Codemaster’s executiver producer of F1 2009 is quite active in the company’s community forum, giving away bits and pieces of information from time to time. In order to not have this info burried in countless topics, an unofficial developer FAQ has been put together.
The FAQ includes lots of information and answers to the most asked questions and is a very interesting read if you´re interested in Codemaster’s first ever Formula One game.In a nutshell, here are some of the main points:
- The game will have full-blown weather effects
- Promised are realistic laptimes and physics for those who want it, trying to please the needs of both aracde fans and sim racers
- F1 2009 will have an in-depth track surface module that simulates rubber build-up, stones, water & marbles both physically and optically
- No tracks will be reused from GRID, all F1 venues will be made from scratch based on research, laser-scanning data, photos & videos
- The game will not be moddable
The full FAQ can be found here, F1 2009 is planned to be released for the PC, the Playstation and Xbox 360 later this year.
JimmyB
March 16th, 2009 at 00:25
Haven’t read it all yet, but the amount of detail being modelled is pretty impressive.
Franker
March 16th, 2009 at 00:28
Not modable..of course, they want to sell a new copy every new season
navalhawkeye
March 16th, 2009 at 01:00
I’m glad it’s not moddable to be honest.
AeroMechanical
March 16th, 2009 at 01:01
I think this is going to be very interesting one way or another.
domd
March 16th, 2009 at 01:47
should be good to see pivot point physics in f1
kill4f00d
March 16th, 2009 at 05:36
Someone should hack it to make it moddable
JacoRoux
March 16th, 2009 at 06:09
I will be buying it.. even if the physics is bad :) will just have to try it for myself
JacoRoux
March 16th, 2009 at 06:09
And if GRID’s gaphics is anything to go by, it should at least look good :)
Floptickle
March 16th, 2009 at 09:04
Me too! I loved GRID for its funfactor, so if they miss out on the physics-part in F1, I’ll probably still have a lot fun :P
Vkt
March 16th, 2009 at 12:36
yeah.. i will buy it first on my fav torrent shop…to be sure before i waste my money
kankoine
March 16th, 2009 at 12:54
driving a formula one car must be so hard in real life, that I don’t think I’ll be angry if the physics aren’t exactly as in real life.
(have you seen the vidéo where the guy from Fifth Gear tries a F1 car? He’s used to driving fast, but this he can’t handle…)
Mr. A
March 16th, 2009 at 12:54
I wonder how they are building the physics for this game. I sure hope they are making a decent base for it (and throw their pivot point based physics out the window) and then make it more accessible via driving aids and such for the casual players.
And I wish they could do the same to Dirt 2…
superapex
March 16th, 2009 at 18:09
Did any of you guys bother to read the dev blog. The level of detail they are planning on modeling is pretty impressive. Laser scanned tracks, extreme tire physics, track physics… this one should be good!
ScHiRoCk
March 16th, 2009 at 19:14
The game will not be moddable
Not nice codemasters!!!
the 3rd point in de sum up i like very very much!!!
Hope it will be a good sim !
JAGUAR1977
March 16th, 2009 at 19:16
F1Racer
March 16th, 2009 at 19:21
Yeah I was just going to say that too, superapex.
A bit more optimism is needed here. Its clear that CM are taking a more focused approach to their F1 game. They obviously want to appeal to the hardcore simmers and they also, understandably, have to reach the more arcade market.
This approach only helps us in the long run. The more sales of F109, the more they can put into the 2010 season.
I read the whole thread on the CM forum and if they implement only 75% of what they are talking about, its going to be amazing.
The level of detail they are discussing with tyre behaviour, wet and dry lines, wear rates etc are just what we are all looking for, surely.
Im not so sure I want to hear too many horns and cheers from the crowd though as you can really only hear the loudest of cheers from the cockpit of an F1 car. OK in a TV view I guess.
If its anything like a GP4 on steroids brought to 2009 specs with visible dirt pickup, visible marbles etc., then its going to be amazing.
Man, they even talk about the race engineer telling you to pick up rubber on the tyres after the race so you can make the FIA weight regs.
If they put as much effort into the physics, sound and gfx as the other bells and whistles, we’re all in for a treat.
schirock: It won’t be moddable as you say, but if you read the reasons why, its quite understandable. Not least as if we mod it for 2010 season who will buy theirs ? Its not great for the modders, but we also will have rF2 – thats the modders real hunting ground.
I cannot wait !
Uff
March 16th, 2009 at 20:17
I totally agree: I don’t think we will have a full simulation, but I’m watching at this title with an open mind. It’s really good to see that they are talking about so many things that we still have to see in other “serious” sims! Fingers crossed!
AeroMechanical
March 16th, 2009 at 22:28
It looks as if this is going to be like nothing we’ve ever seen from Codemasters before, at least not in a long time. If on the realism end they’re aiming at the Forza/Gran Tourismo crowd, it could end up being very impressive. All the bells and whistles should be interesting too. We don’t get a lot of that big budget stuff these days.
All the same, the burden of proof rests with them without a doubt, but I’m excited to see if they can live up to their claims. If so, I think it’s going to be something pretty damn cool. Really, my guess is that as a worst case scenario, it’s a fun semi-sim F1 game.
I think modding is neither here nor there. Even if it did support modding, I doubt we’d see the more talented mod groups readily jumping to this new platform. So we’d probably just end up with a bunch of inconsequential mini-mods and half assed conversions anyways.