CG specialists, REALTIME, raced to be part of the new next-generation racing experience F1® 2021, developed by Codemasters. Featuring the teams, drivers and circuits for the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship™, REALTIME took the reins on crafting over thirty-five minutes of unique cinematic content for the brand-new story mode ‘Braking Point’ - and they did it all during a global pandemic.
“F1® 2021 was our first major cinematic project where UE4 was used to replace a CPU renderer and the image quality is incredible.” Ian Jones, CG Director.
Watch our Sizzle Reel
“F1® 2021 was our first major cinematic project where UE4 was used to replace a CPU renderer and the image quality is incredible.” Ian Jones, CG Director.
Watch our Sizzle Reel
Braking Point gives the player a taste of the lifestyle both on and off the track: the rivalries, emotion and dedication needed to compete at the highest level. REALTIME was tasked with creating five versions of the dramatic cut-scenes, from emotional performances to edge-of-your-seat track action.
Despite the pandemic, the team held a COVID-secure casting session for the main characters, in order to get as close to real-world actor’s as is digitally possible. A motion capture shoot using DI4D’s new digital double animation pipeline, PURE4D, captured the performance on the day.
Despite the pandemic, the team held a COVID-secure casting session for the main characters, in order to get as close to real-world actor’s as is digitally possible. A motion capture shoot using DI4D’s new digital double animation pipeline, PURE4D, captured the performance on the day.
The final cinematics were rendered in Epic Games’ UE4, using their cutting-edge tools for crafting realistic-looking hair and photoreal cars and racetracks within a bespoke GPU pipeline developed by REALTIME.
Unreal Engine was the obvious choice for the studio, who was challenged to deliver additional versions of the scenes just weeks before the game was completed. Designs or visuals couldn’t be locked any earlier due to level of secrecy around the F1® season. UE4 allowed them to build in flexibility and be prepared to make fundamental changes to the assets during the final stages of the project – adding in new suits, branding and colourways to the designs.
Says Codemasters, "We’ve worked with REALTIME previously and we’re always impressed by their passion and the quality of their work. We were excited by their pitch to bring Braking Point to life, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the result." Ian Flatt, Studio Head, Codemasters.
Read more about the work on the Unreal Engine website.