From E3 but published today:
Hands-on with F1 2017 on Xbox One X in True 4K/60fps at Microsoft’s E3 2017 Booth
F1 2017 is shaping up to the most beautiful racing game from Codemasters to date, and regardless of which system you play it on, you’re sure to be in for a real treat. However, those on
Xbox One X will reap the most benefits on console in terms of visual fidelity and performance.
Recently, we shared our detailed
F1 2017 Preview that explored the
12 Classic Cars and the new
Career Mode in the game, but I wanted to take a deeper look at the game’s visual quality on Xbox One X in this slightly more technical and gameplay hands-on.
First and foremost, F1 2017 runs in
True 4K resolution on Microsoft’s Xbox One X. No upscaling, no checkerboarding, or any other dynamic rendering techniques from what we could see – this is a full 2160p with a resolution of 3840 × 2160 at a locked 60 frames-per-second, and like
Forza Motorsport 7, it looks glorious. Codemasters had a great showing for F1 2017 at
E3 2017, which was located at Microsoft’s Xbox booth.
Both
Nick and myself played it, and we walked away very impressed. Not only do we have the greatly improved resolution, but also improved draw distance and texture filtering, as well as increased anisotropic filtering. It resulted in a much clearer, more detailed image with a shaper presentation all-around.
My only criticism about this was the extremely irritating screen-tearing, which is a problem that Codemasters titles are notorious for on console. This remains an issue on Xbox One X as of E3 2017, and it’s used to stop the frame-rate from falling. It was a big problem in
F1 2016, a game that suffers with several torn frames across every race usually played.
Hopefully, Codemasters optimizes their game and continues to push for 60fps whilst removing the screen-tear issue, as it severely spoils the experience due to how noticeable is can be on a 4K display, and it naturally plagues 1080p owners as well.
During my demo, I checked out the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which is in Nick’s home city of Montréal, Canada. It’s where the annual Canadian Grand Prix is held every year for Formula 1. I absolutely love this circuit, and it’s so much fun to drive on.
With the Classic Cars being the big push for Codemasters’ latest release, it made sense to use one of them – so we were in the
2010 Red Bull Racing RB6, which enjoyed 9 wins, 15 pole positions and 6 fastest laps across the 2010 Championship season. We also checked out the
2002 Ferrari F2002, a legendary race car driven by Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher.
My hands-on time mostly consisted of hot-lapping the RB6 and F2002 on the Montreal Grand Prix circuit, and as I kept practising in these cars, I slowly began to continuously improve and get better lap times. That’s the beauty of the F1 series – it pushes you to do more, and eventually, I even surpassed Nick’s best time on his own hometown circuit.
The Classic Cars are definitely a great addition to F1 2017, and they vary the overall car line-up. I also had the chance to briefly try it out on the wheel, which continues the excellent handling and physics models used by Codemasters in their games for wheel users. It’s really an impressive showcase all-around for the Codies, but I do wish the screen-tear issue could be finally sorted.
In fact, the problem bugged me so much, I pointed it out to the game’s Creative Director, Lee Mather, when speaking to him about the game whenever it occurred. He recognised the issue and understood our frustration, so hopefully it’s something we see rectified on consoles across the board – or at least on Xbox One X, considering it’s the most premium console that’s in the market right now.
It was great to speak to Mather about the game and the franchise, and hear about the team’s big and ambitious plans, and their ideas for moving forward. He also shared a lot of guidance and insight from development with us, and how having the big focus every year is an important aspect of the Formula 1 series.
For example,
F1 2015 was all about moving onto Xbox One and PlayStation 4 and building a new engine specifically for those systems, whilst
F1 2016 focused on the
Career Mode and
Championship gameplay. F1 2017 aims to refine everything F1 2016 offered with
four new circuit variations, whilst also introducing
12 Classic Cars and
expanding the features and functionality of its predecessor.
Overall, Codemasters is racing towards victory with F1 2017, especially if you’re on Xbox One X, where you’ll be treated to the best visual experience. If the screen-tear issue is rectified, then there’s no doubt that Microsoft’s latest console is by far the best place to experience F1 2017, unless you have a dedicated wheel rig setup for a high-end Windows PC.
Regardless, Xbox One X will be the best place to enjoy F1 2017 on console, and Codemasters have “additional visual enhancements” to come that we didn’t see in the E3 2017 build. With the console not launching until November 7th, it gives the developer plenty of time to optimize both the game and engine for the upcoming system.
F1 2017 launches on Friday, August 25th for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Enhancements have also been promised for the
PlayStation 4 Pro, so it’ll be interesting to see how it fairs on Sony’s machine when the game launches in a couple of weeks’ time in comparison to
Xbox One X when that console finally ships this November. For even more on F1 2017, be sure not to miss
our in-depth preview coverage.
https://ar12gaming.com/articles/f1-2017-hands-on