F1 22 – VR First Contact

After a few difficult months in the information regarding to this saga, it seems that this year yes, we will be able to continue its development with the support of the distributor and developer, once Codemasters has been definitely integrated into EA. Our contacts and prospects for this year are improving so that we can tell you how everything is developing and we have already been able to test some of the new features that will be presented on July 1 at F1 22 .

As veterans of the web will know, many of us here are pro VR, so much so that we do not understand the simulation without a VR HMD on. For us it is very important that for the first time in the saga VR will be present and available from the first moment, and one of the new things that comes in this first build is the availability of this mode. We have tested with a HMD not marked as compatible as HP Reverb G2, so we will not draw many conclusions about the performance.

The build is very simple and lacks a lot of things in it, but it shows signs of potential. There are not many modes; only time trial and GP for us to do our performance and graphics tests on the 5 available circuits. Imola, Miami, Silverstone, Austria and CotA are the circuits found in this demo.

The engine used in this release is once again Codemasters’ EGO, which seems to continue to evolve. It is the same that was used for Dirt Rally so we should have a memory of the VR mode that was incorporated in that title a few years ago. VR at this stage works, but optimization and performance issues are lacking, although it gives a glimpse of good details.

The representation of the circuits is very good, including this one from Miami (you have it in the video, from someone who captures better than us). The amount of elements in VR is important and it seems that the scalability of effects and graphics is also present to cover a wide range of devices and configurations. The lighting and atmospheric effects also form to give reality to the whole thing and with the new cars give us a rough idea of what we will be able to enjoy in two months time.

The simulation looks challenging enough to be of interest. Much more so in VR where immersion is important and things start to make sense. In the absence of optimizations and some work, it leaves us with a good taste of a title that can be a before and after in the saga.

By the way, an interesting note, there are two steering wheel grade configurations; one for open wheels, and another for GT cars. Look for which competitions are F1 support 😉.

See you on the track!