How two 25-year-old masterpieces shaped F1 gaming forever
Gamers today are spoiled for choice with the array of titles on offer that allow them to experience hyper-realistic representations of cars and tracks in the virtual world. Much of the credit for this should go to two 1996 titles that paved the way for what was to come
As the latest instalment of Codemasters' Formula 1 video game franchise, F1 2021, draws ever closer, it will hit stores and download queues next month brimming with the bells and whistles which gamers have become accustomed to with each yearly release.
Since picking up the F1 franchise in 2009, Codemasters has packed its games with career modes, challenges, historical content and, as of 2019, junior categories. The 2021 edition will also include a story mode akin to FIFA's 'The Journey'. Admittedly, this writer would rather have a full Formula 3-to-F1 ladder to work through instead of superficial set-pieces in a fictionalised paddock, but perhaps tapping into the behind-the-scenes access that Netflix's Drive to Survive provides is more lucrative.
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Jake Boxall-Legge Autosport’s Technical Editor. Having studied Automotive Engineering with Motorsport at the University of Hertfordshire, West Country-born Jake's original ambition was to design racing cars. During a year between studies in which he accidentally rekindled a love of writing, he took up a Master's in Motorsport Engineering at Oxford Brookes. Halfway through his master's year, he was offered a place on the Autosport Academy, conducting occasional freelance duties before becoming the press officer for Formula 2 and GP3 in 2018. Autosport offered him a return to the fold later that year to serve as its Technical Editor. His voice appears on a number of videos and podcasts, and can often be found writing about terrible Formula 1 cars in excruciating detail. In his spare time, Jake enjoys baking and blames his failure to make it past the Great British Bake-Off interviews on his tenuous grasp on choux pastry. His dream is to open a brunch cafe - and his willingness to make outrageous puns in inappropriate situations has earned him the contempt of his colleagues.
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