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IGN AU: The F1 racer used to be a staple of the videogame landscape, but it's been a while since the last 'next-gen' F1 racing game. Why do you think there's been such a gap between F1 titles? And how big a step up is this going to be from the F1 games of the past?

Stephen Hood: It is about time that F1 came back to gaming and we want it to come back with a bang. The license had gone a bit stale and needed reinventing from a gaming point of view.

We actually signed the FORMULA ONE license back in April 2008 and began the early design work soon after that with the actual development kicking off in early 2009. It's a very big undertaking and we didn't want to rush a substandard game out.

Hopefully anyone that has seen the game or any of the videos we have released will agree we've put an awful lot of effort into this first title. Very early on we knew we had to attain a level of depth and immersion never before seen F1 games.

IGN AU: F1 fans are a pretty diverse group. What steps are you taking to ensure the game scales all the way from very accessible to full-on simulation?

Stephen Hood: The biggest challenge has to be meeting the expectations of the fans. The people that follow F1 are extremely knowledgeable about their sport and want as authentic a recreation of everything they see on a Grand Prix weekend, while at the same time we are trying to make the game accessible to everyone so that someone new to racing games can enjoy playing F1 2010 as much as someone who is a hardcore online racer.

The first time you load the game you will be put into a Press Conference where you can decide on the kind of experience you want. This will tailor things like the driver aids and rule set to hopefully give you the settings that suit your style and experience. Obviously you may have to tweak a few things to get it perfect but it's a very good start.

The important thing is that we started with an authentic F1 driving experience and that's what you get when you turn all of the assists off. Less experienced racers will want to use the assists but the main thing is to ensure that these don't dumb down the experience. It still has to be fun to drive.

IGN AU: For those that want to play it as a full simulation, how deep will they be able to go?

Stephen Hood: You can control pretty much everything from intricate levels of car setup to tyre choices and race strategy. You can also change settings such as your engine power, wing heights and what tyres you want to change to on the fly while driving by using the D-pad. This is particularly important if it starts to rain. Will you play safe and go for full wets or maybe take a gamble and go for the inters?

For those people who don't want to worry about the intricacies your Race Engineer can take control of all of these decisions and settings.

IGN AU: How many official courses will be in F1 2010? How did the team go about creating them?

Stephen Hood: All 19 circuits from the 2010 season are authentically recreated in the game. Getting the circuits right is absolutely vital to the success of an F1 game as the fans are so knowledgeable. The first stage in recreating them is to collect as much reference material as possible. This includes the CAD for the actual design and layout of the track and thousands of photographs. We have a photographer who literally walks the track, stopping every few metres to take photos front, right, back and left which builds up a huge library of images. We then import that into our design tools to create an asset pack where the relevant images are matched up to that section of track.

It's then a case of replacing the photography with actual game assets and ensuring that the trees, advertising boards, run off areas etc… are all in the correct place. We also work on the topography and skyline of the surrounding area so that it feels like the track is part of a wider world rather than an isolated game area.

Once it is imported into the game we then run comparisons with real life on-board footage to check that everything looks as realistic as possible.

IGN AU: What was the most challenging course to bring to life in F1 2010 and why?

Stephen Hood: Definitely the new circuit in Korea because it is still being built in real life. Obviously not being able to visit the track to take reference photography or use previous onboard laps as an illustration presents its own challenges.

We have been very fortunate to be able to work with the people that designed the track, using the same CAD data that is being used to build the actual circuit to ensure it is as authentic as possible.

Formula One racing might not be the same scintillating sensation in the United States that it is in Europe, but that's not going to stop Codemasters from bring F1 2010 to America this September. This title might not initially appeal to U.S. racing game fans, but F1 2010 might be the first F1 game that American gamers will want to pick up. The developers behind F1 2010 have had approachability in mind during the entire development cycle, though there's certainly plenty of room for the deeply technical racing that hardcore F1 fans will be frothing at the mouth for.

F1 2010 Preview

Formula One racing might not be the same scintillating sensation in the United States that it is in Europe, but that's not going to stop Codemasters from bring F1 2010 to America this September. This title might not initially appeal to U.S. racing game fans, but F1 2010 might be the first F1 game that American gamers will want to pick up. The developers behind F1 2010 have had approachability in mind during the entire development cycle, though there's certainly plenty of room for the deeply technical racing that hardcore F1 fans will be frothing at the mouth for.

Last week, I had the pleasure of playing an early build of F1 2010 and seeing how a non-F1 fan like me can handle the game. Surprisingly, I was able to avoid totally destroying my car, which I consider a serious victory. But there's a lot more going on in F1 2010 besides this needed accessibility. With some incredible tech, a full career mode and online multiplayer, F1 2010 might be the game that opens up the Formula One world to nervous and intimidated gamers in the United States (see: Ryan Clements).

First, a brief history lesson: Codemasters acquired the Formula One license in May of 2008, which means that the team has been working on F1 2010 for about two and a half years. This long development time really shows, as F1 2010 looks and runs beautifully, even in its early stages. I quickly noticed the fluidity of the driver turning the highly detailed wheel, and the look of the tires as they scream across rain-spattered tracks. I was told that the development team went to great lengths to create an authentic F1 experience. This includes 19 official circuits, 12 teams, pit stops, real cars and drivers -- the team even motion captured actual pit crews to make the whole thing come alive.

The other thing that the developers want to stress is that F1 2010 is more than just racing -- it's about living the life of the driver. Although you can play as real F1 drivers in Grand Prix and other modes, it seems like the meat of the game will be in career mode, where players play as themselves in the world of Formula One. This means that you'll join a team, participate in interviews (your answers influence the game), race against your teammate and live the surprisingly glamorous life that is F1 racing.

This interface is already looking spectacular, as the main menu is set up next to your trailer where press might be waiting and models are posing for cameras. Your agent sits in your trailer and acts as a portal to various sections of the game, and from this headquarters menu players can jump into a ton of different races.

One of the first things that players will notice when booting up F1 2010 is an important question the game poses: what sort of experience do you want? There are five different levels that players can select which dictate just how much hand-holding will be implemented to give Formula One newcomers a chance to get oriented. This is a really fantastic idea, as it gives players like me an easy entryway into the experience without worrying about the extremely technical stuff in tweaking your vehicle of choice.

But of course, menus aren't nearly as exciting as actual races (Right?). As nervous as I was to race in front of the representatives from Codemasters, I was amazed at how quickly I was able to get into the actual gameplay mechanics. Sure, playing F1 2010 is difficult and requires a fair amount of skill, but it wasn't unintelligible. Everything felt natural. This is probably thanks to the advising that former F1 driver Anthony Davidson has provided. Apparently Davidson is in the developers' offices every other week commenting on game controls. F1 2010 is a precise, tight game where carefully handling, acceleration and speed is absolutely critical (lest you want to explode).

The AI in F1 2010 will also be realistic, as the developers are doing their best to make the opposing racers behave like actual F1 drivers. After all, each F1 driver drives differently, so having the AI vary from car to car makes total sense.

This realism and attention to detail even extends into the weather, with wet roads having a drastically different feeling than dry roads. The developers have even considered loose pebbles that might be strewn on the track in certain courses. The amount of real-world information contained in F1 2010 is mind-blowing, which leads me to believe that this will be very well-received among Formula One fans.

F1 2010 will be landing on the PS3, 360 and PC this September. Players can look forward to a legitimate F1 experience with a robust career mode, time trails and even the ability to download fellow players' ghost runs. Be on the lookout for our continued coverage of F1 2010 in the future.

Copyright:
Review from IGN
Images from Google
Videos from YouTube