Wipeout plus Mario Kart plus... the official Formula One license? It's F1 Race Stars from Codemasters

Codemasters has officially announced F1 Race Stars, a kart racer based on the real F1 calendar, teams and drivers. And it looks mental. Designed with immediacy in mind, the game will feature caricatures of all the drivers, complete with their own driving personalities built into the game (better watch out for Maldonado, then). Here's the first trailer:

We love how the drivers have all been going along at half-throttle until the track morphs and they have to put their foot down all the way. It's just like real life (cartoons count as real-life, right?). Still, considering Abu Dhabi has a theme park next to it, it is quite like real life, only with the cars racing on the theme park attractions instead of the track. And now we can't wait to see what Monaco has to offer - presumably Extreme G III-style racing through transparent tubes under the yachts in the harbor.

Above: It's been suggested an F1 car could theoretically drive upside down thanks to all the downforce generated by the wings. Time to put that theory to the test...

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And what about the drivers? They look very similar to the CG renders by McLaren that were shown on TV before the British Grand Prix last weekend. Apparently, Nicole Scherzinger won't be included, which is a shame. Ah well, these fellas look entertaining enough - look at little Bruno Senna on the right! They'll wear their helmets during the races (safety first, kids), but they'll be animated in this form in other scenes.

Above: Grosjean, Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg and Senna. Weird having all the real-life sponsors on these cartoonified caricatures, but we like the officialness

The game will apparently feature not only 4-player split-screen action on one console, but 12-player online multiplayer on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC when it launches in November.

There are several new kart racers coming to the market soon, not least LittleBigPlanet Karting and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed, but there's definitely room for one more. Especially when it lampoons the world's most glamourous sport as lovingly as this.