F1 2015 Multiplayer Features

The latest edition of Codemasters’ Codies Blog is out and talking F1 2015 multiplayer.  The blog interviews designer Steven Embling and discusses new features coming to multiplayer in the circa 2015 edition.  They sound pretty cool.

First up is the new ‘Hopper’ matchmaking system.  Essentially the Hopper is a list of pre-set sessions, differentiated by circuit, ability and race distance.  Has a similar feeling to what iRacing does.  I think this is a good move because it cleans up some of the shenanigans that can occur when every session is user created.  Having a pattern of sessions created by Codemasters will organize some of the chaos that can be multiplayer session creating, matching and racing.

And if you want to create your own session with your preferences, you can still do so.

Speaking of matching, once you’ve selected a session, F1 2015 allows you to play other game modes while the matching is occurring.  For example, you can jump into a Time Trial session while the session is loading.  That’s neat.

Codemasters will also have a ‘Feature Race’ each week in the multiplayer lobby, featuring the track from that week’s real-world race.  Codemasters plans on recreating – I assume the rest of – the 2015 season.  Again, another nice move.  I think most people already choose their week-to-week offline racing based off of the real-world schedule so now being able to do it online is nice.  I’m sure it’ll be very popular.

Another new feature coming to F1 2015 that will be familiar to most sim racers is a multiplayer spectating mode.  While this isn’t a true spectating mode like iRacing, you will be able to watch the online session from multiple cameras, including competitor’s on-boards, if you are registered in the session.  This is really a must have feature and it’s good to see it coming to F1 2015.

With F1 2015 scheduled for release in a matter of days – July 10th in the UK, Europe and Australia, July 21st in the US and July 24th in Bazil – Codemasters have released a bunch of screenshots over the past week.  Check them out below.  F1 2015 will be available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Steam.