F1 23’s F1 World mode is the game’s secret weapon

Ordinarily, when I start playing the newest edition of Codemasters’ F1 series, it takes a couple of hours before I actually hit the track in one of its main modes of play. I dither on the livery for my multiplayer and career-mode cars; I mess around repositioning things in the HUD and setting my preferences; I tune the car to each of the game’s 23 tracks, over lap after lap in Time Trial, then I set the AI difficulty in Grand Prix.

Not this year. Oh, sure, I still fussed over my car’s aesthetics. It’s only been since I put it in the garage that I haven’t given up on its aesthetics. F1 23’s new F1 World just to try the new mode’s onboarding series of events, I haven’t played anything else — not team career, not single-driver career — and I haven’t even touched the Braking Point 2 narrative after more than a week with the game. Codemasters’ latest game will eat up a couple of hundred hours.

F1 World, in essence, is the hub that contains the older Time Trials and Grand Prix modes as well as the online multiplayer mode. It also includes a series of new challenges. But there’s a huge change: The car that you used in the multiplayer modes in years past is now your “F1 World Car,” and it’s something that can be improved. With every race, you’re upgrading its performance with the parts and shop personnel you earn each time you race, no matter the mode.

The sponsor goals screen in F1 23, showing additional bonuses and how far the player has progressed in earning them. — Don’t forget the Sponsor Goals; they deliver easy cash for stuff you’re already doing in F1 World.

The F1 World single-player races that unlock these parts and personnel are very simple — pick-up-and-play brilliant. There’s no need to worry about the vehicle setup; in many of them, you’re locked to one of the standard configurations (for example, top speed, more downforce, or balanced). There’s no wasted time — just jump right in and you’re racing, usually in five-lap events. In the end of a series, there will be a final grand prix with at least one stop in between and approximately 15 laps.

F1 World’s car unlocks and upgrades are the real reason I keep playing it. They make me want to play more. You’re bringing back a new part or a new team member from just about every event, and at least considering whether to add them to your lineup — or “dismantle” them for resources, a hell of a thing to do to that poor team principal. And if you’re not earning these resources from the races themselves, chances are, you’ve leveled up in the Podium Pass (F1 23’s season-based battle pass) and drawn something from there.

Players aren’t just rotating parts and personnel in and out, either. The choices are not limited to the main choices. As an example, the engine I used was +15 engine power, and I received a lower engine score. What was my response? What is my response?

Screen from F1 World showing a new part (an engine) its rating and other specifications

The same goes for team members. They must also be tied to a particular contract. This is valid only during a specified number of competitions. The higher-graded contracts are longer (and offer bigger bonuses). So just because I brought back a Legendary-class team principal from Belgium, it doesn’t automatically mean I’m going to rotate him in when the Epic-class, and lower-rated, guy I have is only three races into a 15-race contract.

This is all about the player progressing, and maintaining their car or garage. They’re also marching through the Podium Pass as well ranking up their Super License grade, which is used for online multiplayer matchmaking (and also gates some multiplayer events). Players may choose to race a single-player event at a lower license level, simply to farm it for lower-level rewards, or at the highest grade they’ve earned for a bigger challenge.

If I have any complaint about F1 World, it’s that it’s very easy to completely out-gear some of the single-player events. Ostensibly, these events are gated by your car’s Tech Level, which is the overall score of the components and personnel you have acquired. But only in the earliest goings of F1 World did I find myself really challenged by the rest of the field; since then, I’ve won several races against AI fields by 10 seconds, such that the whole thing seems to be a set of practice laps.

My car’s Tech Level right now is 276, and I have three events on my schedule whose Tech Level requirement is under 200, meaning I’ll blow those away whenever I get around to them. It would be nice if they could somehow scale up to meet my ability, but I’ll probably complete them anyway.

The “garage” screen of F1 23, showing the car, and its eight upgradeable and customizable components — four are parts, four are personnel

Multiplayer, and its ranked version, is an altogether different challenge, just one I didn’t see a lot of in the pre-release review and early access periods. Then that’s a different challenge. F1 23 has formally launched on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X — with cross-platform multiplayer — I expect this will present the bulk of the real challenge in F1 World.

Finally, probably the biggest benefit conferred by F1 World’s system of unlocks and constant progression is how much more consumer-friendly the game has become with the premium cosmetics. Although there are VIP unlocks available in the Podium Pass for players to purchase, they can’t pay to jump to the end to grab all of its loot, so that they get the one helmet or skin that is really important to them. FOMO’s daily and weekly offers for suits, gloves and similar items have now been reduced to stock prices that are always on sale in the F1 Store. So, with these items being always available, players can go in and select, à la carte, the design they want, rather than being pressured to scarf up a bunch of cosmetics they may never use.

The series window/menu of F1 World, showing the events the player is qualified for and their “Tech Score” rating.

Most of all, I’m impressed not only by how fun and infinitely playable F1 World is, I’m also impressed that the developers of a very mature sports series came up with a new way to break hardcore career-mode drivers like me out of that pattern — and without sticking their hands in my pockets. I don’t know when I will get around to the new narrative mode, Braking Point 2, or the multiseason career pursuit of My Team, which has taken so many hours from me over the past six years; I’m having too much fun in F1 World. But knowing those two deep modes are still there means I’ll probably be playing F1 23 Now until F1 24 arrives.

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