You’ll be rewinding the action to see
who caused the collision, just like the
world did with Senna and Prost back in
1989 and 1990.Stuff of legends
And yes, those two icons really are in
the game, at long last. Codemasters
has somehow managed to wangle
licences for both Ayrton Senna
and Alain Prost in the same game,
appearing as they did in the infamous
1990 World Championship. You will
need to buy the ‘Legends’ edition of
the game if you want to experience
this rivalry and their two utterly
beautiful 1990 F1 cars, but fans will
already be preordering just at the
mention of their inclusion.
Do be warned, however, that the
actual gameplay is likely to stop well
short of recreating entire classic
races. The only playable challenge at
the preview event saw Prost or Senna
attempting to overtake nine other cars
(Lotus 78s by the looks of things),
before catching and passing the other
driver. That never happened in real life,
and the Monza on show was definitely
modern Monza, complete with DRS
signs. That feels like a massive wasted
opportunity, but there’s still hope
something special will be lurking in the
other, so-far-unseen challenges.
Fundamentally, though, the game is
playing very nicely, and there’s plenty
of close racing to be done thanks
to the excellent AI. Max Verstappen
even moved across us, under-braking
during one close race at Silverstone,
having already moved across to cover
the inside: incredible realism. Speaking
of which, the HUD now uses real TV
broadcast graphics, and there’s even
the F2 commentary team on-hand to
introduce those portions of the game,
for even more authenticity.
The game will be available earlier
in the year than usual, which means
more of the real-world season will
be playing out while the game is
populating your Xbox One’s disc drive.
That’s great news for anyone who is
wanting to try their hand at beating
the real drivers’ qualifying times.
It’s looking like yet another superb
sim, and well worth checking out if you
already own the 2018 version. Let’s
just hope the Senna vs Prost content
turns out to be worthy of those
legendary names. QIt’s amazing how time flies – it’s
already been ten years since
Codemasters took over the official
Formula One licence. But there’s
much less of an ‘incremental upgrade’
feeling for F1 2019; this year’s offering
is a game of firsts. For starters, it
now also includes Formula 2, acting
as a feeder series for the career
mode, allowing you to race alongside
the four F1 newcomers who raced
in last year’s F2 season, graduating
alongside them and even taking or
rejecting team orders in the process.
There’s also an emphasis on
rivalries this year, even going so far as
to having TOCA Race Driver-style story
scenes between sessions, with one
driver taunting you and another, more
friendly racer, offering advice.
The difference in car handling
between F2 and F1 cars is stark, with
the lower formula noticeably heavier
and underpowered, but that does
make for brilliantly close racing. You
can compete in multiplayer with these
cars, too, and with an even greater
emphasis on esports, you can now
set up your own racing league, vote
on changes to the schedule, and view
stats in the revamped Super License
area. Better still, online races will
feature one-minute highlight reels, as
the game generates a video showing
the best moments from the session.F1 2019
Formula One, Formula 2 and
Senna vs Prost Legends
content? Yes please
Justin Towell
PUBLISHER CODEMASTERS
DEVELOPER CODEMASTERS BIRMINGHAM
ETA 28 JUNEYOUR
DREAM CAR
Ross Brawn, Pat
Symonds and
Codemasters have
collaborated to
design a bespoke car
for the game that
doesn’t exist in real
life, yet fits all the
2019 regulations. Add
in a customisable
livery and you’ve got
your very own F1 car.
With everyone racing
using equal
equipment, race
winners will be
determined by driver
skill. At least we can
still pick the Mercedes
in normal races, eh?“There’s plenty of close
racing to be done thanks
to the excellent AI”
The race between Senna and Prost at Suzuka 1990 lasted just nine seconds before they collidedMore Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 025
PREVIEW