Formula 1 isn’t especially popular in the United States of America. Everywhere else in the world, though, it’s the most popular of all the motorsports. The race calendar runs for more than half of the year and takes in some of the biggest and most glamorous cities on the planet. It’s a multi-million dollar sport with fast cars, charismatic drivers and high drama, and its millions of devotees love it. That’s why the annual Formula 1 video game is always highly anticipated – and this year’s looks likely to be the best yet.
In years past, the official F1 video game has always been handled by British company Codemasters. Technically, the same can be said of this year’s game – only Codemasters isn’t really Codemasters anymore. Thanks to a takeover deal that happened last year involving a sum of over one billion dollars, Codemasters now belongs to Electronic Arts.
That means the yearly F1 game will now be released under the enormous banner of EA and its extended range of sport-related video games. They appear to have ordered a few changes for this latest incarnation of the official game. There’s going to be a whole new story mode attached to it – and it seems it’s going to feature some of the most legendary names in the sport’s long history.
As of the time of writing, we’re yet to see any in-game footage of what Codemasters and EA have been working on. We suspect that will change very soon. In the meantime, we can confirm that the game will become available for purchase all over the world on July 16th. It will be the first Formula 1 game made specifically for the latest generation of video game consoles, which should mean it’s also the best-looking and the most realistic.
The 200mph-plus corners that F1 drivers experience in real life should feel like high-speed corners to players, making for some adrenaline-pumping, nerve-shredding experiences when you’re playing the game. Every team, driver, and track involved in the real-world 2024 F1 season is included within the game, which also offers a two-player career mode for the first time in the franchise’s history.
The new story mode is known as “Braking Point”
It puts you in the role of a young Formula 2 driver with aspirations of one day progressing through the ranks to Formula 1 and wrestling the World Championship away from seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton. Devon Butler – an antagonist character who’s appeared in the “career mode” feature of previous versions of the game – will be on hand to stand in your way and inconvenience you at every turn, but we’re promised that the new “story mode” will be more immersive and more detailed than ever before.
Rather than just focusing on what happens on the track, the feature will also provide the player with an insight into the lifestyle of an F1 driver, inviting them to make choices that might influence their performance when it comes to race day. There will be glamour and money, but there will also be risks!
The “Braking Point” mode
It isn’t the only big draw for anyone who might be tempted to buy the game this year. As we mentioned earlier, several legends of the past have also been included – some of whom are appearing in a Codemasters Formula 1 game for the very first time. Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna are the biggest two names.
They’re joined by Alain Prost, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, David Coulthard, and Felipe Massa. The seven drivers will initially be available only as part of the “deluxe” version of the game but are expected to become available as paid-for downloadable content at a later date.
They can be used in single-player one-off races but will also appear in the game’s “MyTeam” mode. “MyTeam” is a separate game mode to the general story mode and offers players the chance to create their own Formula 1 team and car and race it against the ten real-life teams that compete in the sport. These legendary names from the past can be hired as drivers to ensure the team’s success – but will obviously come at a high price. That’s all part of the real-life headache of trying to run a successful Formula 1 team on a budget!
EA and Codemasters
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Have clearly invested a lot of time and money in the creation of the new games and will have high hopes for its performance. They probably have good reasons to be optimistic. A July release means the game will come out right in the middle of the Formula 1 season, when fan interest ought to be at its highest. The performance of F1-related online slots is worth monitoring, too. If you log on to RoseSlots for New Zealand players, you might find racing-themed online slots with names like “F1 Racing,” “Formula X,” and “Grand Prix Gold.”
The fact that it’s possible for several Formula 1-themed online slots to exist simultaneously without one killing off interest in the other is a sign of how strong the market for online slots is, but it also tells us a lot about how popular Formula 1 is. It also confirms how big a money draw the sport is.
F1 related games tend to sell in big numbers no matter what format they appear in, so there’s every reason to believe that this year’s game will sell more units than any that’s come before it. With EA now involved in its promotion and delivery, a record figure is a near-certainty.
We expect to see video demonstrations and screenshots of the new game soon, and we’ll endeavour to bring them to you here when they happen. In the meantime, if you can’t wait for news, you should stay tuned to the official social media accounts of Codemasters, Electronic Arts, and Formula 1 itself.
We’re hoping for a game that’s every bit as exciting as the real-life battle for supremacy between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen on the track is likely to be this season, and we don’t think we’re going to be disappointed. We’ve got that July date marked in our calendars, and if you’re a fan of racing games, so should you!
