F1 2021 Announced, Available for Pre-order

Codemasters and their electronic overlord today officially announced F1 2021 and confirmed a few details about the upcoming product. They have, as they did with F1 2020, released some car renders showing the 2021 liveries, but all the other preview information is text based.

The feature they seem to be leading with is their storyline, called “braking point.” I am not too surprised to see this, I actually enjoyed the Race Driver stories and generally enjoy story-driven games like GTA, so why not have an option to play through a story as long as you can still do a ‘real’ 2021 season as well? You can see the trailer for this below.

Livery renders:

You can read the official release below, but here is the actual information in condensed form:

– F1 2021 releases July 16, 2021 – Pre-ordering available now on Steam.
– Standard and Deluxe versions. Deluxe gives in-game items and currency (nothing I am excited about) and costs $15 more.
– 20 drivers, 10 cars from the 2021 season.
– Portimão, Imola, and Jeddah coming post-launch.
– F2 included with short, medium, or full season options and both 2020 and 2021 season content.
– Will include “Braking Point” – a storyline.
– Two-player career returns (there was a two player team-play option in older titles).
– Real-Season Start mode allows you to jump into the real-life season at any point after the release so you can immediately align your offline championship with the real-world one.
– It confusingly says “saveable automated highlights and (PC only) full replays” but whether that means you can save the replays or not, I don’t know as it’s not exactly clearly defined. You couldn’t in F1 2020.
– Minimum specs now require 8GB RAM and an RTX 2060 for ray tracing…
– Ray tracing supported.

The full text:

FEEL THE RUSH AND LIVE THE DRAMA IN F1® 2021
How far will you go before you reach your “Braking Point”? It’s time for the next generation with F1® 2021

How far will you go before you reach your ‘Braking Point’? It’s time for the next generation with F1® 2021, the official videogame of the 2021 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship ™. Racing onto your PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, or PC via Steam on July 16, F1® 2021 is packed full of brand-new features, which we’ll take a closer look at right here.
What’s new?
Braking Point

Go on an epic journey with ‘Braking Point’, our brand-new story mode. Rise from the ranks of Formula 2™ to a shot at stardom in the world of Formula 1®. Experience the lifestyle both on and off the track as you take your seat in the pinnacle of motorsport.

That’s not all. After his infamous debut in F1® 2019, Devon Butler is back. We’ll have plenty more to reveal about him and our brand-new story mode, Braking Point in the coming weeks.
Two-Player Career

We’re also excited to reveal a feature you’ve requested for a long time – the ability to play career with your friends, either co-operatively or competitively. As each player will have complete control over the assists, you’ll be able to enjoy the game whether you’re a veteran or a newcomer to the series.
Real-Season Start

F1® 2021’s ‘Real-Season Start’ feature lets you jump into this season’s action, reflecting the live standings, and then you can take over and drive the remaining races. Great for players who want to jump into the season to align with the real-world season.
Next-Generation Experience

For the first time, F1® 2021 is coming to Xbox Series X|S and PS5 with visual uplift and faster loading times, alongside PS4, Xbox One and PC via Steam. And if you’re planning to upgrade, we’re very happy to tell you that F1® 2021 will support Xbox Smart Delivery and PlayStation’s free upgrade if you’re switching to an Xbox Series X|S or PlayStation 5*.
What’s returning to F1® 2021?

Features you know and love from F1® 2020, such as My Team, two-player split-screen, shorter seasons, accessible options, and F2™ aren’t going anywhere. We’re also expanding and refining many other features, including scalable assist options, driver stats and multiplayer.
Pre-ordering

If you’re excited for F1® 2021, you can pre-order right now. You’ll get the Braking Point Content Pack, a set of exclusive in-game items inspired by the new story experience’s fictional stars, and 5,000 PitCoins.

Our digital Deluxe Edition includes seven soon-to-be-unveiled classic F1® drivers for My Team, three days early access, extra customisation content, 18,000 PitCoins and the Braking Point Content Pack.

We’ll also be adding three new circuits, Portimão, Imola, and Jeddah, which will be available to all players as free post-launch content.

For more F1® 2021 news, make sure you’ve bookmarked the Formula 1 game website and are following our social channels on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.