F1 2019 screenshot

F1 2020 game will feature all 22 tracks despite calendar changes

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The official video game of the 2020 F1 season will feature all 22 tracks in what should have been this year’s record-breaking season, despite the disruption to the calendar.

The first eight races on the 2020 F1 calendar have been cancelled or postponed. The Australian and Monaco grands prix will not be rescheduled, but buyers of the new game will still get to race on the Albert Park and Monaco circuits despite their absence from the real schedule.

“We’re still going to go with all 22 circuits which were originally part of the calendar,” Codemasters F1 franchise director Paul Jeal told RaceFans in an exclusive interview.

Along the postponed races are the two new additions to this year’s schedule, Hanoi and Zandvoort.

The British-based game developers were preparing to announce the first details of F1 2020 when the country went into lockdown due to the pandemic, forcing its staff to work from home.

“The most prudent thing to do is obviously just to see whether the impact of this is going to do anything,” said Jeal. “Some of the teams, for example, [are] going on their shutdown period now rather than what they would have done in August. It’s just a few little bits of that which you’ve got to factor into your planning, which wasn’t there originally. Hopefully it’s not too much longer before we before we make the announcement.”

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How the 2020 F1 calendar has changed

RoundEventDatesNotes
1Australian Grand PrixMar 13-15Cancelled, will not be reschduled
2Bahrain Grand PrixMar 20-22Cancelled, seeking replacement date
3Vietnam Grand PrixApr 3-5Cancelled, seeking replacement date
4Chinese Grand PrixApr 17-19Cancelled, seeking replacement date
5Dutch Grand PrixMay 1-3Cancelled, seeking replacement date
6Spanish Grand PrixMay 8-10Cancelled, seeking replacement date
7Monaco Grand PrixMay 21-24Cancelled, will not be reschduled
8Azerbaijan Grand PrixJun 5-7Cancelled, seeking replacement date
9Canadian Grand PrixJun 12-14
10French Grand PrixJun 26-28
11Austrian Grand PrixJul 3-5
12British Grand PrixJul 17-19
13Hungarian Grand PrixJul 31-Aug 2
14Belgian Grand PrixAug 28-30
15Italian Grand PrixSep 4-6
16Singapore Grand PrixSep 18-20
17Russian Grand PrixSep 25-27
18Japanese Grand PrixOct 9-11
19United States Grand PrixOct 23-25
20Mexican Grand PrixOct 30-Nov 1
21Brazilian Grand PrixNov 13-15
22Abu Dhabi Grand PrixNov 27-29

Find out how Codemasters plan to enhance F1’s new Virtual Grand Prix series in RaceFans’ full-length interview with Paul Jeal later this week.

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    28 comments on “F1 2020 game will feature all 22 tracks despite calendar changes”

    1. Hockenheim isn’t in F1 2015 and F1 2017 to give two most recent examples, so for the sake of consistency, neither should Melbourne and Monaco.

      1. Bahrain wasn’t in 2011 either.

        I would put all the circuits in, but make sure the calendar (particularly Season 1 of career) represent what we end up getting.

        1. Yeah and also put in more classic tracks (like they had earlier) like Jerez, Imola, Nurburgring, Indy road course, Estoril, India, Korea, Malaysia, Kyalami and classic layouts for tracks like Hockenheim, Silverstone, and Mexico.

          Along with finally laser-scanning the modern tracks (come on now, Codemasters…) a lot more classic cars, drivers and classic game modes, more custom options for playing the game as you wish (rather than fixed and stagnant game modes) and better physics/tire model/damage model/setup options.

          If all that happens, and they allow mods for console (like Fallout does for example) then I will buy the game again. I mean, it’s freaking 2020 now.

          1. I don’t want classic tracks. They had classic tracks in 2013, and because of them, they don’t sell the game anymore, cause they don’t have the license for them anymore.

      2. It’s a video game mate, jeez chill out

      3. Melbourne and Monaco are (were?) part of the 2020 calendar. They got cancelled (is it even officially cancelled for Melbourne?), but there’s no reason for that to happen in the game. Hockenheim was never part of 2015 and 2017.

    2. I just want the game to give the speed just like in real life. I mean using first gear through most hairpins or tight corners is just unreal. Give us more grip and downforce please!

      1. There is only one hairpin on the calendar I use first for, and that is Loews at Monaco, as in real life.

        1. @Gav I try to stay in 2nd through that hairpin as well as often as possible and or suitable.

          1. Engine breaking by going into 1st to turn the car in tight corners like Loews or China is way too valuable in terms of lap time to stay in 2nd or 3rd like they do in real life. The handling physics are out of wack as a whole though. It just doesn’t compare to Assetto Corsa or even Project Cars.

            1. Bahrain first turn and Bahrain turn 9 I use first gear sometimes 2 if I feel the grip is there. Sometimes you can get away with using higher gears. Suzuka hairpin as well, but it is so fun to go through there. Grip was great in F1 2017 as you could attack corners like in real life. I use a pad and on cockpit cam, so that could be one reason, as everything is not fully visible.

            2. Assetto Corsa and Project Cars are driving sims. Codemasters F1 games are driving games!

      2. As the kids like to say…

        git gud

    3. Makes sense but it sounds like they might yet change that. Ideally all rounds are in the game but the season ends up being whatever it is. Cutting 2 new tracks might save them a lot of work, they should be looking for the new consoles as well.

    4. I don’t understand why they don’t use all the tracks they’ve already done. Valencia street circuit, Imola, Hockenheim, Nürburgring, Istanbul Park, Buddh International Circuit… Why not just add all of them? Surely more is better.

      1. @huhhii Those tracks aren’t up-to-date relevant, although some of them could be used as classic-tracks like on F1 2013.

        1. @jerejj Exactly. Relevant or not, doesn’t matter. What harm would it make if I would be able to race current-gen cars in, say, Korea’s track? Or in Brands Hatch which was made for F1 2013? I don’t see any negatives in adding extra tracks to the game, especially now when they’re already done and Codemasters has the files.

          Licensing etc. could cost them a little bit, but I don’t think it’d be fortunes.

      2. @huhhii It’s down to licensing.

        The official license only gives them the rights to cars/circuits from the current season, For any content outside of the current season (Such as classic cars/circuits) they have to go & do separate/individual deals with the circuit owners or teams in order to licence that content for the game.

        It’s why the 2013 version of the game that included classics cars/circuits is no longer available to purchase on digital storefronts, The individual license for that classic content expired so Codemasters no longer have the rights to sell it. The same may well end up happening with the newer games featuring classic content in a few years depending on the length any the individual deals they signed for each bit of content.

        I think some of there older Codemasters rally games also got taken off digital stores as licenses with manufacturer’s & venues used in those games expired.

        1. Sure, they use the licensing card all the time but why do other games have all those tracks? Because they buy the rights to a laserscanned version. Nothing is stopping Codemasters from doing that also.

          1. I’m guessing it’s less about the geometry of the circuit and the specific appearance of the circuit at an F1 race weekend (including sponsorship amongst other stuff) that is permitted via licensing.

            Honestly, I think given the unique circumstances everyone needs to be flexible, but it would be a shame to release a full F1 game, at full price, with half the content for the sake of accuracy.

    5. Well thanks god Codemaster puts the whole calendar !!! The look on your face when you see “F1 2020 only contains 5 GP and no championship mode to stick to the Covid-19 reality” on the box ;-)
      On that note, on to iRacing :D

    6. Well, they wouldn’t want to reduce the pricing by cutting the number of tracks to match the real F1 season, and they can’t reduce the number of tracks yet keep the full-fat price. All the development work (or year-on-year tweaking) is likely all done, so no reason to keep it out of the game just to match the real-world cancellations.

    7. Just think how many more games they could sell if they actually brought it out at the beginning of the season. That applies any year, but this year I’m sure it would have made a huge difference.

      1. They wouldn’t have car performance info if the game released at the start of the year.

        Also, would it really sell more copies? Usually they time the release with the date of a race weekend, then advertise the release at that race, which I’m sure helps with sales.

        1. I said beginning of the season, not beginning of the year, but is performance data so important? Granted if you are gaming for money you might be a bit miffed if you’re in a 2019 Mercedes and get overtaken by a 2019 Williams, but the more casual gamer is likely to want to get similar results whatever car they pick.

          But take 2020, for example, in the normal way we’d have seen Zandvoort and Hanoi well before the game was released, whereas now that may be there only way to see them this year.

          I guess everyone will have their own reasons why they will or won’t buy a copy.

          1. Sorry about the mistake.
            For me, performance data is important, because it’s a large part of the reason why I care about having that season’s game, and not just playing F1 2017, for example. I want the 2020 cars, and I don’t mean (just) the looks, I mean the performance.
            To be fair, I’m probably in the minority, but this is also not the main reason why they’re not releasing the game at the start of the season. Right now, since it’s a yearly release, they couldn’t get it done so quickly + probably some marketing reasons, in addition to the one I mentioned.
            If you’re gaming for money, you’re doing it in equal cars, so it doesn’t matter. It’s more a multiplayer vs singleplayer fans thing, since in multiplayer 99% of the time you’re playing in equal cars, while in singleplayer, that’s not even an option :P

          2. A large amount of casual F1 gamers are probably following the current season. Realism might not be important to them, but the cars being “in the right order” will probably be.

            1. Sorry, forgot tagging @kartguy07

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