Codemasters leading on the final lap?

The new fantastic F1 game is only a week away and the DG team couldn't be more excited. A lot of the guys in the office are not only big racing game fans but are also high-octane petrol heads that love the F1! Adding to that you guys will also be able to come to DigiCon and literally get to grips with the game at our racing station. As I said, exciting stuff! Throw in a couple of other racing titles and you have trouble seeing anything but Codemaster colours at the finish line.

 Codemasters are the team behind the wheel with regards to F1 but they also have their oily hands at work on a couple of other projects. The first is Grid 2 which is looking fantastic and looks to be a racing sim that will rival Forza Horizon who seem to be leaning towards the Need for Speed style of play this time round.  Unfortunately we will have to wait until 2013 for this beast.

 The third title that Codemasters have in development that also follows the racing theme is another F1 game but with a twist, F1 Race Starts put you in control of your favorite bobble headed comic racing celebrity in an over the top F1 fast-to-the-fun arcade racing game.  Codemasters are really are putting the pedal to the metal and all three are looking great so far and is set for release in November.

 Back to our main topic of conversation (F1 2012), this year we see the adding of two new game modes. Champions Mode and the young driver test.

 F1 Champions Mode will see you take on 6 champions back to back, you have to beat each driver at his own game before progressing to the next champion. You will get to face Kimi Räikkönen, followed by Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and then Michael Schumacher.

 The young driver test is a in game reflection of the real life event held at Abu Dhabi this will give players a change to learn the ropes when handling the raw power of a F1 car. Both of the game modes are available to sample that has been available to play and download since the 10^th of September.

In F1 2012 you the player will still be able to feel the thrill of formula one racing, yes you have the two new features to play with that will add more depth to the game but you still have all these other great features:

• Wide-ranging technical and gameplay advancements
• Extensive competitive and co-op multiplayer
• All of the official teams, drivers and circuits from 2012 F1 world championship

I can speak for the whole DG team when I say I can't wait til Friday, hopefully with all these great features you can see why. I will follow up this article with a hands on review on the Playstation 3 platform. 

It's not all plain sailing for Codemaster however, there comes some stiff competition form the likes of Needs for Speed Most Wanted a reinvented fan favorite and Forza Horizon with its proven track record. Who will come out top of the podium?

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