F1 Manager 2024 is the third installment in the series from Frontier Developments, and in my humble opinion both prior games were smashed out of the park. I’ve been counting down the days until release since the announcement and now it’s finally here!
Management games, despite their brilliance, are a bit of a niche category. Despite record numbers of sales and play times, even franchises like Football Manager are often ignored by the masses and games like EAFC and F1 are the preferred method despite their many, many flaws.
Hopefully with the launch of F1 Manager 2024 and its brand-new features, more people will see the light, so without further ado, let’s jump in.
The biggest new feature in F1 Manager is of course the Create a Team mode, a feature fans have been clamoring for since the release of the first F1 Manager back in 2022. I won’t beat around the bush here, Create a Team mode is an absolute beast. There’s so much to get stuck into, even RPG character creation may have competition on their hands when it comes to how long it may take designing your own team.
You have 6 origins to choose from, the first of which is likely to be what most of you choose, ‘Your Story’. However, the other 5 are set up for you. You can still change your drivers and staff, but facilities, car performance and engines are set.
With the ‘Your Story’ start, you have the power to choose your starting budget and how good your facilities and car performance will be. When it comes to drivers and staff you can choose from any of the current F1, F2 and F3 rosters (provided they qualify for an F1 license). Each tier has its own generated staff and drivers, so if you don’t want to remove any real driver or staff from their team then it’s entirely possible to make a team of completely generated personnel.
Once you’ve chosen your desired power unit, then it’s off to the Team Branding stage section. Here you can fully customize your car livery, driver suits and team logo. This is where your creative self can come alive, however if you’re like me and you need your hand holding a bit, there are a HUGE 59 presets to choose from and an additional 5 if you have the deluxe version. The presets can be changed as well, so if you like a design but want to change the colour then that’s absolutely your prerogative. This also goes for race suits (31) and logos (36). You’ll be pleased to hear that you can save any designs you make as during the season you’re able to update or change any design, so if you fancy making a one-off design for tracks like Monaco or your home race then that option is available to you.
That is the bulk of the Create a Team feature and is the beefiest of the new features and updates, but we shouldn’t ignore the others as they add even more depth to the game. The first of which is the new mentality system. In previous games you were informed that morale was low with either a driver or staff, but you didn’t know why. With the new mentality system in F1 Manager 2024 it’s clearer as to why your team personnel might be unhappy. If you’ve created your team with the worst car performance and facilities but given yourself the best drivers, then that won’t be a match made in heaven and it’s unlikely that they’ll sign a new contract. But at least you’ll have the foresight as to what you need to improve to have the chance of retaining your staff. The only issue I have with the mentality feature is that I feel it needs its own menu tab and not something that you come across in another tab.
This leads to the next new feature, which is the AI being more dynamic. Previous years saw the player having first dibs on any staff or driver they wanted to sign. This year the tables have been turned somewhat; yes, you can still poach staff from other teams using the updated contract offering mechanic, but teams won’t just wait around this year. I mentioned about drivers being unhappy – well, if you can’t resolve their happiness then there’s every chance an AI team will swoop in and take them off your hands.
Driver affiliates are another new feature for this year, which replaces what was just having a 3rd driver in the team. Having affiliates in your team is your chance to develop any young talent you see coming through the ranks. If you have more than one affiliate, then both take part in the first practice session of a weekend and earn extra experience for their development.
The last non-on-track feature for F1 Manager 2024 is how sponsorship works. Previous games saw you decide at the end of the season how they affected your team and that was that. Now even in season 1 you get to choose how sponsorship affects your team. You’re presented with 3 sponsors to choose as your main sponsor for the year, each of which has a different reliance on how your drivers perform during race weekends. They all also will give you different finance options, the sponsors with the highest performance reliance will give you the most money over the season, but it’s high risk, high reward. The amount of money you’re offered is also based on your and drivers’ marketability, which will be another factor to take into consideration when making your own team. You also have monthly sponsorship activities which if met will gain you an extra cash bonus, beware though as these often come with negative effects to either your personnel or facilities.
To the on-track action then! The main update here is the ability to experience mechanical failures. These will range from minor failures that can be managed by telling drivers to avoid high curbs or staying out of the dirty air of the car in front. Another failure could be a minor DRS failure meaning your driver is unable to charge their battery which could hinder their attack or defence. Race ending failures can also happen, I experienced it in the third race of the season where my driver was chasing down a potential first ever point for the team, but his engine blew with 4 laps to go which broke and shattered my heart into a million pieces!
Last year Frontier introduced the helmet cam, which enabled us to see the race from the driver’s perspective, this year we have an all-new Heli-cam. The Heli-cam is a strategic view from – you guessed it – a helicopter, allowing you to see more of the track and any impending battles. The broadcast camera has also been updated to incorporate cable camera shots from valid circuits.
And finally, the last new feature for this year is the ability to simulate races. This is a much welcome addition, races are always fun to control in my view, but if you want to charge through the first season or 2 to see any driver changes/ retirements whilst keeping up with your board to see what the future looks like in your universe then you can.
With all the talk about creating your own team it’s easy to forget that there is a ‘vanilla’ career mode, enabling you to take control of any of the ten current Formula One teams. Each team has their own targets and objectives, some of which are more challenging than others. 2 teams want to come second, you also have 3 teams all wanting to finish 7th. On first glance the hardest challenge this year may be with Alpine, as they start off with the 9th fastest car but their board expects a 6th place finish in the Constructor’s championship. The other biggest challenge will be finishing second with Mercedes, who start with the 4th fastest car.
If you’re looking for a quick ‘pick up and play’ then the Race Replay feature is back. Race Replay will give you the chance to re-write any of this season’s 24 races as they come to pass, as well as a specific scenario in those races. For example, if you cast your mind back to Miami, Lando Norris was able to pick up the win thanks to some good timing with a safety car. This particular scenario lets you take charge of Red Bull with 28 of the 56 laps remaining to re-write history and deny Norris his maiden F1 victory.
The launch price in the UK is £29.99 which given the amount of content available seems almost criminal (in a good way).
Conclusion
F1 Manager 2024 is the most feature rich experience to date in the franchise and just like last year I can see Team principles being glued to their chair once again trying to improve their team’s fortune. Whether it’s creating your own team or taking charge of one of the current Formula One teams, F1 Manager 2024 is close to being a 10/10 experience for any sports management game.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
Badgercommander
Was not prepared for that score – but your review provides a solid argument.