It’s well known now that the F1 game are not without their problems even at launch, with lots of patches always being needed even right after game release to fix some small things.

However, the F1 games are running on such an old game engine now, with such bloated code, that even the release of the patches themselves is causing more knock on problems that themselves need additional patches to fix. So it’s kind of a vicious circle now that’s become comical at times with the F1 23 game.

I had initially done several different articles covering the major problems caused by patches on F1 23, but I’ll now bring them into one shorter summary article.

Problem #1 – Difficulty Altered After 1.08 Patch

For more advanced players using higher difficulty levels of 10 or above, the 1.08 patch early on in the life cycle knocked the difficulty out of line, making the game too hard for some users on the same difficulty they were fine with before the patch.

After the 1.08 patch, players were advised to reduce the AI by a few clicks, or reduce it to 100 or less if you are finding it too difficult.

The 1.08 patch actually increased AI difficulty for all AI levels over 100, so this is the reason why more skilled players that race with higher levels of AI are finding it more difficult after this update.

See my own guide on finding your own ideal AI level for F1 23 if you’re still struggling with this issue.

Problem #2 – All Custom Controller/Calibration Settings Wiped After 1.12 Update

This was a major annoyance for all players, but especially wheel users. All players on all platforms had any and all custom controller/wheel calibration settings wiped and reverted to default after the 1.12 game update.

This meant that both any custom controller schemes (inputs) were wiped and restored to the Preset scheme, and any calibration settings (dead-zone, linearity, wheel settings etc) were also reset.

To fix this, players were either having to use a preset scheme, or go to  Settings…..Controls, Vibration & Force Feedback, open up one of the default schemes and then select Edit to reconfigure it (if they could even remember).

For calibration settings, it was again a matter of remembering as best you could and recalibrating from the game menu.

Fur future reference, it’s advised to take either a screenshot or a note of any wheel/calibration settings and also controller schemes used in case they get wiped again in future games.

Problem #3 – Equal Cars Settings Broken After 1.12 Update

This is perhaps the biggest problem that has yet to be fully fixed and affected leagues and possibly the failed eSports as well.

The 1.12 settings specifically broken the equal cars settings in multiplayer, meaning the cars were no longer equal and therefore could not really be used for any serious multiplayer competition.

1.12 Patch Breaks Equal Cars – Tested

Here’s a quick run-down of the issues created:

• Time Trial and Grand Prix mode seem unaffected – Equal Cars still delivers Equal Performance.
• Online GP mode is where the Equal Performance setting seems to now be broken after 1.12.
• Different cars definitely now do not perform equally in online lobbies, even when Equal Performance is turned on.
• It mainly seems to be the straight line speed that varies between different cars now, even when set to Equal, though cornering speed also differs between cars.

See our full article on this “Equal cars” bug, plus the excellent embedded video above, for a demonstration of this being tested post the 1.12 update for F1 23.

It was kind of fixed in subsequent patches, but still isn’t really 100% equal.

These issues are just some of the major ones that were caused by updates. There’s loads more niggling little issues, plus recurring bugs that continue to appear in game after game, which continues to annoy the fan base.

It’s just one more reason why sooner or later the F1 games need to be moved onto a brand new engine and re-coded from scratch, instead of building on a old and bloated code that will continue to cause issues. I don’t think it’ll happen on F1 24, but maybe the ’25 or ’26 editions will be launched on a new engine.