WELCOME TO F1® 24 - BEGINNER TIPS AND TRICKS

Welcome to F1® 24! If you are reading this, you are now part of an exclusive community of like-minded racing fans, all competing to take the spoils and the first place on the podium. 

F1® is a challenging sport. There are only 20 drivers who do this for a living, so getting to grips with the game can take a little patience and practice. Luckily, we’re here to help with our top tips to get you out of the paddock and competing for Championship points.

Jump into F1® World and Customize your Livery

First, a quick introduction to F1® World as it’s a perfect introduction to players new to the game. 

F1® World allows you to experience several short races on some of the more straightforward circuits such as Austria and Monza. These aim to help you to get used to racing in a pack of cars for the first time. 

Before getting out on track, you may want to equip a livery to your F1® World car. Select F1 World > Customisation > Car Liveries > Select Livery, and take your pick. Some liveries can be customized with different colourways, paint types, or sponsor placements. 

Once you’re done, you’re ready to take it to the track in F1® World.

Select your Race Style

When you get the chance, be sure to choose your race style with the Settings filter, with three selectable options when you boot up the game.

If this is your first time playing F1®, select Casual, as it’s a great starting point and will help you ease into the game.

Casual will enable several driving assists, making it easier to get around the track and simplifying many of the game’s simulation options so you can focus more on the driving and less on the menus.

If you missed this opening screen or feel brave enough to head out with fewer assists, you can change the Settings Filter at any time from the menus before you start a Grand Prix. Standard or Expert will give you greater control of the car and place more emphasis on your driving ability, opening up more options for you to tweak your racing experience.

Practice Racing Against Other Cars

Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with a circuit or two and where to position the car, it’s time to get competitive and move up the standings.

As you might have seen in real-life races, when attacking the car in front, it’s best to tuck in behind them and pounce for an overtake when the time is right. Cars at the front of a pack will naturally be a little slower due to air resistance. Slotting in behind them reduces drag, making you slightly quicker.

When the moment is right, pull out, get alongside and try to pass them safely. Aim to stay straight and don’t weave across the circuit. This also prevents other drivers from crashing into you. And, more importantly, it’s the quickest route from A to B. Think of each straight as being divided into multiple lanes like on a highway; once you commit to a lane try sticking to it for the rest of the straight to avoid accidents.

Overtaking through corners can be a risky strategy. Still, it can pay off, as whoever brakes later will be faster into the turn. This takes practice but wait for the car in front to brake, hold your nerve and brake a fraction later. The extra speed should enable you to get past and take the position. Line yourself up for the pass on the straight proceeding the corner, by taking the “inside lane” before the braking zone.

Don’t brake too late; you could hit another car or drive off the circuit and lose valuable seconds in the grass or gravel.

Where possible, avoid bumping into other cars or forcing them off the track when you are near them. Nothing is worse than being called into the pits for repairs or getting a penalty for dangerous driving.

The final piece of advice is to be patient out there. F1® races can be long, so if the opportunity doesn’t present itself on the current lap, maintain your speed, get a little closer, and take your shot the next time around.

Pay Attention to the Racing Line

As you’ve probably seen when watching a race, drivers tend to follow one another in a precession, taking what’s known as the racing line. While each driver approaches bends slightly differently, there is an art to taking corners in a way that allows you to carry more speed out of it. 

Luckily, F1® 24 helps you master this with the Racing Line Assist.

This Assist is automatically enabled when you play in the Casual race style, so it’s one less thing to worry about.

The racing line is displayed as a colored line on the road ahead of you. Pay close attention to the color, as each one means something different as it dynamically changes:

• Green: Drive flat-out, as there is minimal risk of losing control and crashing
• Orange/Yellow: Drive with caution, you may need to speed up or slow down accordingly
• Red: Hit the brakes, enabling you to make the next turn. Once the color starts turning Orange/Yellow, you can slow apply the throttle again until it returns to Green.

The Racing Line Assist also represents where to position your car, so try to drive on top of the line wherever possible. 

Focus on where to place your car on-track and build up speed as you go. Once you begin memorizing each corner’s unique characteristics, you’ll get more comfortable with accelerating and braking and perfect each bend in no time. 

You can also try watching real-life onboards and seeing what lines drivers take, especially during Qualifying, which can help you find those last few tenths.

How to Utilize ERS to Overtake Your Opponents

The Energy Recovery System in Formula 1®, known as ERS for short, is an advanced technology that recovers energy that would otherwise be lost during braking and converts it into power. This power is stored and can boost the car’s performance during the race.

ERS can be used in different ways but is often triggered when trying to overtake another driver. Save your ERS battery in corners or places you are quicker than the other driver and deploy your ERS on the straights to get a power surge to get alongside your opponent.

Whilst ERS is typically used manually, as and when you want it, you can choose to switch this to ‘Auto’ if you want to avoid having to remember using it. The same applies to DRS (Drag Reduction System), which is able to be activated at certain parts of circuits when you’re within a second of the driver in front of you. You can change this at any time in the ‘Assists’ menu when the game is paused.

Switch on Adaptive AI

Handling the blistering pace of an F1® car can be daunting, especially when you’re alongside 19 other drivers. Luckily, the game has a beginner-friendly option with the addition of Adaptive AI.

As the name suggests, Adaptive AI adjusts how the AI drives in singleplayer races, allowing you to feel connected to the action and battle your fellow competitors from the opening lights-out. 

With the Beginner option selected, AI drivers should be less aggressive, giving you plenty of opportunities to work on your driving skills and, hopefully, move up the field. They’ll also slow down for you, should they get too far ahead. 

Once you’ve got up to speed, the Amateur Adaptive AI setting is a great next step, drivers won’t slow down for you but they will keep racing exciting by adjusting their speed and performance accordingly. It’s the perfect option if you want to get your elbows out but compete respectfully without your car taking damage.

The Adaptive AI options are found within the Difficulty settings with the Casual settings filter enabled, as part of the pre-race menu screens. 

You can switch to the traditional AI difficulty slider for an extra challenge when ready. We recommend starting at around 50 to 55 difficulty, and then increasing or decreasing based on race performance. If you’re beating your expected rivals by a second per lap, increase the difficulty by 10 until they’re an even match for you.

Tweak your Pad and Wheel Set-Ups

We hope the tips above can help kickstart your F1® career. Thanks to our passionate community, there are plenty of additional guides on YouTube to take your racing to the next level. 

We recommend watching THOMB’s F1® 24 set-up guides for both pad and wheel. You can be just as fast with a gamepad as you can be with a wheel, so don’t feel left out if you’ve not got a full racing rig like Max Verstappen.

While everyone has their preference, THOMB’s guides will give you a competitive edge from the start. Plus, you can adjust all the settings to suit your style as you improve. 

Pad set-up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYntJU_54tg 

Wheel set-up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYecTNivzjY

Head to Multiplayer for a Race with Your Friends

When you’re ready to test your skills on-track against your friends on F1® 24, Multiplayer is the place to do it.

By heading to F1 World > Play > Multiplayer Grand Prix > Create Session > Friends Only, you can ask your EA friends to join or send them an invite with ‘Invite Friends’ on the lobby screen. If one of your friends already has set a lobby up on F1® 24, ask them for an invite or to join their game to compete with them on track.

Before you race, if you’re the lobby host, you have flexibility to change many of the settings, including the session structure, weather, and assists. When more than half of players ‘ready up’, a countdown will begin and you’ll be racing in no time.

Good luck out there - we’ll see you on the podium soon!