Driver Career

***Driver Career*** is a game mode where the player participates in one or more seasons of racing. The exact implementation of this game mode and its name vary between the different games, however the core remains more or less the same. Driver Career functions much like the real world Formula 1 Championship, where the results of each race are counted towards a championship and at the conclusion of all races, a winning driver and (in some games) constructor are decided.

## Codemasters Era and onwards

### F1 2014

F1 2014 introduces two minor changes to the career mode. The player can now start with any team which they desire, and the player can also choose between three season lengths, short (seven races), medium (twelve races), and full season (all nineteen races).

### F1 2015

In F1 2015, the Driver Career game mode was reduced in scope from previous iterations. The game mode was limited to one season unlike the multiple seasons players were able to partake in, and there was no ability to progress a career from the 2014 season to the 2015 season, despite both being included in the game. Players are also unable to use a custom name as they were able to in previous entries and are restricted to choosing an existing driver and their team. Research and Development was completely removed from the game.

#### Pro Driver Career

F1 2015 also introduced a variant to the game mode known as "Pro Driver Career", which includes the same limitations as the standard Career mode, with the only differences being a forced first-person perspective, no HUD, no assists (no traction control, no ABS, forced manual transmission), and difficulty locked to the highest level (Legend).

### F1 2016

For F1 2016, the Driver Career game mode was extended in scope compared to all previous games. Numerous additions made their way into the game mode, including the reintroduction of custom drivers, the ability to race for ten seasons instead of only five in comparison to older entries, and expanded Research and Development, which allows players to choose their own upgrade pathway, albeit a fairly linear and simplistic one. Players are also allowed to choose any starting team, and to switch teams at either the halfway point of a season or the end.

### F1 2019

F1 2019 saw two changes to the Driver Career. It is the first game in the series that allows non-player driver transfers between teams either during or between seasons. These moves are completely random, and any driver can move to any team regardless of real-life affiliation. The game also adds Formula 2 cars and drivers, and three short scenarios are available prior to the start of the F1 career to simulate a rookie driver graduating to F1. If a players chooses to start with F2 in their driver career, two fictional drivers, Lukas Weber and Devon Butler, are added to the driver career.

### F1 2020

F1 2020 reintroduces the ability to change the length of the season, as previously seen in F1 2014. The season lengths are now ten, sixteen, and twenty two for short, medium, and full seasons respectively. This feature returned in successive games.

### F1 2021

F1 2021 introduces a new type of Driver Career, the Two-Player Career. It allows two players to participate in a driver career style game within the same save game, either working together within the same team, or competitively against each other in different teams.