F1 2018 game: what’s new and when it’s out

Jenson Button’s Brawn GP car debuts in
Codemasters’s latest racer

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F1 2018 will arrive at the end of August for
Microsoft and Sony’s consoles. PC players can also get hold of the
game, but a Nintendo Switch version has not yet been
announced.

Here’s everything else we know about the upcoming game:

Release date and pre-orders

Codemasters has confirmed that F1 2018 will
launch on 24 August, the weekend of the Belgian Grand
Prix.

Fans eager to ensure they get their hands on F1 2018 on
release day can pre-order the game from Amazon. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions can be had for £54.99,
while the PC release is a little cheaper at £39.99.

So what’s new?

A number of new features will be offered on F1
2018, including the expanded career mode, where players can do
post-race interviews in order to help them sign for new teams,
according to the game’s director Lee Mather.

There’s also a new circuit in the form of Le Castellet, in
southeast France, as the French Grand Prix returns after a ten-year
hiatus. Germany is also back on the calendar in 2018, following a
year’s absence, so the Hockenheimring circuit
will also appear. 

Players will be able to access all of the cars and drivers
from the 2018 season, including this year’s star driver, Charles
Leclerc. 

What about the controversial halo?

F1 moved one step closer to closed-cockpits in 2018
following the introduction of the halo, a carbon fibre-wrapped
metal bar that sits around the driver’s head and a thin strut in
front of the steering wheel. 

The Guardian’s Richard Williams has described
the halo as “the most effective method yet” to reduce F1’s appeal,
and it hasn’t been well received by other racing fans
either. 

Speaking to IGN at the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) last
week, Mather said Codemasters has tried to accurately recreate the
2018 season, so the halo will be present on all the cars just as it
is in real life.

However, he said gamers would be able to remove the halo’s
central strut to improve visibility when playing in cockpit
view. 

Are classic cars returning?

Yes, and there’s even more to choose from this time around.

So far, Codemasters has confirmed that Jenson Button’s
championship-winning Brawn GP BGP 001 from 2009 will be available
to those who pre-order the game, as will the Williams FW25 driven
by Juan Pablo Montoya in 2003. 

Codemasters plans to continue announcing new cars in the
run-up to the game’s launch.

Autosport says all the classic cars from last
year’s release will feature, including Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren
MP4-23 from 2008 and Damon Hill’s 1996 Williams FW18.