On June 20, 2011, Al Gore attended the 8th Games For Change Festival and during his time on the stage, he held the microphone and shared his opinion on the video game industry.

The words "video games have become the new normal" echoed through the auditorium.

Electronic games are a major facet of contemporary culture and other industries can benefit from using games for purposes other than entertainment. A prime example is the world of motorsports. Due to how racing games have come a long way from their arcade roots, to the highly sophisticated titles of today.

Drivers, teams and sometimes whole championships have benefited from video games. In order to discuss this subject GameSkinny talked with Andrew Coley, the official commentator of the FIA World Rallycross Championship (hear him below).

Video Games as a marketing tool:

The FIA Rallycross Championship is a relatively young series, with its first season taking place in 2013. Despite its young age, the championship grows each year. Its television viewership proves the upwards momentum. As reported by the series' website in 2014:

"Total television audience numbers for last year’s FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy show an increase of more than 550% in dedicated coverage (live, as-live, or highlights) compared to 2013."

The reasons for the growth of the series are many, and one of the them is a partnership with the gaming industry. On July 9, 2015, IGN reported on a partnership between the FIA Rallycross Championship and Codemasters, through the game DiRT Rally.

Andrew talks on how this collaboration with the video game industry contributed to making the newly formed championship stronger:

"The by product of having an official game is, of course, that hopefully people are playing the game all over the world, and you have to assume some of them haven't heard of Rallycross, so if any game can bring new people to any aspect of motorsport that’s a hugely positive thing."

Andrew also shares his hopes for what a partnership between real racing and video games may bring in the future:

"As the technology improves I’d like to see more live games alongside live events, so maybe at home an extra couple of cars could be ‘virtually’ on the grid and able to react with the real cars sending data to the game... that would be incredible!"

The content from the real championship that was introduced to DiRT Rally includes three real race tracks -- Lydden Hill Race Circuit (England), Lånkebanen (known as Hell, in Norway), and Höljesbanan (known simply as Höljes, in Sweden).

The game also features real cars from the World Rallycross Championship, as well as Andrew's voice for the tutorials (watch them all below).

He spoke about his experience changing from a real commentator to a virtual one:

"We’re lucky with WorldRX to have an official game partner with Codemasters and Dirt Rally; three of the WorldRX tracks have been recreated in incredible detail and with most of the cars from the championship, I do enjoy playing it; in fact I’ve played all the Colin McRae series of games, nearly all the DiRT titles and was honored to be asked to voice the tutorials for DiRT Rally.

It’s pretty cool to be involved in a series of games you’ve played for many years, and of course totally unexpected… if you’d have told a teenage me that I’d be a voice on the game one day I’d have been chuffed!"

Considering the success of the partnership between the World Rallycross Championship and Codemasters, other series could consider doing the same move, even the pinnacle of motorsports, the Formula One World Championship.

Formula One is moving in the opposite direction of Rallycross, with a decrease in its television figures. On April 20, 2016, the website F1 Fanatic reported that, according to numbers released by Formula One Management, the series has lost a third of its viewership since 2008.

Formula One also has a partnership with Codemasters, which started in 2009 with F1 2009, released for the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation Portable and the iPhone. The franchise is now in its 9th entry, with F1 2016 being the latest.

With this said, can the Formula One World Championship use this partnership with Codemasters to attract more viewers?

Andrew shares his take on the subject:

"Not on it’s own, no. But it could use the gaming industry to introduce a younger and more tech savvy audience to the sport. It’s a strange time as cars are becoming quieter and more fuel efficient in line with ‘real world’ cars and manufacturers' desire for the technology to be relevant.

I think electric motorsport at the highest level isn’t far off and traditional fans aren’t going to like the lack of internal combustion technology and the noise that comes with it... so much so that I think quite few just won’t watch.

At that point you need to already have new fans coming on board who have grown up with 'electric touch screen everything' and who maybe won’t be so resistant to the new technology."

Whilst Andrew may not believe video games alone to be the holy grail that will save Formula One, they can at least be a part of the solution and bring more fans to the sport, as he stated above.

Andrew can speak of this from personal experience, as racing games helped to nourish his passion for the life in high gear. He shared his story with us:

"My dad was an IT teacher and we had an 'Acorn Archimedes’ computer which had a few games, one I remember playing a lot was a game called E Type. It’s incredibly basic compared to the modern stuff but at the time seemed amazing! I recently found it on YouTube to remind myself how basic it was!"

You can check a gameplay video of E-Type below:

Video games can introduce a new audience to the world of motorsports, but in the end, it was the experience of attending a live race that made Andrew an enthusiast for life, as he recalls:

"That very first rallycross race I attended obviously had a big effect on me, as did my first rally as a spectator. From then on you're just gathering great moments, single corners, incredible jumps, passes and so on. I consider myself incredibly lucky to get to do that for a job."

According to Andrew, whilst racing games have the power of engaging a new demographic in racing, going to a live event to experience the thrill of a real race is the most powerful argument to convert someone into a racing fan.

This scenario; however, raises other questions in this topic.

Can real races become more like a video game?

According to The Telegraph, Microsoft conducted an experiment that concluded people in the digital era have an attention span shorter than the one of a golden fish.

The study states that individuals can only pay attention to a single object for an average of eight seconds. This scenario represents a problem for Formula One, as its races typically last for an hour and a half.  

This shows one of the reasons why Rallycross became successful. Its races are short, at 4 to 6 laps, making them have an appeal to the audience of the digital era. 

This formula is similar to what players experience in racing video games -- short races that deliver strong bursts of excitement over a short period of time. With this said, should Formula One and other series around the globe aim to mimic racing games and focus on shorter races?

Andrew delivers an answer:

"For us in the World Rallycross, that’s not a problem, but for longer forms of racing and rallying it poses problems in how to present the sport to a social media audience that wants everything NOW and in a short format. Despite this, I don’t think the racing formats should change. It’s the basis of what makes them great to watch and so diverse.

If they were all short and had similar formats, people would quickly become bored and say they’re all the same! I think the trick is in how you present the highlights of the various sports.

On demand TV is very important, and I would freely admit I rarely have time to keep up with other championships, so I’ll often watch a 5 minute highlights reel on YouTube over an hour long TV show."

While making real races adopt the format of video games may not be a solution, according to Andrew, gaming has changed real life racing through its most fundamental part -- its drivers.

Video games and the "youth movement" of motorsports:

The young man above may seem as a wealthy teenager enjoying some free time, playing Formula 1 2016, but never judge a book by its cover. The person in this picture is Max Verstappen, a driver from the Netherlands who made his debut in the pinnacle of motorsports, the Formula One World Championship, in 2015 -- at the age of 17.

Driving cars that can surpass 370 km/h (230 mph), proved no challenge for Verstappen, as he as clinched his first win in 2016 and pulled a miraculous save under an almost apocalyptic rain during the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix (below).

Max Verstappen openly admits he is adept at racing games, and in interview for Red Bull's website, he claims to prefer Codemasters' F1 2016 due to its realism.

But how did racing simulators help him to progress in his career so quickly?

Andrew explains:

"Certainly seat time is more cheaply available now, you can take a young driver and stick them in the simulator and it doesn’t cost thousands to find out if they’re quick enough (or cost millions if they shunt!)

I interviewed Max recently and we spoke about the simulator; he’d already driven next year’s 2017 spec F1 car before it even exists in reality, and said it was a lot of fun.

I’d love to know what the likes of Fangio and Senna would have made of simulators and how quickly they’d have adapted to using them and trying to get a feel for a car virtually."

Using racing games and simulators to practice for real life is not a technique exclusive to Verstappen. Many drivers use this technology to improve their race crafts, as Andrew explains:

"I know Kevin Hansen, the EuroRX champion plays Dirt Rally! But yes, the Swedish Junior Team, a group of young drivers backed by the Swedish Motorsports Federation, has several drivers who race in WorldRX, EuroRX and GRC who all use simulators for practice. But they do still do real life driving work too of course, ice driving, rally and race techniques etc, helping them to become all round better drivers.

It all has a part to play; motorsport is so expensive that a simulator is a great way to get a lot of laps with very little budget." 

As explained by Andrew above, racing games can be highly beneficial to drivers, but do they only help those behind the wheel?

Racing games helping racing teams:

In the current world of racing, finding ways to reduce costs is paramount. In an attempt to make racing more affordable, one of the methods used by most of the series around the world is restricting the number of tests a team is allowed to conduct during the season.

This scenario makes it harder for teams to develop their cars, but in the face of adversity a solution rises -- using racing simulators.

Teams with the most financial resources build their own sims, but smaller teams usually settle for using the games available to the public. 

An example of a real race team using a public racing game to develop a real life car is Michael Shank Racing, through its Brazilian driver Oswaldo "Ozz" Negri.

The team competes in the United States of America, in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Series and uses iRacing to develop its cars.

As the driver Ozz Negri explains in an article for the website Racer's HQ:

"Our race engineers provide me with the set-ups they are planning to use at a track and I test them on iRacing -- 99% of the time, the results we get on iRacing translate to the real track accurately."

In 2012, the team won the 24 Hours of Daytona and the game it uses to develop the car is available to anyone who can afford to pay the US$ 6.50 dollars monthly fee.

Andrew speaks on how racing games can help racing teams in times of limited testing:

"Harder to quantify for the teams as they have much more going on off track than on it; for every 5 minute Rallycross race a team of technicians has worked tens of hours on that car off the track. I’m sure there’s a technology that could analyse how a pit area is laid out for best workflow, for instance, but probably not in a traditional game.

One interesting trend is the way the rules have to adapt to the technology. The FIA put a limit on wind tunnel testing to save money when some teams were running wind tunnels 24 hours a day. So what did the teams do? Spent all their money on developing CFD (Computation Fluid Dynamics) to effectively do all their wind tunnel testing on a computer instead of with models and wind fans.

So there are now rules on how much computing power, data etc can be used for CFD. I’ve no idea how the FIA could monitor that though... way too clever for me, I struggle with some of my PS4’s settings! There may already be rules on how much simulators can be used... If not I’m sure they’ll come soon!"

Conclusion:

Video games have become the new normal, as Al Gore stated and with this recognition of gaming as a vital facet of contemporary culture, other industries are attempting to use video games to improve their projects -- as described herein, the world of motorsports is an example of this movement.

Drivers, teams and whole championships are using gaming to their advantage. Through simulations, they aim to craft better drivers, design faster cars and nourish new fans.

Even Andrew, a commentator believes racing games have helped him to perform better at his job, as he claims:

"I use games for work! If a track is available on a game then I’ll play it as it helps enormously with my commentary during the TV show; one corner that looks deceptive from in the car compared to walking the track can change your opinion of a track and how hard it is immediately."

Through our talk with Andrew Coley, we explored many uses racing games can have in real life racing, so next time you play Gran Turismo, DiRT or another racing title, remember -- it is more than a mere game.

While the future of the Gran Turismo franchise remains uncertain, many other racing games can provide you with your daily racing fix, while providing different angles of the motorsports industry, which GT may not tackle.

From the hyper-realistic physics of iRacing to the mythic career depicted in Valentino Rossi – The Game, if you are a racing fan, there is life outside the Gran Turismo series after all.

NASCAR Heat Evolution

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC

The last two entries presented you with games that take you behind the wheel of the two largest racing series in the world, but now we will show a game that allows you to drive in the biggest championship in the United States. Of course, I am talking about NASCAR.

Featuring 40 drivers and 23 tracks from the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Heat Evolution puts you behind the wheel of an 850-horsepower stock car driving through the high banks of the American speedways.

The game includes common modes, such as race weekend and season, but the most unique of them is the “challenge mode," which replicates critical situations that occurred throughout the 2016 season.

36 races, 40 drivers and one championship. Welcome to NASCAR.

Valentino Rossi - The Game

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC

We move from the pinnacle of four-wheels to the highest form of racing on two wheels.

Valentino Rossi – The Game features the 2016 season of the MotoGP championship, the largest series in motorcycle racing, as well as moments from the career of Valentino Rossi, a six-time MotoGP world champion.

Players can face the same 291 opponents Valentino encountered throughout his 14 years in the premiere series of the sport.

Additionally, the game also features dirt bikes and rally racing, the other forms of motorsports Valentino has also competed in during his career, ensuring a great racing experience for each motorsports enthusiast.

Formula 1 2016

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

The Formula 1 World Championship, the largest racing series in the world, has a history with the video game industry that dates back to the 70s. In 2016, Codemasters delivered the latest title to carry the name of Formula 1, Formula 1 2016.

Featuring 22 drivers and 21 tracks from all over the world, the game replicates the 2016 season of the pinnacle of motorsports.

Following the trend of RaceRoom, this title offers some challenge to its players, but it does not take realism to the extreme, making it a fun experience for those who wish for a more casual drive.

RaceRoom Racing Experience

Platform: PC

We have presented you with the most realistic racing simulators available in the market, but now we will propose something a bit different.

Available for free through Steam, RaceRoom offers a more casual experience, with physics that do not aim for a hyper-realistic reproduction of real on-track races.

However, RaceRoom presents player with a good balance between the difficulty of a hardcore simulator and the fun of casual games, due to its physics, which allows for a more “forgiving” behavior of the cars.

If you do not have the skills of a real racecar driver and simply wants to have some challenging fun, this is the game for you.

iRacing

Platform: PC

This production may not have the graphics of Project CARS, but iRacing is the definitive racing simulator, if you are only looking for realistic physics.

Available for a monthly payment of $6.50, this simulator offers a license-based career, in which you can only race against drivers of your level, which ensures a more balanced experience.

Despite featuring more than 50 real life race cars, what allows this simulator to stand above every other is its physics system, which is so accurate. Real drivers even use this simulator in order to train for their races, while real racing teams use iRacing as a tool to develop their cars. 

Project CARS

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC

Considered by many the racing game with the best graphics on modern hardware, Project Cars offers players the possibility of taking sim racing to new heights.

Featuring a detailed physics engine, this Project Cars allows players to get as close as possible to a real race without entering a real racecar. With a dynamic weather system, players must keep an eye on the sky, as, for example, dark clouds approaching the track may represent rain coming. What's more, the game also simulates differences in air/track temperature and wind variations. 

This adds an interesting element in long races, as players must adapt their tire and fuel strategy to the demands of the situation at hand.

With a large variety of cars ranging from go-karts to Le Mans Prototypes, and an engine that simulates even the slightest variation on weather and how it affects the handling of the car, this game is a must play for any racing aficionado.

Live for Speed

Platform: PC

The graphics of this game may be outdated, but you cannot judge a book by its cover. Featuring one of the best physics systems available on the market, one of the most accurate force feedback systems in the racing genre, and a dedicated and stable fan-following, this game delivers one of the best user experiences available in the racing simulator genre.

And best of all? Live for Speed is free to play in its basic package.

Players can choose various tracks, ranging from a superspeedway to a tight street circuit, and race in them with a variety of cars, including go-karts, streetcars, touring cars, GTs and even the BMW Sauber F1.06.

Note: The free version of the game features a Formula BMW and two streetcars, as well as three race tracks.

The Gran Turismo franchise has come a long way since its debut in 1997, providing racing enthusiasts with thousands of exciting hours in front of their PlayStations.

Now, Polyphony, the studio responsible for the series, is working on Gran Turismo Sports, which will release in 2017. And once it reaches stores worldwide, it is still unclear whether the studio will work on Gran Turismo 7.

But don't worry if you're waiting for the next installment of the franchise. This delay actually provides you a unique opportunity: You can experience different racing titles on other platforms to get your daily adrenaline fix.

And there are A LOT of them. 

With this in mind, we have compiled a list of seven racing games you must check while you wait for Gran Turismo 7.

The Formula One license and Codemasters have generally enjoyed a happy marriage since they wed in 2009; F1 2010 set the tone on everything Codies wanted F1 gaming to be about, which was more than just jumping in pretend racecars and crashing them over and over again. The emphasis was on immersing oneself in the world of being an F1 driver; car development, inter-team rivalries, and casual conversations with an attractive European lady claiming to be your agent. Couple this with an excellent sim-cade handling model and neat gameplay features such as the now-common 'Flashback' which enabled you to vanquish that spectacular race-ending wipeout at Eau Rouge into another dimension like it never happened, and the formula (one) was a slam-dunk winner of Steph Curry proportions. 

Since then the games were largely unchanged until F1 2013 hit a creative peak through liberal use of 1980s/90s F1 cars which drove like barely tamed ballistic missiles. Then the new console generation seemed to catch Codemasters out, and focus shifted towards F1 2015, touted as a bold reinvention of the franchise for the new 1080p 60fps age. Unfortunately, what we got was an incredible core game engine...with no actual videogame attached to it.

Seriously.

For a game built on a strong career mode and online play so popular it had spawned multiple e-sports leagues, F1 2015 having utterly broken online play and no career mode at all on launch was a big smack in the face for the fanbase. And given that the series had spawned a passionate gaming Youtuber community, said fanbase had very vocal figureheads to voice their criticism. 

Codemasters knew they had to get F1 2016 right. They directly courted the community, inviting major Youtubers to HQ itself - a shrewd move given the influence they had over Codies' audience - and we saw previously scathing commentators become gushing hype-mongers. A strange U-turn you might think, and only the release of the game itself would tell us if they had merely become paid shills or were harping from the heart.

Question time

First question: is the safety car back? Yes. The lack of safety car in F1 2015 became a running joke of just how chronically malnourished that game was, so it was telling how Codemasters put this front and centre in the trailers.

Second question: are the good bits from F1 2015 back? Yes, with some mild polish on the handling and graphics engines; both of which were already exceptional in F1 2015. The game is visually stunning on Xbox One, and races fly by at a stable 60FPS even in English summer weather - that is, heavy rain and fog - whilst the combination of fluid sim-cade handling and aggressive but competent AI mean the races themselves are as fun as they've ever been. 

Third question: is career mode back?

Yup - in a big way

This is possibly the most immersive career mode in the franchise so far. The real-world elements are back; the career menu involves the player-character sitting around in the VIP lounge on your laptop, fielding phone calls from your agent and making idle small-talk with real-world team principals and bigwigs. Inspiration has been taken from Milestone's MotoGP series in the form of an upgrade system where laps in preliminary sessions are used to earn credits for car development, but with the added twist of specific mini-games for each practice session focusing on raw speed, tyre conservation, strategy, and more. In my first race in Career Mode, it took me 45 minutes to even reach qualifying; but I wasn't bored.

Having a consistent goal to work towards - sliders show where the performance of your car stacks up against your rivals - should ensure boredom remains sat in the grandstands whilst you pound out laps. This is the first career mode I can see myself ploughing through for multiple seasons since F1 2010.

That sound you heard on release day was the sigh of relief emitted by the F1 Youtuber community, knowing that they wouldn't have to grind out umpteen Pro Season repeats and 'DRIVE TILL THE TYRES EXPLODE' videos to get them CPM dollars. 

There are still flaws; the game courts the hardcore audience (read; Tiametmarduk) with an 'Ultimate' difficulty level, yet it's still infuriatingly easy to get lost between difficulty levels. On Expert level, races descended into me swerving back and forth to defend position like Max Verstappen necking Absinthe, yet dropping down to Hard led to me qualifying on pole by over a second and winning my first career race for the Haas F1 Team. That's the equivalent of beating Real Madrid 3-0 with AFC Wimbledon in your first career mode match on FIFA. A Project CARS-style sliding scale would probably work far better.

Outside of Career Mode, there's still not a huge amount of gameplay features outside of returning modes from 2015, and Pro Season/Pro Career (regular game modes with all difficulty options cranked beyond 11) still feel fairly redundant. Granted, all energy was focused on Career Mode this time around, and that strategy has paid off; a return of old favourites such as Scenario Mode wouldn't go amiss, however. I'm not a huge online player, but early reports (and lack of pitchfork-wielding hate mobs) seem to suggest it is at least functional on launch this time around. 

I don't remember a time that Codemasters went into a new F1 game release with this much pressure on their shoulders; and for the most part, it was justified. Fortunately, F1 2016 is overall an excellent return to form that deletes the bad memories of 2015 more effectively than Broken Matt Hardy. Unlike real Formula One, Codemasters listened to the fans - and as a result have produced one of the finest F1 games in their history.

Copy purchased by myself for the Xbox One.

When it comes to racing games, some players want to truly feel like they're in the driver's seat, and a compatible steering wheel is the perfect way of doing that. With F1 2016, the latest title to be based off of the Formula One season, just around the corner, fans are naturally curious as to whether it will support said peripherals. And now we have an answer. Yes, for you... probably.

Developer Codemasters has released a list detailing all of the officially supported controllers and peripherals for all three versions of the title - PS4, Xbox One and PC.

PC

• Fanatec ClubSportWheel v1 Thrustmaster Ferrari GT F430 Wireless Cockpit
• Fanatec ClubSportWheel v2 (F1 rim) Thrustmaster RGT Force Feedback Clutch Edition
• Fanatec CSR Elite Thrustmaster T100
• Fanatec Porsche 911 Carrera Thrustmaster T150
• Fanatec Porsche 911 GT2 Thrustmaster T300 – F1 rim
• Fanatec Porsche 911 GT3 RS2 Thrustmaster T300 – Ferrari GTE rim
• Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo S Thrustmaster T300 – PS rim
• Logitech Driving Force GT Thrustmaster T300 – TM Leather 28 GT
• Logitech Driving Force Pro Thrustmaster T500 – F1 rim
• Logitech Formula Force EX/RX Thrustmaster T500 – Ferrari GTE rim
• Logitech G25 Racing Wheel Thrustmaster T500 – GT rim
• Logitech G27 Racing Wheel Thrustmaster T500 – TM Leather 28 GT
• Logitech G29 Racing Wheel Thrustmaster TMX
• Logitech G920 Racing Wheel Thrustmaster TX – F1 rim
• Logitech MOMO Racing Force (Racing) Thrustmaster TX – Ferrari 458 rim
• SimXperience Accuforce Thrustmaster TX – Ferrari GTE rim
• Thrustmaster Ferrari 430 Force Feedback Racing Wheel Thrustmaster TX – TM Leather 28 GT
• Thrustmaster Ferrari GT Experience Thrustmaster Universal Challenge 5-in-1 Racing Wheel
• Xbox 360 Controller Xbox One Controller
• Keyboard

Please note that controllers not on the official supported list should also work, as long as a custom control scheme is created.

Xbox One

• Fanatec ClubSportWheel v2 with wheel rim Thrustmaster TMX
• Hori Racing Wheel Controller Xbox One Thrustmaster TX – F1 rim
• Logitech G920 Racing Wheel Thrustmaster TX – Ferrari 458 rim
• MadCatz Pro Racing Thrustmaster TX – Ferrari GTE rim
• Thrustmaster Ferrari 458 Spider Racing Thrustmaster TX – TM Leather 28 GT
• Xbox One Controller

PS4

• Hori Racing Wheel Thrustmaster T300 – TM Leather 28 GT
• Logitech G29 Racing Wheel  Thrustmaster T500 – F1 rim
• Thrustmaster T100 Thrustmaster T500 – Ferrari GTE rim
• Thrustmaster T150 Thrustmaster T500 – GT rim
• Thrustmaster T300 – F1 rim Thrustmaster T500 – TM Leather 28 GT
• Thrustmaster T300 – Ferrari GTE rim Thrustmaster T80
• Thrustmaster T300 – PS rim PS4 Controller

You, as well as some fans, may have noticed a distinct lack of Fanatec controllers for the PS4 version; Fanatec being one of the foremost steering wheel manufacturers. Codemasters released an official statement on the matter:

"Codemasters will continue to support officially approved peripherals for PlayStation 4 in F1 2016. We appreciate that this is far from an ideal situation and as always we are making every effort we can to support our community. Sadly this matter is out of our hands, but we will continue our dialogue with both Sony and Fanatec to try to find a solution."

F1 2016 will launch on 19th August and feature a revised career mode that consists of ten full seasons as opposed to five, as well as many other changes.

The newest entry in Codemasters' F1 racing series, F1 2016, received a new trailer today entitled "Create Your Own Legend." The video is short, clocking in at only 54 seconds, but it details the biggest features included in the game -- including a deep career mode, realistic crash physics, and now the pace car and the pre-race Formation Lap, as well.

The beginning of the video focuses on the career mode, as the player driver meets from a first-person perspective with some of the most prestigious teams in Formula 1 -- including Red Bull, Renault, and Mercedes. The video then goes on to showcase the manual start off of the starting line, followed by tight racing across multiple tracks, including one in the rain at one point. A sign is also shown indicating the VSC (Virtual Safety Car) in effect to slow down the field.

The video ends showcasing pit stops and the Mercedes SLS pace car in action, apparently leading the field around on the Formation Lap, a new addition to the series. The video's description promises that the game will include support for 22 players in online races, the manual start, and the Formation Lap. F1 2016 is expected to release on August 19, 2016.