Just days after speculation about the bidding for the new Formula One gaming rights license started, Eurogamer confirms that British Codemasters studio has won the bet. The makers of the upcoming Racedriver GRID game will be creating new F1 games for multiple platforms, the first one is expected to be released within a year.
A centerpiece of the new games will be an online community called Formula One Online. There is no additional info on what Codemasters paid for the rights or how many years are covered by their license, it’s likely that we´re dealing with a five-year period again.
What does this mean for the sim community? At least it will be multi-platform but it’s highly unlikely that the games will be simulations. Looking at the first reviews of the Racedriver GRID demo, one could think that the license has gone to waste – From a sim racers perspective at least.
drowsy
May 9th, 2008 at 14:22
Meh… I was hoping they’d at least go to EA as they would have probably put in some sort of a physics engine that could have been modified for a more realistic feel, but instead we’ll just get the old hover cars from Codemasters. Thank god for rFactor, I suppose.
F1Racer
May 9th, 2008 at 20:18
Better than Sony, but that doesn’t make this a good thing.
There goes our chance of getting a sim.
VitorB
May 9th, 2008 at 22:23
Would there be any chance of ISI making the PC version, like it did in the EA days?
John
May 10th, 2008 at 00:25
so much for realism…unless its easy to mod there is no hope for the game….anyways rFactor 2 should be out by then.
Marc Collins
May 10th, 2008 at 04:35
A few years ago, I would have been very sad about the “waste” of this license going to arcadish producers. But who really cares now? With all the talented painters and modders, we have superior F1 and many other open wheel series already in rFactor and more.