Has A New BTCC Game Been Confirmed For 2021?

The possibility of a new spiritual successor to the legendary TOCA series was raised last summer. At the time, Codemasters stated it wasn’t in the immediate future, but BTCC Series Director and Administrator Alan Gow did reveal talks had been ongoing with various developers. But has a new BTCC game been confirmed for 2021?

The question is being asked following a Facebook Live event held by Team Dynamics. They currently run the Halfords Yuasa Racing squad in BTCC, including three-time champion Matt Neal, who was answering questions from fans. And teammate Dan Cammish was part of the reason for the interest back in August 2019, after it was reported he’d asked Codemasters about a new game.

At around 31:29 in the conversation, the subject of a BTCC came up in the conversation, and his answer suggested that maybe we’ll see a new game towards the end of next year.

“There’s one in the making, we are reliably informed. The beta version might come out at the end of this year, and then I think it’s targeted for the end of 2021. It won’t be one where all, umm, you know added on to someone else’s game. This is going to be one where it’s a dedicated BTCC game like the old TOCA package. So that’s pretty exciting actually.”

That would fit with the Codemasters statement that a successor to TOCA wasn’t in their ‘immediate future’, but also doesn’t rule out something coming from a different developer. Obviously Kunos Simulazioni have seen great success after partnering with the former Blancpain series for Assetto Corsa Competizione, for example.

But the reference to the ‘old TOCA package’ sounds more like a Codemasters title with career progression through support series, including potentially the Ginetta Juniors, Ginetta G4, British F4 and MINI Challenge, to then race at the top level. Possibly Codemasters might utilise Slightly Mad Studios for the project following their acquisition in 2019, and their experience on the Project Cars titles.

It’s interesting to speculate, given that Project Cars 3 is apparently still in development by Slightly Mad Studios, along with Fast & Furious Crossroads. And Codemasters themselves have just announced DIRT 5, along with a future DIRT Rally release.

So there’s nothing official from anyone as yet, but it’s certainly an interesting rumour that seems to keep resurfacing. Younger fans will be excited by the chance to compete in the modern BTCC cars on all the UK circuits, while older gamers with memories of the TOCA series are likely to want to revisit their memories of the games, which slowly evolved into the very different GRID series.

Obviously we’ll be keeping a close eye on any rumours and updates on a new BTCC game for 2021.