The Formula One season is over, but don’t worry, it’ll start again soon. Chances are, you now have a pretty big hole in your life. No longer can you look forward to your weekend excitement of watching vehicles speed around the track, endless amounts of adrenaline pumping through your body. There are, however, other ways to get your kicks.
Now, we know that nothing will quite replace the thrill of watching an F1 race. It is a unique experience. But if you want something to keep your racing appetite satiated (or, at least the thrill appetite), we’ve got some games for you.
F1 23
We know that some of you may be wondering why we don’t include F1 24 here. Well, to be honest with you, F1 23 is leagues better, at least if you’re looking for an experience that can replicate the thrill of driving your own F1 vehicle.
The vehicles in F1 23 have considerably better handling than those in F1 24. They feel a lot less ‘floaty’, and like you have some power at your fingertips. F1 23 boasts many features, including a career mode, building your team, and plenty of single-player and online racing.
We reckon both F1 23 and F1 24 will be packed during the off-season of F1. If you play online, you can even have a bit of a chat with some fellow F1 fans.
F1 Manager 24
If you’ve always dreamed of running your own F1 team, then F1 Manager 24 is for you. This is one of several iterations of the game, but F1 Manager 24 is the first game that allows you full control over your team, for example, choosing the name, livery and more. Previous games would have just put you in charge of one of the 10 other F1 teams.
Now, we know that it says F1 in the title of the game, but F1 Manager 24 will have you managing what happens in F1, Formula 2 and Formula 3. Well, you’ll have some control. Your job is to recruit and test drivers to represent your team.
This is quite an in-depth game. You won’t be doing the racing yourself. Instead, you’ll be managing the actual team part. For example, you’re going to be responsible for the happiness of your drivers. You’ll be recruiting your drivers. You’ll be dealing with pit strategy, tyres and more.
We must admit that because this is a fairly new franchise, it isn’t quite as feature-complete as we would hope. However, the developers behind F1 Manager 2024 are working insanely hard to keep improving their game with each iteration. We have no doubt that the 2025 version will be even better, but since you can pick up the 2024 edition at a bargain price right now, and it’ll fill some of the holes that the F1 off-season has left you with, it’s worth it.
Forza Motorsport
The next few games are not strictly related to Formula One. This is because there aren’t actually that many F1 games on the market. EA is the only company that holds the licence to a proper driving game, plus we can’t imagine there would be that much demand for multiple F1 games per year that do the same thing. Still, we can get our kicks in other ways.
Forza Motorsport is Microsoft’s driving sim for PC and Xbox (and yes, we know some people will say it isn’t strictly a driving sim). A full career mode and hundreds of real-world vehicles to unlock will keep you entertained throughout the F1 season. Unfortunately, there are no F1 vehicles in the game, but you do get a bunch of vehicles with a load of power behind them, and they handle almost the same as their real-life counterparts (with some sacrifices made for gameplay purposes).
Gran Turismo 7
If you don’t have an Xbox and instead have gone down the PlayStation route, then Gran Turismo 7 is where it’s at. The game is pretty much the same as Forza Motorsport. However, because this is for an older generation of consoles, the graphics are not quite as good. Still, we doubt that too many of you will care that much – the gameplay is just too exciting for that!
Mario Kart 8
If there is one thing more competitive than F1, it is Mario Kart 8 with your friends. Yes – we know that it is hardly F1 or a driving sim, but darting around the track, hurling shells, bananas and who knows what at your opponents is great fun. It isn’t the best single-player game, unless you’re looking to unlock characters and maybe beat a few time trials. However, if you’re looking for something to play with your friends to fill that Sunday void of no F1, then Mario Kart 8 should be at the top of your list.
Casino games (including slot machines)
Finally, you might want to check out some casino games. We know a lot of F1 viewers transition to casino games for a few bets during the off-season. It has a similar feel (although, make sure you’re only ever gambling what you can afford to lose). If you check out websites like CasinoMeister, then you’ll find a huge list of online casinos that you can play at.
A lot of online casino players, particularly F1 fans, will play slot machines. This is because there are a few car-focused slots out there (although, nothing explicitly F1). This includes:
- Drive: Multiplier Mayhem: if you love multipliers constantly pushing your potential winnings up, then this is the game for you. Great graphics and the potential for some big wins have made Drive: Multiplier Mayhem a firm favourite among F1 fans.
- Racing for Pinks: this game is for F1 fans. The main feature of this game is a vehicle race in which, if your car wins, you get some prizes. Not quite the same as watching an actual F1 race, but still engaging.
- Street Racer: this is a highly interactive slot machine, with the central feature being the potential to win some free spins. The game is based around the idea of a street race, and it manages to accomplish that pretty well.
Hopefully, we’ve given you a few ideas for some games to fill your F1 needs in the off-season. We know that nothing will completely replace the racing, but don’t worry, it’ll be starting back up again before you know it.