I can’t wait to relive F1’s chaotic driver helmet cams in F1 22 VR
One of the best additions to Formula 1 and global coverage of the sport in recent seasons is the new helmet cam.If you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you do Fernando Alonso’s lap at Spa last season, or Charles Leclerc’s Bahrain Grand Prix fight with Max Verstappen. There’s no better example I’ve seen of an F1 driver’s ability than watching a camera on a driver’s helmet tear a chaotic high-speed car from a car.
Constant mirror checks, the sun on the sun visor, and the wheel interface shining in your face – that’s the experience of an F1 driver so far, despite the time it takes me to hit the lap, I actually Never experienced it on-game. I tend to focus on which racing wheel is best for immersion and feedback, and I’ve missed a lot of the actual feeling of tossing a car around a track at hundreds of kilometers per hour, rain or shine.
Now is the perfect time for EA’s Codemasters to announce a new F1 22 game with a new VR mode. Finally, there’s a chance to drive like a pro, trust your memory and intuition, and you can almost see from between the car’s halos when you’re turning a corner.
I want to be able to repeatedly glance at the rearview mirror beside me and see an upcoming car about to push its front wing into the corner in front of me. In fact, this ranks unexpectedly high on my list of needs in F1 games, and FOV sliders or digital rearview mirrors have never been fully implemented.
Ultimately, we don’t really know exactly what the F1 22 VR mode will look like and whether it’s a decent match for the real deal. However, I’ve tried Assetto Corsa in VR and loved every second I could live with, if it at least matched that experience and was smooth enough to keep my lunch hours down, I’d be happy Happy.
Although I hope Codemasters ignores one unfortunate side effect of the new car regulations in F1 22: Dolphins. Porpoising is essentially the quick up-and-down of an F1 car as it gains and loses downforce quickly, and is created by the aerodynamic design of the new rules that run underneath the car.Dolphins may be just as fun in real life as they are in VR, reports Not much fun in real life For the Mercedes driver who seems to be struggling the most.
I’m not sure if the 2022 stipulation will be in F1 22, but if it does, I’d definitely avoid any Mercedes for my own personal well-being.
You may also need more PC power than F1 22 recommends the minimum specs for VR mode. At least with ray tracing enabled. Codemasters recently released Recommended PC Requirements for F1 22, while there’s no word on specific VR requirements beyond the Quest 2 or HTC Vive headsets, standard games require an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 for ray tracing. Without realistic lighting, you’ll need a more modest GTX 1660 Ti or RX 590 — a more modest request — but I suspect VR might demand more than your gaming PC for a smooth experience.
But it’s all worth it if I can watch my favorite tracks in VR and relive the driver’s dashcam experience.
Even beyond VR, this new installment in the F1 franchise has something new and exciting. The star of the real-world season so far (albeit with Charles Leclerc) is how close the races between these newly designed cars are. Multiple drivers have compared the new standard car to a go-kart, and I can’t wait to get into the new F1 22 for myself to see if this fresh new car feel is incorporated into the race as well.