F1 24 Career Mode: Everything you need to know

F1 24 has finally had the covers lifted, with official confirmation leading to fans speculating about new features coming to the game. With the series’ career mode badly in need of an overhaul, a new career mode is finally coming in F1 24.

Latest news - F1 24 career mode deep dive

After highlighting the physics and handling changes, the latest F1 24 deep dive focuses on the new career mode, which is said to be the "most significant upgrade since 2016." For the first time in the series' history, you can race as one of the real drivers in the current F1 or F2 season.

F1 24's career mode also introduces a new contract and recognition system, driver accolades, and a new challenge career allowing players to compete in bite-sized scenarios.

You can watch the F1 24 career mode deep dive below:

Career overhaul

As promised, F1 24 features a completely overhauled Career Mode. F1 24's Career Mode will, for the first time in the series, allow players to play out their F1 career as one of the existing 20 drivers on the grid.

Whether that's taking Lewis Hamilton to his eighth world title, or even getting Logan Sargeant to the top step of the podium, players now have more choice on how they live out their F1 careers.

There are even new career paths to explore this year, with new opportunities to begin both short and long-term careers without missing out on the racing action.

Racing recognition

F1 24's Career Mode is influenced heavily by the new Driver Recognition system. This system sees you tasked with various goals to complete. These could be across a race weekend, during a season, or even throughout a contract duration.

Completing these goals feeds into the Driver Recognition system, building your reputation in the F1 Paddock. Your growing reputation is crucial, as it puts you in the driving seat when it comes to contract negotiations, be that with your team or even potentially with a rival.

Other teams can now hold secret meetings with you and your agent, with your reputation directly affecting your bargaining power. Just be sure to complete negotiations as quickly as possible before your current team finds out!

Your bargaining power also stretches to the team's Research and Development. Your higher reputation motivates your team to develop the car more in your favor instead of your teammates. Parts are also produced quicker, with less chance of failure the higher your reputation grows.

There's even the opportunity to develop parts in secret during a season, potentially seeing you soar up the grid more quickly. It's also up to you whether you develop your car in collaboration with your teammate, or turn against them to focus on creating the best car for you and you alone.

Using your assigned pool of resource points, you can select the focus for car development. Whether you put all your points in aerodynamics or spread it out across the board is entirely up to you.

Random events throughout your career can affect how your resource points are spent. High inflation could raise the cost of upgrades, while parts shortages could limit the number of upgrades available per month. No two playthroughs will ever feel the same, with these events popping up at random times.

Driver accolades

Also new in F1 24 are Driver Accolades. Adding a unique twist to Career Mode, Accolades are long-term milestones for players to complete and are directly linked to the driver players choose to race as.

Players choosing to create their own driver from scratch will have a blank slate when it comes to Accolades, whereas those choosing an existing driver will find their Accolades based on their chosen driver's real-world achievements.

Racing as Hamilton will see you tasked with claiming that elusive eighth Drivers Championship, while those racing as Max Verstappen will be tasked with defending his current title. Even racing as one of the F1 Icons will see you tasked with unique challenges based on their incredible careers.

Accolades will change based on your performances, so whether you're winning or losing, your Accolades will adjust to match.

A career in racing

Players looking for a longer career in F1 24 can choose to start out as an F2 rookie instead. Here, you can decide to race in an F2 academy team, eventually working your way through the ranks for an opportunity to grab a seat at the top table.

Once again, the decision becomes whether to stick with your current team and see things through or risk it all by jumping ship at the first new opportunity that comes along. This could affect your relationships in F2, so choose wisely.

Players looking to dip their toes into the new Career Mode can do so via the all-new Challenge Career. Jumping into the shoes of a pre-selected driver, players can compete in a mini-season to prepare for a full 24-race calendar career.

These mini-seasons will be identical for all players, with the goal being to earn as many points as possible to finish as high up the global leaderboard as you can. At the end of each mini-season, the person at the top of the leaderboard will be crowned the champion of Challenge Career.

Challenge Careers will be influenced by the community. Fans can vote on which drivers, teams, and circuits they want to compete in for future mini-seasons.

Two-player Career Mode also returns, with driver objectives and Accolades meaning every race is a battle to be the number one driver. This means for the first time, even co-op races can turn into a potential tug-of-war against your teammate, with plenty at stake for the victor.

Release date

F1 24 roars onto PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One on 31 May. Players who preorder the Champions Edition can go racing three days earlier on 28 May.

You can watch the exciting reveal trailer below:

Are you excited to see F1 24 getting a new career mode? Let us know in the comments below!

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