F1 2016 Multiplayer Career Mode will support 22 racers over an entire season

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Codemasters announced in May that its upcoming racing sim F1 2016 will feature an all-new career mode that will give players the opportunity to drive for the team of their choice over a full ten seasons of racing. Today the studio released a new trailer showcasing some of the features of career mode, and announced that the game will also offer a Multiplayer Career Mode that will let up to 22 players do lunatic-speed battle over the course of an entire Formula One season.

Players will select a character, helmet, number, and which of the 11 official teams included with the game they wish to race for, as well as which member of the team will drive as their teammate. As Codies explained in May when the career mode was revealed, higher-ranked teams will have access to faster cars and better technology, but will also put greater expectations on the shoulders of their drivers; driving for an also-ran probably won't result in many wins, but plaudits for a good effort will be far more plentiful.

I really like the idea of a full season of multiplayer racing—the opportunities for serious league play are obvious—but having spent some time playing Indy Car games with my Quake clanmates back in the day, I have to wonder about the practical side of putting 22 real people on a pretend racetrack at the same time. A well-run race is a blast, but sooner or later someone decides he's not going to win and so he might as well start driving around the track backwards. It's funny once or twice, but trust me, the humor wears off pretty quickly. Hopefully this is an eventuality that Codies has planned contingency measures for.

F1 2016 comes out on August 19. Find out more on Steam or at the Codemasters Blog.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.