By Paul Tomlinson
23 April 2003

So it looks as if we're in for a long wait for the next realistic Formula One game. With the news that EA intends to cease the F1 series, due to both high costs and low sales, as well as the fact that its reported that ISI are "sick of F1 games", and now that Geoff Crammond has decided to devote his time to developing Stunt Car Racer Pro instead of another F1 game, we could be in for a long wait. Whilst, its true to say that EA are shortly to release an F1-game based on the 1999-2002 seasons, don't expect anything better than F1 2002 with a few added car liveries and tracks.

Its entirely possible that Ubisoft will release another F1 game, but they have only recently released Racing Simulation 3, which incidentally isn't based on Formula One, and by looking at their past reluctancy to take up the F1 licence hope seems slim here as well.

Combined with the fact that unless you were a Schumacher/Ferrari fan, the 2002 season of Formula One was probably the most boring ever its not surprising that there are no planned F1 games from Infogrames or EA right now.

Still, not all is lost, thanks to the editability of F1 2002, we've seen amazing modifications released such as those from Simbin; many of which could be called games in their own right. The modding community for F1 2002 is alive and well, and we're still seeing updates for Grand Prix 4 making their way in, albeit at a slower pace.

Will any of these games meet their expectations? We'll just have to wait and see...