Motorsport Manager Review

Strategy games have always peaked my interest, and frankly it’s why I have a PC. Most other games I play on console, but when I heard about a mobile game taking the app stores by storm all about F1 strategy simulation along the lines of Football Manager I was straight on it.

If all that doesn’t have you clicking the PC download button then read on as initially after watching over 10 hours of other people playing this game on early builds I thought I knew it all and this was going to be a walk in the park making more money than Lewis Hamilton in Call of Duty.

So I chose my team, checked in on my staff, made sure I was happy with them, their relationships with my drivers, and their skill sets given I opted for a mid table team in the upper tier of the championship. (There are 3 tiers)

I checked my drivers and set to work on exploring the huge array of information, options and potential game changing decisions I neede to make.

Below is a breakdown of the screens on offer and the basics of what you can do in Motorsport Manager’s main dashboard:

So how many of them did you read? If you read them all you will see the wide variety of tasks on hand and planning required to win at Motorsport Manager. Now blind luck may play a part as it did for me in the end a little but also taking things for granted can cause the ultimate humiliation of being fired in the first 10 races, Yeah I was fired can you believe.

I certainly got my act together after this and explored things in more detail and planned further ahead. I even got into the second seasons with my new team, only to realise I made mistakes in the previous season that destroyed my current season. WOW was I unlucky? Or just not paying enough attention to what mattered?

But all this is circumstantial, you may or may not get fired, you may or may not win races, but the goal is to win it all.

Progress through days/weeks after setting everything up and tweaking as the time passes. React to situations, and understand your drivers feedback during practice to set up the car just right.

During race weekends you are responsible for car setup, tyre choice, fuel levels and driving style. Monitor them closely though, don’t do too many laps on 1 tyre or style as you need to gain enough knowledge to achieve levels of understanding to unlock boosts for the race itself.

Races can be sped up to make things go that little bit faster but be sure not to miss an important notice or chance in the race dynamics, the weather could turn at any point and wreck your strategy, you could choose the wrong tyres and be pitting 3 times in 5 laps (honestly never happened to me) Controlling the race in 1st to 39 seconds behind in dead last really changes the future for you if you do it too often.

In essence that is it, a lot to take in and manage but as your knowledge grows and your understanding develops you will finds out what makes your teams tick and the staff perform at their peak.

Make the choice, manage the best in the top tier or manage near the bottom and build a team to challenge the best. Like every management game it is up to you how to play, all I can say is the more things changed for me, the more I enjoyed it and was more determined to succeed. Season after season I felt like I learnt something new and wanted to try it all again but better next year.

Graphically it’s far from great dependant on your PC’s power settings but honestly even with my current inferior GPU, I forgot about how it looked and just got on with managing.

Sounds are okay but as per any game like this you either have it on or off and run your own playlist. Personally I love the sounds as it just adds to the overall aura of the game.

You might have noted that I have not mentioned any licenses or affiliations, in a nutshell there are none, Not the FIA, Formula 1 on major teams like Mclaren Mercedes and no cameo appearances in combat apparel for Lewis Hamilton This is a unlicensed game which has allowed a great deal of flexibility to change the game to the developers liking, like Fuel addition, I love that part as it makes the race more interesting, add fuel and lose 0.3 seconds a lap or keep the fuel low and on the breadline. Sure a few team colours could be described and similar to well known teams but with the simple customisation of the livery this might not be the case.

If you need the FIFA like license, you won’t find it here but then you won’t find anything else this good anywhere!

SUMMARY

There is no doubt that the future potential of this game and areas for expansion and development are massive in future titles. For now it’s a great game, with enough to do to keep many racing fans glued to their screens for many hours to come.

I love the current elements included and have enjoyed my time so far. If it had a bit more depth it would get a 10 but for its first outing I implore you all to become a Motorsport manager.