“F1 2010” – first play (Pictures & video)

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F1 2010 by Codemasters arrives for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in September

Codemasters claim “F1 2010” will be “a departure for F1 games”.

F1 fans have been waiting four years for a new official F1 game for the latest generation console formats. In the last 12 months we’ve had hundreds of comments on this site discussing what should be in the game.

F1 Fanatic put your questions to Codemasters at their launch event in London today – and was among the first people to play an early version of “F1 2010”.

Handling

Senior producer Paul Jeal promised “F1 2010” would offer “authentic, predictable and consistent handling.” I sampled a ‘pre-alpha build’ (‘early version’ in non-gamers lingo) of the game to put that claim to the test.

Even in this early version the handling feels more convincing than the decidedly arcade-style “F1 2009”. Stamping the throttle and throwing the car around do not work here. Drop off a Monza kerb with the accelerator down too far and you pirouette in an instant.

But nor did the game feel punishingly difficult. I quickly got a feel for how the car behaved and got into a satisfying rhythm within a couple of laps.

This is not a bleeding-edge hardcore simulation – it feels more like “Gran Turismo” or “Forza” than “Grand Prix Legends”. It’s easy to pick up but requires a bit of concentration to master.

They have toned down the realism when it comes to following closely behind another car. The handful of videos Codemasters showed us of the game featured more overtaking than the whole of the Bahrain Grand Prix – and that’s probably for the best.

You do have more control over the car settings than in previous games. The driver can alter engine management settings to get more power at the expense of fuel economy. Use up too much of your engine life an you risk falling foul of the faithfully-recreated limit of eight engines per season. And, of course, you can tweak the adjustable front wing.

But I couldn’t find a button to control the drivers’ knee to operate the McLaren’s infamous F-duct.

Rain and rubber

Codemasters are especially proud of their track simulation which they call ‘active track technology’. This re-calculates the grip levels on the surface for every 30cm the players’ car travels, taking into account build-up of rubber, marbles from the tyres and, of course, the weather.

This has a clear effect on your car’s handling. Not only do your tyres pick up dirt if you go off the track, but braking off-line is trickier. Go out on the track in the first minutes of Friday practice and you’ll find it’s ‘green’ – low on grip – making your lap times slower. You’ll have to pay attention to how the track develops to pick the best moment to set a time in qualifying.

When rain falls the track gets greasy and eventually puddles develop. If the rain stops a dry line begins to emerge and you’ll have to look after your tyres by seeking out damp patches of track.

We saw some video of the rain effects and they look genuinely impressive. Clouds of spray billow off the cars and reflections shimmer in the puddles on the track.

Damage

Codemasters promises a more sophisticated car damage model than we’ve seen on previous games. As well as knocking off wings and wheels you can damage your suspension which unbalances your handling. Debris from collisions can land on the track and cause more damage.

Some of this can be fixed with a quick visit to the pits but make sure you stop on your marks – one video they showed us featured a car knocking a team member down.

Your driving style can provoke damage too. Repeatedly lock a wheel and you can see blisters and flat-spots develop on the rubber. Keep punishing your tyres and they’ll eventually burst.

Rivals

Artificial intelligence is one area where F1 games have fallen down in the past, with drivers either weaving across the track absurdly or making no attempt to defend their position at al.

In “F1 2010” cars defend their positions and try to break your tow. Interestingly, the team say they’ve tried to model the characteristics of individual drivers, so some are better in the wet than others, and some do better at certain tracks, such as Felipe Massa at Istanbul.

Your relationship with your team mate plays a bigger role in “F1 2010” than in previous F1 games. No longer is he just the guy in the other car – you have to fight and beat him to get the team on your side. Finish ahead often enough and you’ll have access to performance upgrades before he does – just like in real life.

The paddock

Codemasters’ brand manager Paul Waters believes “F1 games have always done having the cars on track very well”. He explained the team set out to do more than just simulate F1 racing, but allow players to take control of their virtual career in a way they’ve never been able to before.

In career mode, your time outside of the car plays an important role in the game. You’ll go inside your garage and the team trucks – which are modelled for the first time in an F1 game, they say.

How well perform is reflected in how many journalists are camped outside your motorhome waiting to ask questions, and how many fans turn up to your autograph sessions.

You can even criticise your team in press conferences which will do you no favours if you’re a struggling up-and-comer.

Multiplayer and more

So what’s missing? The team admitted that the safety car – one of the most requested features in the comments on F1 Fanatic – will not feature in the game. According to Codemasters it added to little to the playing experience to merit inclusion. However the full range of warning flags will be simulated including red flags for race stoppages.

Nor will players be able to drive the formation lap – again the team said they felt it added too little to the game compared to other aspects. However this feature and the safety car is being considered in the 2011 version of the game.

Because of license restrictions you can only play with the 2010 season cars and tracks. Codemasters say they looked at adding feeder series to the game but decided it would take too long to do.

The timing of the game’s release means it will be on the shelves before the cars have raced at the new Korean circuit, meaning that track will have to be built without data from the race weekend. However the team are confident that can build it accurately and have no plans for a post-Korea patch to improve the simulation.

Up to 13 people will be able to play at once in online multiplayer. Curiously, the team said they had been advised by FOM to leave the slot for a 13th team free in case one appears later this season.

The version of the game we played today which you can see in the pictures below is still in the early stages of development. Although some of the aspects fans might want to see won’t appear in the game the early signs are very encouraging. But we won’t know for sure how good it is until the game finally arrives this September.

Codemasters F1 2010 screengrabs

Codemasters F1 2010 video

This video shows ‘pre-alpha’ code which uses unfinished graphics and last season’s cars. The final game will use the 2010 season cars, tracks and drivers.

This second video was shot at the event and, again, features pre-alpha build code. Look out for Raikkonen going over the top of the Red Bull:

Read more: "F1 2010??? by Codemasters arrives for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC in September

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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185 comments on ““F1 2010” – first play (Pictures & video)”

  1. Finally, a F1 console game that beats F1 ’97? Time will tell.

    1. Magnificent Geoffrey
      17th March 2010, 21:49

      Wow. F1’97 was THE game of my childhood.

      1. Geoffrey, We have something in common ^^

    2. Handling part has this
      “reaism” and
      rubber and rain “sloewr”

      1. Fixed, thanks.

  2. Sounds pretty good, thanks for the review

  3. Disappointing its been put back to September (from March) and that there will be no safety car but I can wait. :-)

    Better the wait and it be good that rushed and rubbish

    1. Than not that…. doh!

      1. I really don’t see where the fun in following the safety car for 20 laps in wet conditions would be anyway, or for 5 laps after a crash. It does seem a tad pointless, even if it does more accurately represent an F1 race.

        1. I agree, I think it would be boring and frustrating to have to follow it for more than a single lap.

          1. There’s the Trulli train for that. hahaha

        2. You don’t, others might. What would the harm be in having it as an optional feature?

          1. When I saw the safety car feature in rFactor I was excited – but after 2 or 3 occurences I just turned it off. Trying to drive around at a reduced speed predicting the movements of the AI often ends in a crash or penalty, and with most F1 2010 gamers likely to only do races at 10-15% of the original distance, a safety car could neuter half the race.

          2. Definitely agree with you.
            I would like the option of Safety Car and formation lap also.

          3. Oh sure, as an option obviously. I’d probably turn the option off after a couple of goes, unless it war particularly interesting, which I don’t think it would be.

        3. obviously they wouldn’t do that. a lap or 2 behind the safety car would be good. no more than 2 tho.

        4. Safety cars should be included however it You should have to slow down and reach the back of the train and if you want, press start and skip to the final few bends before it goes green so you get to do a rolling start.

    2. Yeah cuz if was released in March then that would be stupid as that would mean that they would be making it around November to late February time and they wouldn’t know what teams and drivers would be in it cuz they weren’t all signed up by then. So I don’t see how they would have been able to make the game anyway

  4. PC Simulation with a Logitech G25 is where it’s at!

    1. I agree whole heartedly!!! can’t wait… :)

  5. Looks good!

    September can’t come fast enough.

    In the meantime I’ll have Moto GP 09 to keep me ticking over.

    Nice articles as always Keith.

  6. tomforpresident
    17th March 2010, 19:28

    personaly the only shame is that there will be no brawn, all the features sound great.
    my last fave game was f1 career challenge on gamecube because of the the idea of rising through the ranks and 4 years worth of f1 cars.

    1. would be cool if they included the Brawn car as an ‘unlockable’ feature.

    2. There will be a Brawn, it’s silver and say Mercedes on it….

      1. tomforpresident
        17th March 2010, 22:51

        just that the brawn looked a lot nicer than the mercedes though that’s all.

    3. that sounds alot like one of my favorite F1 (unlicenced) Games “Super Monaco GP” on the megadrive. That career mode was sweet.

  7. I can say, having F1CE, its a novelty to do the formation lap, and its nice to try and weave around to get heat into the tyre, but after a while it just becomes tedious. It all sounds good though bar the omission of the safety car.

    Gonna have to get me a wheel for my ps3 i think.

    1. I would have had them as options that can be switched on or off…but that would probably have added even more time to the project…

      …looks amazing though, makes me wish I had more than just a laptop…

    2. Miles Plumley
      22nd March 2010, 11:26

      Hey man, i hear ya. i dont have a good enough PC to do the game justice. any idea what your gonna get? im looking for a good ps3 wheel but im struggling

  8. Can’t they just give you the option to not use the safety car and formation lap. You could turn off the formation lap in Championship Edition.

    1. Actually, just thinking about it. If your car can get damaged from debris left on the track, how do you get rid of it? Does it dissapear into thin air like in F1 CE, or can run over marshalls as they pick it up?

    2. I think it’s more of an issue of being too much work to include, rather than people not wanting it.

  9. this sounds a lot more like what I’ve been hoping for! Here’s crossing our fingers that they deliver on their promises…

  10. Sounds to me like Codemasters have listened to what the fans want, which is good to see. They picked up criticism last year for not bringing the game out on all the platforms, which was annoying.

    However from what you’ve said the driving will be realistic as will the computers. The last f1 game i got was F12002 which is so long back that the Jaguar and Arrows were on it. On that game even on ‘hard’ level you could still be a Jordan (which at the time was an average midfield car) and still race through the pack easily to win.

    There was nothing more frustrating than the fact if u worked hard to catch people, for instance get 7 seconds of the driver in front over a period of time that within 1 lap of getting past them (at least for me) you’d be 8-9 seconds ahead. In short, once you got past drivers it’d be near impossible that they’d fight back and even challnege you for a position.

    On F12010 i want to be struggling in the midfield at first and really having to work hard to gain a creditable result.

    The press conference thing seems a good idea and is something that im suprised hasn’t been used in F1 games before. In alot of football based manager games you get to speak to the media/journalists so it’s only a matter of time. And in action based games you’re given a choice of what you want your character to say. It’s a great way of making the player feel involved with the game.

    Not that i want any driver to not complete the season, but have Codemasters said if there are going to updates onto the game say if a reserve driver comes into the team to replace a driver (Hartley in for Alguersuari for example).

    Dead important that it’s in HD, as this will make the mis en scene/scenery look more realistic. I know that on F1 06 or F1 Championship Edition it struggled for ‘realism’ on some circuits with ridicolous amount of sunlight i think on Monaco where before going into the tunnel at times it was hard to see where you were going.

    1. I agree! Racing games which are way too easy are dead boring, in F1 CE I would have to intentionally slow down in qualifying so I don’t get pole all the time, or make sure I have a bad start so I can have fun and overtake.

      1. Was like that on F1 06 lol, winning in a Super Aguri lol

  11. Thanks for the info, great article, been searching the official forums all day, but this sums it up perfectly.

  12. let’s hope any crashed or stranded cars on track don’t disappear after 10 seconds!

  13. A little disappointed that the game won’t have all 24 cars, just 13… but, the gameplay will make up for it!

    I’m looking forward to this mroe than the f1 season itself.

    1. Cube, I read that to say that only 13 people can play together online, but there will be all 24 cars (with an extra slot in case the 13th team shows up before it’s released?).

      Keith, can you clarify?

      1. Barney Gumble
        17th March 2010, 20:05

        I’m pretty sure there’ll be 24 cars on the main game, he meant there will be a limit of 13 human players on online races

        I think it’s revealing that FOM are still hoping for a 13th team this season. We haven’t heard much from Stefan GP lately- perhaps Zoran’s been told to go away and sharpen up his English skills before he gets a place for his team

      2. Yes there will be all 24 cars in the game, maximum of 13 can play at once online.

        1. AH! that’s all right then! I wipe away my disappointment & replace it with “I WANT IT NOW” syndrome.

  14. Barney Gumble
    17th March 2010, 20:01

    Looks good. Shame they haven’t added a safety car, especially since so many of us seem to want it. It would be great if you were right at the back, the SC came out and you got a chance to fight your way up the order.

    Also, I think having feeder series’ would have been a good idea too. I have Moto GP 2004, it’s not a particularly good game, but it has a fun career mode where you move up from 125cc’s to 250cc’s and finally end up in Moto GP. Oh well, there’s always 2011 for that…

    1. Magnificent Geoffrey
      17th March 2010, 21:53

      I agree that it would be an excellent inclusion, but from what I can gather the actual license provided by the FIA/FOM that Codies acquired is very restrictive and I don’t think they would even be allowed to include the GP2 series for instance without renegotiating the license terms (and obviously shelling out a lot more cash.)

      1. I got the impression from them they were allowed to but the amount of extra development involved was the reason why they didn’t do it.

    2. Jraybay-HamiltonMclarenfan
      17th March 2010, 23:22

      Yes they brought back the 125’s and 250’s in moto gp 08 and it would be really cool to have gp2 or something in formula 1 games as the feeder series .

  15. Will there be car setup?

    1. Yes, and new development parts arriving for your car throughout the game.

      1. Assuming it’s done well, that could be a very nice feature,

  16. nothing beats the classic Geoff Crammonds GP2 for PC. all the modern games seem either really easy, or turn off the assistance and the cars are undriveable. Sept release should be in time to play at the end of the season huh. i’l stick to forza and the continuous wait for GT5…..wait….wait…

    1. I used to play the original back when I was a wee whippersnapper, loved having to search through the manual for the word to start the game :D

      1. GP2 was amazing, my friend and I used to play along with the real F1 season, you could play on the same machine by taking turns and the computer controlling your car when the other person was at the wheel, how games have changed!

        1. Them was the days… *sigh*

          1. GP2 *was* amazing back in 1996-97, but it’s pretty clucnky and actually very easy when put alongside a more modern sim, such as rFactor.

            I’d actually put the updated GPL above all the Crammond GP games…

          2. I too have GP2 but my newer computer fails to recognise it when I insert the disc.:( But personally, I beleive that Grand Prix 4 would have to be easily the best F1 game EVER released! Nothing has come close to the realsim of Grand Prix 4 (except the damage…) and how you can set up the game to suit your difficulty level perfectly so that you can have long wheel to wheel battles with AI cars as if they were actual humans. rFactor is good but I can’t see how people find it more realistic than Grand Prix 4. I still play it often and can’t see another game being as good as it to be honest. Geoff Crammond got it perfect I think! Lets hope F1 2010 puts an end to GP4’s 8 year reign.

  17. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icyrRuwosqY
    Why can’t they add the safety car they did in f199 it adds to the game
    anyway looks good.

  18. *** with the HUD displays? If they have the license from FOM, why in the Heaven´s name don’t put Official HUD instead those grid displays? Hope they will change when released this arcade, sorry, this game… :(

  19. Duncan McDonald
    17th March 2010, 20:32

    It’s looking very good so far. There’s a video here: http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2010/03/17/formula-1-gets-footage/ with Ant Davidson talking and footage of the game.

  20. Someone should make a “Safety Car 2010” game, they’ll make a fortune out of it!

    1. Haha.. I know. We haven’t seen a proper F1 game in YEARS.. and all we have is people moaning about the bloody SAFETY CAR! Wake up, people! Do you know anything about racing games??

      1. Jraybay-HamiltonMclarenfan
        17th March 2010, 23:27

        Yes I also wonder what is up with the safety car and ideas like ” spraying champagne on the podium ” and ” driving the cool down lap after the race ” I dont see the excitment and the point of adding these unless codemasters can re-create some realistic situations making some of these additions necessary.

  21. Very excited for this. Playing Forza until then.

    I love the idea of unlockable cars. Who wouldn’t want to have a go in past champion cars on these amazing tracks. Brawn 09, Mclaren 08, Ferrari 07, etc…

  22. Interesting video, ridiculously annoying editing.

    Nice to see Davidson in there.

  23. Because of license restrictions you can only play with the 2010 season cars and tracks.

    This is a bit of a shame as they have obviously already modelled the 2009 cars, hopefully they will not remove the content entirely and simply hide it, then someone can ‘unlock’ the cars (on the pc version at least.)

    1. One of those annoying legal things that gets in the way of making a truly great game. How cool would it be to be able to play a career over a series of seasons, working your way up through the teams? This isn’t Codemasters failing, it’s at FOM’s end. Must be a fairly new thing, though, because there was a game set over three or four seasons a couple of years ago.

      1. The Comedian 39
        18th March 2010, 10:17

        Yeah there was a career mode in F106 (maybe the previous 1s too, can’t remember now), the thing was everything stayed the same, no calender change, driver change etc. I wish we could have a career mode starting in 2004 driving for jordan or Minardi, making the way up the grid, seeing teams and drivers change…
        oh well, i can dream :)

        1. EA Sports had F1 Career Challenge on the Playstation which was pretty good, found it a bit arcadey though.

      2. EA’s F1 career challenge on the PC did that, also you could download newer season patches from fans.

  24. Cool!

    They say it’s realistic. So can I jump out the car and throw spanners at the mechanics, or go and whack another driver on the head when he crashes into me? :-)

    That would be awsome. It would be similar to the ‘dive’ button on FIFA 2010 :-)

    I hope they have all the intrigue and new developments that your team can make throughout the season, and I can take out Schumacher at the final turn in Abu Dhabi to win the title. Without a stewards inquiry :-)

    1. Or that you take the other guys car? Like a mix between Grand Theft Auto and F1. Grand Theft F1?

      1. Grand Theft F1? Can’t believe no one has mentioned McLaren yet ;)

  25. mmmmh! i have my doubts about it…

    i like that the track gets faster and that if you race off the line, it’s dirty so you go slower. I also like the engine managment, and the off-track action they promise.

    But if it isn’t a true simulator like IT SHOULD, then, ill keep my rFactor, thank you.

  26. What console did you test it on Keith?

    1. An Xbox 360. Looked like some kind of special development machine with an extra piece of hardware attached.

      1. Ahh, the Xbox 360 development kit version. £8000 worth of kit, so I’m told.

        Whoever was playing in that video really mullered that Ferrari into Variante Ascari. Nice to see the crash physics there, with the flipping and wheel bashing.

        Not that I’ll want to spend the game crashing all the time, just nice to know it’s there.

      2. Known in the trade as a DevKit, and console with its brains hanging out so the bug monkeys and crayons can get into it and tell it what to do.

  27. Waht’s the price ?

    1. Not announced yet. Wouldn’t expect it to be less than typical retail prices for games though. The licence must’ve cost them a fair bit.

    2. It should be £39.99 with most new 360/pS3 games, hopefully there will be a demo to try it out before release.

      Also keith you should try arranging a f1fanatic world tournament or something for either console/PC, since there are alot of gamers/F1 fans like me who would like to race against people, you do have the fans to pull it off.

      1. Sounds fun. How do I do that?

        1. Unless there is an option to create a league in the game which people can join, you would have to get every to post there gamertags on here, then arrange a private online race, give people in the race the password, get every body to go online at the same time to race. I dunno how a championship would work because i would presume not everyone can compete in all the races. Unless, you created an averaging system where you took the number of races a person has competed in, and there results of said races, with fancy maths the average race position could be found and a league table could be created on that?

          I dunno, im rambleing and I’m tired, but something could be done through the site, or even through the FORUM :-p

        2. polishboy808
          18th March 2010, 0:08

          Well i’m not totally sure how it works, but there are leagues in Rfactor, if you create one specifically for f1, and create a server on Rfactor, then people in the F1 Fanatic League (we’ll call it that for now) would be able to join with a password that you enter into a password box, and race. You would have to make a mod specific server (lets say wcp 2009 f1, rf1 etc…) and give the members the password to enter. If this is possible, it would be perfect, as im looking for a league to join, and anyone with rfactor would like to race with the same people we discuss with every day right here on F1F!

          1. polishboy808
            18th March 2010, 0:10

            woops sorry, i was talkin bout rfactor not codemasters f1, sorry! But i geuss it would work like grid, which i dont remember there being private servers.

        3. I’m all for grabbing as many Gamertags from other F1Fanatics to play racing games online with, especially the impending F1 2010.

          TommyB and myself already have a blast on Forza 3… when he’s around.

          1. The Comedian 39
            18th March 2010, 10:20

            i have forza 3 :)

            The Comedian 39 is my gamertag if you’re interested.

          2. ‘ajokay’ is mine, I’ll watch out for you!

          3. My gamertag polishboy808, I play mostly forza 3

        4. well ofc there would be hundreds of people wanting to do it so you might want to have a qualification round to knock out the “slower” people.

          I guess after rounds and rounds of qualifying you get to 12-13 people left.

          Or do yourself a quicker favour and just have everyone wanting to enter in this tournament and just pick 12-13 names out of a hat/computer system/ball machine etc… to save effort.

          You could even have 24-26 drivers by having 2 tournaments going on at the same time for “constructors points” example: Me being Schumacher other person in tournament “B” is being rosberg both points are combined for the year.

          prizes: certificates for points, small custom medal “gold silver bronze” for podiums, fastest lap gets a painting of their choice.

          WDC prize: your choice, and also instant entry for next year maybe?

          WCC prize: your choice

          Also would be a good idea to have a console only tournament, since consoles are the same in power PC’s are not, and consoles are hard to “manipulate” the outcome of a race but if it works you could do all 3 systems 360/ps3/pc your choice again keith.

          1. also make it manual gear change no automatic, so it’s a real f1 tournament, realism to the max I say.

          2. My gamertag is Mr Flobadob if we’re getting this up and running lol. Can do an rFactor league til F1 2010 comes out though.

        5. I’ve Run a Project Gotham 2 league a few years back, once a week Multi tiered, you could gain promotion by winning the season (usually bi-monthly), 2 players per team. Also helped with a moto gp and moto gp 2 league when xbox live first came out, similar set up. Just make a login page so people can view their ranking, 1 moderator to record and input scores and times (race and lap) and make a simple web form to fill out and have the results displayed in a table. If you want something like that email me i could help you get something sorted, you’d have to code all the web stuff as i have no idea, but as far as coming up with a system so everyone is ranked and can play, well, i’m your man.

  28. This’ll probably be the first computer game I’ve bought since 2000 or 2001! Looking forward to it.

  29. I believe he said he tested on the XBOX 360…

  30. dont think i would ever need another game in my life when this comes out.

    P.S: The reason why codemasters dont put a safety car in, is to stop a guy and his mate cheating by doing a piquet jnr stunt so he can win.

  31. Why is everyone bothered about a safety car? I’m interested in racing, not cruising behind a safety car lap after lap…

    1. Yeah and then the people who abnsolutely MUST have it say they will switch it off after trying it for a few times?!?!?!

      Talk about a waste of development effort. I’d rather they’d spend that time on something useful.

      How about telemetry for instance? Is that in the game?

      That’s what made GP2 so great. Someone hacked the game so that it recorded the telemetry. That added a whole new dimension of realism. You could compare your laps to improve setup and laptimes.

  32. This all sounds awesome!
    Can’t remember when I was this excited by a game.

  33. The “active track technology” sounds impressive, assuming it does actually make a noticeable difference, as does the driver-specific AI.

    I like the 8-engine rule and the fron wing flap adjuster is an impressive feature that would have been easy to ignore. It sounds like if they’re going to that level of detail then it ought to be pretty impressive.

    It does LOOK really good too…

  34. this is the game f1 fans have been waiting for

  35. Mike "the bike" Schumacher
    17th March 2010, 23:07

    Looks brilliant can’t wait :)

  36. Prisoner Monkeys
    17th March 2010, 23:09

    Looking good.

    But whoever is playing in that second video is a pretty poor driver. I hope it’s not that easy to pass everyone, either …

    1. Jarred Walmsley
      18th March 2010, 4:29

      I think thats Keith! :)

      1. It’s not, I’m not sure who it was actually, sorry!

        But I didn’t do much better in the first couple of laps. I was surprised how tricky it was to get the braking right for the chicanes and put down the power coming out of them. On my third lap I started to get into the groove a bit.

  37. chucky pancamo
    17th March 2010, 23:14

    cant freakin wait

  38. Jraybay-HamiltonMclarenfan
    17th March 2010, 23:15

    Thanks keith this is the most information I seen so far and I never seen a beta version :D you’re right on it.

  39. I’ve just had a quick scan of the comments, but has anyone asked about rules and penalties?

    Such as the second video with Raikkonen going over the top of the car, would you get penalised in any way?

  40. I Saw you Keith :P besides the pods ,filming … did you have a good night ??

    1. Yeah you had to move quick to get on the machines though!

  41. What is that ? That supose to be realistic ? Guy in the second movie lost front wing at first corner then goes 200 mph all the other corners ? There is no realism in this game at all. Another arcade racing games that codies lied about being a simulator.

    1. Prisoner Monkeys
      18th March 2010, 1:53

      Kolgetjt, you have to understand that this game isn’t just being developed or die-hard fans like ourselves – it’s being developed to accomodate an audience that encompasses everyone from the casual gamer to the die-hards, and it has to be said: we’re in the minority. If Codemasters went for absolute realism and created a game where you’d drive within a second of the car in front for laps on end without being able to pass, a lot of people would lose interest very quickly. People don’t want to play a racing game where one mistake is going to mean they cannot win.

      Besides, you have no idea as to what difficulty setting that video was set to.

    2. It’s also only an alpha build… not even into beta yet. There’s still a good 6 months of development left on this game. Early builds always include options to disable various features so that others can be tested. I’m guessing in this case, performance drops due to damage were disabled, simply to let the journos be able to play the game without being hindered by anything.

  42. Is there any local multiplayer (on the same console? Maybe 2 players with COM for a full grid like F1 2005)

  43. If it features random weather ie rain, then they must be serious.

  44. dont think he lost front wing
    was probly playing with damage off

    1. Then look at it again wing fly off and there is a graphic on the right showing front wing red, like its off/damaged

    2. Yes there was damage on, but I think it was also on the easiest playing setting with all the driving aids on.

      1. Playing settings have nothing to do with realism, you can have all aids on but you can go throu a corner without front wing at 200 mhp. Thats just STUPID

      2. If they really want to sell this game as “realistic” they should refrain from showing videos of some yob ploughing through cars, cutting chicanes, going 200+ with no loss of control, and hitting the wall without losing a tire. All the other great work they’ve done will be completely wasted if this is typical gameplay. That’s just GRID with different cars.

        And September is too long, the season will be done already

        1. Prisoner Monkeys
          18th March 2010, 4:21

          Would you rather they release an incomplete game early?

        2. themark.. have you played grid???
          Those crashes in that game are incredible and your car does behave accordingly so don’t be worried, they say it’s going to be better than that, and that was highly impressive!

  45. Looking from the first video the game featured with 09 cars model. Or is it because it’s a pre aplha build thing??
    Big disappointment for me if the title says 2010 but the cars is outdated (2009).

    1. The new cars haven’t been out for that long, say 6 weeks or so since the end of Jan? Im sure it takes a hell of a long time to accurately model the new cars. They probably wanted to get some news out into the media, about the game, to keep interest up but where unable to finish all the new cars off.

    2. I’m just plain stupid. I didn’t see the “2009 cars for promotional only, the final game will feature 2010 cars”
      Sorry

    3. See the third and fourth paragraphs under ‘multiplayer and more’.

  46. LOL at the laughts when you touched with Raikkonen :D!

    1. It’s not me driving, I don’t have a video of that I’m afraid.

  47. Marc Pearson
    18th March 2010, 2:02

    As a person who still plays F106 on a daily basis just so ive got a recent F1 game to play i cant tell you how much im looking forward to this, a few times recently ive considered selling my xbox but this game always twigged my concious at the last second so i didnt.

    Concerning setting up a league i used to be a member of a racedriver grid league, we raced on a sunday night and it was always brilliant. The league promoted fair racing so you always talked to your opponent, eg if i was going to attempt a pass on the inside i would say so so my opponent knew i was coming instead of me just barging past. Great article keith

  48. Prisoner Monkeys
    18th March 2010, 2:33

    It’s a shame Codemasters decided against having the feeder series worked into the game. Given that GP2 and GP3 are both spec series, it’s not like they’d have to program vastly different machines in. In fact, it would probably just be a case of getting the skins right.

    1. WidowFactory
      18th March 2010, 9:44

      It’s not that simple at all. The physics and damage needs to be correctly simulated and that is a full-time job. Given all the other parameters they have put in the game which normally racing games ignore (‘green’ tracks, marbling, flat spots, etc) all of these will need to be worked on and tested for all the different cars too. I would love to have more series too, but the game has already been delayed by 6 months…

  49. As someone who remembers Revs on the BBC Micro then progressed though the Crammond series to read ” This is not a bleeding-edge hardcore simulation – it feels more like “Gran Turismo” or “Forza” than “Grand Prix Legends” makes my heart sink. Suppose its a case off nice video shame about the song.

    1. Prisoner Monkeys
      18th March 2010, 6:25

      to read ” This is not a bleeding-edge hardcore simulation – it feels more like “Gran Turismo” or “Forza” than “Grand Prix Legends” makes my heart sink.

      Again, Codemasters have to make a game that appeals to the widest possible target audience. Hardcore fans only make up a minority of that market.

  50. wow, I wonder if Singapore will look dazzling as well?

  51. Signs are encouraging, let’s hope it lives up to all of our expectations!

  52. Since I’m a simulation-only driver, I’m pretty disappointed that its only not-completely-arcadey. Guess I’ll stick with rFactor for another year.

  53. Is no-one else disappointed that it is just 1 season? I wanted a codemasters of old, like TOCA Race Driver, where there was many cars and tracks. Maybe have F12010, and then a selection of historic Formula 1 cars and tracks that are no longer used, like Imola, Mangy Cours, Hockenheim AND Nurburgring, Jerez, Indianapolis, Buenos Aries, Kyalami, Fuji Speedway, Adelaide and Brands Hatch :)

    1. But it’s F1 2010, so it stands to reason that they only have the licence for the 2010 season, which means only tracks and cars and drivers from the 2010 season.

      I don’t mind too much, it’s just nice to have a new F1 game on the cuurrent gen consoles.

    2. I’m sure there will be unlockable cars and tracks like in previous games.

    3. Maybe, if it’s popular, they will release new ones each year like Madden football. They could have gone back in time with this one, but I guess there were license issues. you can’t really go in the future because of rule/team/driver changes, so the Madden style would work for me….(although I’ve only ever had Madden 04 and 09)….

      1. Oh, by the way, Madden Football is USA – NFL football…

  54. I am the sort of guy who loves a simulation just like the rest of you. but if it is as realistic as forza that would be great!!

  55. You have a mistake in “According to Codemasters it added to little”. It should be “too little”.

  56. F1 2003 is the best one so far. As far as realistic handling goes all the games afterwards still haven’t matched it

    1. F1 ’95 and ’97 are better still.

  57. This game seeems awesome. My favourite part is that of motorhome and journalists and the damage seems far more realistic than in F12009. I’m waiting to buy it.

  58. A few questions:
    1)I know there is no safety car in this game, but what about full course yellows? Is there any? Because if there are yellow flags, you will still need to slow down until yellows are gone, (so not putting a Mercedes car in front of the pack while the race is yellow flagged is weird…)
    2)Its F1 2010 – I know, but reading about all those career management things it seems like the game will allow for next seasons (2011,12 and so on) just like some previous Fifa games? So, im interested wether its Abu Dhabi 2010 and game over, or your career continues?
    Thanks.

    1. I dont know how its implemented in this game, but in previous F1 games you would start the next season again with the same drivers and cars etc.

  59. Looks good, nice to see the level of depth they’ve added to the game, with all the stuff other than the racing, but the most important thing is whether it’s gonna be fun to drive and to race. I think it will.

    I’ve got a contact where you can pre-order the game for £31.98 on xbox and ps3, if anyone’s interested let me know on my email (valdelrossi@yahoo.co.uk) and I’ll send you an email link to get the pre-order for that price.

    All the best, Jasper

    1. Not dodgy at all…

      1. Well I’m giving you my email, so it’s more dodgy for me than you. But suit yourself, I’m just trying to help people get a bargain, and also if I forward enough people I can get a discounted copy of the game.

        That’s the trouble nowadays, the internet is so full of cons, no one can distinguish someone who’s actually genuine to some stupid con.

        Give it a try, and if I don’t deliver what I promise, come back here and tell everyone that it’s dodgy!

  60. what will be the min reqiured parameters of the computer

  61. Looks fantastic.

    What would finish it off nicely is proper FOM TV overlays for position, rev counter, lap number etc. The ones on display here look too arcady, using the official FOM style overlays would give more of a feeling of being in an F1 race.

    That said, please please please don’t put Leggard commentary in there otherwise I’m not going anywhere near it :-) If I hear the words, ‘The green ring means it’s the softer compound’ one more time I’m gong to kill myself.

    1. Jesus i forgot about him. maybe there will be a setting called “Legard Commentary”???? The volume on that will go right down. yep.

  62. Keith, do you happen to have played the Ferrari F1 car in Gran Turismo 5 prologue and can shed any light on how the controls compare? I quite like the degree of realism they’ve gone for in GT5. Hard enough to keep it interesting, but easy to play semi-sober with game controllers.

    Also, any word on split screen gameplay? That was the one thing that really ****** me off about GRID. I only play racing games split screen at a friend’s place.

    Cool article, looking forward to the game!

    1. Someone did ask about that but afraid the news is there’s no split screen multiplayer.

  63. Do you know how the online lobbies are going to be structured?

    Is it fully customisable, in that the host can select any lap count, and realism settings and aids etc…

    The vids look good, the only annoying bit is what everyone has mentioned, the HUD graphics. Really arcade looking. I’m sure i’ll get over it though.

    For those who are asking about the single player seasons… I assume it will be the same as most other games, as in once season 1 ends, a new season begins. I also assume that drivers will move around to other teams also, and not just stay stationary.

  64. Ohhh, one last comment.

    I assume by the comments about realism, the second video is just a cosmetic damage setting, like the one in Forza.

  65. There are some unexpected features in that description that I like, especially the in-team dynamics and the notion that peculiar driving styles actually do affect the car – which was, for example, one thing among all its simulative elements GP4 never modeled.

  66. Jarred Walmsley
    18th March 2010, 23:15

    Just wondering seeing as KERS is not actually banned this year but just not being used due to a gentlemen agreement will KERS be available to use in the game?

  67. Horrible!! Well…its awesome, but it havent safety car, formation lap, and the worst is not extreme simulation!!! -10 point

  68. The only thing that I’m upset about is we can’t play as Kimi Raikkonen when this game comes out.

    Since they seem to have all the 2009 tracks/cars/drivers done and finished, they should add the 2009 season as paid DLC after the games release. I’d buy the DLC in a heart beat, even if it’s $30 or something. :P

  69. do the other drivers switch teams through out your career?

  70. I had another thought and this one is more on the trivial end, but no less irritating. But I hope during replay mode (if it has it) that they use more realistic camera positions/movements. It drives me crazy during games like Forza and Gran Turismo how the camera will be flying along through the air alongside the car. It makes it look cheesy as hell and sometimes very hard to get a look at what’s going on. Which is usually why I watch a replay: to see what happened from outside the car. Fixed cameras ala television placements (except for the rare crane shots, I suppose).

  71. There’s one thing I want it to change from the old games.In the old games the career only lasted five seasons and you couldn’t do a thing about it.In this game,I want the career length changed so you can go on as long as you want.
    Also the simulation on old games weren’t great.I crashed a Monaco once and Albers ended up winning the Grand Prix.
    But I hate engine failures in it.Once I was playing F1 06 and I retired in Turkey,China,Japan and Brazil i.e 3 of the last 4 races in the season as I was challenging for the title.

  72. I’m afraid that during the season we may be wishing for a few real safety cars, praying for rain, and that by September this game will be the the thing we’re most looking forward to. It’s gonna be a strange feeling for me if Alonzo is leading a race in the red car and I’m sort of wishing that something would shake it up a little. :)

  73. sorry about off-topic, but of course we can always watch this again (and again and again)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl2tIFxSEGA&feature=related

    1. Miles Plumley
      22nd March 2010, 13:42

      amazing. thanks for reminding me =)

  74. I’m already drooling…. Can’t wait – any betas around?!?!

  75. Any news on team radio during the races (such as updates on track positions, team mate news and weather updates)?????

    Also will it be similar to the look we get on the TV with team radio??

    x

    1. Rob Smedley camio role “felippe baby, keep cool!”

  76. First of all… I’m a sim-hardcore fan and those vids are looking great but we simply can’t judge cuz its in arcade-mode.

    The HUD graphics are really arcade looking, and I will for sure turn them off.

    I sure hope Damage will look as good as GRID did. When you crash and hit the tyres, they should expolde like crazy – just like they did in GRID.

    Hope the game is awesome, but I wont expect too much…

    Benjamin, from Denmark!

  77. Looks good but I’ve never played these sorts of games before so will wait for the release and reviews…

  78. Grand job you lucky devil. Safety car or no, I’m looking forward to a new F1 toy – sorry ‘simulator’ to, um… allow a better understanding of the tracks. Yep – that’s the one.

    Like several of the masses here, I loved the Geoff Crammond stuff – his second effort was my first much loved racing game. GP4 was brilliant and carried on with the season updates until, well it, or perhaps I, just got a bit tired. Was hugely disappointed with some other offering though. Never got into Legends. Super Monaco Grand Prix just never ‘felt’ right. F1CE on the PS3 was lovely, but have done it to death – as I did them all. Best of the rest was LeMans 24heures for me – with that awesome Dandy Warhols theme song.

    New game looks lovely, just hope they made it tough enough for the sad hard core racers as well. Forza Codemasters! Give us another TOCA2, um… with F1 cars of course.

    nb. If I eat pizza – I generally make it myself. I hate cans of soda. I am not a pasty chubster.

    1. Actually – and I know it’s really naff to reply to your own posts, but would love to know what happened to Mr Crammond – would make a brilliant article Keith…

      Just a thought.

  79. No Safety Car, no formation lap, no mechanical failure? Just advanced graphics… Hmm..
    If there’s no mechanical failures, the race is gonna be so unrealistic!

    And now a rewind feature? Oh ffs, that’s a lame idea, F1 is meant to be tough, if you make a mistake you pay for it. Can’t believe they’d have such a feature on it. And no mechnical failures? That sounds even more pointless.

    BUT THEN:
    Starting to look a bit brighter now, this is from the Codies forum, and this is what the
    F1 2010 Chief Games Designer had to say:

    Quote:

    Without giving everything away at this stage, your engine can degrade massively. The eight engine rule is in-game for a reason. The car can overheat, your tyres can blister, you can suffer punctures, you can play with the performance of the engine whilst driving around to prolong its life, you can suffer in dirty air, the state of bodywork damage can impact on aero performance…

    Not to mention the fact we’re still working on many little things. Sometimes not too much is said (yes, even at a reveal event) because items are in development. The AI cars can suffer failures too.

    What we do not have, and I personally dislike, is random failure. I don’t want to drive 64/65 laps and have a random failure that I cannot do anything about remove me from the race. I want, as a player, to know I can do something about a problem.

  80. Has anyone played Superstars V8 Racing on the PS3.

    I thought I was buying V8 Supercars, with Jamie Whincup etc. etc., so I was a bit annoyed with myself when I saw what I actually had bought.

    I put it on to play anyway, and it is brilliant. There are no big name drivers to speak of, Gianni Morbidelli Ex F1 driver is the only one, but the cars feel and drive great, the tracks look brilliant (Portimao looks class!). It’s quite a challenge too, although maybe thats because I’m just not very good :P

    I’d recommend it though, it might keep some of you ticking over until F1 2010 comes out.
    Just a suggestion….

  81. Will there be manuel shifting gears in F1 2010..?

  82. I still have fears that the handling and physics engine is going to very “arcady” and the hopes and dreams of all us hardcore F1 simmers are going to be shattered!! and much like Subaru did with the Impreza they will sacrifice a few thousand hardcore geeky fans for a few million casual customers, already when you mention career mode it sounds like it going to be cheesy with the watering down of the handling to make it easier for joe public to think they are good enough to drive an F1 car, and i will cringe if i hear any of the F1 drivers talking! and only 13 online slots per race? what a joke rFactor has races with 40 racers in one online race some times, i have to say the wet weather, track gradient and the graphics are the only things going for it so far.

    1. when i said the GP drivers talking i mean like they used in the skits of the older Toca series, its the kind of cheesy things Codemasters do and i can forsee it in this game

  83. Critical_mass
    6th August 2010, 14:48

    It all looks good and am looking forward to it… cant wait. Regardless how it turns out, its got to be a big improvement on F1 06, i like the game but it has too many quirks.

    Which brings me onto my next question. In F1 06 if it rained it was near impossible to do well, the other cars appeared to be unaffect by the rain. Has this been rectified in F1 2010?

  84. No one answer questions anymore? :-(

    1. Well, the old games were made by Sony. This time Codemasters are doing it. All cars will be affected.

      Read this:

      12. How does the dynamic weather effects system work in F1 2010?

      Lots of head scratching, blood, sweat and tears have made it work! It’s been a real challenge, but the effect of the weather on the game has made it all worth it. Graphically, it obviously changes the environments, and when you’re following another car in the wet, it’ll impair your vision as it would in real life – it’s actually kind of scary, and makes for a really tense experience. But more than that, it’s the way it affects performance. It all feeds into the state of the drivable surface so water, for example, affects available grip and the cooling rate of the particular tyres you’re running. The track will get wet and dry out in real time as the weather changes, and different areas of the track will be more saturated with water than others as in real life. A huge amount of effort and resource has gone into this, and the system will undoubtedly set a benchmark for weather until Codemasters’ next racing title. Crucially, if you’re driving one of the lower-end cars, you’ll see rain as a performance equaliser and it may offer your best hope of scoring points you wouldn’t otherwise manage.

      1. Great stuff. Thanks for the response Cube.

        Not long now until release date! :-D

  85. oops, I thnk I fell foul of the posting rules…sorry.

    Umm, ok I have followed the most well known formula 1 game for years, loved it even in the early vector graphics days.

    This new one advertised here, looks like it might just eclipse the last well known formula 1 game (for pc) in 2002….Very Exciting!

  86. Keith, do u still rate the game?? There are plenty of complaints about this game on the net. I have copied below the main ones (codemaster website):

    BUGS & ERRORS OFFLINE

    -Pitstop exiting hesitation (see targa thread for temporary solution) (ALL FORMATS)

    -Race results not portraying actual results (ALL FORMATS)

    -Tyre punctures occur far too frequent (ALL FORMATS)

    -AI blue flag issue, they get disqualified (ALL FORMATS)

    -AI Fuel: AI qualifying slower then race start (ALL FORMATS)

    -AI ghosting cars (ALL FORMATS)

    -AI erratic swerving (in race when heating tyres isnt necessary)(ALL FORMATS)

    -AI drivers not pitting at all in a race. (ALL FORMATS)

    -Sound delay on shifting (ALL FORMATS)

    -Split timing would be Usefull on screen. (ALL FORMATS)

    -Sector 3 times don’t stay up, you can’t ever see your sector 3 (ALL FORMATS)

    -Slight lag on controls of car (ALL FORMATS)

    -Camera bug in time trial when exiting and rentering session head/hands disaapears TBC (ALL FORMATS)

    -Tyre availability bug in practice sessions, e.g., no Primes available in P2 image (ALL FORMATS)

    -Cars not being serviced in the pits and just sitting there, causing user to reset race if teammate is stuck. TBC (ALL FORMATS)

    -Pit limiter auto on regardless of setting. (ALL FORMATS)

    -wet times too fast , almost identical to dry times !??! (ALL FORMATS)

    – too much grip in the rain (ALL FORMATS)

    – too much grip with Intermediate/full wets (ALL FORMATS)

    – live timer doesn’t show personal best sector times (ALL FORMATS)

    – third soft/hard tyre set not available in qualifying (ALL FORMATS)

    – penalties given to player when ai hit you and also far too sensitive in certain forced situations (ALL FORMATS)

    -Freezing and locking up often (XBOX360)

    -Remove hidden anti spin mechanic car doesnt feel right (or give option on/off) (ALL FORMATS)

    -IN/OUT laps not counted in lap count for sessions (ALL FORMATS)

    -Users reporting Corrupt Save Data (ALL FORMATS)

    –THESE HAVE BEEN REPORTED THE MOST–

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