Codies Racing Line – September 19, 2019

Dear Diary,

It’s day 3496 of being stationed on the good ship S.S Codemasters, where all manner of gaming goodness and excitement is concocted. Land has not been seen for quite some time, as all shipmates are hard at work bringing those at home the latest Codies news, trailers, features and so much more.

The last fortnight has been our busiest ever – and not just because we had to fish our rally expert Jon Armstrong out of the ocean after racing his Fiesta on the top deck and yeeting it overboard. Whether we’re close to launching the return of a storied franchise, keeping the pace up on our off-road racer, or making contact with other great vessels on the high seas, there are so many stories to put in a bottle and send back to shore. We could just switch on the WiFi and email you them, but where’s the fun in that?

Send our love to our families, and make sure our garage of cars are polished up for our return.

Yours,

The Codemasters Community Team 

F1 2019

Hey all,

The 2019 F1 New Balance Esports Pro Series got off to a flying start last week! Did you miss all the action from the Gfinity Arena, or just want to watch it all over again? You can check it out in full below, and read the race reports right here!

That’s not the only F1 Esports action that’s been happening – qualification for the 2020 Pro Draft is going on right now! This week we’ve been treated to the playoffs, and you can read more about the playoffs and how this works here. Join us for the Xbox side tonight from 8pm BST, live on f1esports.com/live-stream.

That’s all from me this week – we can’t wait to see what happens in this weekend’s racing in Singapore!

– Jenny

 

GRID

So, wanna get your heart racing?

That’s been our rallying cry over the past few days, as we revealed the brand new trailer for GRID, launching next month. Get it watched:

Spanning a huge variety of car classes, tiers, circuits and weather conditions, the ‘Get Your Heart Racing’ trailer shows you what it’ll take to conquer our thrilling world of unpredictable motorsport. Rise through the all-encompassing Career mode, design the event of your dreams in Free Play, or take on the globe in Multiplayer through Quick Match or custom lobbies. Whatever your path and choices, action-packed racing awaits you when GRID launches next month for Xbox One, PS4 and PC, and soon as a launch title for Google Stadia.

Chances are that, along that path you carve in GRID, you’ll find Fernando Alonso – our Race Consultant, who also features in GRID as an AI opponent. Last week, we revealed our latest feature with the F1 and Le Mans World Champion, as he broke down the skills and mindset needed to take on GRID’s huge variety of cars, circuits and conditions. Within all that is Alonso’s iconic Renault R26, and he explains why that championship-winning car remains so special to him. Watch the full video here:

And if all that wasn’t enough, we took GRID to the UK capital for a very special hands-on event. The Escape Bar in Stratford was turned into a GRID haven for media and content creators to take the game for a test drive, across both single-player modes and some live multiplayer action, which certainly put our damage model through its paces! Hours and hours of new GRID gameplay is available to watch from the event – check out this GRID playlist to see the best of it all.

Finally, we wanted to finish things up with something brand new. With launch now just a couple of weeks away, the first boxes and cases for GRID are dropping into Codies HQ. Here’s a little preview of the Ultimate Edition art, with an exclusive slipcase…

 

DiRT RALLY 2.0

Hey again everyone!

Since we last checked in, three big things have happened in the world of DiRT.

First, the DiRT Rally 2.0 World Series is underway. Over the next few months, players will take part in online Qualifiers to see who among them are the fastest Rally and Rallycross drivers (spoiler alert: it’s not me). As of this week, we’re one Qualifier in and competitors are already racking up the miles in Qualifier 2. Don’t forget that if you take part at any time during the Qualifiers, you’ll get a brand new BMW M2 Competition in My Team as a one-time-only reward. It’s worth taking part for that alone, because ‘tis a slidey beast that’s fun to chuck around.

Next up, we’ve got Greece Rally; the iconic location from the original DiRT Rally is now in 2.0 and is just as challenging as before. It holds a special place in the minds of many players, one of which did this awesome piece of fanart of his favourite car and Stage. This time round, you can also take on Greece in the rain, as if things weren’t tricky enough for you.

Finally, if you’re an Xbox player you may have seen the news from “The Major” himself that DiRT Rally 2.0 is coming to Xbox Game Pass next week! As an Xbox player myself I can say that Game Pass is a great way to play the best the platform has to offer, and now players can take on the rocky roads of Argentina, sweeping corners of New Zealand and much, much more.

So yeah, lots going on! As a personal aside after 20 years of being a “pad player” I’ve finally taken the plunge and set up a proper sim rig. Haven’t properly taken it for a spin yet but I’m looking forward to learning my way around DiRT, GRID and F1 in a way I’ve yet to experience. Should be fun!

That’s it from me this time – catch you all on the Dirt Roadbook tomorrow with more news and updates.

-PJ

 

F1® MOBILE RACING

A pair of brilliant F1 races after the summer break have been partnered with some intense action in our free-to-play handheld F1 game, with the Season Championship mode really hotting up! The top of this season’s GP Events leaderboard continues to be competitive, and this weekend’s Singapore event will be one of the toughest tests of the season. Make sure you enter from Friday to keep up the pace – and even if the Season Championship isn’t for you, weekly rewards, including a new race helmet, are up for grabs!

With Update 8 now live for the game, there are also more ways to practice and hone your craft between GP Events and Duels. One of the additions in the last update was to increase the maximum race distance in Single mode, all the way up to 15 laps! This is something that the community have requested for a while, so we’re super pleased to have it in the game. So, get practising and fight your way up the leaderboards to earn even more goodies in Singapore this weekend.

– Chris 

 

ANY OTHER BUSINESS?

– The annual Women In Games European Conference took place in London this past week. Members of development teams across the continent met to discuss and exchange ways to encourage more recruitment of women into the industry, and ensure diverse, safe, supportive workplaces. A clutch of Codemasters heroes attended, meeting the organisation’s CEO Marie-Claire Isaaman; here’s some feedback from our team:

“It was enlightening to attend and meet so many individuals from diverse backgrounds and disciplines within the industry that brought everyone together to celebrate what women in gaming have done so far, and striving to improve on for the near future.” – Scarlett Fu

“Listening to the various speakers talk about their experiences in the industry as well as their visions for the future was interesting and inspiring. To me it really highlighted the positive role women have in our sector but also the challenges they still face. Many ideas were discussed regarding how to tackle these so together we can continue to make the video games sector an even more inclusive and diverse sector moving forward.” – Michael Robson

“The event was full of people that were open, honest, kind, supportive, empathetic, encouraging, inclusive, diverse… The experience was magic. It really was a safe space. No one was left behind that day. From this conference, I have learnt plenty of things from all the women that were on stage, but also from all the ones attending.” – Julia Ramos

 

– Keep an eye out for more ways to bag yourself a deal on critically-acclaimed Codemasters titles over the next few weeks. In fact, there are a few Codies offers available right now – you can save 40% on F1 2019 and DLC on the PlayStation EU store!

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