F1 22 game driver ratings - are they fair? | Our first impressions…

2021 champio൩nship 🦋title rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have received the highest driver rating in this year's new official F1 game, F1 22.
F1 22 will be a💯vailable on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox On🤪e, PS5, PS4 and PC.
Like ♚on F1 2021, each driver has a rating based on four criteria - experience, racecraft, awareness and pace.
These figures are used to create an overall rating in the game and fluctuate during your time playing the MyTeam career mode, where players ♐can create their own F1 team alongside the existing 10 constructors.
Verstappen and Hamilton have both been awarded the rating of 94, while Charles Leclerc🌜 is third in the overall rankings with♈ 92.

Lando Norri🍃s and George Russell complet♐e the top five with 90.
Fernando Alonso (89) i💝s just ahead of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, both received 88.
Codemasters revealed that the ratings have b꧑een devised based on a new 💃algorithm, based on the opinions of Sky Sports F1 commentators David Croft, Anthony Davidson and Alex Jacques.
Here’s are the ratings in full:
F1 22 - Full Driver Ratings | |||||
DRIVER | EXP | RAC | AWA | PAC | OVR |
Max Verstappen | 72 | 98 | 79 | 97 | 94 |
Lewis Hamilton | 93 | 96 | 92 | 93 | 94 |
Charles Leclerc | 65 | 94 | 91 | 95 | 92 |
Lando Norris | 64 | 94 | 82 | 92 | 90 |
George Russell | 64 | 90 | 86 | 93 | 90 |
Fernando Alonso | 98 | 88 | 78 | 89 | 89 |
Valtteri Bottas | 77 | 84 | 93 | 90 | 88 |
Sergio Perez | 83 | 89 | 85 | 89 | 88 |
Carlos Sainz | 72 | 89 | 89 | 87 | 87 |
Sebastian Vettel | 91 | 87 | 92 | 83 | 85 |
Pierre Gasly | 62 | 90 | 79 | 84 | 84 |
Daniel Ricciardo | 82 | 88 | 93 | 80 | 83 |
Esteban Ocon | 63 | 90 | 76 | 82 | 83 |
Alexander Albon | 59 | 90 | 76 | 81 | 82 |
Kevin Magnussen | 68 | 82 | 84 | 82 | 81 |
Lance Stroll | 65 | 89 | 76 | 77 | 80 |
Yuki Tsunoda | 55 | 76 | 74 | 83 | 78 |
Mick Schumacher | 56 | 79 | 80 | 79 | 77 |
Nicholas Latifi | 60 | 80 | 76 | 66 | 70 |
Guanyu Zhou | 47 | 80 | 73 | 67 | 70 |
The ratings stack up well in terms of the overall rating with Verstapꦐpen and Hamilton clearly F1’s top two drivers, with the rising stars of Leclerc, Norris and Russell just behind.
However, when you delve deeper - take Alonso’s racecraft rating for ex꧅ꦇample - it’s harder to understand the logic behind them.
Time and time again, Alonso has demonstrated that he has arguably the best wheel-to-wheel racecraft on the grid but according to the r🃏atings, he’s behind Lance Stroll?
There’s still room for improvement but they result in a lot of debate on social media, which is probably൲ what Codemasters and EA want.
Our first impressions of F1 22
mahbx.com journalist Connor McDonagh has played the full game on PlayStation 5.
The yearly release of Codemasters’ latest F1 video game is always an exciting time for fans. More so this year with EA’s increased involvement combined with the real-life sport’s regulation overhaul for this 🍌year.
Codemasters has focused on nailing the basics with﷽out introducing too many exciti🃏ng new features.
In t🅘erms of features, F1 ✤Life is a nice addition and adds some personalisation to your experience - having your own character, garage and home area allow for a plethora of customisation and variation.
Co💎demasters have partnered with brands such as Puma, Sparco, and Beats to bring licensed clothing items to the game, meaning you can wear snazzy shirts, trainers, joggers, sunglasses,💯 caps, and headphones.

Supe෴rcars have also been added,🧸 allowing players to drive various high-performance machines besides F1 cars.
‘My Team’ returns for 2022, where you ca𝓀n create your own team, driver and car, making it 11 constructors on the grid.
It remains the title’s best game mode, particularly with the introduction of new Icons such as Jacques Villeneuve, Mark Webb✱er and Nico Hulkenberg alongside last year’s crop which included Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.
In terms of handling, while the cars have undergone signif﷽icant changes in real life, the game isn’t as drastic.
💝The cars do have less downforce and are noticeably heavier in low-speed but the inherent feel remains similar to🍃 previous years' titles.
The general force feedback seems to have taken a step in the right direction, particularly wi𝕴th how the cars feel on track.
Track changes to Spain, Abu Dhabi and Australia ar♚e long overdue, while the all-new Mia💛mi circuit is a real challenge.

Like last year, F1 22 is an evolution, not a revolution, focusing on polishing the basi💃cs without adding anything too revolutionary.
F1 Life will appease some but not everyone, while F1 VR (virtᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚual reality) is a neat addition for those who can afford it.
Overall, playing F1 22 has been a very fun experience withoutไ it being🔯 a significant upgrade on its predecessor.

With a sharp eye fo🐷r F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased 💮reporting.