F1 22: Beginner's guide - list F1 22 guide, tips

Before you start racing in F1 22, we recommend reviewing our tips for begginers - these include adjusting the game to your skills, learning how to drive on new tracks, and proper maneuvers during Formula One races.

Last update: 06 July 2022

Formula 1 cars in F1 22 differ in their specifics from vehicles from many other racing games. By following our Beginner's guide, you will avoid unwanted collisions, be able to learn the game more efficiently, and increase your driving skills.

• Choose the right difficulty level
• Learn the tracks in time trials
• Avoid risky maneuvers at the start of the race
• Use arrows and look behind to defend your position
• Do practice sessions in the career mode
• Watch out while driving in the rain
• Use TV Pod camera
• Communicate with the engineer
• Use the MFD screen to check the condition of the vehicle and make changes

Choose the right difficulty level

When starting a new game in F1 22, you will choose 1 out of 3 general difficulty levels/driving styles - Casual, Normal and Expert. We do not advise you to limit yourself only to this choice, but to adjust the game to your abilities and preferences. Check out especially these menus in the game options:

1. Assists - they include various facilitations, such as steering and braking assistants, traction control, displaying the racing line, activating the ABS and automatic transmission, or automating the pitstops and activating DRS/ERS.
2. Simulation Settings - they also affect the challenge level. First of all, you can set the skill level of the AI drivers (range 0-100, it's best to try to set it to around 50 at the beginning), but also, e.g. enable realistic damage or the ability to use a flashback after a mistake.
3. Weekend Structures - you can determine the length of individual sessions. While you are still learning the game, it's best to choose shorter sessions, e.g. 25% of full distance.

You should test the options that you are unsure of before making any changes. You can also check out the tutorials in the pause menu, which describe things like how the DRS works, or some racing procedures.

Learn the tracks in time trials

In the Formula 1 2022 season, the only novelty on the calendar is the Miami Grand Prix, but if you haven't played the previous installments, some other tracks may also be new to you. Time trials are the best way to learn tracks. Once you've loaded a track, you should consider:

1. Enabling on one of the available racing lines - Minimum means that the game shows the braking points, but it can also set a full line that shows the optimal track at all times. Memorize all the harder turns and the DRS activation points (from one to several depending on the track).
2. Racing against the ghosts of other players. This is a great way to motivate yourself to improve your performance and to see, for example, which turns cause you problems.

We recommend driving at least a dozen or so introductory laps on each track you aren't familiar with. Some are relatively easy to learn, others have a lot of technical and demanding turns (especially city tracks such as Singapore, Azerbaijan, Monaco).

Avoid risky maneuvers at the start of the race

F1 cars are very easy to damage - try to avoid any contact with competitors. You can easily, for example, damage the front wing and be forced to make a pitstop. Even if the damage is disabled, you may get flipped or drive off the track.

Always try to start without any problems - do not aggressively block competitors that may catch you from behind and do not drive fast when you are about to enter slower corners, because you may not have enough time to brake or have another car appear suddenly on your path. Focus on completing at least the first few corners without any problems and then start fighting for higher positions. Races in the game can be very long and take up to 2 hours to complete. You should have enough time to fight for higher positions in the next laps.

Use arrows and look behind to defend your position

When racing in F1 22, you must not only try to overtake the drivers, but also defend your current position. This is possible in 2 ways:

1. Look behind - when playing on a controller, tilt the right stick down; while playing on a steering wheel, assign a separate button to this action. This is especially useful on long straights that allow you to activate DRS (the attacking driver gets temporary speed increase), because that's when you should expect attacks most often. You can slalom in advance to make overtaking more difficult.
2. Rely on arrows on the screen - enabled by default, this function is part of the user interface. Arrows inform you about the location of nearby cars (e.g. to the side or behind). The arrow is normally white. The red color means that a car is very close to yours - you have to be careful with any defensive maneuvers.

The car mirrors are unfortunately of little use. You would have to have your view set up from the cabin and even then their image is very limited.

Do practice sessions in the career mode

Practice sessions are an important part of any F1 racing weekend, but they are especially important in all types of career mode. You can run training programs, thanks to which you can accumulate research points. You can spend them on researching new parts and improvements to the car.

The game always gives you 3 types of programs to choose from, e.g. racing pace simulation, tire management or limiting fuel consumption. Each of them have major and minor goals to complete, such as completing a lap in a certain time, low tire wear, breaking the speed record or staying on the race line. Try to complete as much of them as possible to collect points with your teammate. Thanks to Quick Practice, you can complete difficult or disliked training programs. The practice is done automatically with a percentage chance of success. It's best to complete your favorite training programs yourself and let the computer do the rest. Don't skip the practices in the career mode.

Watch out while driving in the rain

In F1 22, the player drives powerful machines that are not glued to the track and can easily slip. The exception is that you have full traction control in the Assists menu. Even then, ther can be extreme cases where you may lose control of the car. Your main task is to adjust the tires to the track conditions - use intermediate tires for light rainfall, and wet tires for heavier rainfall. When making these decisions, however, take into account that the weather on the track may change dynamically, also on its selected parts. You sometimes have to compromise and struggle with reduced traction or performance for a while.

Racing in the rain also requires careful driving. Try to spot turns from a distance, get out of the rain stream left by the cars in front of you and use the track map. Always brake in advance, because these tires don't have the same grip as the ones for dry track. Also stick to the race line as it can get very wet outside of it.

Use TV Pod camera

There are many camera angles available in F1 22, but not all of them are useful. The best version of the camera is TV Pod, i.e. the one located above the driver and the air inlet. It offers a very good overview of the situation around the car and you can more easily spot other machines on the left and right side. It is also easier to make perfect turns while staying on the racing line. The camera from the cockpit can be problematic in such situations, especially if the track has slopes or there are low visibility conditions.

The only disadvantage of the TV Pod is the negligible effectiveness of the mirrors, which, in this camera angle, are very small and partially obscured by the halo. However, you can use the elements mentioned earlier - the warning arrows and the rear view.

Communicate with the engineer

In Formula 1, each driver is assigned a racing engineer with whom he works during the race. The engineer may, on his own initiative, inform about planned pitstops, suggest changing the racing strategy or warn about the fuel supply.

You can and should establish communication with the engineer. It is possible by pressing the radio button and selecting commands from the drop-down menu (unfortunately, it is quite difficult, because the race is not paused) or by using voice messages (microphone required). The list of commands is extensive - you can, among others, request a specific set of tires for the next pitstop, ask about the current state of the race or ask about your current rival. You can silence the engineer with one of the commands (and "let him" speak again), and this can be helpful if you are too distracted during difficult moments in the race.

Use the MFD screen to check the condition of the vehicle and make changes

The MFD (Multi Function Display) screen works in a similar way to the communication with the engineer - it informs about the car's condition and quick settings that allow you to make changes. You can call MFD on demand (Circle on the PlayStation controller, B on the Xbox controller) and switch between its various tabs. Unfortunately, the race is not paused and you should therefore use this option on long straights where you don't have to make turns or brakes at the same time. The MFD screen can be useful for:

1. Changing selected car settings, e.g. brake balance. Not all options are available, and most modifications can only be made in the garage, but those options may help.
2. Choosing a different engine map. This can be helpful for fuel economy purposes as well as for the engine itself at those times when maximum performance is not needed.
3. Checking the condition of the car. You can check the possible damage to the wings and other parts of the car, as well as their percentage of wear (this is especially important in the career).
4. Checking the condition of the tires. The engineer can warn you about the wearing out of tires, but the percentage information about their condition is also helpful and allows you to plan a pitstop before performance drops significantly.