The Crew 2 (2018) - Every PC F1 Game
0The Crew 2 by Ivory Tower/Ubisoft, 2018.
The Crew 2 is the first open-world racing game to feature an officially licensed F1 car. Of course there have been open world games with F1 cars in before, like some of the Crash Time games, but they used unbranded F1 lookalikes. Thanks to Red Bull, The Crew 2 contains both the 2017 and 2018 Red Bull F1 cars (the latter coming with an optional preseason "Distraction" livery).
Thanks to the community, there's a handful of livery skins available to apply to your car, so I managed to make the Red Bull look like a Williams, McLaren, Ferrari, Force India and Renault! But these aren't official, so don't criticise the quality!
The Crew 2 is out-and-out an arcade game. You can tell this because you can't wreck your F1 car (only dent it a bit), it has a turbo boost, horn and even a hand brake, for those who like drifting! Also, the car only ever drives on slicks, even in rain/snow, and doesn't handle badly on either! Not very realistic! But then, this is a game where you can transform from a plane to an F1 car in the sky, fall hundreds of feet to the ground and drive off like nothing happened!
I should mention the weather: much like Forza Horizon 4, the weather is determined by a remote server, which means you have to be online at the right time to encounter fog, rain and snow. Luckily, I managed to find some rain! It's actually possible to have the whole of the USA (in game) covered in snow, but it happens so rarely, hardly anyone has seen it! You can choose any weather conditions in photo mode, but then you can't actually drive in that weather!
Circuit-wise, the game only really has the Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca (The Crew 1 had more licensed tracks, but no F1 cars). Thus, for the clips below, the circuits listed are just the sort of thing I was aiming to recreate.
1. Race Start (Monza): 0:00 This is one of the several fictional tracks, the only one with trees surrounding it. The computer-controlled opposition are a bit faster than you when you start racing the "Alpha Grand Prix" events, making it really quite challenging. You'll also note the concept F1-like cars, which were intended to be the pinnacle of racing in the game (presumably before the Red Bull F1 team was licensed!). This is a livery created by the community.
2. Spray Effects (Silverstone): 0:34 Here's the wet weather effects! It looks pretty stunning as the sun starts to come out from the clouds. The spray effects are a bit simple though. Oh and your car only ever drives on slick tyres! This is the original Red Bull livery that comes with the game.
3. Tunnel & View (Monaco): 0:50 Not Monaco, but Detroit. Here's a tunnel, and a lot of traffic! This is a livery created by the community.
4. Wet Track (Spa-Francorchamps): 1:13 Here's the corkscrew from Laguna Seca, instead of Eau Rouge (as the game is only set in the USA). It's very inaccurate! And again, there's no wet weather tyres! This is a livery created by the community.
5. Pitstop (Interlagos): 1:35 There's no pitlanes in the game. Even Laguna Sega, shown here, has a rather broken pitlane! This is a livery created by the community.
6. Huge Crash (Montreal): 1:54 Crashes cause no damage, just cost you time (and some cosmetic damage). This looks a bit odd as the tyre marks in the gravel are already showing (due to me running the replay a few times!). This is a livery created by the community.
This is part of the Every PC F1 Game playlist, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYDobL0b26uiiYP8KdN3AwQmsu7ilzpxL