One of the game’s most significant new features this year was to be the aforementioned introduction of supercars, which would have allowed players to collect and drive the cars either in solo mode or to race them online against other drivers.
However, sources familiar with the project have since said that supercars will no longer feature any sort of multiplayer gameplay aspect. While supercars will still be present, they will only be available in time trial and during the career playthrough. The reason provided for this late change is that Formula One Management (FOM), the main operating company of the Formula One Group, requested that the supercars’ inclusion be scaled back. It’s unclear if FOM made this decision following my original report, with many in the vibrant and very vocal F1 community expressing their displeasure and criticizing the move online. Either way, it appears that the F1 series of games will remain firmly focused on Formula One racing, at least from a multiplayer perspective, for the time being. What’s more, the addition of cross-play, a new feature set to be included for the first time with F1 2022, has unfortunately been pushed back until after the game’s launch. However, to be clear, cross-play is still expected to arrive in F1 2022; it just won’t be there at release. Apart from these changes, F1 2022 will launch with the complete ‘22 calendar circuits. As expected, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sochi Autodrom will be removed. While it’s currently unclear which track will replace it, the Portimao (Algarve International Circuit) and China (Shanghai International Circuit) circuits will eventually be available to race on in the game as post-launch content. Sources have also confirmed that, apart from the above, there will be few other changes to the gameplay itself. Handling, customization, ERS, the penalty system, Podium Pass, co-op (2 people only), graphics, game engine, servers, Career, and My Team will not be altered from F1 2021. Story mode will, however, still be removed and replaced by the F1 LIFE player hub as previously described. VR is also still planned to be supported from launch. While no release date, nor a reveal date, has been made public for F1 2022, July this year is still the most likely candidate for when we can get our hands on the latest F1 game.
