As someone who's followed the games since F1 2013 and played the last 4 F1 games finishing two-three seasons of career mode and league racing in each one, I have to say they are getting better and better.
I also believe there's a lot of room for improvement in different areas. Bare in mind that my post will be more centered around career mode.
So, here we go.
× Story elements in career mode.
With the addition of Butler and Weber we got a new element of story which we've never had before in the F1 games.
The only thing I would like from this is for them to be more involved with your career after you reach F1. As we all know, there are no more cutscenes after you win/lose the F2 title.
I would love to see them react to the players' first win or every time we win a championship or perhaps have them come to us after they've won their first race or a championship etc.
×Random Mechanical Failures for Players
An idea which has been suggested for years. I think this would be a brilliant addition to the game as career mode is much more forgiving than it should be.
This would only be an option, however. Something that the player can toggle on or off. I dont think many casual players would like their engine suddenly blowing up and that's why I think it's best for it to be an option instead of forcing it.
It actually becomes annoying when the AI in front of you get random failures and make the championship much easier to win. We should have some bad luck too.
×AI's pace and aggressiveness
*Pace*
To begin with, I don't think the 110 AI need any more improvement in terms of their speed. They are already hard to match at that difficulty which is very good.
However, they need to be more consistent. The player should be able to race at every circuit with the same AI difficulty.
At Monza, I can beat 110 AI or at least be on the pace of the leaders in a competitive car. In Japan or France, on the other hand, I have to turn it down to 106-107 to even be competitive.
I think this is one of F1 2019's biggest flaws and if that gets fixed then this year's game will be 20x better.
*Aggressiveness*
They need to be more aggressive. They need to be able to go for risky moves, like dives from far behind, or more complicated moves like a switchback.
Depending on the driver, they should have different levels of aggressiveness. For example, someone like Ricciardo wouldn't just sit behind you if he's close down to turn 1 at Monza. He would send it. On the other hand, someone like Bottas would probably struggle making those kinds of decisive moves.
It would also be really cool to see that level of aggressiveness and the chance of the move succeeding change depending on how experienced the driver is, if they've had good/bad weekends up to the current one, etc.
I know it's difficult to code but even Championship Edition used to have features like this and I know Codies are not a joke when it comes to AI. You guys can certainly do this.
×Limited contracts when you reach F1. Ferrari or Mercedes wouldn't sign a rookie on to their team. We should only have offers from the teams at the back of the grid, for example:
-Toro Rosso if you've selected the RB Programme
-Alfa Romeo if you've selected the Ferrari programme
-Williams if you've selected the Mercedes programme
and so on. About Mclaren and Renault: Make separate programmes for both of them.
Bonus: Some areas where improvements can be made.
×Tracks, not necessarily laser scanned but some are way too unrealistic (ahem final corner bump Suzuka ahem)
×Tyre mechanics (wear/deg, carcass overheating can be improved, things like blistering after overheating and flat spots after locking up can be added)
×Dirty air. It needs to be more intense imo, currently it is way too unrealistic. It doesn't need to be like real life but it needs to move slightly in that direction. Not just loss of downforce, but also overheating the tyres and the engine.
×Graphics at night time. They honestly look really good this year but comparing them to real life they can still be improved a lot. Shouldn't be on top of the list but a better looking game wouldn't be bad imo.
×Car performance updates/characteristics of cars. The SF90 has better aero than the W10 in F1 2019 and worse straight line speed. It would be really nice to have realistic car performances and characteristics, such as if the car is draggy, understeery/oversteery, doesn't warm up tyres well or can't manage them for long stints etc.
×Handling. I feel that the cars should have, in general, more grip. It doesn't feel like they produce the kind of downforce that the real life cars do and the handling, although enjoyable, also feels very floaty and I think it can be massively improved.
Thats all I can think of for now. Please leave your suggestions below as I'm sure Codies will appreciate them all. 😁