VSM's Open Wheel Challenge 2026

In a fictional reinterpretation, VSM’s new mod imagines what a single global formula championship would look like — bringing together the biggest teams, drivers, and manufacturers in an exclusive challenge.

The mod, which uses the 2026 VSM model as its base, is available for Automobilista 1 and also for the classic F1 Challenge 99-02. Download it here.

The Story Behind the Mod:

The idea of creating a mod that brings together all the major motorsport teams into a single championship is something I’ve been working on for a long time. The original concept came to me over 10 years ago, but for various reasons, the project never moved forward.

Finally, here it is — ready to download. This might very well be the last original mod ever released by VSM (more on that below).

The Championship:

The fictional championship behind this mod is a mix of elements from the world’s top racing series. The base, of course, is Formula 1 — but the races are longer, inspired by the WEC, requiring driver swaps, and there’s freedom for teams to buy and sell equipment, as seen in many North American series — all combined into a single competition.

In total, there are 30 teams competing with 56 cars and 112 drivers around the world, on any track the player wants.

The Car:

The car featured in this mod was developed by VSM based on the expected Formula 1 regulations for 2026. It was designed with the presence of many cars on track in mind, so the 3D model is highly optimized. On top of that, it includes a range of customizations, such as different steering wheels and wheels, distributed among the teams.

Since there are rumors about a potential return of V10 engines — and to simplify development — the physics are based on the FV10 from Automobilista 1, along with the original physics from F1 Challenge 99/02.

Team and Driver Selection:

In short, the grid features all the teams expected to compete in Formula 1 in 2026, along with a selection of what I considered to be the most relevant teams from IMSA, WEC, IndyCar, Formula E, NASCAR, and Super Formula.

As for the drivers — although the mod is set in 2026 — they reflect the actual lineups from 2025. The second seats for each car were filled by reserve drivers or members of the teams' junior programs.

Some of the supplier changes are already simulated — such as Aston Martin using Honda engines. Other changes were made simply to better distribute manufacturers across the teams, but all of them have some logical reasoning behind them. For example, Red Bull uses Bridgestone tires because that was the supplier the team had when it won its first championship.

Driver Swaps?

The idea behind the championship is to feature long races, lasting between 4 and 6 hours, with each car driven by a duo. Naturally, all races take place during the day or on circuits with artificial lighting, since the cars have no headlights.

That said, none of the games compatible with this mod support AI-controlled driver swaps. So, this remains purely a visual and hypothetical feature.

Why a Version for F1 Challenge?

During the development of this mod, Automobilista 1 frustrated me so much that I knew I’d uninstall it the moment the project was done. Lately, I’ve only been looking for more casual gaming experiences — and developing this mod was supposed to be something fun — but AMS1 did everything it could to turn that into a nightmare.

Originally, the mod was going to include custom physics, multiple engines, chassis variations, and even different tire sets. However, so many issues came up during development that all of that had to be scrapped, and the final release ended up using default physics.

Another major issue is the AI: with many cars on track at once, AMS1’s AI becomes hilariously bad. Bots constantly go off track, push each other around, and completely ignore the player as if they’re invisible. Not to mention the classic memory usage problem with large grids — one of the most annoying flaws in the game.

Taking all of that into account, I decided to take a step back and return to my roots by also creating a version for the good old F1 Challenge 99-02, where the mod performs far better. And while the AI in that game follows train lines, at least the results aren’t random and the bots behave in a much more consistent manner.

The Last Original VSM Mod?

Yeah… as mentioned above, lately I’ve only been interested in casual gaming, and what should have been a fun project turned into a constant source of frustration. Another factor was the Formula Truck mod, which cost me an insane amount of time and effort but ended up being a total failure. That only confirmed what I already suspected: Automobilista 1 isn’t just dead — it’s buried.

Because of that, it no longer makes sense to keep investing time in creating mods for it. In fact, I uninstalled the game the moment this mod was completed, and I have no plans to reinstall it anytime soon. If another VSM mod ever happens in the future, chances are it’ll be for F1 Challenge 99-02 rather than for Automobilista 1 — which, to me, is done for good.

Plus, It’s a 100% fictional mod — have fun :)