Suggested New Features for F1 2021

[MattDobson66 7]

Hi everyone. Firstly, I have to compliment Codies for their efforts on this year's game. I didn't expect to be able to create my own team in the game just yet and, for a first attempt, the My Team game mode is excellent. However, as with every game, there are always improvements to be made which can take the franchise to the next level. So I've got some suggestions as to what can be implemented into next year's game. The suggestions in bold are those which I think are musts for the developers to target (and should be achievable).

My Team:

• Proper Livery Editor - This is an absolute must. For it to completely feel like My Team, I need to be able to design my own livery. An editor similar to the ones seen in GT Sport and the Forza franchise would be fantastic. We could create our own shapes for the design, place the sponsors exactly where we want them and scale their size, choose our number font and colour(!!) and do so much more!
• Different Paint Finishes - I think the current colour system is decent and you can get pretty much any colour if you try hard enough. However, we should be able to choose if the paint has a matte, glossy, metallic etc. finish. Some preset liveries have matte finishes already, so why can't we decide the finish ourselves?
• Different FOM Car Options - It would be great if there were a range of FOM cars to choose from that each look a bit different. They could have different nose designs, rear wings, bargeboards, wheelbases and rakes for example. It would perhaps be a stretch to allow us to choose individual components since the car might then not look quite right. Each car could have different performance characteristics e.g. better aerodynamic performance, less drag, lower chassis weight etc.
• Improved Calendar Progression - This mainly relates to one thing... driver contracts. It seems a bit silly that we have to save up to afford our teammate's contract before we get our end-of-season budget. If we sign a new teammate, their stats for the previous season show up in the season summary even though they were not driving for My Team - that makes zero sense. It should also be possible to negotiate contracts over a wider timescale than one specific day. If I want to tie down my teammate for next season a bit earlier (or similarly snap up another driver), then I should be able to. Other teams could do this as well and we could get a notification every time a driver is confirmed in a seat. I also think we should be able to do some things in the off-season, such as upgrading facilities and doing some sponsor events.
• Influence on Teammate Strategy - Since we are the team owner, it would make sense if we could have a large influence on our teammate's pit strategy. There are often races where the one-stop is generally faster, but the team puts my teammate on the two-stop, ruining their race. It's so frustrating! I also feel that there should be some team orders on the MFD, e.g. "Let me past ____", "Double-stack pit stop", "Box ____ this lap". Our teammate can override if they want (at their peril of course)!
• Hiring Team Members - It is quite easy to manage our funds after a certain point. Being able to hire team members would provide something else to spend our cash on. We could hire a Chief Aerodynamicist, Power-Unit Chief, Chassis Expert and Durability Engineer. The better people you hire, the more paths of development you unlock, the less likely your upgrades are to fail - this would work nicely alongside the facility management we currently have. Possibly, we hire a Chief Strategist which would result in better suggestions of alternate strategies from Jeff and better strategies for your teammate.

Career Mode:

I haven't actually played the normal driver career mode this year yet, but there are a couple of things that I would still like to see.

• Semi-Realistic Driver Transfers - Having driver transfers is great, and it is cool to see some crazy moves like Verstappen to Mercedes. While there should still be unpredictable transfers like this, I don't see enough more realistic moves. For me, the drivers in F2 which are associated with certain F1 teams should be more likely to move to those teams when a seat become available. For example, in next year's game, if a Renault seat becomes available then Zhou and Lundgaard should be the drivers most likely to fill it. Likewise if there is a free Red Bull seat, then one of the AlphaTauri drivers or Tsunoda (if he's not already in that car) should be most likely to step up. As a player we are associated with a particular driver academy, why aren't the other F2 drivers?
• Team Sponsors on Helmet - We finally have sponsors on the helmet in My Team, but they remain bare as ever in normal career mode. What if some positions on the helmet were assigned to the team's logo, as well as their primary and secondary sponsors? For example, if you were driving for Mercedes, you would get the Merc badge, Petronas and Ineos slapped onto your helmet. Alternatively, at Alfa Romeo, you would get their badge, Orlen and Carrera/Singha on your helmet. I appreciate there may be some licensing issues with this, but I don't see why any team/sponsor would object.

General:

• Proper Helmet Editor - Very similar to the livery editor, I need my helmet to look exactly how I want it. Should be able to have different paint finishes too.
• Classic Tracks DLC - In my opinion, the classic cars we have at the moment are nice, but they don't add that much to the game. If classic tracks were included though, that would be amazing! Obviously we could do time trial and online using these tracks, and potentially we could add them to our career modes(?) If we could get tracks like Mugello, Nurburgring, Portimao, Imola and Istanbul Park as part of a paid DLC on next year's game then I would be obliged to get my wallet out. Again I worry that licensing holds this idea back, but we had classic tracks on F1 2013...
• Cool-Down Lap - Like the formation lap, this should be optional, but it would be nice to see. Once you finish a race, it all feels abrupt. I want to have a lap where I can let the result sink in. We could have radio messages where we can thank the team or criticise them for any strategic decisions - this could tie into department morale and driver acclaim. 

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on my suggestions and it would be great if you could share your own ideas as well!

Edited September 15 by MattDobson66

[TurkeySloth2107 77]

32 minutes ago, MattDobson66 said:

Proper Livery Editor - This is an absolute must. For it to completely feel like My Team, I need to be able to design my own livery. An editor similar to the ones seen in GT Sport and the Forza franchise would be fantastic. We could create our own shapes for the design, place the sponsors exactly where we want them and scale their size, choose our number font and colour(!!) and do so much more!

I completely agree here because all of my liveries will match the international racing colours of the driver's home country. And, the current editor breaks my immersion slightly by not allowing exact replication of multicoloured liveries. The rest of the ideas are wonderful as well.

[bobbythehuman 9]

I think the classic track is a good idea but there will probably be problems getting it into the game because of licensing or something.

If we can’t get new track I think at least the right rules for what class your doing, like refuelling and speeding in the pitlane and other stuff like that.