Codemasters goes deep on physics & handling in F1 22

F1 22 is just around the corner, and in a year of big changes there is more excitement than ever before.

While F1 Life and EA's rebrand of the series has caught headlines, the biggest changes are happening under the hood of the Codemasters franchise.

New cars and physics updates make F1 22 a different challenge to anything we've played before.

F1 22 physics & handling

In a new video from Codemasters, Social and Creator Manager James Bralant talked to David Greco, Codies' Senior Game Designer about the changes players can expect to find.

"The major changes we made start first of all with the physics engine and physics model." says Greco. "We had to look at what the real cars were doing [...] and we saw they would be running much lower to the ground so we knew we had to change and improve our suspension model."

Codemasters has taken to these changes with gusto. Following our gameplay of a preview build in May we can confirm these cars enjoy a low, stiff setup.

"The first thing we focused on was suspension. We needed to make sure that the suspension position was read perfectly because we needed to allow the cars to ride as low as possible."

These updates and improvements should lead to a more realistic feel to F1 22 than in previous years.

Bigger rims

F1 has changed tyres for 2022. The P-Zeros from Pirelli have gone from 13-inch rims to 18-inch, which means not only are contact patches a little different, but overall wheel weight has increased along with tyre rigidity thanks to smaller sidewalls.

"The first thing we did was to improve the physics model. We induced tyre drag [...] now we replicate this and will help those players that are more precise and smooth with their input."

"The handling data had to reflect the physics changes, and is the last fine detail for what the players will then feel and play."

Codemasters had to replicate the stiffer carcass of the Pirelli tyres, which means the tyre pressures and kerb riding will be different to last year's game.

Full deep dive

You can see the full video below, where Greco goes over the heavier cars with their more understeery handling of this year's game.