P300.it brings you an exclusive insight of F1 23, the last chapter of the F1 official game saga
We dedicated entirely the month of June to F1 23, a milestone for motorsport enthusiasts. We offered a review and other contents about this videogame and now we present you an exclusive that you can read only on P300.it.
We had the pleasure to interview Lee Mather, EA Sports Senior Creative Director, who talk us about the development and the evolution of F1 23. A full-immersion into a videogame which applies to be among the best of this year.
How did the collaboration with Max Verstappen come about and why did you choose him as EA brand ambassador?
“Over the past two seasons, Max has become one of the biggest names in the sport. Having won his first FIA Formula One World Championship™ on the final race of the 2021 season, Max dominated last year, taking the title at the Japanese Grand Prix with four races to spare, and is having continuous success in the 2023 season. He is a tenacious competitor and true champion and we share in common a deep love of games and play.
As he races into Formula 1 history, we thought he would be an ideal athlete to collaborate and build a partnership with. Max now boasts EA SPORTS branding on the chin of his helmet and is our cover star for the digital-exclusive F1® 23 Champions Edition. We are working with him to continue developing his involvement in the F1 videogame series in different ways. Hopefully we will be able to share more about this soon“.
How long was the F1 development work and what were the major difficulties?
“Planning for any title starts multiple years in advance, but the development process is around 18 months on F1. During that time the size of the team scales up and down depending on where we are in the development process. Following the global issues of the previous years it was very much business as usual on F1 23. Having better access to the actors and teams involved in creating Braking Point 2, compared to pandemic times when we produced F1 21, made the whole process significantly smoother, which you can see by the results in-game. There were obviously challenges in creating the new Las Vegas circuit, but these weren’t anything we’ve not experienced previously. Creating tracks which don’t exist yet is something we’ve done several times so it’s something we’re old hands at”.
How does development change during the months of work with rule changes implemented during the season?
“The way we handle sport rule changes very much depends on the scale of the changes and the level of work and skill sets required to implement them. In some cases, it could be something as simple as a data change which adjusts the tyre allocation numbers. It could also be something as game changing as the addition of a new race weekend structure. In cases such as this we will do a high level estimate on the work and resource required, we’ll produce a design and then determine whether it’s achievable for the current title. We also take into consideration whether a change in the sport is only being trialed or has been committed to for the longer term”.
What kind of feedback do you get (the most important ones) from gamers?
“We have an incredibly passionate and well-educated community of players and their opinions are extremely important to us, and we get all sorts of feedback and ideas from them. Several of the new features we have included in this year’s game have been a result of players’ requests and feedback, such as red flags and 35% race distance.
With new fans coming into the sport and into our game in the last couple of years, we have also included onboarding and accessibility features to F1 23 to help them get to grips with the game before launching a bid for the World Championship.
We want players to come away from their experience with our game with a hunger to play more and to learn more about the sport of F1. The audience is forever changing with fans coming in for different reasons, I want them to love Formula 1 as much as we do”.
What impact do you have in the U.S. market, taking into mind that F1 (as well as for its ownership) is pushing so hard to conquer the U.S.?
“In line with the sport, we have seen a flood of new F1 fans coming to our game from the US. Today the US is a big and very engaged market for us”.
Will there be any novelty on the historical side with other single-seaters from the past as we’ve seen in other F1 chapters?
“We often joke that we can do anything, but we can’t do everything. This year we’ve added a huge amount of new content and gameplay to the series with Braking Point 2 speaking to the new audience coming into the sport through Drive to Survive and the buzz around the latest crop of exciting new drivers. F1 World opens up multiple new ways to play and progress, engaging with players looking for a more casual experience right through to those who really want to challenge themselves by competing at the highest level. Adding to that we have Ranked Divisions which really speak to players who are looking for a fun and engaging or competitive online experience. These have been the focus areas for this year’s game”.
Do you think it might be feasible in the future to have an “F1 Challenge” style historical part or something like Milestone did with the “Nine Season” in MotoGP 22?
“Players this year will be able to enjoy more ways to engage with the sport they love through daily, weekly, and seasonal content in the game this year via ‘F1® World’, the new in-game hub. Over the course of the season, F1 23 will deliver fresh content from studio-curated scenarios, Multiplayer races, Community Grands Prix, and Hot Laps challenges for players to compete in. Through these challenges, players will be able to earn exclusive rewards tied to the 2023 season, such as special edition liveries, driver helmets, race suits, and more”.
How much do the drivers and teams support you in the development of the game and in which ways?
“Without the support from F1 teams this game wouldn’t be possible. We work very closely with them in order to make the representation of their cars as authentic as possible with the submission of references, dialogue and approvals being a must in our processes. We are also in constant communication regarding updates and opportunities to help our players engage with their favourite teams and drivers in-game, last year we prepared special liveries matching real-world updates with McLaren, Ferrari and Audi, for example.
Another example where we have worked very closely with F1 teams has been our enhanced handling model. By incorporating actual F1 team feedback, alongside input from the community and esports teams, we’ve built a handling model which gives the player maximum control over the car.
In terms of drivers, we are very lucky to have Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc as EA Sports ambassadors supporting the game and we tend to work with other drivers as well in developing different initiatives around GPs and special moments”.
Las Vegas is going to be the big event of the 2023 season, when did you start working on the creation of the track?
“The sheer scale and density of the buildings in Las Vegas has been a fun challenge for the team to bring this location alive in-game. We began doing research as soon as the layout was revealed and it took over 1900 days of cumulative development time to deliver that level of authenticity. In the end, our team has designed a wonderful virtual recreation of one of the most exciting and striking cities in the world and its inclusion in the game will allow our players to race the circuit even ahead of the real-world Grand Prix.
As with all of our circuits we had a huge amount of photographic reference for the strip, plus CAD data for buildings which were still under construction. We’ve also worked with an Australian company called Aerometrex on high quality photogrammetry data”.
Just like livery changes, updated on single-seaters in first place and then in the game, will you do the same with drivers’ helmets? They’re often changed throughout the season.
“We have a few in-game updates in the pipeline coming up which we are excited for everyone to see and enjoy. We’re always looking for more ways to partner closely with Formula 1 and the F1 teams, and F1 World will play a big part in it. As mentioned above, this feature will enable us to create real-world challenges and reward players with free exclusive one-off items for use throughout the season, some of these items will be in-line with special liveries and helmets F1 drivers use”.
Last question: how satisfying is it for you to work on such an important product?
“For me personally, it’s the culmination of a lifelong dream. Since I was a small child I’ve been obsessed with cars and racing. Living near Birmingham in the UK meant that I was instantly a massive Nigel Mansell fan and had been an F1 fan from the mid 80s. I’m also a big gamer, obviously racing games playing a significant part in that. Bringing two of my biggest passions in life together really is a dream come true and being able to work on such a prestigious title as F1 keeps us all motivated to deliver something special for our players”.
A big thanks to EA Sports and Lee Mather for their collaboration.
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