First F1 2012 video revealed by Codemasters

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Codemasters’ latest official Formula One game, F1 2012, is due to hit the shelves next month.

The team behind it have produced the first official video of the game. The video shows a new quick-start mode in which players can compete against the six world champions currently racing in F1:

Codemasters have also recently released F1 Online, a free, browser-based F1 management game.

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    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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    75 comments on “First F1 2012 video revealed by Codemasters”

      1. Jayfreese (@)
        6th August 2012, 19:47

        Would like some onboard views to see how the cars really behave( hope it’s tougher) and how “new” is the game, but it clearly not diserves the amount of money we bought the 2010 and 2011 liveries; still it’s 70 euros to get fun for 3 or 4 months – the time that the season ends and that the gamers ends the game itself – so hoping there’s a lot more to come.

    1. Hmm, it does just kind of look like the same as last year’s, I have to say. All nice, nothing wrong, but what’s different? Apart from updated liveries, obviously :)

      1. They won’t be getting my hard earned dollars this year. Abysmal games of 2010 & 2011 have ruined their reputation among most intellectual gamers.

        1. I agree Rodricco. The grpahics last year were absolutely disgraceful for a game in 2011. They always promise to get rid of the bugs but they do 1 update and then forget about the game. They don’t care about their customers at all. They know fans will buy their games because it is F1 not on the quality of the game

          1. You do realize this is one small team in Birmingham, working to release a game every year, so getting ONE patch befor they move to the next game is miraculous to be honest. This isn’t EA churning out FIFA games with teams of 100+ people, or Activision with two studios working on the same series (Call of Duty). Cut these boys a little slack, we are talking about an industry that doesn’t favor F1. Don’t get me wrong the last game disapointed me in many ways, mostly the completely broken co-op, but it’s still the best console F1 game out there and I expect it to be even better this year.

            1. By that logic we should also pay less for the game.

            2. well they shudn’t lie to customers and send out a game that is not completed. F1 2010 was their first try which can’t be faulted but F1 2011 had a yr to build on and they didn’t do with the bugs in the game

            3. They still ask nearly £40. People are entitled to voice their opinions on the quality of the product they are paying for, it is not a reflection of the people who are working on the game but the people who limiting their resource to increase their profit.

            4. £40 or $60 is an industry standard, the choice of price is a publisher decision not a developer one, and its not one year to make a game. Release game, take break, update game, now 9 months to code, debug, and release new game. I personally think all sports games should be bi-yearly, but ££££, so i try to look at the positives, like, most sports games have an off year and come back strong simply because most efforts were put into the next years game. But it is nice to know that the internet is the internet where ever you go. Crap on something you’ve never even played. *sigh* Also “intellectual gamer” *puts on slippers* *smokes pipe* *plays vidya games* ha intellectual gamer.

        2. @rodrrico
          What is an “intellectual gamer”?

          I think Keith did an article on the best F1 games ever and codemasters was the clear victor.
          I enjoy the Forza games, which is annoying considering I dont have an xbox, it’s just the right amount of hardcore but they code in just enough arcade to make replicate that sense of speed, excitement and adrenline you get when you’re actually racing a car that i dont feel from GT5 or rFactor which just seem too sciency and forget that a video game is about interpretation of an emotion. Codemasters understand the importance of encapsulating that emotion and is a good home for Formula 1 for now.

          1. @prof-kirk

            I think Keith did an article on the best F1 games ever and Codemasters was the clear victor.

            Yep, the link’s in the article:

            Codemasters edge Crammond for ‘best F1 game’ honours

            1. I saw that article and while it was the clear victor it does not reflect things many would consider to make a great racing sim. I voted for Rfactor I think… I have clearly been misinterpreted, but I don’t believe in attacking people either that is petty.

        3. I think part of the reason why the graphics are not that great by the standards you expect @rodrrico is that they do this game for the two game consoles and for the PC, always making it a bit of a compromise.
          That probably also limits what they can do with the game mechanics a bit. Not saying they could not do a better job by the way, just looking for an explanation to understand it better.

          I do think its disappointing that so far they still have a lot of things go wrong with the penalties and some glitches that have been occurring through all the games in the series so far. On the other hand, I guess we should be glad they are at least doing a lot better effort than Sony used to do with the licence before them.
          The online game is fun to play and that mario kart meets F1 looks like exactly the lighthearted thing the sport needs to get to a wider audience and fresh blood into the fanbase

          1. I never mentioned the graphics. Please stop putting words in my mouth everyone. I bought F1-2011 and was disappointed. Rfactor has reasonably good damage models and physics by comparison with F1-2011/10 and Froza.

            1. It was not my intention to do anything the like @rodrrico, I was offering the fact that these games are made to work on consoles as part of an explanation of why they have more compromises in their models.
              Although commercial choices and targeted market would also contribute to differences there.

      2. that’s the main problem with games based on sports like this. Unless they add something very interesting, it’s just the same, but with new liveries.

      3. and the pugly noses …

      4. Still looks ugly and foggy. I wish the Guys that made Gran turismo got the liscense instead.

        1. They don’t have the capacity to do an F1 game and Gran Turismo at the same time and this has been noted by their creator. Also they took five years + to get GT5 to it’s full game form. So they’d just be as bad if not worse than CM.

          1. Just imagine they would now bring us F1 2007! ….

        2. Turn 10 (Forza) would make an AMAZING F1 game but Microsoft have them tied up making next gen Forza.

    2. It will be very interesting to see if it is possible to transform this season into a game. I will no doubt buy the game and love it, but I’m sceptical that a few teams could be out of position. Where do you put Ferrari for example. Are they the fastest car or the sixth fastest? Will the game be able to simulate that Ferrari was slow in Australia and rapid by Valencia? If the game can simulate the different winners from the first part of the season and make a reasonable guess at how the season will finish then we could have a cracker here. However, if the default is RB or McLaren fastest due to what we saw in testing then that is another matter. Does anyone know which one is more likely? What is the lead time on a game like this?

      1. I guess we’ll find something about lead times when and if we see the McLaren nose change before release, not long now…

    3. Vid was already leaked a few days ago.

      1. I’m not going to run something unless I’m satisfied it’s authentic. Faking something like this wouldn’t be easy, but it would be possible.

    4. Codies are already becoming THQ who produce the WWE games; yearly updates with very little more than new skins for cars, not listening to the community, adding pointless features no one will care about. This already looked like a skipper for me, this vid confirms it.

    5. I’m more interested in new gameplay features that gameplay footage.

    6. Year by year, CM F1 games become less interesting. little improvement, just car skin and track update.

      1. F1 games become less interesting. little improvement, just car skin and track update.

        What is there to update? They can tweak the graphics and the physics and the AI, but they’re making games for consoles that are at the end of their lifespan. The eighth-generation consoles have not been confirmed just yet, but they’re expected to be launched in late 2013-early 2014, and until they become available, there is very little that Codemasters can do. They’re already pushing the limits of the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 hardware.

        But even when the eighth-generation consoles become available, Codemasters are still faced with the same problem: the core gameplay from year to year will essentially remain the same.

        1. They really need to sort out being able to include classic F1 cars and tracks. Take 2013 off, work on some historically accurate Nurburgring’s and Osterreichring’s and come back in 2014 with a next-gen, fully packed F1 game.

          1. @lachie That’s not up to them. You need to have the license for that.

            1. They need to sort out the bugs

        2. Hey, PM. You don’t need next generation hardware to make good racing game. look at Forza Motorsport 4 and Gran Turismo 5. CM F1 is not good enough even in this generation. You can’t say they pushing the limits. It’s fundamental problem. even if next generation launch tomorrow and CM prepared it, I’m sure what I would see is just visual upgrade.

    7. Sorry to say apart from a few online races with friends, i didn’t play 2011 single player at all. Was the same as 2010, and this looks much the same again. Won’t be buying it.

    8. Not convinced yet to be honest. It looks very, very similar to last year’s game and there’s no evidence of any particular new features. No classic cars and tracks, no challenge mode (like F-1 World Grand Prix), just updates, the biggest sin for any yearly series to commit.

      Then there’s the already mentioned fact that last year’s game, while good, was unacceptably buggy, and the patches were very weak. There’s no word that Codemasters have ever acknowledged the problem exists, so I’m not going to run out on day 1 again.

      1. One thing i’ve read up about (which wasn’t explained in the video itself, bizarrely), was that in the ‘Champions’ mode, you play the role of their team-mate and have to try and achieve a certain task.

        So it’s basically a ‘Challenge’ mode, which is a good addition.

        1. Yes, I saw that in Eurogamer’s preview (which I read after posting that comment) so that’s interesting. I still maintain the old Challenge mode was better as it used real scenarios from the previous season and also spanned the grid.

          It would be difficult to put into the modern games (F-1 WGP was released in 1998, despite being based on the ’97 season), but even if it was released as DLC over the winter I would take that.

    9. If Codies can get the physics pretty much dead on, and can add some real features that will get peoples attention (The Time Attack mode things were not special, and weren’t exactly fun, although speaking of them, a weekly update to them to add new ones could have been a good idea).
      When I say real features, I mean things that are outside the F1 season, such as different tracks for modes outside the season, and for online, and to add classic cars, or just previous years cars (would love to be able to drive the 04 Ferrari on the game).
      Whilst they only have a year to make the game, it’s not like it’s out of the question, and that would for sure get people buying the game, for the game, rather than it’s F1 title.

    10. I think from the Video of the lap of the new American Track shows updated handling charachteristics because whoever was driving the car was clearly struggling with snap oversteer under braking and corner entry at times. This didn’t happen much with 2011 game which felt generally understeery, especially the force india. Probably an attempt to simulate the EBD.

      1. That video did a lot towards establishing that adjustable brake bias was back again.

    11. Sorry Codemasters, I’m too busy saving up for Race Driver: Grid 2 to purchase F1 2012. :P

    12. Rfactor 2 is miles better than any of the codemasters attempts…

      1. Yeah, so is iRacing.

        1. Or any other more serious simulator like GTR 2 or Race 07.

          1. Pretty much everything developed by ISI and SimBin was / is next level. These guys know their way around a simulator.

            1. Agreed. I did like the pit garage features of F1-2011/10 but it is a small part of the game that is ahead of ISI and SimBin products.

      2. You do relize that CM’s version isn’t meant to be a full on F1 simulator and I’m sure the teams are the reason behind this. So why compare the two? It’s obvious that ISI, Simbin and SMS are light years further; if they weren’t then teams would be using CM’s version to test with as a simulator.

    13. why dont embedded youtube videos have a fullscreen option?! aaarrgghhh!!!

      1. Motor_mad (@)
        6th August 2012, 13:15

        Yes they do. The button is at the bottom right.

        1. @motor_mad on mine all i see is (quality) settings, watch later and watch on youtube buttons.

          on youtube itself, yes there is the fullscreen option.

      2. @sato113 The button on the bottom right makes the video appear full-screen.

      3. I know what do you mean. It’s youtube bug which sometimes happens without reason.

    14. I’ve noticed that for 2012 they have got different helmet makes for each driver; Schumi definite;ly has a schuberth, and vettel an arai, and that is shown in the video clearly.

    15. I hope they can fix the gameplay in this version. I might be in the minority, but I found F1 2011 to be utterly unplayable.

      Aside from the relatively poor frame rate, the cars just did not perform like F1 cars. So much body roll… it’s as if the developers had never watched onboard footage of an F1 car. F1 cars corner almost completely flat, with very little roll or pitch. Also, way too much high-speed oversteer (since F1 cars tend to understeer at high speed in real life). On the whole, a big step backward from F1 2010, and I hope 2012 can remedy this.

      1. They’ve said elsewhere that they’ve fixed that, but on the other hand they’ve swung from one extreme to the other so I’ll wait until I’ve played the game before I make any judgement.

    16. It’s remarkable how many people are writing the game off based on nothing more than a 76-second video.

      1. @keithcollantine It’s a fickle industry, video games ;)

        Agreed though. It’s a promo video, further ones will follow, with gameplay footage.

      2. I think people r goin on their experiences with the last 2 games and that Codemasters can’t be trusted. They said that they wud be releasing a video today on gameplay and they didn’t do that

      3. I agree,. this game never clammed it was a sim and admits it’s a work in progress. They had to create it for several platforms and it’s no easy task. A lot of people are acting as if they real f1 drivers ,. it’s only a video game, enjoy it.

        1. Yeah there is a real snobbyness about this which is a bit pathetic. You get R factor devotees slating the CM Title just because R factor was there first. It really is childish how seriously some people take their on-line gaming. I had the misfortune of racing this character who did nothing but complain about a couple of beginner racers saying things like “you have no business driving a Formula 1 car”. It’s a blinkin game and whichever title you favour, it ain’t real and it ain’t anything like the real thing and if you think it is you’re fooling yourself.

    17. The only thing I think that’s missing is that the pit-wall and general pit area looks so quiet on a race weekend. A bit more activity would make it a bit more likable I think. I’m not going to put Codies down for releasing very similar games every year. That’s the nature of the beast with the sports game industry. Just tighten up on a few things, that’s all that’s needed.

    18. Can’t wait for the CM F1 2012. F1 2011 does have it’s flaw but overall it’s an enjoyable game to play. The main gripe I have about F1 2011 is the occasional corrupted savegame file and the loading time…it’s awfully slow.

    19. I cant wait for this game. I don’t really mind that the game doesn’t change much year to year, as long as i get an F1 game!
      My only gripe with 2011 is that the penalty system in the online multiplayer is too inconsistent:
      Driving down the back straight in Canada, about to pull off a clean move on the straight, I get shoved into the wall yet the other guy gets no penalty.
      Following in the slipstream around Monza the guy in front brake test me in the middle of the straight nowhere near the braking zone, I’m tucked in so close behind i plough into the back of them- yet I get the penalty for the Idiot break testing well before the breaking zone to deliberately take me out.
      I make a mistake at a chicane and run off, instead of rejoining straight away and risk taking someone out, I slow right down and rejoin the track making sure I don’t overtake anyone or maintain an advantage and i get disqualified.

      Im sure a number of you may have had this happen to you also, as is my only gripe with the codemasters F1 series, I love the online play but at the same time I loathe the fact that the inconsistent penalties really hack me off.

      My two wish lists for the series, are sadly limited by the current licensing:
      I’d love to see a scenario mode with accurate cars/ tracks and drivers from the time. you have a classic moment in F1 history and you have to recreate it, (or change history by creating a different outcome!)
      I’d love it to hop into a game mode and try to recreate Mansell v Piquet at silverstone 87, or Raikkonen v Fisichella in Japan 05, or even try the Senna V Prost at Suzuka 89 and try and make the move work!
      I’d also love to have the chance to unlock classic cars and classic tracks and have the option to use them in time trial like in the old F1 06 game for PS2, or even unlock classic cars and use them in an online multiplayer.
      seeing either of those would make an F1 game even more awesome! But sadly the licensing restirictions dont allow it.

      But overall I cant wait for F1 2012 to come out, I am eager to get going and Im sure that it will be an improvement on 2011 and I will love the game whatever!

      1. Agree with the penalty system in 2011. Very inconsistent and generally gets it wrong.

        I hope they include a race engineer that can help out more with the setup by asking simple questions. It should question your outcome after a 5 lap stint to help you adjust the car to accordingly to what you need. It should analyze the laps and see where you gained or lost based on different settings. So in free practice the race engineer should allow you to make othe first setting, then help you refine it based on your driving style and position against other drivers.

      2. But sadly the licensing restirictions dont allow it.

        I don’t understand, if the old PS2 official games could get the license for classic cars, why can’t Codies? I think this would really invigorate the series and would you give you more to look forward to than just slight gameplay tweaks, ugly noses and livery changes. Even if they were to only include a few on each game it would be exciting to see what they will add each season.

    20. I wish they’d just sort out the AI, it was barely any more realistic than the year before (blue flags, poor racecraft etc…). Also F1 2011 had a safety car addition, but the AI never crashes (even when I ram them off to try and pull out a SC! Piquet style), maybe if they spent less time making unskippable annoying ‘3D’ menus and more time making a game, I’d actually buy it every year.

      This year is one to miss it seems, probably get the Super Stars game instead, at least the Mrs will want to play then!

    21. The last two were very poor. I won’t be buying this one. Not basing my comment on the video but the poor game play and bugs in the previous versions.

    22. What’s with all the negativity? I for one am looking forward to it! I don’t care if its not a 100% perfect, not many games are. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it! No ones forcing you.

    23. I must add the disappointments I had with 2011. AI didn’t get out of the way when you were lapping them, a slight nudge off the AI would have you doing a 360, but nudging them wouldn’t budge them, it was as if they were on rails. Receiving penalties for unknown reasons, AI not getting penalised. Poor graphics on the PS3. With all that, even if at times I felt like throwing it out the window, I still enjoyed. Hopefully these problems won’t exist in the 2012 version

    24. If it aint broke you cant fix it.
      GP2, GP3 an GP4 are the zenith off realistic simulators concerning F1…..an GP Legends is in a league of its own if you use as Sheldon from BBT says ` the best graphips chip in the Universe, the Human mind`

    25. It seems almost as though people are nitpicking this game too much.
      rFactor is a sim game, the F1 series is not.
      Forza is an Xbox exclusive game, the F1 series is not.
      GT5 is a PS3 exclusive game, the F1 series is not.
      The Xbox and PS3 have very different limitations compared to the PC and so obviously it’s going to be a lot harder to find a balance, rather than designing a game strictly for one platform. The game is made on an annual basis, and there isn’t much you can do, other than update the drivers, liveries, teams and what not. Features had been added, taken away, or improved from 2010 to 2011, and they cannot be faulted for that. Some like them and some don’t, it’s purely a matter of opinion, so to criticise them for implementing something such as the time trial feature purely because it’s not to your liking just isn’t on.

      Sure there might be some bugs (not as many as people seem to allude to), but what more are you expecting? Provide a list of games that are succeeded on an annual basis and don’t have bugs. Sure they make one patch and then move on, but as someone previously mentioned, they’re a small team and have one year to produce a whole new game, they can’t sit on the patches for an eternity. You can accuse them for ‘lying’ to their customers in regards to the patches and bug-fixes, but as a small company they can only do so much.

      Lastly, to say that you think the current price that it will be sold for is too much is illogical. That means assuming that the retail price is based solely on the quality which is not how it works.

    26. I will buy this game every year for the same reason I buy EA’s NHL series every year. I’m a fan of the sport and have become a fan of the franchise.

      To everyone complaining about lack of evolution in the game, skip 2012 wait for 2013 when the next gen consoles arrive.

    27. First of all, I agree it would be unrealistic to expect these kinds of games to be innovated hugely from version to version. A lot of the annual sports titles get away with offering a content update for the new season and a few minor tweaks here and there. There was actually a bit more modifications needed from 2010 to last year, as DRS and KERS should have been and were included (and worked pretty much as expected, which I liked). A more or less rudimentary brake bias adjust option should be a less important element.

      I do disagree with the “this doesn’t want to be a hardcore simulation” argument. I respect that’s the approach Codemasters is sticking with, but I see no need to not offer more complexity to the players who would like it. Basically telling the simracing fans to stay away from this because they look for something the F1 games don’t want to offer only means they’ll refuse to pay for this product and go play some unofficial F1 mods on some other game instead. Consequently, by also motivating these people to buy the game, Codemasters could market their series to an even bigger fan base, which, in turn, I think could justify the additional development resources they would most probably need to go beyond the complexity they’re accomplishing now.

      Even from a small development team, however, I expect core functionalities of a software to be working correctly, without the need for a patch that might come down the road. Instead, both games had issues reported where game saves become corrupted, which, if you google after Dirt 2, didn’t just start happening with the F1 titles. It’s one thing to have your community managers ask people to not swear in your face for something like that occurring. It’s another to get to the bottom of such an issue and be able to fix it.

      Also, for emulating a racing series which features mandatory pit stops, there were numerous issues that shouldn’t have happened. In F12010, players were held unduly long in the pits during stops, while computer-controlled cars, in some cases, didn’t pit at all. Last year’s title, instead, still seems to have balancing issues in that CCs sometimes stay out too long, suffer a puncture from wear and then halt on the track immediately rather than attempting to get back to the pits and change to a new set of tyres. Okay, it’s not a simulation if that happens and you’re right behind a car and you crash into them and you get a penalty for causing a collision. That’s arcade, all right.

      With those kinds of experiences, I’ll weigh if and when I’ll want to buy and play the game. Last year, at least I waited until the patch was out.

    28. I played the heck out of 2010, can’t say I’ll buy this but I liked the graphics and physics in the “1st” one. I just wish they had telemetry on the console versions. And like Tanner said, the games need a little more hustle and bustle in the pit lane.

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