If we want to dive into Formula 1 video games and their evolution through the decades we first have to understand real life Formula 1 and its history.

Lewis Hamilton was born in Great Britain in 1985 january 7th. He started his career in 2007 in McLarens team in his first years he earned the second place on the world championship. In his early career he competed against Felipe Massa, Mark Webber, David Coulthard. In 2008 as the sign of his return he won the world championship. He countinued his winning series in 2014-2015 and he won both championships. In 2016 there was a fight within his previous teammate Nico Rosberg for the world championship. From 2017 to 2021 he had no worthy enemies on the circuit. In 2021 in an unbalanced situation his luck left and now since then he is in the midfield. His team started a petition to cancel his last race. Among the British pilots he is still one of the most successful and talented one. He even challenged Schumachers records such as the most often achieved pole time.

Max Verstappen was born in 1997 september 30th in Dutch. In 2015 he debuted in the Scuderia Toro F1 team as the youngest pilot in the world. After one year he signed for Redbull and won the next Grand Prix becoming the worlds youngest F1 race winner at the age of 19. He even dominated above his teammates such as Daniel Richardo, Pierre Gasly, Alerander Albon and even them couldnt overcome him. In 2018 he had an eventful year many serious and impactful things happened to him for example in a qualifying run he crashed and also his team planned a wrong strategy moreover his releationship with his teammate didnt go well. He became a world champion in 2021 after a difficult season bringing home the first Dutch world champion Trophy. Since 2013 he is the most successful RedBull pilot in the world.

Another Formula 1 star is Charles Leclerc. He was born in 1997 november 16th in Monte-Carlo. His father died three days before he won the F2 championship. He started his F1 pilot career with Alfa Romeo in 2018. In 2016 Ferrari announced that Leclerc will be one of the test pilots at F1 Haas and Saubers team. In 2019 he signed the longest contract with Ferrari which lasts for 5 years. At the same time he lost one of his great friend who was an F2 pilot. He won his first Ferrari race which was the Belgian Grand Prix. One of the most memorable event in his life that he won the Monza Grand Prix in the motherland of Ferrari and thousands of people cheered him. The season of 2022 started well but Ferraris resources couldnt keep up with Leclerc so he had to say goodbye to his winner title.

F1 cars technological background

20 years ago, F1 cars were 4.5 m long and 1.8 m wide. Today’s cars are much bigger, 5.63 long and 2m wide and almost 1m high. And the weight is around 800kg without a pilot.

The pilots have the same functions on the steering wheels, with the difference that the function buttons on the lever are in different positions. These vary depending on the pilot’s hand. On the steering wheel we can decide when to talk to the team or what the main body should be.

Aerodynamics

One of the most important factors in F1 racing is aerodynamics. F1 cars have a special shape which helps them to go really fast. The cars are equipped with many areo devices like wings, sidepods. Before every race the teams set the front and back wings compared to the current air pressure. Aerodynamics also makes the car much heavier because the air flow puts more pressure on the car and pushes it on the track

Tyres

There are 5 types of tyres in the sport. And there are also rules releated to them. For example if the weather is rainy you are not obligated to change the tyres at least once. But if the weather is all clear you must change to an another type of tyre at least once during the race in the pit stop. Soft tyres can endure approximately 7-14 lap, medium 17-30 and hard 25-45.

Engine

In the history of Formula 1 there have been many motor types and technological changes, starting from the 2 cylinder engines up to 16. The engine is the hearth of the car. It has to be the best and the most effective. Nowadays F1 cars can reach 100km/h in 2.6 seconds. And the maximum speed is 370km/h. The car tries to maintain a constant speed during a race so the engines are overdrive and overheated and they are under a huge pressure. So the car must cool the engines automatically and this is done by the air inlet tubes. The engines has different functions and can be controlled.

Flags

• The yellow flag is one of the most commonly used and it means that it is forbidden to overtake any car or there are some barrier on the circuit.
• The red flag is used on free practice, qualifying runs and competitions. It means that the race is stopped mostly because of a crash or bad weather.
• Chequered flag is used when the currently played race mode has ended.
• The blue flag has the meaning of warning the slower rider that he is about to be outran and allow the faster rider to pass.
• The white flag means that there is a slower vehicle on the circuit.
• The combination of red and yellow flags means that the circuit is slippery.
• SC is waved next to the yellow flag and it means that the safety car is on the circuit.
• Black and orange flags waved together means a technical issue and in the next lap the car must go in the pit stop.
• Black and white is waved after 8 warnings with the number of the car and it means that if there will be another irregular action the racer will face punishment.
• Black is one of the most serious flag it means that the car is disqualified from the race.

Penalties

Formula 1 is not just going around with high-tech cars and crossing the finish line first. It is much more complicated and it also has its own rules and sanctions for the people who dont obey them.
For example drive through penalty can be a very serious punishment for the racer and it must be done within 2 laps. It means that the car must go in the pit stop slowed down and its not allowed to change tyres. Stop and go penalty is almost the same the difference is only that the car can change the tyres but he cant touch the car for 10 seconds. There are also disqualificational penalties, time and financial penalties. Grid penalties comes into effect after 3 component changes in the car. It puts the car back in the starting spot. After a gearbox change it puts it in the 5th place and an engine change to 10th place. Another penalty that makes pilots stressed out is lap time delete. It happens when the car leaves the track with 4 wheels and time for the next lap might be deleted. Stewards determine that if the car gained advantage for the next lap or not.

Racer Simulator Video Games

Gran Trak 10 was released in 1974 and this is the first example of a racing video game. Its a one player arcade game, players used a wheel, three-speed gear to controll the vehicle.
Fonz was released in 1976, and as a big change this was the first 3D video game.
EA Sports made the first big step in the field of Formula 1 gaming. They made the first accurate simulator game the F1 2000. As its name suggests it was published in 2000 March 24th. It was developed by Visual Science for Play Station and for the Microsoft version Image Space Incorporated was in work. This game is based on the 2000 F1 season with the same cars and pilots. There are different game modes like championship, quick race, weekend and time trial. There is also a multiplayer feature which was very rare at that time.
Formula 1 games nowadays can be professional and less realistic. Everyone will find what they like. For PC, there are a higher range of games than the simulator or the manager games. Even among the simulator games which EA publishes, two are released every year, the normal game and a champion type.

It means that it is possible to play with the regular champions, the other type of games are for those players who prefer the strategic approach of F1, because the player inside the game is the one who creates a new team, with pilots, cars and team majors. In the game, the competition takes place in such a way that the strategy, the pit box time, everything is planned by the player.
The latest and one of the most exciting racing simulator game is F1 2023. We can see this game series actually started 23 years ago and they have been releasing new games every year since then. The evolution of these games is amazing. Trough the history of these simulators we can track down the technological, grapichal and manoeuvrability evolution and this is also true for any other video game so this gives us a perspective of step by step advancement of video game development history.