F1 2021

Maybe this is a little too early to be making a thread for the next Codemasters F1 title, but at least there's some minor news that's relevant to this year's game:

Apparently Will Buxton is at Codies today presumably recording some new voice lines for this year's game:

https://www.instagra...g_web_copy_link

Unless it features all the extra tracks from 2020 and whatever we actually get in 2021, I think I'll be giving it a miss. At least, it would have to be something really special. The Saudi circuit won't be enough new content for me to justify getting it.

I think that a DLC to F1 2020 as a conversion to next year's game would be the better option. There will definitely be more focus on the circuit additions, especially because there's probably three new ones to design.

Also, the Virtual GP series may give useful feedback to Codies about track layout and any little changes they should make - take for example the final chicane at Barcelona, which the real drivers helped to adjust.

Edited by messy, 22 January 2021 - 08:59.

That's a good point, and I agree, it is a very strange time in the gaming world.

There are also other sports games that have pretty much been copy and paste too:

• NASCAR Heat 5 - livery changes and driver changes, that's pretty much it
• Madden 21 - aside from uniform changes, player additions and swaps and two new stadiums, the game has literally been a copy and paste (Some parts of the game still said Madden 20)

F1 2021 will probably be a similar story, which is fine for me because I think F1 2020 is the best F1 game Codemasters has made.

Problem with having it as a 2020 DLC (which would be ideal I agree) is that the new one will be on the new consoles.

This is a strange time for gaming really. Everyone still has a PS4/XB1 but the games will all be on new machines most people haven’t got yet. I won’t get a new console till next Christmas at the very earliest so won’t be picking up this until we’ll after release.

By which time it’s probably worth just waiting for F1 2022.

Edited by messy, 22 January 2021 - 12:00.

Yeah. I mean from what I remember F1 2016 was the first "proper" release on the current/last gen with F1 2015 being more of a tech demo. Wouldnt surprise me if F1 2022 was the real starting point for the next gen. And thats before you even factor in EA taking over Codemasters and the impact that might have.

So is it definitely gonna be EA then? Nothing else has really been said from what I've found.

So is it definitely gonna be EA then? Nothing else has really been said from what I've found.

I was hoping Take-Two would get it

Edited by Nobody, 29 January 2021 - 02:55.

 

I was hoping Take-Two would get it

I think we all did, but after some more looking around it looks like EA will be back making F1 games soon.

I really hope they don't inflict the "EA effect" on the F1 game, it's already great. I hope EA just increase the amount of resources available to Codies, and don't kill the studio, like they've done before.

I never thought I'll be one of those people, but if only they added VR support to the franchise...   DR2.0 got it eventually, it wasn't perfect in terms of performance, but still worth it because of the extra immersion.

I never thought I'll be one of those people, but if only they added VR support to the franchise...   DR2.0 got it eventually, it wasn't perfect in terms of performance, but still worth it because of the extra immersion.

That and Ray Tracing/Nvidia DLSS are other things alongside VR support that I'd like to see being added, but I doubt until EA fully get their hands on things, that probably wouldn't happen. 

There is technically VR support for the game, Jimmy Broadbent did a video on it a while back, but it looks very stretched and he threw up after doing a 5 lap race, so that's a no go!

From what I've seen, the eye tracking looks okay, but it looks like it depends on what you use. As a proud cockpit cam user I've thought about eye tracking, but I agree, VR would be much better.

Edited by JoshKing, 29 January 2021 - 17:17.

Some information regarding how EA and Codemasters will work:

https://www.mirror.c...racing-23585235

Sounds like EA are just going to boost Codemasters' resources, and not take over in terms of developing the F1 game or other titles. This is great news, if you ask me, and it's pretty much what I wanted from EA. They said in the interview "For the foreseeable future", so there's a little bit of uncertainty.

Maybe things are looking up for the future of F1 games?

Isn't Codemasters usually announce the next game around the season opener? I guess we can expect some news fairly soon. I'm not sure if the EA buyout will affect things too much this year already, the deal concluded fairly late in the development cycle.

Unless it features all the extra tracks from 2020 and whatever we actually get in 2021, I think I'll be giving it a miss. At least, it would have to be something really special. The Saudi circuit won't be enough new content for me to justify getting it.

Just going back to my thoughts back here.

If we're going to get Imola, Portimao, updated Barcelona and Melbourne, then I'd probably end up getting it.

What I'd like the most is a complete junior career starting with F3, but I fully understand why they don't do it, Liberty advertises F2 as the place for the "stars of the future", so it is marketable to some degree at least even next to F1, but then F3 is significantly less exciting in terms of speed and driving as well, most people would skip it if they could or be upset about it otherwise, but still, I think it would be awesome, even as an optional feature.

Unless they introduce something important for me, like VR support, extended junior career or another step towards realism, I think I'll pass this year as well. I don't really have the time for the career mode besides sim racing events, so I'm completely fine with the semi-fictional F1 cars of Automobilista 2 (they've just released the Lotus 79 for example, I've been throwing it around Interlagos '76, it's both awesome and nerve-racking at the same time.)

Imola and Portimao are confirmed to be in the game now

Confirmed where?

https://www.ea.com/g...ouncing-f1-2021

Edited by balage06, 15 April 2021 - 15:12.

I am surprisingly hyped after that trailer. Will probably end up being disappointed

To be honest, I just want fun races, the new tracks, and a game that won't lose my save file randomly.

Edited by Silberpfeil, 17 May 2021 - 16:47.

I think it's great. One of the big draws of F1 2013 for me was the classic content. Not just the cars, but that they had appropriate drivers in them, and classic tracks to drive on. I think this is a nice step in the right direction.

And you know, you don't have to hire the legends for your My Team.

And you know, you don't have to hire the legends for your My Team.

As long as they don't get hired by other teams. I'm fine with it. Actually, age-wise Rosberg is still feasible to actually have in an F1 car again.

Doesn’t bother me - to be honest, I find MyTeam kinda fantasy land already, you want immersion and realism you stick to a regular career with a real team and the real drivers. I just really want F1 2021 to be a proper next gen leap. I know it’s hard at the moment because from a business point of view it doesn’t make much sense to go fully next gen as nobody can get a PS5 or XSX for love nor money...but so far I’ve had Ride4, WRC9 and MotoGP21 and although they’re all a bit smoother and stuff, there’s precisely zero next gen ‘wow factor’

I like it, I like any kind of management aspect. I like that I can get a driver I like into what I hope will be a better car etc. I loved it when the MotoGP had the MyTeam thing, and you could end up with hiring drivers for the Moto3 and Moto2 team as well. I loved it in the EA NASCAR games where you bought teams, while not being able to swap drivers, or create a new team. It included the fact that you had race in one NASCAR series and qual in another on the same day, so you had to choose where to drive, and you could then hire a driver to drive where you don't etc.

It might not be 100% realistic, but it's really fun. But adding in a dead driver to drive with you, just... no.

It won't be next gen games as long as they also release it for last gen, and last gen is still so popular. I guess the moment the newest gen is more popular, they will make games for that, and some "B-Team" are being tasked to basically upgrade the last game with new rosters and sell on old gen. I never got a PS4 or the xBone, but I remember this being the case in the transfer from PS2 to PS3.

Edited by Myrvold, 17 May 2021 - 23:04.

Edited by messy, 02 June 2021 - 21:28.

F3 is definitely a possibility, especially with the addition of junior categories over the past few games (F1 2019: Weber + Butler F2 storyline, F1 2020: optional F2 season in driver career mode & ability to sign F2 drivers in My Team, F1 2021: 1 season in F2 in Braking Point). Possibly for F1 2022/2023?

I think the new damage model is really going to change the competitive side of the game. Previously, you'd be able to clatter massive sausage kerbs (T15 Baku, for example) with no penalty. Now there's the likelihood of damaging the floor which looks to be quite detrimental to performance.

Edited by JoshKing, 03 June 2021 - 09:52.

They're at such a high standard at the moment that you're not going to see much improvement from a bit of gameplay. I think where the improvements are going to come are in gameplay elements rather than sim elements.

Interesting if they are enhancing the damage model, Josh, which should provide that extra challenge. I might have to turn the damage down a bit, as that level of precision is hard enough with a gamepad. For the hardcore simmers that should be received well. I haven't really played F2 much, so I doubt I'd play much F3, unless the career mode had a fully fleshed out pre-F1 section. The 3 F2 scenarios in F1 2019 weren't really enough.

I'd rather see a fleshed out classic mode, in the manner of F1 2013. Not just a bunch of classic cars but authentic drivers in them* and period correct circuits to drive them on.

*Since 2018 the classic drivers are the same 20 or so pretend drivers. They haven't even mixed that up a bit to keep things fresh. I'm sick of Jack Tremblay, Marie Laursen, Yasir Atiyeh, Igor Correia, et al. At least in F1 2013 you were racing against Mansell, Berger, Schumacher, Hill, Alesi, Hakkinen, etc.

Edited by Frood, 07 June 2021 - 18:34.

It seems only Geoff Crammond and David Kaemmer knew how to do pit stops properly. That was to have the player actually drive the car in the pitlane, rather than having the game do it for you.

I'd happily have all the pit crews jump out of the way of my car in a slightly unrealistic manner (so I can't mow them down. This isn't Grand Theft Auto) than have my car suddenly go on rails for the pitstop.

I must admit, the pit stops are woefully awful in terms of realism. It would be awesome to be able to manually drive in the pits but the F1 series is a game, not a sim unfortunately.

I hope they make a game with all former tracks from the past 15-20 years and allow us to make a calendar ourselves from those tracks for Career Mode.

Edited by FTB, 09 June 2021 - 19:37.

That would be a huge game. I'd never get tired of having different track and car combos to race.

If we go back 20 years that's 33 circuits, but many would have many variations.

A light hearted view of the new story mode:

A sim-racer's view:

Such a shame that for the third year in a row they still havent got driver transfers right or at least made them somewhat realistc: https://the-race.com...market-changed/

It is. I had Ricciardo at Ferrari in F1 2020 and Perez at Renault.

Also, the AI crash avoidance is still as effective as a chocolate kettle:

https://www.reddit.c..._ai_is_amazing/

How do you guys define “realistic” when it comes to driver changes?

How is Ricciardo and Ferrari and Perez at Renault outside the realms of suspension of disbelief in the fiction of the game? Both seem like exactly the sort of swap that might happen in real life.

Did you rear the article on the Race?

Jack Aitken out of nowhere to Ferrari, Zhou to Mercedes, Illot to Aston Martin, Russell to Alfa Romeo, Giovinazzi to Alpha Tauri, Galeal as an F2 driver with a very low rating to Mercedes, established drivers not really making logical moves either with one or two exceptions perhaps, it all seems very random. And different settings dont really make a difference. Not sure why this is so difficult to get somewhat right at least.

At the end of the day, it's a game and having these crazy transfers makes it more fun. I don't mind them personally, it's just funny to see the wacky ones.