver you think wronged you? There’s no right or wrong answer, either: some teams will value the sportsman-like first option, while others love the buzz the second will generate.
The Perks system from last year’s title has come in for an upgrade as well. Players have more control over the perks they have access to, but even more importantly, perks play into contract negotiations. If you’re thinking about jumping ship to a different team mid-season, perks could be the bargaining chip that makes re-learning a new car and team worth it. And yes, a team can deny your contract.
Lastly, Mather touches on the long-form approach to the media’s presence in F1 2018. The game will emulate the off-track hustle and bustle we see on race weekends, and interviewers will remember key points in the season. If you pulled off a daring last-minute pass in the season opener, that may just be a talking point in the mid-season, when you’re just trailing the points leaders.
It all adds up to give the impression F1 2018 will be an even bigger experience than last year’s game. This is the first of four developer diaries before the game launches August 24 — we’re curious to see if the next one adds more classics to join the Brawn BGP-001 and Williams FW25. Catch the whole video down below:
