Disclaimer: This is a work-in-progress build, and performance will be further improved ahead of launch.

F1 22 officially releases on July 1, but EA has been kind enough to give us access to a work-in-progress build prior to release to test the game. Today, we will take a look at the Miami International Autodrome, situated in Miami Gardens, Florida, ahead of the Miami GP this weekend, and as usual here at Compusemble, we will focus on the tech behind the game.

The Visuals

Taking a ride around the Miami International Autodrome, it is clear how much effort and care Codemasters have put into crafting a highly detailed circuit, and also bringing Miami Gardens to life. From the famous home of the Miami Dolphins - The Hard Rock Stadium - to the overpass on Florida's Turnpike, the amount of detail makes you feel like you are actually there in the Florida sun. In some ways, it is even better than the real thing, as the marina at the track has real water in the game!

Foliage seems to be improved as well. Leaves on trees look much more detailed and realistic than in years past, and vegetation seems to be more dense and vibrant overall.

Two new additions to the franchise that we are excited about are Ray-Traced Ambient Occlusion and Ray-Traced Transparent Reflections.

Ambient occlusion renders new shadows that can ground objects and naturally darken surfaces and other items based on ambient lighting. With Ray-Traced Ambient Occlusion, the game is better able to approximate the effects of local shadowing where shadows are missing, giving a greater sense of depth.

Ray-Traced Transparent Reflections are much like the ray traced reflections you would see in a puddle or on any opaque object, except it applies to transparent surfaces like windows.

Of course, the game supports Ray-Traced Reflections and Ray-Traced Shadows, too, which were first introduced in F1 2021.

Overall, the game isn't breaking any new ground when it comes to visuals in this pre-release build, as it is still using the same Ego engine as in previous iterations. However, there are enough improvements that help elevate the visuals of F1 22 above that of its predecessor.

Huge Boost from NVIDIA's DLSS

These improved visuals don't come for free. Performance at the Ultra High preset in native 4K is around 35-40 FPS at Miami, even on the beefy RTX 3080 Ti that we used. This is very common for games boasting as many ray tracing features as F1 22 does, though. See our full test system below:

➤ RTX 3080 Ti

➤ Ryzen 5 3600

➤ 32 GB Crucial Ballistix Sport LT RAM

➤ ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro NVMe SSD 1 TB

➤ Seasonic Focus GX-1000

➤ Arctic Freezer 34 CO

➤ Phanteks Eclipse P500A DRGB

The game is not heavy on the CPU in 4K resolution. GPU utilization is locked to 99%, so we are GPU bound. Luckily, DLSS comes to the rescue! The improvements across each mode are truly impressive.

• DLSS Quality: 80% increase over native resolution

• DLSS Balanced: 110% increase over native resolution

• DLSS Performance: 140% increase over native resolution

• DLSS Ultra Performance: 180% increase over native resolution

Check out our video below:

These are approximate figures based on testing performed in 4K with the Ultra High preset. DLSS Quality and DLSS Balanced mode hold up very well visually compared to native 4K. In fact, there are instances where Quality mode looks better than native resolution, thanks to the superior anti-aliasing of DLSS. Balanced mode could pass for near native resolution from a normal viewing distance as well, though the image is not quite as refined as in Quality mode.

We did get to test FSR 1.0, but the performance increase was below that of the Quality mode in DLSS. We saw around a 40% increase in performance over native resolution. While we would not recommend using this feature if you own a RTX card, it will still come in handy for non-RTX card owners who want to eek out more performance.

All in all, we are impressed with the performance in this pre-release build. DLSS Quality mode allowed us to remain above 60 FPS at all times, and by using Balanced mode, and lowering the resolution to 1440p and slightly lowering the settings, those on lower end hardware should be able to have a smooth 60 FPS experience.

Keep in mind that this is still a work-in-progress, so it is not reflective of the final product. There could be further improvements to both visuals and performance.

Make sure to get subscribed to our YouTube channel for more F1 22 content next week. We will bring you side-by-side comparisons with ray tracing on vs off, as well as side-by-side comparisons of the various DLSS modes and FSR 1.0.

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