--- title: "EA Sports F1 Is Sticking With the Ego Game Engine—And That’s a Good Thing" description: "F1 24 has the rare distinction of relying on a game engine built just for it. Having seen what Unreal Engine did for WRC, that's a relief." date: "2024-05-20" modified: "2024-05-20" authors: - name: "Adam Ismail" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/adam-ismail" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/ea-sports-f1-is-sticking-with-the-ego-game-engine-and-thats-a-good-thing" categories: - "Culture" - "F1" - "News" - "Racing" - "Video Games" --- # EA Sports F1 Is Sticking With the Ego Game Engine—And That’s a Good Thing ![]() *\Electronic Arts\* When *F1 24* was ramping up for its reveal some weeks ago, a particularly vocal subset of the official [Formula 1]() game's community [seized on a critique]() that's not uncommon in modern gaming. See, the game engine behind the title, Ego, has deep roots, having powered every Codemasters *F1* entry back to the first in 2009. Ego's legacy is often blamed for these titles looking or playing similarly year after year, but the reality is that the technology has evolved enormously over the last decade and a half, and the development team has no intention of ditching it now—nor should they. Indeed, EA Sports' official F1 games will continue to be built on Ego for the foreseeable future rather than moving to third-party technology like Unreal Engine, *[F1 24]()* Senior Creative Director Lee Mather told *The Drive* on the paddock of the [Miami Grand Prix](). "I think what people don't realize is because we publicized the move to a different version of Ego in 2015—we're not on that version still. We have iterated on it hundreds of times since then," Mather said, before calling out the considerable progress the franchise has seen on the graphical side alone. "So if you look at what we've got now from a graphics standpoint, we wouldn't have had \[Dynamic Diffuse Global Illumination\] back then. We didn't have ray tracing, we didn't have ray-cast shadows. All of those things are additions that are right up to date, cutting edge. We got 4K \[resolution and\] 60 \[frames per second\], we got 120 Hz on \[Xbox\] Series X and PS5." ![]() *Electronic Arts* Mather's been building F1 games at Codies since the company's very first. He reflects that because *F1 2015* was publicized as running "Ego 4.0," and the studio stopped incrementing the version number after that point, that's led to the impression that the platform the game was built on wasn't evolving—something that clearly wouldn't hold true for anyone going back and loading up 2015, then comparing to last year's *F1 23*. Mather says someone on the dev team actually counted the changed or added lines of code since that initial 4.0 release, and though he couldn't remember the exact number during our short chat under the sweltering Florida sun, the director said the difference was "significant." Digging deeper, fans should be pleased that Codies is still committed to Ego for this franchise. We all saw the fallout of *[EA Sports WRC]()* moving from Ego, as *Dirt Rally 2.0* used, to Unreal Engine 4 in pursuit of lengthier stages. The result was a game that still handled excellently but looked comparatively poor and ran *infinitely* worse. In fact, I'd go so far as to say at launch, [*EA Sports WRC* was unplayable on PC](), owing to the regretfully uncommon phenomenon of Unreal Engine's shader compilation stutter. Codemasters was always a bastion of racing games that played smoothly and consistently, and *F1* is able to sustain that reputation precisely because it utilizes the studio's own tech, which is laser-focused on open-wheel circuit racing these days. ![]() *Electronic Arts* "\[Ego\] gives us great versatility," Mather told me. "We can pick and choose what tech benefits Formula 1, because there's no point taking tech that's no use to us. We want stuff that benefits the F1 game, because it's the F1 engine. And it's the same with the physics—we can pick and choose the components that work for Formula 1, not for other formulas that we don't need to worry about." That's exactly what you'd hope for from a simulation at any level, whether we're talking about the official F1 title or *iRacing*. There's a reason why *[Gran Turismo]()* and *[Forza Motorsport]()* run on their own proprietary engines as well, rather than Unreal. These are complicated games with highly specialized requirements. Just consider the [specific enhancements Codemasters is touting]() for *F1 24's* physics. "We started iterating on \[the handling model\] straight off the back of *\[F1\] 23*," Mather said. "And it wasn't just refining what we had, it was replacing large chunks of technology—so the suspension was redone to bring in the kinematics, aero was redone to take into consideration the ride height of the car more effectively, and the DRS was completely redone." In the end, if there's any skepticism of what's truly new in a game like *F1 24*, it's ultimately down to the fact that these are annual releases simulating a sport that changes in only incremental ways from year to year, just like any other major sport. From a technological perspective, Ego has evolved to meet (or, at least, attempt to meet) the challenges each new installment presents. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing how it drives with those physics improvements when F1 24 launches on May 31. *Got tips? Send 'em to tips@thedrive.com* ## Author Adam is a Senior Editor at The Drive, concentrating on curating and developing the site's slate of daily journalism, from initial pitch to final copy edit. When he's not at his desk researching leads and working with writers, he's testing vehicles or reviewing racing games, new and old. He joined The Drive in 2023, following seven years of covering consumer technology and cars. A car lover and gamer since his earliest memories, Adam came to know the automotive world through video games. First it was Daytona USA, Sega Rally, and Ridge Racer; then came Need For Speed, which inspired an encyclopedic knowledge of '90s supercars, and, of course, Gran Turismo. If not for them, he'd assuredly be doing something else right now. Adam is based in the suburbs outside Philly, where there are ample roads for his hot hatch to stretch its legs. In his car, he's probably listening to indie rock, drum and bass, or Yankees baseball. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()