Formula Legends Preview – An arcade racing love letter to F1

Formula Legends is a racing game full of on-track drama, tight racing action and very silly names. Luis Hammerton cruises round the final corner in Belgium to secure top step on the podium, though not without controversy after nudging Mark Peerstallen and Osvald Pastry out of the way while going down the straight. Sad faces all round, meanwhile, for Petrul Tassly, Charlie Lacreme and Hans Troll, who were nowhere near the top three, and who are probably pretty disappointed to find that their special abilities aren’t as good as those guys.

Formula Legends takes the sport of F1 and gives it an arcade racing makeover, with hyper-deformed cars, giant racer helmets and oversized tyres, giving this a look that’s more cute than it is couture. It immediately feels fun, welcoming and kind of adorable, and if you’re a fan of the real-life sport, it’s an exceedingly light and fun take on it.

Our hands-on with the demo gave us a look at a single track, and the different racers and cars you can choose from, but there’s a lovely feature here that amplified our time with the game, and helps to push Formula Legends into essential territory for motorsport fans.

Formula Legends features three different eras of premier open-wheel racing, with track layouts, cars and racers that match each time period. That means we’re heading back to the 70s, with a sepia filter applied to the puddle-strewn track, the blue-ish tinged tarmac of the 90s, through to the more readily recognizable names and designs of the modern day sport. It’s a great idea – one it shares with Retro GP – but it feels like the team at 3DClouds have made a little more of it, beyond just the differing car designs.

Our hands-on took us to Belgium, racing around three iterations of Spa-Francorchamps; it’s a clear homage to the real-life track, even if they’re not allowed to use the proper circuit name and instead has a legally distinct equivalent branded as the Ardennes GP. That means you get to experience the iconic climb through Eau Rouge, the tricky combination of Les Combes and Malmedy and the blast of speed out of Stavelot, all presented in Formula Legends’ simple but effective art style.

I love the ability to see how they’ve mimicked the evolution of the track design, and to note what’s been retained through fifty years of racing there. Even if this is a lighter, more arcade-orientated title, it’s clear that the development team have a genuine passion for the real-life sport, and for its history.

On-track, this is old-school arcade racing, with a zoomed-out overhead camera, giving you a tucked-in view, and more emphasis placed on memorising the different nuances of the track rather than being able to see all the way to the horizon. It reminds me of classics like Super Off-Road and their more recent brethren Super Woden GP, but with a bit more immediacy thanks to the camera tracking behind your car.

These little race cars feel incredibly planted on the track, with grip for days – at least in the 90s and modern era cars – but this is an arcade racer that needs some tactical and thoughtful driving to get you through.

You need to be aware of your braking zones, and you need to make sure you’re following the circuit, as Formula Legends isn’t afraid to fire off a bevy of penalties for exceeding track limits. It’s a slightly odd juxtaposition at first, with the arcade handling and appearance seeming at odds with the more precise needs of the handling and rules, but once you’ve settled into the rhythm of racing you’ll find it comes together beautifully.

The pitstops add a further wrinkle to the action, with a minigame that tasks you with first selecting your tyre type, before changing each wheel by matching the correct QTE button press. It keeps you on your toes through an integral part of the race that many racing games simply ignore.

Few things are better than the sweep of your race car flying through a series of corners, hitting that point of zen that you find with the best racers, where you feel utterly in control and locked in. I wasn’t expecting Formula Legends to feel as good as it does on track, but it’s been a delight from start to finish. I love that the different eras boast their own handling too – you’re almost experiencing a different game, with unique tracks, appearance and racers.

Formula Legends is set to delight any fan of Formula 1, with an irreverent but loving nod to the different drivers that’s backed up with genuinely engaging racing. I can’t wait to experience more of it when it launches later this year.