Formula 1's rising popularity around the world has led to some unusual crossovers with mainstream video game franchises.
For example, you can drive the 2022 Formula 1 cars in Rocket League as well as F1 22. And now, in an unexpected crossover, the worlds of Formula 1 and Call of Duty are colliding.
Marina Bay Grand Prix coming to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
During the final of the Call of Duty League Championship, Infinity Ward has announced a new multiplayer map for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. Normally, this wouldn’t be newsworthy at RacingGames.
However, the new map is heavily inspired by the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore, which returns to F1 starting with practice sessions on 30 September before the main race on 2 October.
Set at night, the battle-torn Marina Bay will be a 6v6 multiplayer map. The reveal trailer shows the map area will be confined to the paddock area, with teams battling in the pit lane and inside the paddock buildings for some close-quarters combat. Meanwhile, F1-style cars race around the urban street circuit in the background.
However, this doesn’t appear to be an official partnership as there is no official F1 branding. Formula 1 cars shown in the trailer are fictional but are clearly based on real-life race cars with team liveries inspired by McLaren and Red Bull.
There’s also a safety car parked in the paddock inspired by the Mercedes-AMG GT R safety car.
Infinity Ward seems confident that Ferrari will win this year's championship judging from a poster showing a driver in red overalls celebrating a race victory.
Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer Beta
Infinity Ward confirmed that Marina Bay will be playable in the upcoming Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer beta. PS5 and PS4 players who pre-order Modern Warfare 2 will get early access to the beta on 16 September. An open beta for all PlayStation users will follow on 18 September and end on 20 September.
A second beta will be available on all platforms from 24-26 September, with an early access period from 22-23 September.
This isn’t the first time the worlds of Call of Duty and F1 have collided: Lewis Hamilton played a fictional engineer called Carl Hamilton in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
Call of Duty’s Marina Bay Grand Prix map is a testament to how popular F1 has become, but fans seem divided.
F1 fans seem to love the idea of going to war at the Singapore circuit. COD players, on the other hand, are less enthusiastic, with some fans comparing it to Modern Warfare’s unpopular Piccadilly map.
In a tongue-in-cheek Tweet, the official F1 game Twitter account responded by asking if you can play the Marina Grand Prix map in a sim rig.