Codies Racing Line. August 8, 2019
Ahh, August. What a wonderful time of the year. The sun is shining, ice cream vans are around every corner, and motorsport season is in full swing. Here at Codemasters HQ, we’re full speed ahead with big game news, reveals, and plenty of extra events with our friends across the gaming world.
The last two weeks have been full of all that and plenty more, so the Racing Line is on hand to keep you in the loop on everything we’ve been up to. Let’s kick off with some with some breaking news on a project we’ve been working on that’s now a… ahem… reality.
DiRT RALLY 2.0
Hello everyone!
The fun doesn’t stop with DiRT Rally 2.0 as content rolls on and the team prepares for the future.
I mentioned in a recent Roadbook that August will be a big month for the game and that’s started already, with today’s big update. DiRT Rally 2.0 is now available in VR! Steam users can make use of OpenVR through today’s update and the game is also available on Oculus for the very first time. In addition to this come the DirtFish test drive location, a whole bunch of DirtFish liveries and a special historic livery for the Lancia Stratos.
Next week we’ve got Estering, the German rallycross location making its virtual debut. Yesterday myself, Jon Armstrong and Ross Gowing took to the white sofa and played through the location while also talking about what goes into adding new environments to our games. Watch out for that on the DiRT YouTube next week.
Speaking of Estering, here’s some brand new screenshots!
See you soon!
GRID
As we type these very letters, we are exactly two months away from the return of GRID, with the Ultimate Edition of this brand new racing experience #LikeNoOther launching on October 8. Exciting times, right?
Across all of our GRID channels, we’ve spent the last fortnight giving you plenty more reasons to get excited. Last week’s blog post revealed some new additions to GRID’s confirmed car list, including the iconic SRT Viper GTS-R. Also included were the Cadillac DPi V.R and Acura DPI: two official IMSA machines that we’re delighted to bring into GRID — but what are they like to drive in the game?
Well, I’m glad you asked! Straight after that we released some brand new gameplay footage, with a grid of DPi monsters hurtling around the new Havana circuit. Myself and Game Director Chris Smith were on hand to narrate the gameplay with some insight into GRID’s teammates, Rivals and Nemesis features, and much more. Havana is part of our selection of hand-picked racing destinations featured in GRID, which also includes Crescent Valley: the successor to Autosport Raceway, set in the heart of America.
It was also a pleasure to link up with the Xite Energy team once again and showcase GRID at YogCon this past weekend. Attendees in Bristol were able to get some hands-on time with the game, and they were full of praise and positive feedback. Want to find out more about where and when you can try out GRID before launch? You’ll probably want to follow our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels, then…
Finally, we couldn’t leave you without more news on our Race Consultant, Fernando Alonso. During our visit to his museum on Oviedo, Alonso was kind enough to sign a Kimoa FA Racing cap, which we gave away on our Instagram page to one lucky winner. Speaking of that Oviedo trip, we’re not far away at all from revealing exactly what we were up to with Fernando… so keep an eye out. Here are a couple of previously unreleased behind-the-scenes shots to whet the appetite:
In the meantime, make sure you’ve got your pre-order sorted for GRID on PC, Xbox One or PS4, with launch just two short months away.
F1 2019
Hey all!
After the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend (and you can check out our glorious Hungarian GP screenshots here), the world of F1 is now on summer shutdown. Thankfully, the racing fix isn’t far away with F1 2019, and if you haven’t got it yet, you can grab up to 30% off on Steam up to 30% off on PS4!
Earlier this week, we released patch 1.07 on all platforms, if you haven’t read the notes for this patch, you can catch up here!
A couple of weeks ago, we launched a competition where you could win a signed Renault F1 team tshirt using F1 2019’s Photo Mode, and you did not disappoint! We had nearly 500 entries, and we were extremely impressed by the standard, so thank you to everyone who entered. Huge congratulations are in order for our winner Lukas for this great entry:
That’s not to mention our fantastic runners up, which you can check out below!
F1® MOBILE RACING
It’s official: F1® Mobile Racing is now #NextLevel, with Update 7 launching at the end of last week! To celebrate, we’ve just revealed a brand new trailer to check out before you jump into the game.
Our free-to-play handheld game, out now on iOS and Android, has once again been updated with a host of additions and gameplay improvements. The headlines are the introduction of Elite Leagues, which challenge the best Duel players to prove their dominance, month after month, and the addition of Legendary R&D parts, which offer significant boosts to a specific area of your car setup.
The Hungarian Grand Prix also was a significant race in F1® Mobile Racing. Not only does it signal the start of F1’s summer break, but was also the final GP Event before mid-season rewards were handed out to players! All racers on our global GP Events leadearboard have been enjoying a fresh batch of visual and currency rewards, on top of the usual GP Event goodies, earned through all their hard racing in the season so far.
Now it’s time to reach those Elite Leagues, discover those Legendary parts, and be ready to climb the global leaderboards once the real-world races return…
ANY OTHER BUSINESS?
- We’re massive fans of the team over at SpecialEffect: an organisation that strives to improve accessibility and opportunities within gaming for people with disabilities. This week, SpecialEffect stopped by our studios in Birmingham and Cheshire to give us an update on their upcoming projects, which we are always keen to support and shout about. We believe that gaming is for everyone, regardless of their story in life, and love the work that SpecialEffect continues to do.
Community Manager for Codemasters, primarily working on GRID and F1 Mobile Racing! Keen enthusiast of corners, kerbs and key lime pie.
Originally published at http://blog.codemasters.com.
