Codemasters announce F1 2014 and earlier 2015 title

2014 F1 season

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Codemasters have announced details of their upcoming Formula One games based on the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

F1 2014 will follow the pattern of their previous four Formula One titles and appear on October 17th in Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC formats.

It will be followed earlier than usual by a new title which will take advantage of “new generation platforms”, likely to include the Xbox One and PlayStation Four. In another first for Codemasters’ F1 series, this game will be updated as the season unfolds.

“The game will launch earlier in the Formula One season and then go onto receive live digital updates,” Codemasters confirmed. “These updates will deliver 2015 content into the game as the season unfolds, ensuring you’ll be competing against the same drivers and teams you watch week in and week out.”

This year’s game will include all the latest updates to the teams, drivers and circuits roster.

“F1 2014 recreates this year’s incredible season featuring all the seismic changes to the sport, including new turbocharged cars, new circuits plus all the driver moves.”

There will also be further changes to the dynamics of the game including “refined handling on a pad and a new driver evaluation system that tunes game settings to your skill level to increase accessibility – we want all of our players to race competitively, more quickly”.

“Of course, all the veterans of the series will be able to experience the true challenge of racing this year’s stunning generation of cars, featuring more explosive power delivery but less downforce, by customising your options and turning off all the assists.”

Update: Codemasters have confirmed their “new generation” F1 title will also be available for PC.

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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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98 comments on “Codemasters announce F1 2014 and earlier 2015 title”

  1. I hope the PC version released this year will take advantage of the “new generation platforms” because, well, it’s always a new generation platform.

    I wonder if Abu Dhabi will be DLC that costs twice as much as usual?

    1. Least it makes sense…..

      1. @keithcollantine You should really specify what you’re talking about! I nearly had a heart failure thinking that I had to pay twice as much for Abu Double in F1 2014!

  2. I like the decision to release a 2015 game on next-gen earlier on in the season than the previous-gen games.

    Unfortunately, it makes the 2014 game feel a little bit like a stop-gap title, but let’s see how it goes when we hear more about it.

    1. I think that honestly, it is perfect. 6-7 months is more or less the lifeline of every F1 game, and just as everybody strays from F1 2014, F1 2015 comes out!!!

      1. August/September will still mean “earlier” compared to this year’s game. Knowing Codies, that’s probably what’s going to happen. If will definitely not fall for their tricks this time and buy the games when they hit sub-10 € and not for consoles any longer.

  3. A little bit odd that they’ve announced the successor to the next game alongside the 2014 version. Considering how quickly next-gen consoles are selling, as well as the continued rise in popularity of PC gaming, to me this seems like it can only hurt sales. People may choose to skip 2014 if it’ll be replaced that much sooner.

    Having said that, I’m very happy they’re bringing the next-gen game forward to earlier in the season. A May release would be ideal. Looking forward to what it’ll look like on Playstation 4. The constant updates sounds like a really neat concept, could they tweak car performance throughout the season?

    1. Why is PC being treated like old gen, when PC gamers have systems that are far better than a ps4 or xbox one?

      1. @jdc123 Yeah, absolutely. I’m guessing that all the old engines they were using on the older systems games were holding PC back for years.

        PC can and will (in some cases already has) start blowing even the next gen consoles away, so I’d expect a huge improvement in next years game, even on the PC if they use a new game engine. The next gen consoles are quite close to PC’s in architecture as well so scalability of the in game engine is going to be a huge factor as well.

        1. Michael Brown (@)
          31st July 2014, 13:01

          PC has been better than the next gen consoles since their specs were revealed in early 2013

      2. Agree.
        Basically, any technology that can be integrated in the console, can be integrated in the PC in a much potent way. Only way console can have an edge over a PC in some aspect, is if that particular tech or solution is proprietary. Otherwise, PC will always blow console out of the water. I mean, you just have to look at the hardware, the case, the cooling, the size of graphic cards and everything. As tight as they might try packaging it, you just can’t reduce the size of some things and expect them to work the same, especially with cooling. And without aggressive cooling, there’s no talking of pushing CPU, GPU or memory to the extremes.

      3. petebaldwin (@)
        31st July 2014, 15:42

        @jdc123 – Basically, the game engine has been designed for last-gen so they will make it available for PC if you want it. 2015 on the PC will be miles better than 2014 on the PC.

    2. Given how nearly every one of Codemaster’s racing games is released alongside interviews mentioning things missing from the games that they ‘hope to include in the next release’, this is not surprising – at least the cars have proper rendered interiors, unlike the dross from GRID: Autosport.

      Hopefully 2014 will be more fun to play than 2013 too – the punishing tyre modelling sapped any of the fun from the game unless you had a steering wheel.

      1. @optimaximal agree there mate, especially as the AI didn’t suffer from it!

      2. plus the reliability: those cars never ever ever ever fails in anything! i wish some brake, engines, suspensions problems arise..

        1. They never break for the player, over one 100% race a couple of drivers would retire in 2012 I think. It’s a design choice because Codemasters would have to deal with players complaining the car broke and they did nothing wrong, and had to restart the race.

          1. petebaldwin (@)
            31st July 2014, 15:40

            @austus – That’s the thing though, most cars run in to issues during races but they are managed. Obviously a straight engine faliure would be a bit frustrating but to things like “your brakes are getting a little hot, lift and coast into corners to cool them down” etc would be awesome and would throw up variables that you would have to manage yourself.

    3. @colossal-squid

      A little bit odd that they’ve announced the successor to the next game alongside the 2014 version.

      I disagree – if Codemasters had just announced a new game for the old platforms and nothing else they’d be bombarded with criticism for ignoring the new generation machines.

      1. @keithcollantine True that they’d get criticised for that, but they’ll get criticised anyway for not having the 2014 game be ported over to the new consoles!

        By having a shorter time between releases and also having the 2015 game be their next-gen debut they’ll get a lot of people saying this is a stop-gap entry. I guess if they wanted to change the release schedule to earlier in the year this is unaviodable.

        1. Well, yeah, but given how big the difference between the generation of consoles is, it will mean the people who cannot afford to get a new console will still have a relatively recent F1 game to play @colossal-squid and those getting new consoles know that they will not have to wait until next fall to get their F1 game.

  4. Good business idea to put the 2015 game on an earlier release date then cash in on the loads of DLC content a season can provide.

    I’m not being sarcastic, it is indeed a good idea in terms of business, obviously a quite depressing one for the gamers and fans. (Essentially, the consumers.)

  5. Am I correct in thinking that the 2015 edition game will only feature on the newer gen consoles?

    1. @formula-1 They haven’t said that.

  6. That McLaren is most definitely the pre-season livery. It wouldn’t surprise me if codemasters left it like that, as well as including numerous bonus glitches.

    1. Gee, it’s not like they change livery every 3 races to “honor” a sponsor partner.

    2. It also looks like the old nose, which I don’t think was ever even raced.

      1. It was raced in Australia, but a new nose was raced from Malaysia onwards. I am happy about this, yes both the noses are ugly, but I prefer the old one.

        1. The old one was far more subtle. It was still insect-like, but it looked a bit more cohesive and unlike most of the other finger noses. I almost liked it.

    3. The chassis are from the Australian Grand Prix, hence the nose. And as that nose hasn’t been used with the current paintwork, I assume that is the reason for the pre-season livery, which I strangely quite liked.

  7. Interesting to note the later than usual release date, which is five days after the Russian Grand Prix, and the absence (as far as I can tell) of any footage of the Sochi circuit in the above video. Given the international situation at the moment it may be wise for Codemasters to hedge their bets on that one.

    1. 0:24 is Sochi, no?

      1. Yep. That’s the Olympic stadium.

        1. I could have sworn that was the final corner at Hockenheim. Perhaps I’m blind.

          1. Actually @tommyb89 was mistaken. Check out 0:21 till 0:24.

        2. @tommyb89 @magnificent-geoffrey I think you’re right – I had mistaken that for Abu Dhabi.

          Even so, I still think they’re downplaying the presence of the circuit in the game. The Red Bull Ring and Hockenheimring, which weren’t in last year’s game, are much more prominent in the trailer.

          And in previous years when Codemasters have had a new track to show off they’ve made it a major focus of their marketing from the start:

          In 2010 it was Korea
          In 2011 it was India
          And in 2012 it was the Circuit of the Americas

          So I do think they’re soft-pedalling Sochi, and I think it’s because they’re concerned the race might not go ahead. Perhaps the marketing will pick up the Russian Grand Prix angle a bit more strongly once F1 has reached the point of no return on its controversial new race.

          1. Good point, did you notice how on the Williams the Martini advertising was no where to be seen? It seems silly to me, people who buy the game are going to have watched F1, so will have noticed the Martini advertising, and if the FIA/FOM allow it, why does it make it unsuitable for a game?

          2. (Also just read your previous comment, sorry to repeat it)

          3. @williamstuart
            I think the bulk of the sales will be from people who will play the game for 1-10 hours and never launch it again. I also think most of the sales will be people buying the newest Codemasters game or just the newest racing game.

      2. 0:24 is Hockenheim, final corner.

      3. Looks more like Hockenheim to me.

        1. Yeah, going into 0:25.

  8. Also note the rather blue-looking Williams at 0:44 in the above video. Restrictions on alcohol advertising or just an early graphics build?

    1. It was the same with the Force India on F1 2011, one of the Alcohol sponsors – cannot remember which though

      1. I vaguely remember it being a whisky advertisement for whatever reason

        1. @conmcdonaghf1 @williamstuart A bit more on this from Codemasters on Twitter just now:

          We couldn’t feature it under our current PEGI license. Not even the red stripes. We tried, promise!

          https://twitter.com/Formula1game/status/494840583840468993

    2. @keithcollantine They may be going without alcohol brand logos to avoid having the game reclassified. In the US especially, an ‘E’ or ‘Everyone’ rated game for all ages cannot have any alcohol branding in it. That’s why all the modern NASCAR games have no explicit alcohol markings even if the sponsors appear on the cars during actual TV broadcasts.

    3. mattshaw85 (@)
      31st July 2014, 11:36

      I seem to remember F1 games in the 90’s doing this? Could be wrong.

    4. PC mods will fix this.

    5. Yep, they’ve removed the Martini branding.

      Link to Eurogamer screenshot.

    6. Codemasters have confirmed via Twitter it is due to alcohol advertising restrictions:

      https://twitter.com/Formula1game/status/494798139719577602

      1. That seems pathetic. I understand removing the logos, but removing the red from the strips which is visually a major component in the livery is overkill.

    7. Let’s hope not, that Williams is one fine looking car this year!

    8. I think the Martini should be replaced with “MBRUNDLE”……

    9. I don’t understand why they just replace Martini with “Racing” like Williams have done in Bahrain this year.

      Also remember in F1 2013 classic they featured a JPS Lotus as well as a Camel sponsored Lotus 99t in full livery save for names of the actual tobacco companies which were changed to wreaths in the case of the JPS Lotus and camel was replaced with Lotus, as was done at the British grand prix as well as other venues where tobacco sponsorship was banned.

    10. I honestly thought they were going to be able to get away with the Bahrain livery which had ‘Racing’ instead of ‘Martini’. The restrictions must be pretty strict now to even have the red removed as I remember on Colin McRae Rally they could use all the stripes. I suppose it’s too obvious.

      1. It’s not the case – they’ve just re-released CMR2 (as CMR) onto PC & Mac and it has the Martini-sponsored 2003 Focus WRC. There are no Martini badges, but the rest of the red/white/blue livery is untouched.

        Someone made a mistake.

        1. They said they tried and it wasnt possible. Probably some sort of problem with ratings.

          I think they can bend the law and release a almost-free DLC updating the liveries and not get reclassified (with regards to age). Creative Assembly did that in one of their games (strategy, war, that kind of thing) by releasing a “blood dlc”.

    11. The restrictions have been in place since the Megadrive/SNES era. I think the only game since then to feature alcohol advertising was Grand Prix 2 on the PC, and they still had to censor the likes of Mild Seven, Gauloises, and Marlboro.

      Associate sponsorships from Bitburger. Veltins, Budweiser, Becks, Johnnie Walker (2006) were all banned. In NASCAR titles where hard liquor companies sponsored certain cars, they couldn’t even just change “Crown Royal” to “Jamie Mac” or “Jack Daniel’s” to “Clint Bowyer’s” – they had to use an alternate paintscheme or get cut from the game entirely. Even in the current official NASCAR titles, the fake beer sponsorships look nothing like the companies they’re supposed to represent. Brad Keselowski’s car just says “Blue Deuce” on the hood, but it’s not stylized like the Miller Lite logo – it’s literally just “Blue Deuce” written in what I think is actually Impact font.

      Penske Indycars couldn’t use the Marlboro chevron in certain games and ran as blank white cars with “PENSKE” on the sidepods.

      You’ll be able to skin the cars for the PC version, and I’m sure they could have used the “Racing” livery from Bahrain without much fuss – but I don’t get the outrage here and now.

  9. YES! Finally adapting the difficulty level to player ability – no more dilemma of intermediate being too easy and professional too hard.

  10. This is absolutely not, i repeat not, a cynical attempt to make you buy the same game twice, honest.

    My guess, next gen will be the same game but with a PAID option to update to a 2015 roster.

    1. If you’re ‘worried’ about buying the same game twice, just get F1 2010 cheap for your old console – there’s not a huge amount of difference.

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      31st July 2014, 15:43

      Nah I think 2015 will be a brand new game that they are designing for next-gen consoles and PC. I imagine they wanted to get it out for 2014 (hence the late release date) but haven’t managed it so they are releasing it for the following season instead and are just chucking out F1 2013 with updated cars and tracks for their 2014 version.

  11. I hope mercedes in game is’nt dominant as it is in real F1….

  12. 2014 will be the first official F1 game I don’t buy since F1 ’06 CE

    1. Waiting for 2015?

    2. Same. Only play PS4 now, so it would be pointless.

  13. So they are basically saying: “there’s not much stuff in this game, but 2015 will be better!”

    This kind of game has this problem… what else to add but a new circuit and driver changes? It basically looks exactly the same as previous editions. 2013 was better, I suppose, because of the classic cars.

    I don’t play them anyway, but just saying…

    1. Looks arent everything. The way I understand it, 2010-2013 had a lot of performance upgrades, more game modes and stuff. Honestly, I think the biggest difference will be in 2015, when they should update the engine.

  14. The longer you go into the video, the worse the rendering is becoming. I just can’t stand those glassy cars.

  15. Looks exactly the same as last years game, the graphics, the damage physics and it wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve still recycled the same animations from F1 2010 for the 4th year in a row. Gonna give this one a miss.

    1. I think the physics should change, though.

    2. Going by the video, it does seem that the graphics are going to have the least difference between its predecessor game of any of Codemaster’s F1 instalments. I think F1 2014 is a bit of a stop-gap, but I’ll still be buying it.

    3. petebaldwin (@)
      31st July 2014, 15:46

      @davef1 – Why would they bother for 2014 though? It is literally just a stop-gap until they release their next-gen game compete with season updates etc.

      There’s no point in designing new features and animations for a game that is only going to be played for a little while before the new version comes out – just get it out and work on 2015.

  16. They definitely need a new graphics engine to show off the true power of next gen, the games have basically been the same graphics wise since the first installment. 60fps wouldn’t go amiss either, should be able to achieve that without much difficulty.

  17. “The game will launch earlier in the Formula One season and then go onto receive live digital updates,” Codemasters confirmed. “These updates will deliver 2015 content into the game as the season unfolds, ensuring you’ll be competing against the same drivers and teams you watch week in and week out.”

    Based on the GRID 2 and GRID Autosport experience and knowing how Codemasters tend to take a long while to release patches and how they tend to forget to address the most important issues with their games, focusing only on minor adjustments I do take the idea that this will work well with a very high dose of skepticism.

    1. They keep releasing basically unfinished and bugged games since DiRT 3 onwards, though. This just makes the whole shenanigan sound more official.

  18. Visually, I really don’t see any difference to the last title. I know graphics aren’t everything, and the gameplay may have been improved a lot, but that’s of little comfort to me when I’ve already made the switch to next-gen. Was really hoping it would be on PS4.

  19. I’ll be waiting before I buy any future codemasters F1 games until I know there bug-free.

    I brought F1 2010-2013 & every single game was littered with bugs on launch, And most infuriatingly they were the exact same bugs every time (Save game bug for example).

    Any game that requires a dozen post release patches over the 1st month of its release should frankly have not been released when it was as it clearly wasn’t ready.

  20. I rarely comment (at all actually) but I felt like I should here. Stop playing and buying these half finished, bug ridden, graphics are the only positive games from code masters. If you want a true F1 game pick up a copy of Grand Prix 4. Yeah the graphics are dated but the game play is un-matched and there is a dedicated community who are working to keep the game alive and up to date. I’m still holding out that Geoff Crammond will come out of hiding and announce Grand Prix 5 but I think there’s more chance of Max Chilton scoring a point in his f1 career than that. But yeah, code masters make a fun arcade game for casual 3 lap limit online players. If you want to experience driving 78 laps of Monaco in the wet. Grand Prix 4 is the game your looking for…imo of course ;)

  21. petebaldwin (@)
    31st July 2014, 15:24

    Disappointing 2014 will only be last gen but I’m happy to wait for a game released near the start of the season! By the time 2014 is released, we’ll only have 3 races remaining in the season!

    In regards to the updates, I’d love them to follow FIFA’s path with real-life scenarios to play based on the previous Grand Prix.

    This week, you could perhaps drive the final 10 laps as Hamilton on old tyres trying to overtake Alonso with Rosberg closing up quickly on fresh rubber. After Bahrain, you could be Rosberg trying to make the move stick etc.

    1. Rosberg in Canada would be cool. Although I doubt he really did that much, the engineer could be giving you key information on how to finish the race.

  22. Gideon Hadi (@)
    31st July 2014, 15:35

    And….. They fail McLaren nose again and no sponsors update

  23. Is the Martini branding removed from the Game or just the Ad? political correctness gone mad. Maybe the should block out Ranstand ? that could be worse recruiting me into a job and career path and destroying my true path to Caterham simulator Driver

  24. i’ll still buy it. i don’t live in one of the worlds richest countries for nothing ;)

    seriously though, the game looks the same, but i know that i’ll just give in and buy it eventually, so i’m just going to pre-order it.

    a shame they couldn’t get the martini livery on the williams.

    1. Likewise. I think it may be a bit of OCD, but I feel I can’t miss a year out. I feel obliged to buy it.

  25. I’ll stick with F1 ’97 on the PS1, thank you.

  26. Interesting the lack of in-game audio. Engine sounds will probably be poor as they have been in previous F1 Codemasters game. (Not a complaint of the new engine regs, just complaining about the engine sounds in previous Codie games). This probably won’t be able to tear me away from iRacing, but I may get it anyway just to have something fun-ish to play if I take a drop week or something.

  27. Until we get specific dates on when this updated newer game comes out we cannot say we will not buy or we will buy it. I mean, earlier than usual could mean roughly Spanish GP time or it could be on the shelf for Spa weekend. Then again, we will all end up buying it and playing it to death regardless of whether or not it is actually a new game or a skin pack so to speak.

  28. Codemasters graphics are nice but their games are too buggy and arcade-like, and their cr.ppy replay system (pardon my French here) hasn’t evolved since F1 2010.

    Anyway, why not allowing competition between 2 developers publishing games – just like PES against FIFA – like in the old days? That would force Codemasters to up their game and REALLY improve the series. I guess there is some sort of exclusivity contract but when it runs out it wouldn’t be a bad idea, imo.

  29. all I gotta say; smart to leave out the sound of the video.

    I got the 2013 version. And im 100% sure ‘Project CARS’ will be a much better game. Its made by and for race fans, not just for making a buck.

  30. Looks terrible and it will be horrible to play.

  31. It is no surprise to me that Codemasters fail to make F1 2014 “next gen”. They really are a third rate developer.

    They have done nothing but the absolute bare minimum (and arguably less) with the F1 license.

  32. I think it was the same with the Force India on F1.

  33. I sure hope F1 2014 is released stateside. F1 2013 wasn’t, and I was not too pleased.

  34. I don’t mind this release for x360/ps4 since a lot of gamers (including me) haven’t upgraded to newer consoles, so its going to be quite entertaining getting the feel of the cars before moving up to the f1 2015. I know lots of people think its frustrating but since these games take so much to be launched, they still owed a release for 360/ps4.

    I hope they take into consideration getting more involved with the character, including press, sponsors, and specially less predictable IA’s. They should suffer tire wear just as us and also be more aggressive when it comes to defending a position.

    A true F1 fan moves along with the changes in regulations and wont bother about the lack of sound. I went to a GP this year and it doesnt sound like a high pitched angry beast but its still quite impressive. I think in the heat of a good battle in the game this sound would still be remarkable.

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