I noticed the graphics downgrade. To be honest it took me a while, I didn't really notice while playing, but I had a couple of photos I'd taken in 2015, and after taking some in 2016 I noticed it looked significantly worse. A lot more jaggies, and the lighting made it look a bit cartoony.
As for the FFB, I've bought every F1 game since 2010, and I can guarantee that the FFB has definitely improved in that time. The biggest improvements came in 2015 and 2016. I still had to tweak the FFB options, but in 2016 especially the FFB is much better when it's set up well. I still hope for more improvements, but I think where it's really lacking is in road detail. I don't think it's a FFB problem, but the fact that the road surface is too smooth and flat. They need to work on the accuracy of the circuits, and that should show through the FFB. Dirt Rally showed just how good the FFB in the EGO engine can be.