Motorsport Manager (PC) Second Opinion Review

A review of Motorsport Manager could be one sentence long: it's a game about managing a Formula One team. Either that sentence is interesting, or it isn't, and so either Motorsport Manager is worth buying, or it isn't. It's that simple. The context is necessary to enjoy the game because it is neither involved enough to be a hardcore tactical effort nor short enough to be a distraction on your coffee break. A lot of time is spent watching the cars drive around the track on their own.

Those willing will find Motorsport Manager to be a robust simulator, with plenty of options to tweak and fiddle with. The scope is impressive, with almost everything that goes into preparing for a race being accounted for. Sponsorships must be organised, vehicles must be maintained, and drivers must be kept in a good mood (lower morale means lower chances of victory); all this and more before the race has even started. Tasking your engineers with improving and developing parts does not result in an immediate improvement; it takes them a set amount of time to do their work, and judicious time management is required to ensure the new parts are ready before the next race.

The races themselves come in three different forms, each with different priorities, a testament to the game's dedication to accuracy. First off is Practice, where the player must complete practice laps in the allotted time to test their car and tweak it for the best setup. Following that is the Qualifier, where better times result in a better position on the grid at the beginning of the actual race; the player has to adjust how aggressive their drivers are to keep the tyres at just the right temperature. During the races, themselves, commands must be issued to the drivers, instructing them to adjust their tactics to handle tyre burn and fuel consumption while still maintaining the best position. Management is (literally) the name of the game; those looking for the opportunity to drive the cars themselves should look elsewhere.

Fortunately, despite having all of these options to contend with, things are kept simple and accessible. One does not need to be an avid gamer to pick this up; inputting a command is as easy as it's possible to be thanks to the clearly-labelled user interface. Each choice is accompanied by all the relevant information meaning that there's very little guesswork involved. Demanding that the pit rush their work to avoid losing time comes with a higher risk of the car breaking down, and the game is completely unambiguous about that fact, with a flat percentage telling even the most ignorant of players how much risk their decision comes with. Everything is clearly labelled and makes sense, allowing the sim to be thorough without ever being overwhelming.

What this means, though, is that Motorsport Manager is strictly for enthusiasts. It is so deeply entrenched in its context that you really have to enjoy motorsports to be into it. There is a lot of downtime as you read Tweets, wait for mechanics to finish their jobs, and watch cars race around the track. At normal length (30-40 laps on average) at full speed, an entire race from setup to podium can take an hour to complete, and a lot of that is spent contemplating options. It's possible to make all of the right moves and still end up losing - not a criticism in and of itself, as it's an accurate reflection of the sport it's simulating - but without a pre-existing love for the sport itself, it's difficult to remain enthusiastic when an hour's work goes down the toilet.