F1 Online: The Game Announced
Codemasters has just announced a new title in their Fomula 1 racing series. This one's different, though. Like many other games being… developed today, the new F1 game will be online and free-to-play, titled "F1 Online: The Game".
F1 Online: The Game will be available in the first quarter of next year, as a browser based, top down racer for both the PC and Mac operating systems. It will feature officially licensed teams, drivers, and circuits from the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship. The title includes multiplayer races with options for six different game modes, including practice, time trials, qualifiers, challenges, and Grand Prix. Besides racing others, players will act as a team boss for their own custom team. They will choose their team name, racing vehicles, and "manage commercial, research, production, and race crew functions" to perform well on the track.
This isn't the first time a racing game has tried out the free-to-play business model, for sure. Last summer, EA launched Need for Speed: World, an online micro-transaction racing game. Unfortunately, it ended up being a poor racing game, though it did end up gaining 5 million users. I'm a big fan of Codemaster's racing games, regardless of series, so it'll be interesting to see if the loose and fun handling that Codemasters is known for makes it into a top down racer.
If you want more information on F1 Online: The Game, you can click here to head to the game's recently launched website. We'll post news on it as it comes.
