F1 2020 Won’t Feature Hastily Scheduled 2020 F1 Tracks

I’m not sure this completely needed to be said to those of you who understand the timing of software development, but it was today confirmed by Codemasters in an interview with GP Blog that Mugello, Portimao or any of the other suggested ‘COVID-19 replacement’ tracks not already in the game won’t be added to F1 2020.

Circuits are the most time intense element of the development, with each circuit taking the time equivalent of 1 year of development to create. Along with building the circuits, there’s also the AI to train, the camera placement to set-up. F1 2020 is based on the original 2020 season and we are delighted to include Hanoi Circuit and Circuit Zandvoort. Unfortunately it is not possible to add new circuits to the revised 2020 season. – game director, Lee Mather.

It’s also worth pointing out that Hanoi and Zandvoort are the first tracks Codemasters have scratch built for the franchise in years, and that there are both tracks and models in the game that originated nearly a decade ago. There is a part of me that is disappointed by this news. It was a decent opportunity to add a little extra value to the title this year.