You have to go back to the 90s to find a management game with the official F1 license. Thanks to Frontier Developments and Liberty Media, F1 Manager 2022 finally offers the opportunity to immerse yourself in the role of manager of a team in the premier category of motorsport.
In parallel with F1 22, the official Codemasters game which allows you to drive and offers a superficial dive into the management of Formula 1, this F1 Manager 2022 was expected to be able to discover in more detail the workings of a team.
Live my life by Frédéric Vasseur
No “sandbox” or other mode in this F1 Manager, the only option is to launch your new career. So be it: we decided to embody Frédéric Vasseur and therefore to play with Alfa Romeo F1, one of the three teams with the lowest budget, but which has the advantage of having a fairly high-performance single-seater from the start of the season .
The preparations are very framed, and if you launch the game help, it acts as a welcome tutorial to understand the different team management parameters. At the start of the game, it can impress with its gas factory side, but we manage to understand the workings fairly quickly.
Indeed, it is necessary both to make it progress off the track, and to supervise the races. Management between races focuses on logistics, as well as research and development. It is necessary to ensure that the stock of parts is sufficient to go to the next Grand Prix, while developing the cars via several “parts”.
The elements to be developed are the chassis, the front wing, the rear wing, the sides, the floor and the suspensions. It is therefore necessary to manufacture these parts in sufficient numbers, and to evolve them.
For this, you receive reports on the performance of the car, as well as reports after the races which explain which parameter needs to be improved in priority. From there, you have to develop a new part, assign a number of engineers, but also manage the hours in the wind tunnel and in computer design according to a given quota.
We appreciate the limitations that modern F1 knows, and which are perfectly taken up. The ATR, that is to say the maximum development to operate over a given period, but also the budget ceiling.
It will be possible to design the parts faster, but it will cost more money. You will therefore have to manage the money you have for the operational aspect, given by the board of directors, but also be careful not to go too close to the budget ceiling.
Human management is at the center of performance
As with the developments of the car, drivers who have good weekends will also get development points. In the post-race debriefings, a driver will be chosen, and the engineer will say what quality the driver needs to improve, via these points.
This makes it possible to subtly correct the weaknesses of a driver, who will however have to have good weekends. A good preparation will allow him to better control the car and the track, to make faster laps as soon as he hits the track.
It will also be necessary to manage the morale of the troops, namely that of the three drivers, the technical director, the aero director, and the two race engineers. The lack of results can affect the morale of a driver, as well as the relationship he has with his engineer.
Developing the factory, including giving employees a dedicated place to rest and spending their free time, will help keep their spirits up.
Manage your factory to recruit the best people
Thanks for the tutorial, the game mechanics are very easy to understand, and just as easy to apply. This allows you to quickly understand how to improve the people of the team, as well as the car but also the factory and the infrastructures.
With a fairly high budget, it is indeed possible to develop the factory, the wind tunnel, the CFD center, and other points of the factory, but also to install various rooms there such as a museum and a center. welcome, which makes the team more desirable when it comes to recruiting new pilots or engineers.
There is also a prospecting center in the team, which makes it possible to identify and follow pilots and engineers, to consider their recruitment. The prospectors submit their report, in which are the presumed statistics of the targeted recruit, and his potential for progression.
From there, it is possible to propose a contract, in which it will be necessary to agree on a salary, a duration, an arrival bonus and other conditions. The recruitment of pilots is colossal, since one can choose among the 20 holders, the reservists, but also the pilots of F2 and F3, and try to attract them as holders or reservists.
Strategist qualities are also put to use
When the weekends start, you have to prepare them by proposing future results to the sponsors, which can bring in more money but cause you to lose some if they are not respected. After that, everything goes on track.
The three free practice sessions take place first, and it is possible to simulate them to let the AI take care of them. It’s the same for qualifying and the races, but you quickly take pleasure in directing the team live.
Indeed, budding Hannah Schmitz, Peter Bonnington or Inaki Rueda will not be outdone! All strategic elements are manageable and configurable in real time during all weekend sessions.
Everything is possible during qualifying and the races: you decide when the drivers take to the track in qualifying, who manages the weather, incidents on the track, or the remaining sets of tires.
You set the strategy, and depending on the phase of the race, it’s also up to you whether the driver should push a bit more (which wears out the tires), change engine modes (at the risk of fuel consumption) or tunes the ERS more aggressively (which drains the battery).
It is even possible to give instructions to your pilots so that they do not interfere with their teammate, or that they block the pilots behind them to give time to your first car to make the trunk.
The graphics are quite minimalist, but that’s not very important, it’s a management game and not a simulation, and it’s not essential, unlike the fluidity of the interface. The animations are a little rough at times, and the crashes and mishaps aren’t very visually varied.
If we have to go into detail, we will regret a voice that is quite difficult to bear from the commentator, who repeats one or two sentences over and over during the race phases. Fortunately, the pilots’ voices are the real ones, and some engineers too, which adds to the immersive aspect.
In conclusion: excellent gameplay and an immersive experience
The results to be drawn from this F1 Manager 2022 are very positive, and we can salute the work done by Frontier Developments and by F1 to make the experience realistic and immersive.
The game is rather accessible for people who are new to F1 and want to understand how a team works behind the scenes, since it is possible to get help on demand from the game, and to limit work on weekends. racing, which are the most intense moments in the game.
Once again, the game will be able to “overtake” people who are not initiated at first sight. But the gameplay is also very complete for people wishing to work in detail on the progress of their car, their troops and their team as a whole.
In addition, we tested it on PS5 and our biggest fear was the management of a complex interface on the controller. But everything is well done, and thanks to menus that must be deployed, but of limited complexity, it is possible to manage everything with the joystick.
This first attempt looks like a masterstroke for Frontier and F1, and there is no doubt that this new franchise, the first episode of which comes out this Tuesday, August 30, will take hold for a long time.
We remind you that a contest to win F1 Manager is still in progress on Nextgen-Auto! To achieve this, retweet the post below by following the instructions, and you will be part of the draw which will take place on Tuesday at 2 pm, to try to win it on the platform of your choice!
F1 Managers 2022
Frontier Developments
PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC (Steam, Epic Store)
From €54.99
CONTEST
On the occasion of the release of F1 Manager 2022, Nextgen-Auto offers you a copy of the official management game!
To participate :
– RT this tweet
– follow @NextgenAuto
– follow @EmmanuelTouzot
Draw Tuesday 30/09 at 1 pm!#F1 #F1Manager2022 pic.twitter.com/Y4jVQNZhvx
—Nextgen-Auto.com (@NextgenAuto) August 25, 2022
