Codies Racing Line – March 19, 2020

Hey everyone,

First things first, we send our best wishes and hope the entire Codemasters community is healthy and safe during what is, yes, some unprecedented times. It’s a little bonkers out there right now, and whilst video games can seem a pretty unimportant subject, it’s been brilliant to see so many of you use gaming to come together and bring togetherness in a time of isolation. You’re all pretty awesome, and we salute you!

The Racing Line is our light-hearted, irreverent take on the last fortnight of Codies news and extra goings-on, and that doesn’t change here, as we look to supply you lovely people with some gaming goodness to keep entertained, occupied, and happy. Sure enough, there’s plenty to talk about and get involved with, so allow us to give you the latest update on our live titles, and some extra news and content. Let’s do this thing:

 

F1 2019

DIRT RALLY 2.0

Hi all, hope everyone out there in DiRT land’s going well and staying safe.

As I write this, we’re only a few days away from the last big release for DiRT Rally 2.0. The Colin McRae: FLAT OUT Pack is releasing on Tuesday and the Game of the Year Edition (which contains everything) is officially out a few days later.

I say “officially” as some areas in the world may see physical copies of GOTY as early as this weekend (as the release date has been brought forward in a few territories, mainly Europe). If you’re one of the lucky few who could get the Xbox One or PS4 GOTY ahead of March 24 you’ll be happy to know that the code in the box is valid immediately, and unlocks all of the Season content which you can play right now. On Tuesday, you’ll then get the Colin McRae: FLAT OUT Pack for free (as will anybody who owns a Season), which you can install after the update is released.

Speaking of, the expected timeline for the Colin McRae: FLAT OUT Pack is for the Version 1.13 update to go out from 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, March 24. You can find the patch notes here. As usual, server connections go down for a few hours but, after that, the whole world’s going FLAT OUT.

If you’re new to the game or even just the FLAT OUT news, we’ve got dozens of great videos over on our YouTube channel to get you up to speed.

See you all on Tuesday.

– PJ

 

 GRID

Hey everyone,

We’ve loved seeing everyone’s creativity flourish thanks to custom livery designs shared on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook; so much so, we decided to make up and share a few ourselves. Take a look at all the submissions so far by searching #GRIDCustom on socials – maybe you’ll get some inspiration of your own.

Season 2 launched on Stadia this week, bringing with it six new cars, 33 new Career events and the Red Bull Ring. On top of that, all the features from the Community Update including stats screens and the ability to clean your car were also added. You can read into everything that’s featured in the update here.

Don’t forget: every Friday we’re setting a lap-time challenge that anyone with GRID can take on. Last week, we gave the Renault R26 a spin in Sydney – and after a few laps, it wasn’t just seconds that we were taking off…

The team is continuing to work hard on GRID and we can’t wait to share everything else we’ve been working on. In the meantime, join the discussion on our Forums and keep safe, wherever you are.

– James

 

F1® MOBILE RACING

No real-world F1 for a little while longer? No problem. F1® Mobile Racing has you covered, as the official free-to-play handheld F1 game, meaning you be part of the action whenever, wherever.

Take advantage of that right now and you’ll have a fresh new update to enjoy! Update 11 delivers big on new events and a glimpse into the future of the game. You still have a few days to enter our one-time-only Pre-Season Test GP Event, where players can try out the new physics system ahead of its full deployment in a later update, along with the new R&D layout and the snazzy 2020 car and livery. For anyone taking part, we’re also sending out a short survey to those players, so we can grab your feedback and use it to refine the system before its full launch. Enter through the Events tab and take it for a test drive!

Keep an eye out for more GP Events, including the ELITE Championship which is now live and pits the very best Duel players against each other in a new format. We also recently finished up the Community Event, with circuits and grid orders chosen by you, the players, which saw some epic action. Expect plenty more of just that in the coming weeks, as we keep you topped up on F1 for the foreseeable.

– Chris

 

ANY OTHER BUSINESS?

• At the beginning of March we marked International Women’s Day 2020 by shining a well-deserved spotlight on some of the incredibly talented women making their mark here at Codemasters. From localisation to art, game design to QA, we spoke to women from all manner of departments to get some pro insight on their line of work, and what advice they have for other women eager to be a part of the gaming industry. Check out our first feature here, and scroll to the bottom to see all our IWD features.
• It’s been great to see our industry friends, partners and the racing community coming up with ways to keep us all entertained at this time, and we’re of course looking to do the same. This week, we went live with a laid-back stream of GRID, as James and Chris challenged each other in different scenarios and hung out in the chat. We also couldn’t leave this Racing Line without mentioning the brilliant #NotTheAusGP, where F1 content creators squared off against actual F1 drivers like Lando Norris, and sporting stars like Thibaut Courtois!

• Share

Tweet