Brace yourself – this is a brilliant formula! PETER HOSKIN reviews F1 23

F1 23 (Playstation, Xbox, PC, £69.99)

Verdict: Go ahead

Judgement: *****

It’s time to crown a new world champion. Not from Formula 1 – although to be honest I wouldn’t mind if Max Verstappen was dropped – but from sports games. And that world champion is F1 23.

What makes it so good? Partly it is Polish. Being the official video game of Formula 1, it has glossy renditions of everything in the sport: the drivers, the tracks, the pundits, the theme song.

It’s a true racing fan’s dream. Other sports games, such as the FIFA series, have shine, but F1 23 also has hardwood quality.

It’s a true racing fan’s dream. Other sports games, such as the FIFA series, have shine, but F1 23 also has hardwood quality

The racing itself is immensely satisfying, whether you play the game (as I was inept) on the easier settings and just whiz past Hamilton and Leclerc, or whether you max out the difficulty and treat it as (I’m reliably informed) a remarkable accurate simulation of Formula 1 itself.

There’s also quality in the narrative mode – Braking Point – which returns from F1 21 after a year’s absence. This continues the storytelling of previous characters while adding a new rookie in the form of wife-in-a-conceited-man sports Callie Mayer.

Braking Point is full of sports movie clichés – ups, downs, betrayals, hard-won triumphs – but, god, it’s done right.

With these annually released titles, the question is always whether they really differ from what has happened before. And maybe F1 23 is just incrementally different from F1’s 21 and 22.

But it’s often incremental improvements that lead to podiums – and more. We finally have a new world champion.