The latest and, it’s fair to say, the greatest game in Codemasters’ F1 series is released today, available on XBOX, PS4 and PC. F1 2020, takes the solid and impressive platform of the 2019 game and develops it further with even more realistic graphics and a bucket load of new features too.

For 2019, the headline feature was the addition of F2 and the neat way you could start your career in F2 and work up to an F1 seat. 2020 takes this a whole lot further with options for multiple F2 seasons and more. But that’s not the headline feature for 2020. Oh no, the limited ‘story mode’ has gone instead we’ve got “My Team”.

And this “My Team” feature is something we absolutely love. Kudos to Codemasters for bringing this idea to the series – it gives the game a new dimension beyond the racing.

Building your team involves signing a title sponsor, selecting a power unit and a team mate – yes, a team mate because as well as running your team you can also be the lead driver, something that will be commented on when doing your pre-season interview with F1’s Will Buxton (yes, he’s in the game too!). There’s a good selection of liveries and a colour options for the car, the team brand, and the driver overalls.

There’s much more to this too – as the team owner you have the team to manage as well as the driving, it makes it so much more of an experience as a game. There’s something immensely satisfying when you’re battling in the midfield driving your own car, in the mix with Racing Point and AlphaTauri.

It’s not all about this 11th team either, the racing is great and the graphics have been improved – the characters in the game have clearly has some time spent on them and look more life-like than in 2019, where sometime the depiction of the crew members would make me wince.

Another new and welcome feature is the ‘casual’ driving mode. Just as with previous games, you can tweak the assists and difficulty to your liking/ability but sometimes even those of us who are experienced, just fancy a ‘pick up and play’ moment and this is where I really liked the casual mode. It’s not quite Mario Kart fun, but it does give the game a new level of accessibility for those that don’t care what DRS and ERS means.

On top of this, we now have 2 player split screen racing again! Yes, really – you can play with your friends (when they’re allowed to come over) at the same time on one console and screen. I’m a big fan of this, especially when playing against my kids.

And finally, if you’re a fan of F1 since the late 80s/early 90s like me then you really should be opting for the deluxe “Schumacher Edition” of the game because you’ll get a rather special car, the first car Michael ever raced in F1 and the one regarded as the most beautiful of all – the Jordan 191.

Personally this is a no-brainer. I enjoyed having the BrawnGP car in F1 2019, but having the Jordan 191 is next level and on my regular settings, it’s a real challenge to drive, which is a good thing. None of the fancy tech you get on a modern car makes it far more twitchy and trickier to tame and dial in the track, but once you’ve done some laps, it starts to come to you and the satisfaction is real. I’m not sure how much the retro cars in these games appeal to other F1 fans, but for me it’s a huge attraction and keeps me coming back year after year, more than the updated season line up!

To wrap up, this F1 series was widely applauded in 2019 and the 2020 version takes that and makes it even better – the new “My Team” feature is great and gives the game a new dimension and longer lifespan.

I can only recommend you give this a go – if you don’t have F1 2019, order F1 2020 today and even if you do have F1 2019, it’s still worthy of your hard-earned pounds and pence.

For 2021, can we have VR support please Codemasters? That’s the only thing I’m missing from this series now. Thank you!