I have enjoyed the past two racing games from Codemasters, I found DiRT and GRID two highly enjoyable racing games. However on word earlier this year about the team acquiring the F1 license I became quite nervous about what direction Codies would take the new game. I feared that a continuation of the arcade stylings of their previous two games would have a negative impact on the F1 game, however word has reached me (via Kotaku) that Codies are intent on creating a game totally different to DiRT and GRID.

In a post on the F1 Game forums the GRID Executive Producer had this to say:

GRID and DiRT are aimed at an arcade audience and they do that very well. F1 has different requirements and will get a completely different treatment from our in-house team, including full on sim options, physics, rules and regs etc. We will also have arcade requirements catered for as well. How this will be split we do not know yet, but split it will be

Which is certainly good news for all of us die-hard F1 fans who are looking forward to some good ole F1 action!

I read yesterday somewhere that Sony was giving up on the F1 licence as Bernie Ecclestone the F1 ringmaster was demanding too much money for it. I instantly hoped that Codemasters would pick it up. Codemasters are famed (by me) for their racing games with GRID soon to be their newest addition.

Now CVG reports that Codemasters have indeed picked up the F1 licence and, unlike Sony are intending to take the F1 franchise to all home consoles and the PC.

Previously Sony had kept their F1 games limited to Sony consoles, a move which greatly limited the potential for massive sales of a game based on such a popular sport.

Rod Cousens, Codemasters CEO told CVG the following:

“As a world-leading creator of driving games, this alliance with Formula 1 is the jewel in Codemasters’ racing crown and creates an undisputed segment champion.”

Expect more information to come out later this year with plans for a new F1 title to coincide with the 2009 season opener in Australia.