Opinion | F1 Manager 2022 will destroy all expectations

F1 Manager 2022 is a sports management game surrounding the world of Formula 1, set to debut sometime this year. Created by Frontier Developments, the game will be a new member of the officially licenced F1 games, and has already set high promises for its release. We take a look back at similar games and see how this game could potentially be an improvement on all of its predecessors.

Motorsport Manager - Playsport Games

The Motorsport Manager series is by far the most beloved racing management series in existence. Motorsport Manager (Mobile) was the first-ever in this series. A simple and straightforward management game, it quickly garnered interest, creating a  From this, a team was created to develop and debut a PC version of the game, titled simply: Motorsport Manager. The PC version was not as successful as the company envisaged, even though it hosted a massive set of in-game features, while its in-race graphics provided a vastly impressive render of race tracks and the cars. From this, however, came the establishment of Playsport Games. The company shifted its focus back to mobile games with the subsequent release of Motorsport Manager 2 in 2017. Motorsport Manager 3 was the last of this series, which was launched onto the market in 2018. The game hosted sleek screen elements, a major overhaul in character design, upgrades to racetrack scenery and a host of new scenarios which the player had to grapple with. However, this game would soon be the last of its kind. 

In the Motorsport Manager series, Motorsport Manager Online remains its newest edition. The game successfully acquired licencing from Formula E as well as some other drivers to feature their images, names and teams within the game. However, there is some minor immersion disrupting features such as seeing two identical real-life drivers appearing on the podium presentation, the unrealistic sponsor mechanism, as well as the occasional latency spikes. It exists as a nice PvP game, but it does more to set up a multiplayer game rather than developing a deep connection to real-world race team management.

F1 Clash - Hutch Games

One of the very few “non-racer perspective” F1 games came not too long ago. F1 had elected to use the gaming market to grow their audience by creating their own race-team management game. Awarding the contract and necessary licensing to Hutch Games from London, the game underwent development. The game was then launched in May of 2019, under the name of F1 Manager. Unfortunately, it never struck any great heights.

The entire game was never set up to be timeless. The art and sprites were far too infantile and colourful for a global sport that had built its branding on being a serious, high-risk/high-reward and adrenaline-filled rush. While the in-game mechanics were reasonable, bugs would still be present throughout the game experience early on. Most who downloaded the game, expecting somewhat of a realistic experience of race team management were left with the realisation that the only realism was the licensed circuits and ability to manage pitstops. Car parts and even drivers could be “upgraded” and substituted in or out, leading to unclear changes in performance, thus not even closely resembling the real-life driver market or car development.

Ultimately, the game was set to fail. Far too similar to competitors and not at all serious in realism, the game existed as a far cry from the overall image of F1. While it remained an interesting game for casual fans, perhaps even garnering new ones, it did very minimal to provide satisfaction to the major market of existing fans.

F1 Manager 2022 - Frontier Developments

F1 Manager 2022 is the heralded equivalent of the footballing world’s “Football Manager” series by Sports Interactive. Officially licenced by F1 themselves, the brand new series will finally have fonts, designs, graphics, drivers and teams which fans have been longing for. With a roster of characters from F1 to F3, this game is the desperately desired dose of realism that F1 fans want. If people haven’t imagined themselves as being a driver, they certainly have managed themselves being a team principal, which this game will finally serve as a window into.

Frontier Developments certainly has its work cut out for them. To achieve the heights of peak Motorsport Manager and avoid any relation to F1 Clash, the game will need to put its best foot forward and leave a lasting impression so that F1 can experience long-term returns from the game. So far, the branding has been dramatic and places the right tension on the ideas of split-second choices, as well as the authority and crucial decision-making. Enough gravity is given to the idea of “becoming a team principal”, and the released screen designs are much, much better than most expected. However, only time will tell if this game achieves greater longevity than its predecessors.