More and more preview material and information is emerging from yesterday’s Formula One 2010 game event at London where several journalists had the chance to try Codemasters upcoming new title.
F1fanatic has put together a very interesting preview article that reveals some new and interesting facts.
Some of the mentioned features the ability to change engine mappings and the adjustable front wing settings during the race. Players have to take care of their engine as the strict engine limit rules are enforced, urging players to take care of their engine during the course of a season. Even though engines won’t completely fail, abusing the powerplant will cause cylinders to drop, resulting in a loss of power. The title’s damage model is also mentioned, including aero and tire damages, suspension damage that will effect the car’s handling as well as damage when making contact with debris on track.
Current Formula One racing puts a lot of emphasis on tires and F1 2010 will fully incorporate that as tires will get flatspots and pick up marbles and dirt as seen on the two screenshots below. Combine that with what Codemasters calls their “active track technology” and driving can get very tricky as the simulation steadily recalculate the grip level, taking rain, dirt, marbles, rubber build up and different racing lines into consideration.
While all this sounds very promising, some discouraging news have also emerged. Online play will be limited to 13 cars, a restriction made with the console versions in mind. Furthermore, Codemasters has confirmed that the title will only include the 2010 season due to license issues, the 2009 cars seen in the early preview material will not be used past their placeholder role. Another thing that won’t be making it into the game is the official F1 timing overlays known from the TV broadcasts as Codemasters has their own HUD system in place.
Below are two new videos courtesy of SimRacingWorld, showing lots of racing, damage and a fully animated pit stop in action. Please keep in mind that this is a pre-alpha version of the game and the demo was reportedly set to arcade mode for this presentation.
Following their maiden Formula One title that was released only for the Playstation Portable and the Nintendo Wii, Codemasters will be bringing the 2010 Formula One season to the PC, the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. F1 2010 has been confirmed to be released in September 2010.
