F1 2015 Preview

June 12th. That’s a crucial date for Codemasters Racing, and an unusual one too. The official F1 games, under the veteran development studio, have always been released late in the year, quite often when the F1 season has already come to a close. Normally, for both Codemasters and those who follow the sport, that’s not a remotely ideal time. This year, the series is in a much better position. Releasing mid-way through the year, with over half of the 19 grand prixs still left on the calendar, F1 2015 already finds itself in a good spot, that’s even without considering this will be the series’ first entry on new-gen. It’s good timing, although after letting many fans down last year with a previous-gen only F1 2014, Codemasters has certainly got some lost ground to recover. Happily, the outlook so far is good.

“It’s something that a lot of our fans have been asking for, to try to get the game out earlier,” said Codemaster’s Steven Embling, “but it’s not an easy thing. We have to get the car models, but we can’t get the car models and the car liveries until we’ve seen them driving round. So naturally you’re looking at March before that’s even going to be possible to start work on them. Then you can’t really see how the drivers are doing and how the cars are performing until the races. So that makes the date a bit later, then you’ve got development time, so naturally that ends up pushing us back until September/October.” It’s an unusual situation, unlike any other sport-centered title on the market, but Codemasters has now gone to lengths to rectify the issue: “This time round we’ve actively gone out of our way to do things as early as possible to make it very relevant to the season that’s happening now.”

That date could do a lot to push sales figures for Codemasters, but the studio is more than aware that a simple early release date and a fresh lick of paint probably won’t be enough to sell the game to the legions of F1 aficionados (not to mention those, like myself, who just love a great racing game). The new consoles, and the new Ego 3 engine that will make its debut with F1 2015, have made it much easier for Codies to make all-round redevelopments to the series: Steven notes that “from 2011 onwards, we’ve been working with the same kind of technology, so we’ve been making what improvements we can from ‘11 to ‘12, to ‘13, then ‘14, but it’s always been building on what we had before. This time, we have the new generation of consoles, so we looked to build on that raw power that is available to us now, to build something brand new.”

“We’ve got entirely new physics, entirely new tyre modelling, which is so much more detailed than anything we could have done on the previous generation, and that has put us in a really good position to build the handling from that.” When most people think ‘new engine’ their first thoughts are likely to go to visuals, but Steven is clearly more invested in the actual driving experience - an attitude likely reciprocated by many series fans (it’s also worth mentioning that Steven is in charge of the game’s handling model): “Having that new technology there, and that new tyre model and physics model that’s so much more detailed, it means force feedback, and effects like the rumble you get with a pad can be so much more detailed. It can help the player know when they are on the limit a lot more than what was previously possible.”

That’s not to say the game is a slouch in the visual department, not by a long shot. Codies’ F1 games have always been good-looking experiences, but from what gameplay has been shown so far, 2015 is the natural step up from the previous generation. The level I played was clearly chosen to be especially pretty, a night race at Singapore (with rain, just to give it all an extra shine), but the new level of detail was instantly visible. The Ego engine ‘look’ is very much still in place; which generally means detailed cars on detailed tracks, but with less detailed scenery. I was playing on a PC build of the game though, so it will be interesting to see how the game compares on PS4 and Xbox One. Regardless, the visuals are set to be something every player enjoys, even when moving at 200 mph.

There are plenty of other additions to the game alongside the return of, technically new, but familiar game modes, one particularly interesting development is an attempt to replicate the spectacle that is Formula 1. If previous Codemasters F1 titles have had one long running snag, it’s that they fail to really emulate the actual broadcasting style of the sport. While FIFA, NBA 2K and the like all strive to make the in-game product look like the TV spectacle, that style hasn’t really been present since the SCE Studio Liverpool days of F1 videogames (and even then it was tetchy at best). F1 2015 is set to bring a bit of atmosphere, and occasion, to the series: “You’ve got these intro scenes,” says Steven, “with (commentators) Anthony Davidson and David Croft. They have literally thousands of lines and they can talk about various different things that can happen over the course of a race weekend, to really set the scene.”

“(For example) they talk about the temperature of the track; going to Malaysia they’d say that this is somewhere warmer; or for some of the other climates, ‘this could really put some thermal degradation on the tires’. It really sets the scene, you know what you’re going to be expecting when you go into the race. It’s difficult to describe, but all the build-up in something like the Sky Sports footage, you get to see that as an intro to the race. The guys working on that, doing the animation and camera angles, they’re phenomenal.” There’s a clear sense of pride and intrigue from the Codemasters team on this regard, I’d wager this is something they’ve been aiming at for a while now. What’s more, intro sequences aren’t the only contextual improvements: “something else which is quite key, and we’ve been asked for it many, many times, is podium sequences. Now, we get the full podium sequences; your driver, so let’s say you’re playing as Lewis Hamilton, he’s spraying the champagne, that’s a really nice thing to see after a hard fought victory.”

There are other minor changes, like being able to directly communicate with your race engineer (which you can even do through voice commands now, although not a whole lot was said on the matter), but there’s no doubt that these presentation changes will go a long way to making the player feel as though they are an active part of a fictional F1 world. In many ways, that sexy sheen (a.k.a, money) is what makes Formula 1 stand out from the pack, so it’s great to see Codemasters finally properly address that. Which leads nicely to the elephant in the room, because it’s about time the company addressed something else. Why the awkward delay to F1 on new-gen platforms? “This was one that took a really long time to make because we were building up from nothing, everything is brand new. It’s taken some time, but we wanted to do it right. Having said that we’re also releasing it earlier in the 2015 season, so it’s earlier in that regard, but obviously we’ve had the ‘14 season, and everyone remembers it quite recently, and can replay their favourite stories and favourite battles.”

What Steven is talking about here is the inclusion of the 2014 F1 season on the F1 2015 disc (or, erm, download). He wouldn’t answer me when I asked if the move was an apology for missing new-gen last year, but I think we can all make our own inferences. Regardless, it’s a cool feature: “When you load up the game, you have a choice between playing in the ‘14 season or the ‘15 season, so think of it as two games. You have the entirety of 2014 and 2015 for every game mode. Which means more cars to drive, and they’ve each got their own unique handling attributes, different straight line speeds, tyre management, things like that. So it’s good to have more stuff in there.” The concept of playing an entire season modelled on 2014, then following it by playing the new season is rather exciting, so that’s sure to be a secondary, but neat addition for many players.

This feels like a new start for Codemasters and its F1 series. My time with the game felt familiar, especially in relation to the presentation and general style. Yet a nice selection of new features, and a reworked handling model that focuses on precision as well as controller/steering wheel parity (a key issue for some fans), could see F1 2015 turn a few heads. The earlier release date should help matters, although it’s worth noting that the June 12th date does mean there will be some slight differences between the in-game and real life vehicles. Nothing major, but Codemasters claims it will patch these with an update shortly after release. The price of getting there early in a sport that’s ever-changing. F1 2015, on the surface, feels like a bold new start for the series on new-gen, but it’s only when we get our hands on the final product that we’ll be able to see if this is a true step up for the series rather than an incremental annual release with better graphics. At the moment, all signs are pointing to the former, so let’s hope that’s the case.