Steve Boxer coaxed a wealth of details about the forthcoming F1 2021 from Franchise Game Director Lee Mather.
The time of the year when motorsport games enthusiasts enter a state of feverish excitement is nearly here: F1 2021 is due to be released on July 16. Codemasters’ annual, officially licensed take on the pinnacle of motorsport will be 2021’s biggest racing game. And it comes from a slightly different backdrop this year: in February, the mighty Electronic Arts purchased Codemasters.
We’ll be reviewing F1 2021 when it arrives (just in time for the British Grand Prix) but before then, we’ve managed to glean some detail abut what this year’s instalment will be like to play, thanks to a Zoom interview with Lee Mather, F1 2021’s Franchise Game Director at developer Codemasters. Creating annual franchises can be difficult, but Codemasters has been making Formula One games since 2011, so has got the process down to a fine art. Hence, as Mather explains, we can expect a wealth of new features and significant tweaks in F1 2021.
Story mode and more
So, what would Mather single out as the game’s key new features? “The story mode, Braking Point: is something new for us. We dipped our toe into the water in 2019, if you remember, with the F2 feeder series: that was our first attempt at something narrative, with a bit of character and drive to it. Braking Point is a full narrative, with strong characters and visuals. That is probably the biggest headline for 2021.
“Then also, the two-player Career mode is a big one for us. We know how popular the Career mode is and how well received it has been since 2016 when we introduced it, and we know how players don’t necessarily always want to go online, because it’s a very competitive space. But to play co-operatively with a friend against the game is very compelling.
“Those are the two really big headlines for the game this year. And we’ve continued to refine the likes of My Team, by bringing in department events; we’ve got the expanded customisation; we’ve worked on platform support, so now you can play on previous-gen and next-gen consoles as well.”
Two-player Career mode
We asked Mather how the two-player Career mode will work: “You are essentially in a two-player multiplayer lobby with a friend. You will set somebody up as the host and invite somebody in. Then there’s a choice that the host will make: do you want to play with Contracts? If you’re playing with Contracts, you could both go in joining the same team, or you could go into separate teams, but the Contract system is in play. So you might find yourself moving to another team – leaving your team-mate – or you might find they are moving around. Or you could start in separate teams and at some point come together.
“If you’re playing together, obviously one player is going to handle the R&D and the press questions and things like that, but it’s all done live, so while one player is interacting, the other player just waits for a while as that’s happening. If you choose to play without Contracts, this is where you essentially just team up as a pairing: you’ll pick your team, you’ll compete as a pairing and you won’t deviate into other teams.”
Cross-generation multiplay
Mather revealed that owners of next-gen and current-gen consoles will be able to play F1 2021 against each other online, albeit with some constraints: “We’ve got cross-gen multiplayer in the game this year. That was one of our main goals, to allow a PlayStation 4 player to play with a PlayStation 5 player, and an Xbox Series player to play with an Xbox One player. So you can’t play PlayStation-Xbox, but you can play within the infrastructure that you’re playing in. I think as we’ve seen with the limitations on the amount of consoles available, that’s definitely been the right decision.”
Quick Practice and development boosts
In F1 2021, Codemasters has also addressed one element of the Career mode that previously annoyed the more hardcore F1 game devotees: the fact that you are rewarded with R&D points for completing programmes in practice sessions, but would often choose skip those sessions if you know a track well.
Mather revealed that: “We’ve now added a Quick Practice where players can simulate a practice session. But instead of it just being a case of “Simulate practice: I don’t particularly want to do this session,” you actually get to specify what the team are going to do with a little time-based mini-game. So it’s a case of: “Well, I want the team to focus on this;” but there’s obviously a risk involved, if you try and give them too many tasks, and things might not get delivered. So for players who don’t necessarily want to race during a practice session, if it’s a track they don’t feel they need to practice on anymore because they know it really well, they can still benefit from the development boosts and the development of the car by using the mini-game to set the session structure.”
That, as Mather explains, ties into changes Codemasters has made to the R&D system: “Previously, we had this sort of RPG skills-tree-based system. We wanted to change it to more of a strong visual style, so you could see what you’re unlocking – so you can see a wing coming in, or a turbo component, that sort of thing. But it was done for another reason as well. Which is that we’ve mixed up how our practice programmes work. Now, not only have we reduced the number of practice programmes, but we’ve tied in what we term performance boosts to them. So now, if you achieve certain other goals that the team have set for you, you’ll get a booster which will drive down the cost of some of those items, and it just ties those two systems together better, with a better visual presentation.”
Tracks and sprint qualifying
The constraints of the pandemic have made it difficult for Codemasters to travel around the world scanning Formula One tracks, and whereas in normal years, members of the development team would go to Grands Prix, that hasn’t been the case this year. Yet F1 2021 will come with 20 tracks and, as Mather explained, three more will join them: “We have to have a cut-off point where we commit to what we’re going to build. And obviously we spoke closely with Formula One, but they don’t control what’s going on in the world at the moment. So, essentially, we decided which tracks we were going to set out to build, and then the ones that are going to drop post-launch, which will be Imola, Jeddah and Portimao.”
There won’t be sprint qualifying, though, due to be premiered at Silverstone: “Again, we’ve made a call on that one because it’s not locked into the sport – it’s being trialled by Formula One. We’re not going to trial that one in-game. If it’s something that becomes a permanent fixture in the sport, then we’ll look to include it in future titles. But as it’s something that Formula One is just trialling in a few races, it’s a significant amount of work to restructure a Formula One race weekend, and to have multiple structures maintained throughout the game.”
Next-gen benefits
Unsurprisingly, given that the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 are still relatively new and suffering from supply deficits, F1 2021 will be a game that straddles both existing console generations. Mather was happy to describe just how many of the next-gen benefits F1 2021 will tap into, though: “We’ve made sure that players on any platform will get parity in terms of the features that are in the game. But we have been able to push the visuals a little more on the new platforms. The biggest difference would probably be that, for Xbox Series X and PS5 players, they will have a performance versus graphics mode, so they can choose to run at 120fps or they can run at 60fps with improved visuals. And there’s the visual impact of the damage on the vehicle – you will get improvements in the visuals you get from that. Things like the grass around the circuits, you’ll see the density of that change. You’ll see more visual fidelity in things like the way the track surface looks.
“We use ray-tracing in the front-end and in replays – in any of the shots that are literally not the actual live on-track experience when you’re racing: that’s where we haven’t yet pushed into ray-tracing, but you’ll certainly see it.”
Codemasters: becoming part of the EA empire
In February 2021, the gargantuan Electronic Arts completed its purchase of Codemasters. Mather acknowledged that the move took place too late to affect the development of F1 2021, but professed to excitement at the deal: “It’s all gone really smoothly: it’s been really nice. The obvious implication is that there are a lot of people to meet and a few extra meetings on the calendar. But obviously F1 2021 was significantly into its development.
“But what has really happened is that we’ve been presented with all of the toys that EA have got. It’s pretty amazing when you see a company of that scale. They’re there to support the game-teams with really strong services. That’s something we’ve been presented by multiple departments, and we can then pick and choose which ones we think benefit Formula One and which ones we think can help us to build a bigger, better F1 game. That’s been really exciting.”
F1 2021 will be released on 16 July, for Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
