We've been wanting to take a look at Codemasters' F1 2021 for some time now. It's the first series entry to specifically target the new wave of consoles – and it's also been subject to some curious changes on PlayStation 5. Ray tracing and 3D audio were part of the mix… until they weren't. Various patches added and removed the feature, but with the arrival of the recent 1.07 title update, it looks like all of these elements of the game are fully present and correct. But can it deliver all of this while still pushing out 4K resolution at 60 frames per second? Well, the answer is yes… and no.
Talking about raw graphics specs, there's little to differentiate Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 versions of the game. Both target 4K resolution and it certainly looks native, with no obvious signs of the checkerboarding solution that Codemasters has used in the past. Dynamic resolution scaling – as always – cannot be ruled out, but all of our samples returned a full 4K resolution- (a decent upgrade on the 1800p on PS4 Pro last year. As for Xbox Series S? Codemasters targets 1080p here.
Adding some spice is the inclusion of 120Hz racing. Unfortunately, this is not a feature found on Series S, but for Series X and PS5, it's an excellent addition to the game. Resolution is dialled back to 1440p to achieve it, and the doubling of frame-rate adds immensely to the experience. Side-scrollers, first-person shooters and racing games truly benefit from the increase in performance and it's without doubt an excellent feature to have.