As part of a v1.10 update across PC, PlayStation and Xbox, several tweaks have been made to EA SPORTS F1 23 alongside the headline changes to a track layout and driver roster.
In order to accommodate construction work near the circuit, Turns 16-19 cannot be used for the 2023 race, and thus the Marina Bay Street Circuit will be slightly shorted as a temporary measure. This layout is now recreated within the game, significantly reducing lap times. In our testing, around seven seconds quicker per lap.
While most of the layout remains identical, after the right-handed Turn 14, now there’s a long straight with a left kink a third of the way down which forms Turn 15, before an extremely tight Turn 16 – formerly 19. As a result, the upcoming real-world event will run 63 laps instead of last season’s 61.
Also appearing in the title for the first time is a returning Daniel Ricciardo in the place of Nyck De Vries. It means that My Team and Driver Career market will now feature the Australian driver instead of the 2020–21 Formula E champion.
Between the announcement of this update and its roll-out, Ricciardo suffered from a broken metacarpal at the Dutch Grand Prix with Liam Lawson substituting. The Kiwi is not part of the game’s F1 driver roster but can be found within the career mode’s driver market due to the inclusion of the 2022 Formula 2 season.
Further changes include an increase in the performance of the McLaren team based on its dramatically improved results in recent races, tighter track limit rules online and the first Pro Challenge within the F1 World area. Between 29 August and 4 September, players must try to beat Max Verstappen’s marker around Zandvoort, and those that do will receive his Dutch GP helmet design as an in-game reward.
The F1 World mode was new for F1 23 compared to its predecessors, which sees you build the tech score of a fictional F1 car by unlocking data points and then managing resources. It's quite the contrast to the more authentic career modes, which are largely untouched for this season's release.
So far, post-launch, real-world limited-time liveries have been added as unlockable items, such as Red Bull's Miami theme or the 800th race-celebrating Williams design. Race Replay scenarios see you try to replicate events from earlier in the season, with more expected throughout the year.
The Verstappen Pro Challenge marks the first event of its type but will be followed by one set by Charles Leclerc in September.
"The main concept behind F1 World was to have an area where we can keep providing players with new gameplay experiences, new challenges, new content over the course of an entire season, and then beyond into the following year," said Lee Mather, Senior Creative Director at Electronic Arts.
"It's really in its absolute infancy at the moment, we're still going to expand upon it with new gameplay.
"You saw that we added elimination mode last year. So F1 World is a prime example of an area where we can look to add new types of gameplay too, because they're then part of the reward system. They're improving the tech level of your F1 World car. They're not just disparate pieces of gameplay, they're part of a much bigger experience."
