CODEMASTERS acquire F1 Racing License from FOM (merged)

[MS7XWDC]

 

[GT4 genius]

They could, but they wont. They'll make it the other way around an arcade game, they'll let you switch off a fake traction control system or something like that and then say its "balanced".

 

[Earth]

After experiencing GRID first hand I have little hope for a F1 game made by CODEMASTERS

Sure it will have spectacular crashes but for the hardcore racer there is much more to a proper raicning sim then that. But at least it should be better then EA's efforts

Here are the best Formula 1 games I have ever played

By Psygnosis

The information on the back of this game's case started with these words: "Built for the serious 32 bit racer..."

This game was Formula 1 bliss, color commentary by Murray Walker and play by play by another good commentator, radio communication from the pits, great weather effects for the playstation 1, cool music, realistic qualifying system, great prerace, spectacular fiery engine failures for AI and yourself, the old Hockenheim, slight contact would break off a wing, they just did everything right.

By Eidos

In my opinion an upgraded Formula 1 Championship Edition (PS1) in GRAPHICS ONLY. This game came out about 6 or 7 years ago. There was weather effects, 1/2 of the field would retire in 100% length races from engine failure or very real crashes between the AI during a race that could be replayed from 1000 camera angles. Excellent Formula 1 game.


I played the new Formula 1 Championship edition and it didn't have the feel of these 2...these two F1 games are legendary in my book, and I doubt CODEMASTERS will surpase them.

I've never played Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix games, Will have to look into them

 

[MagpieRacer]

As it stands Grand PRix 4 is the best F1 game imo, updated to 2005, 2006 or 2007.

 

[Blake]

Indeed. You need someone who is actually passionate about racing to make these games – someone who understands what realism means to sim racers.

 

[nissan tuner]

"simulation for the hardcore gamers, but also an arcade experience that you can truly pick up and play. I believe we’ve balanced that in GRID™ and I believe we’re going to balance it in Formula One."

thats all i needed to hear. this is going to be a joke

 

[TheMoose]

As it stands Grand PRix 4 is the best F1 game imo, updated to 2005, 2006 or 2007.

Sorry but the best F1 game ever is Grand Prix Legends by Sierra games!

There was tons of user mods like the old Monza track with banking & it was my favorite era of GP racing.
I still have my copy...I wonder if it will play on a Vista computer?

 

[Rainmaster]

Sorry but the best F1 game ever is Grand Prix Legends by Sierra games!

word.case closed.
but I have to correct this. GPL isnt by Sierra. Sierra is just the publisher. All thanks to Papyrus!

shame that they only created GPL and N2003 with their awesome abilities

 

[MS7XWDC]

 

[MagpieRacer]

I reckon it will be simalair in realism to F1:CE. They need to make the races feel, racey, F1:CE lacked a certain athmosphere. Pit lanes need to look like pit lanes, the circuits need to look full of life, stewards waving flags, safety cars, medical cars, tow trucks..

If the crashes are anything like grid they will be amazing.

 

[Biggles]

F1:CE is focused on the racing, NOT "stewards waving flags, safety cars, medical cars, tow trucks", pit girls, beer-drinking fans, balloons & streamers... etc.

It delivers the core experience without wasting resources on inessential extras. Yeah, it would be nice to have a little more "atmosphere" as well, but given a choice I'll take the steak over the sizzle (GRiD seems to be ALL about the "atmosphere").

 

[Sa!!yz~Rage]

Well if GRiD is any indication it probably won't even get made. Other than the cool damage, the game is an unmitigated disaster. The online component is the worst I've ever seen, not just for driving games, it's just bad. If you think the 'punters' are bad in GT5P? Go take a spin with the full version of GRiD online.

I know most here considered it a joke, but they've got a real problem on their hands that's for sure.

DiRT wasn't the best multi-player either, but at least it was fun for rallying. 👍

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Im really excited to see what they come out with after reading the interview.

I guess I had the opposite reaction after reading that interview.

To me the whole thing seemed like a preemptive strike / disclaimer, that basically says, "Hey, we want to get this game out ASAP and as such instead of developing it from scratch, we are simply going to repackage GRiD with F1 graphics, with little to no attention towards having any kind of accurate F1 physics."

Frankly, the way it sounds, they may not even bother with accurate F1 tracks. The interview really suggests that it may very well end up being nearly identical to GRiD, expect all the cars will look like F1 cars.

Don't get me wrong, I actually really enjoy DiRT quite a lot, and I also really enjoy the demo for GRiD, and will likely pick up the full game for it as well... but I enjoy them for their over the top simcade style. However, I certainly would not feel the same if they made an F1 game based on the same gameplay principals as those two games. I'm really not interested in an arcade style F1 game.

Unfortunately, given the fact that it appears they have every intention of releasing this game in less than a year, my expectations are quite low that this will end up being a worthy successor to F1CE.

 

[Pepsi0]

I guess I had the opposite reaction after reading that interview.

To me the whole thing seemed like a preemptive strike / disclaimer, that basically says, "Hey, we want to get this game out ASAP and as such instead of developing it from scratch, we are simply going to repackage GRiD with F1 graphics, with little to no attention towards having any kind of accurate F1 physics."

Frankly, the way it sounds, they may not even bother with accurate F1 tracks. The interview really suggests that it may very well end up being nearly identical to GRiD, expect all the cars will look like F1 cars.

Don't get me wrong, I actually really enjoy DiRT quite a lot, and I also really enjoy the demo for GRiD, and will likely pick up the full game for it as well... but I enjoy them for their over the top simcade style. However, I certainly would not feel the same if they made an F1 game based on the same gameplay principals as those two games. I'm really not interested in an arcade style F1 game.

Unfortunately, given the fact that it appears they have every intention of releasing this game in less than a year, my expectations are quite low that this will end up being a worthy successor to F1CE.

Aparrently 350 people are working on the game right now...so it seems that Codemasters are actually intending to do quite well...but games like F1 Championship Edition took at least 2 years to make. If they release it at the end of 2009 it'll probably be quite good, but still, they've got to release it before the new season starts otherwise they'll be way behind.

 

[GT4 genius]

Aparrently 350 people are working on the game right now...so it seems that Codemasters are actually intending to do quite well...but games like F1 Championship Edition took at least 2 years to make. If they release it at the end of 2009 it'll probably be quite good, but still, they've got to release it before the new season starts otherwise they'll be way behind.

F1CE didnt take 2 years to make, I think. F1 06 on PS2 by studio Liverpool came out in July 2006, then F1CE came out in March 2007. And I dont think Studio Liverpool have that many people working with them, I'd say not more than 100 people. Taking this into consideration it is one brilliant achivement.

 

[Beerz]

Nobody makes F1 games like Geoff Crammond did his. Period.

 

[Biggles]

F1CE didnt take 2 years to make, I think. F1 06 on PS2 by studio Liverpool came out in July 2006, then F1CE came out in March 2007. And I dont think Studio Liverpool have that many people working with them, I'd say not more than 100 people. Taking this into consideration it is one brilliant achivement.

Another reason why it would have been nice for Studio Liverpool to do the next F1 game: I'm assuming they could have taken advantage of a lot of the assets already developed for F1:CE & improved on them. It sounds like Codemasters will be taking advantage of the assets developed for GRID, which is NOT very reassuring.

 

[Pepsi0]

Yeah, Studio Liverpool have experience with creating an F1 title for the PlayStation 3. F1 Championship Edition is, in my mind, the best F1 simulator out there, and if they made F1 2009 we'd all be happy because we actually know how good their previous title was.

 

[MS7XWDC]

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

F1 CE falls short in many areas:
poor online overall
no psp mirror as promised
not enough options [can't remove 'time' penalty, but keep real penalties]

i'm glad for the switch

With the exception of the PSP mirrors, that's all just subjective personal opinion, of which you'll find from reading the F1CE threads, are not likely shared by the majority of those playing F1CE. In fact, I suspect it's quite the opposite, considering F1CE offers a far better online experience and options than GT5P and most online racing games.

• Maybe you don't like having the ability to set-up private races requiring a password or even limiting to invites ONLY?
• Maybe you have something against being able to set the specific number of players allowed in a race?
• Maybe you don't like having the choice of four different weather settings?
• Maybe you have something against being able to turn on or off race rules?
• Maybe you have something against being able to choose what ever circuit you want?
• Maybe you don't like having the option to use pit stops for a race?
• Maybe you have something against being able to set a specific number of laps between 5 and 20, for a race?
• Maybe you don't like the option to turn on or off collision damage?
• Maybe you don't like having three different options for setting the grid order (Qualification, Ranked, Random)?
• Maybe you have something against being able to select three different levels of AI performance?

And these are just the many options one has for playing F1CE online... it has even more options for offline gameplay.

Seriously? By all means, list me all the online racing games you know of that have these online options or even more options than F1CE offers.

Furthermore, the online gameplay for me at least has always been very solid, with no lag and race interruptions.

I understand you have gripes, I too have issues with some of the things in or missing from F1CE, but you make it sound like F1CE has faults while no Codemasters game, or any other game for that matter does... which is completely false... while at the same time you are clearly ignoring the many features and advantages that F1CE has over other racing games... which makes it very hard for me to take your opinions very seriously.

And if not having a PSP mirror bothers you, then I guess you are very unhappy with every other racing game as well. Now if you are only bothered because it was "promised", well then you might as well be bothered by just about every major game, as they have all pretty much "promised" some features early in the design phase that never made it to the final release.

Considering Codemasters is our only choice now for the next F1 game, I certainly hope they can pull some magic out of their hats, and not crap from you know where... but I am certainly having my doubts, and will likely just continue to play F1CE untill they or someone else can improve upon what Studio Liverpool has already accomplished.

 

[GT4 genius]

Great write up Digital, really highlights SL's greatness and F1CEs. I would disagree on one point though, I get an awful lot of lag when more than 3 people are in a race, I'd say you have a very good internet connection, but it costs me 2-3seconds per lap and often i freeze but no one else does which can be frustrating when your on the fastest lap of the race and then it freezes and everyone just appears in front of you. But it has great features and even the offline is brilliant with a good few classic cars also which is a great extra.

 

[icelt]

Well I'd like to support MS7 here a little bit. This is something you guys probably don't know, but he put alot of work, really a top notch effort, into setting up and running a F1:CE online league last year. So I know for a fact he's very versed in all the options available to the online player and how to utilize them. Also as a participant in that league I can attest to some of the online annoyances we experienced:

• Lag/desync - maybe things have changed with recent updates and the like, but last summer/fall lag was a serious problem. Considering we had several drivers that were all fairly comparable many times we'd enter braking zones thinking there was plenty of space between cars only to see the leading car skid off from "apparently" getting shunted. There were even videos recorded showing how the trailing racer's view indicated a good car length separation that ended not actually being there.
• Qualy bug - I think this has been fixed, but there used to be a bug when using the qualy option.
• Inconsistent damage modeling - this could get really frustrating at those times when the trailing car made a mistake and hit the car ahead, but the only car getting damaged (typically losing a wheel) was the lead car.
• The chat feature implementation is limited and frustrating to put it mildly.
• Races limited to 20 laps max - this means there is no way with F1:CE to run a "realistic" season as the variables of pit strategy and lap after lap consistency are for the most nullified.

So how much these issues (and I'm sure there are others I'm not recalling) reduce the online experience is a matter of subjective opinion, but the fact that they do exist is not.

I think much of the frustration we all feel is a result of the unnecessarily long wait between these 2 games coupled with all the obvious promise an update of F1:CE had based on the first effort. Some of us see this as an opportunity for CM to fix all that was wrong with SL's effort, while others predict that while they'll surely get some things right they will also most likely ruin some of the best aspects of CE.

Anyway I know MS7 means well and just wants, and hopes for, the best F1 game possible for us console racing jocks.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Anyway I know MS7 means well and just wants, and hopes for, the best F1 game possible for us console racing jocks.

That's what we all want, I just think it does a disservice to the discussion to overlook the many features, options, and quality gameplay & physics in F1CE and assume that despite no experience with an F1 game nor any game with the exact same features, options, gameplay, and physics featured in F1CE, that some how we know for a fact that Codemasters is going to make a better F1 game than Studio Liverpool.

In fact, we won't even know for sure how Codemasters handles true online play until GRiD has been out for a while. After all, DiRT's online play was just a leaderboard time sheet, and had far fewer options than F1CE.

In fact, if all we have to go on is DiRT, and GriD, unless MS7 wants an F1 game that leans towards arcade style gameplay, I just don't understand why he is so glad for the switch... other than simply being pissed that F1CE isn't the perfect game he had hoped for.

This is especially true, as his complaints seem largely based on things that need improvement, not necessarily having to start all over from scratch... In the case of Codemasters, it looks like they aren't even willing to do that either, and that from that interview it appears they plan on just adapting what they have done with GriD to this new F1 game.

Look, even if that's the case, I'm sure many will like it... as consumer polls and game sales have proven that unless the title of a driving game starts with Gran Turismo or Forza, it's not going to sell well if it isn't arcade friendly.

I guess my question to MSY, or anyone else who feels glad that Codemasters is making the next F1 game instead of Studio Liverpool, do you also prefer arcade style driving games over sim style?

If so, I can then better understand why they feel this move is a good thing.

If not, I think they will be in for a rude awakening when the game finally comes out.

 

[icelt]

That's what we all want, I just think it does a disservice to the discussion to overlook the many features, options, and quality gameplay & physics in F1CE and assume that despite no experience with an F1 game nor any game with the exact same features, options, gameplay, and physics featured in F1CE, that some how we know for a fact that Codemasters is going to make a better F1 game than Studio Liverpool.

Agreed. But for the most part I think those that have given the game any sort of significant time and that are sim style racing fans would agree that the quality level of F1:CE is evident. So in a case like that it is usually much easier to focus on the various flaws. For me F1:CE is a great programming effort and as such doesn't really need to be defended much. Although it does deserve to be defended

In fact, we won't even know for sure how Codemasters handles true online play until GRiD has been out for a while. After all, DiRT's online play was just a leaderboard time sheet, and had far fewer options than F1CE.

True.

In fact, if all we have to go on is DiRT, and GriD, unless MS7 wants an F1 game that leans towards arcade style gameplay, I just don't understand why he is so glad for the switch... other than simply being pissed that F1CE isn't the perfect game he had hoped for.

True again. IE for all we know they will remove pit stops from the game all together, ala GRiD.

If not, I think they will be in for a rude awakening when the game finally comes out.

Definitely agree. I am not enthused that CM acquired this franchise. Like you, and as I mentioned before, DiRT, GRiD and the recent interview with the CM CEO all combine to give me a very uneasy feeling about the "new" vision CM has for future F1 games.

 

[Biggles]

I would agree with all the statements expressed here. In spite of all the options offered by F1:CE, the online experience is a bit inconsistent in my experience. I think part of this, is just due to the very intense nature of the racing, which, much more so than GT5P for instance, requires a very clean lag-free experience in order to work well.

I do think the single-player game is extremely satisfying, however - much more so than GT5P.

I think it's a shame that SL were not able to continue working on F1. I've got to assume that more time to build on the excellent start made with F1:CE, would have likely resulted in a significantly improved game for the PS3 the second time around.

On the other hand, I'm pretty certain that Codies will produce a dumbed down, flashy, arcade-oriented game, more in line with GRID. The only hope might be, but I think it's a slim one, that they might decide to aim the F1 game at a distinct, less arcadey market than their existing PS3 games.

 

[Blake]

F1 Championship Edition is, in my mind, the best F1 simulator out there.

It’s not even a simulator… It’s as realistic a simulation as my hat.

 

[MS7XWDC]

 

[MS7XWDC]

 

[MS7XWDC]

 

[Appie]

Dude, you didn't had to triple post.