This is such a great review Luke!! This is the most nuanced review of this game I have read across the internet, and I’ve read a lot. I’ve found it super interesting to engage with reddit n’ what not about this game..

I share a lot of your same feelings on this! Big chunks of this game still feel magic, and even better or more interesting than previous battlefields. At the same time, some of the problems and omissions are really bad, and hopefully they get addressed!

My suggestion is that whatever the rules say beforehand should be followed and not subject to mere whims.

My input:

There should have only been Option 3, given the length of time it usually takes for a SC to clear.

Drivers have been able to buy their way in since Day 1 of Formula 1 existing. It used to be even more so before the Super License rules were implemented that require at least some minimal amount of open wheel racing accomplishment.

It’s an option, sure, but not as good as the RF, IMO, for a couple of reasons:

There’s a 4th option: don’t allow any lapped cars to pass and green flag the last lap with 5 cars between Lewis and Max. They’d all have blue flags and dive out of the way pretty quick but at least there’d be a couple second gap Max had to make up on Lewis instead of starting on his gearbox with fresh tires

I figured it would be red flagged since it was so close to the end of the race. Finishing under yellow would’ve sucked but it wouldn’t have been any worse than whatever the fuck Belgium was.

I don’t think F1 can call itself a sport in the 21st century if drivers can still easily buy their way into the world championship.

I’m fine with how it finished (that said, I’m biased as I was cheering for Max). There were multiple “good” options, though.

Go green one lap earlier instead of wavering on the decision-making and leave the lapped cars in the running order. They’ll get blue flagged and Max has fresh softs. He probably gets to Lewis in two laps anyway.

DRS helped, in my opinion. Prior to that, the aero had become so twitchy that passing didn’t happen.

Nope, you don’t understand what an NFT is.

theoretically true, but again, not something that can’t be done without NFT’s. Back when Microsoft announced the Xbox One, they were toying with the idea of digital license transfers. Something like that could still be done, without the need for NFT’s and all the harm they cause.

No, NFT does not necessarily equal a unique thing that only you own. It’s a unique token that only you own.. that has some data attached to it which may or may not be unique. As to the scarcity here, the article mentions 250 are available.

“The ability to permanently carry over customization items to every game in that franchise (and possibly beyond that) in the future.”

From an Ars Technica article:

the only possible benefit I can see from something like this can be achieved without NFT’s:

Federal minimum wage is $7.25, 600 hours adds up to around $4,350.