I've played a bunch of F1 2012 and have really enjoyed it. I'm thinking of getting a newer game, and am wondering which might be the best combination of features and value. The main thing I'm looking for is some more depth to career mode and granularity when it comes to AI difficulty. I'd like to be able to have a career playthrough that's somewhat "realistic" where I can rise through the ranks for a few seasons and eventually get signed by a top team and contend for the championship. I haven't been able to find the right difficulty settings to accomplish this with F1 2012 - either I dominate from the start or I'm the slowest on the track and only avoid finishing last by blocking other cars from passing.

Obviously, the newest games will have the most new features, but I'd prefer not to pay $60 if I can get similar enjoyment from an older game, so I'm looking at something between 2015 and 2019. Is there one of those that you all would recommend over the others? I'm not particularly interested in multiplayer, so that's not a factor for me.