How F1 24 enlisted Max Verstappen to nail its handling and aerodynamics

Codemasters’ F1 24 title aims to elevate the racing game’s realism and authenticity for players. To nail this, Lee Mather, F1 24’s Senior Creative Director, shared during an interview with CharlieIntel how three-time F1 champion Max Verstappen joined the game’s development to help the team.

Creating a game that authentically captures the intricate F1 experience poses a significant challenge, but Codemasters decided to push that task a step further with F1 24, offering players an authentic racing experience, including new features and updates.

During an interview with CharlieIntel, Lee Mather, F1 24’s Senior Creative Director, highlighted the team’s new Handling Designer and Physics Lead, who wanted to “expand the tools” by achieving a more “realistic, authentic, and deeper” racing experience. This led to EA Sports’ Dynamic Handling feature design in F1 24.

Building upon F1 23’s well-received handling model, the team worked on significant updates, including a new suspension kinematics system and a refined aerodynamic model. This impacts the car’s behavior, including how drivers perceive its weight, experience downforce, the slipstream effect and turbulence caused by ‘dirty air’ when trailing another car, and the impact of tire degradation on the overall grip.

To nail these massive updates for F1 24, an early version of this upgraded F1 24 model was shared with three-time F1 champion Max Verstappen, allowing the Red Bull driver to provide “really good feedback” remarking on “key things that stood out not being what he would’ve expected in the sport” which the dev team took into account and changed to develop a “more realistic” version.

Throughout the process, Codemasters kept in mind that F1 cars in the game shouldn’t be too difficult to drive despite not being the easiest to handle in real life. So, they decided to make F1 24 cars “relatable and approachable,” by taking advantage of the EA Sports Dynamic Handling model including Max’s feedback, allowing players to “drive effectively and enjoy the fun of racing F1 cars.”