In Pole Position, the player has to complete a lap in a certain amount of time in order to qualify for a race at the Fuji racetrack.
Most of these games featured racetracks, cars and driver names similar to the real ones, but all modified slightly, since they did not have official licenses from FIA.
[2] Later arcade manufacturers began developing games in this style, like Sega with its Virtua Racing (1992), and later Namco again with Ace Driver (1994), which featured futuristic, F1-like cars.
Subsequent annual sequels were released on non-Nintendo consoles and personal computers, with F1 2011 also being available on eighth-generation handhelds and F1 2016 also available as a paid mobile title on iOS and Android.
Besides the Wii U port of the F1 Race Stars spin-off, subtitled Powered-Up Edition, no other Codemasters F1 game has been available on a Nintendo console.
While Formula One games in general are strict reproductions of the sport regardless of gameplay style, Codemasters' F1 Race Stars was the first to bring Mario Kart-style gameplay to the setting, while their official license from FIA (which the company has held since 2009) allowed for the teams (complete with their respective sponsors) and drivers from that year's season to be given a cartoonish makeover.
Owing to the popularity of the sport, the technical and legal limitations of earlier titles (such as the omission of alcohol and tobacco branding) and lack of representation of particular seasons, the act of modding video games to feature specific seasons of Formula 1 has been popular since the 1990s, particularly following the releases of Grand Prix 2 in 1996 and Grand Prix Legends in 1998.
Later on, ISIMotor-derived titles such as F1 Challenge '99-'02 and rFactor would continue the trend, with cars reaching ever higher levels of accuracy, down to race-specific configurations in regards to sponsorship and aero packages.
Due to their prevalence and real-world performance, these cars are popular choices to mod into games such as the Need for Speed and Grand Theft Auto franchises.
The 2002 freeware title GeneRally also features a large range of Formula 1 seasons available for download, each car rendered in just 40 polygons.