For many years I was in to sim racing. Many seasons of racing GPL online with the Crash Test Dummies, and later I ran a league at Frugalsworld. We also raced Papy's NASCAR, GTR2, and others. I also have an affinity for strategy games of all types, from Europa Universalis to Football Manager. I just eat this stuff up.

So when I saw Motorsport Manager on Steam for $8 I thought now there's an appealing combination of some of my favorite things. But is it any good?

http://www.motorsportmanager.com/en-us

After a few weeks of taking my poor, lowest-tier team up through the divisions, I can say yes, yes it is.

The game is essentially Football Manager for racing. You take control of a team, and guide it through the seasons. It's more simple than FM, but just as addicting.

It features several classes of car, from open wheel, to endurance, to GT, and is supported on the Steam Workshop, so lots more available there.

At the start of the game you will choose a series and a team. The stock game has no licenses. That will put off some players, all names are fictional, but you know who Ferrari are (called Scuderia Rossini in the game), or which track is Silverstone (Guildford). If you don't care for the fictional stuff, all the real teams, drivers, sponsors and tracks can be found on the Workshop.

When I play games like this, I like to take one of the bottom-feeders and try to reach the pinnacle, like taking Port Vale to the Premier League and Champion's League glory.. So I chose a team in the 'European Racing Series', which is essentially GP3, called Archer BMR, which just has a cool ring to it. We had one of the worst cars, the lowest budget and terrible sponsorship. But we did have the best factory in the division, a decent set of drivers and plenty of determination and ambition.

Progression is measured in a several ways.

Car tech -- Each team has a designer and HQ. The player chooses parts (wings, engine, brakes, suspension, gearbox) to upgrade. The time it takes, and the quality of the part are determined by your staff and infrastructure. Over time your car gets better. But so do your competitors. You can hire new staff and upgrade your HQ. Build a test track to improve engines, or a wind tunnel for wings. You can even bend the rules, producing parts that give you increased performance, but with the chance of failing post-race scrutineering. Fail that, and you will be docked points and lose the part!

Sponsorship -- The level of sponsorship is determined by how marketable your team is. That is partly a function of your driver's personalities, and your team's performance. Money is very important in this game of course, though I chose to prioritize driver ability over sponsor appeal. Of course the goal is to find a driver who is great at both, but then again he wouldn't want to sign for Archer BMR in the third division! Sooo....

Promotion -- The game features pro-rel, just like English football. The lowest team at the end of the season drops a division, and the top one is promoted. Actually the top team gets to choose if they want to be promoted, but it's almost always worth it. There is more money finishing last in tier 2 than wining tier 3.

All of this adds up to make a challenging game with a nice sense of reward. Your first podium will elicit a smile, guaranteed. My first season I finished 6th out of ten teams. The second year I again finished 6th, but felt like I regressed. But as my HQ improved, and I could afford to hire better staff, my rise began in earnest. After season 5 I was promoted to the second division. Cha-ching!

After four more seasons I am now dominating the second division, and unless my cars are stolen, am going to earn promotion to F1 at season's end.

Here's what you see in a race.



And here's how a typical race weekend unfolds.

Before heading off to Dubai or Singapore, you'll be asked to pick your drivers (you also have a reserve driver in case of injury or poor form), and to invite one of your sponsors, who have varying levels of expectation. Finish 10th or better and collect some extra cash. Higher targets gain higher rewards. But you want to choose one you can reasonably expect to hit.

Once done you jet your team off to the track. There is a short practice session, as short as 12 minutes depending on league rules (more on the rules and politics in a moment). In that short time you send your drivers out to turn laps and receive feedback from each one on the car's balance, speed, gearing etc. You recall them to the pits and tweak gears, wings, suspension, tire compounds and so on, with the goal of achieving a setup your driver likes and can turn fast laps. The feedback here is sort of vague, and each driver also has a feedback rating which affects this.

On to qualifying. An even shorter session to determine grid position. Very important to do well and grab a good spot as it can be very difficult to move through the pack. (Note: depending on rules there may be no qualifying at all. In the lowest division, grid order was inverted championship standings, meaning the best cars started at the back. This rule can be changed depending on voting.)

Finally, the race. Tire compounds, weather and rules have a huge effect. For example a virtual safety car and a physical safety car have far different effects on the race. After the checkered flag, money (if any) is awarded, and points collected. Then it's back to the HQ to improve the performance and reliability of your cars until the next event.

A couple more points, I've written more here than I had intended. One of the most interesting parts of the game for me is the politics. Each series has a set of of rules. How prize money is divided, what parts will be spec, which places get points, practice time length, removal/addition of tracks to the schedule, and many, many more. It's interesting since you can try to influence rules that benefit your own team. If you have the best test track in the division, you probably don't want to see spec engines get voted in. Or maybe one of your drivers is a Vancouver expert and you will want to see that track added to the schedule.

Anyway, it's a really good game. Good graphics, weather effects and sounds. If you're in to motorsport, or enjoy games like Football Manager, you can find plenty to like here. The lack of licenses is a weakness but easily corrected with mods. The AI isn't the best at race management. I win alot of points by going with a harder compound. And pitcrew have a contract expiration but with no way to see when it ends aside from clicking on each crew member all the time. That last one has cost me big time because of my inattentiveness. There needs to be at least an email notification sent to warn you of expiring pit crew contracts.

But all in all I'm really having a good time with this game and thought there might be others here who were unaware of it but might find it right up their alley.

Thanks for this review! I played one of these games about 20 years ago which basically had me researching new tech and basically beating other teams because I had better aerodynamics and stronger engine. During the race, I could also tell the driver to pace himself, or be defensive, or be aggressive. Once I could secure the top spot easily, well, the game was won.

Hey Ice, how's things? Sounds quite similar, do you recall the title? In this game you can also instruct your driver to attack, push, conserve, etc, as well as set engine for a performance gain versus reliability and fuel mileage, and continue to change it as the race unfolds.

Hey DBond! I can't remember the title and searching on Google didn't give me any familiar screens... this was late 90's to early 00's and I borrowed it from a friend. One thing I remember loving about that game was researching new stuff and I would have exclusive rights to the new toys for a set time (I can't recall how long) but then I basically had an advantage over the other teams that didn't have my tech. My personal race at the time was developing new tech before I'm forced to share the old ones and therefore stay ahead of the rest in terms of tech.

A couple I recall from days gone by...

Grand Prix Manager (2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Prix_Manager_2

F1 Manager https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_Manager

I have it and have played the crap out of it. I'm taking a break at the moment, but I really enjoy it!

Bingo!!! It was Grand Prix Manager 2!

That was a good game, I played it too.

Hey Dave, as a vet, do you know of any mods or edits I can do to either get notifications of pit crew contract expiration, or just disable expiration entirely?

How has your career gone? Who did you start with?

Just want to add that the endurance and GT content I mentioned in the first post are NOT included in the base game, but as DLC. From reading reviews, the endurance stuff wasn't all that well received, but the comments on the GT content are very good. I do not have either of those DLCs. There are a few free ones too, like additional liveries.

I'm down to the final three races of the season, and Archer BMR hold a 45 point lead. We've been in a bit of a funk though, and we just plain stink on the Phoenix oval. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but the field was running rings around us and we finished last. That hurt. The final race of the season is double points, so I gotta get it together to ensure promotion to the big time.

I'm curious to know what sort of car I will have in the top tier. Are my current stats carried over, or am I given a new, better base car to run in F1?

Most of my threads devolve to me yapping about, while everyone else remains uninterested. But so be it. I'll have a chronicle that I can look back upon fondly in the years to come

So that tenuous 45-point lead became an 80-point victory at season's end, We secured one-twos at the next two races, Hockenheim and SIlverstone, and a second-fifth in the finale at Monza, earning promotion to the Big Time. In the previous season I had ensured a vote to change the way prize money was distributed passed. With 'very high' distribution, the top teams get a bigger piece of the pie, and we reaped the rewards.

Flush with cash I set about upgrading the test track and handling development center in anticipation of the increased competitiveness of the top tier. When finished, those upgrades would see my HQ ranked 4th in the World Motorsport Championship (WMC, pseudo Formula One). That's really good I think. Not so good was my new car. I should have done a bit of research. After the outlay for the HQ upgrades, I was left with $40 million. Designing the new car for the new season set me back 39 and change, leaving just 300k in the coffers. That was almost double the cost of my cars in the APSC (second tier). No matter, having two pay drivers and decent sponsorship means we make about 1.2 million per race in profit, and that would fund the development of new parts through the season, and keep Archer BMR in the black, if not very competitive.

When earning promotion, you're given a new base car, that is the worst in the division, but better than if your APSC car had carried over. Still, we were dead last, the 10th-ranked car out of 10. All I want to do in this first WMC season is avoid relegation, and can then hopefully push on to challenge the tops teams in the seasons to come. So we just need to earn more points than the last-placed team.

As mentioned in the first post, this game has evolving rules for each series. And I found to my consternation that the WMC had instituted a 40% fuel tank rule. In the APSC we rolled with an 80% rule, which allowed far more strategic latitude. This means we can only fill the tank with enough fuel to complete 40% of the laps, meaning more stops, and no possibility of gaining track position through tire and fuel strategy, which had been my bread and butter in the lower divisions. Now pace is King. And we have the slowest car. Yup.

So I set about designing new parts to improve my cars and feverishly working on reliability. Designed a new livery worthy of the Big Time and headed off to the first race. Another change in the WMC was only the top ten get points, making it even more difficult for the bottom-feeders. But in the very first race one of my drivers managed to snag an 8th placed finish and four very valuable points. After a couple of non-scoring races, we managed to nick a 10th in the fourth race for another point. We added a 9th and 6th which was really a 7th, but a Ferrari driver was docked 6 places for failing post-race scrutineering and we gladly took the extra points. All this means we are solidly in 7th at the midway point, 15 points ahead the last-placed team, who have yet to score, and who will find it increasingly difficult to do so. So things are looking good for staying up.

I need to somehow get the fuel tanks on to the voting schedule. I have plenty of voting power accrued over the past few seasons, and I will try to get the rule changed to bigger tanks so I can have some possibility of gaining points through taking advantage of outsmarting the AI with fuel and tire strategy.

So little old Archer BMR have reached the Show. Now to kick on and challenge the Big Boys.

Don't worry about the yapping

One thing that has kept me from buying this game (aside from being poor! ) was the negative comments on Steam. If you could address some of those, that would be great! Did you have to bid or something to get new drivers? IIRC, I had to do that in GPM2! Also, post more pics!

I found the comments on Steam quite positive overall. Can you list a few? Of course I will address them, if I can.

To sign a new driver, you have two ways. Before that, you will need to scout them. It's free, but takes a few months, so it's something you want to keep up with. If you wait until the end of season, there will not be enough time left to scout them.

-- Free Agent. There are a number of unemployed drivers. These require no compensation for breaking of a contract.

-- Currently employed. You may need to pay compensation to his or her current employer, scaled to length of time remaining on their current deal.

Either way, you will make an approach, and if they are interested, enter negotiations. Some will refuse due to your low status (if you start in a lower division). You will make an offer, including per-race salary and team status (#1, #2, equal, reserve), and possibly signing bonus, performance bonuses, whether you will pay their compensation for leaving their current team and so on.

That's essentially it. After a week or so they will respond and either accept, outright reject due to feeling insulted, or enter re-negotiations if they feel you can do better.

It's all quite simple really. The main problem is getting good drivers to agree to join your modest team. If you start off in the WMC, you can recruit just about anyone, but starting in the top series misses most of the fun in this game.. So to answer your question it's not a bidding process, but more a matter of identifying likely candidates and making a suitable offer. You may also need to pay compensation to the driver you are replacing if their deal isn't expiring.

By the way, this same sort of thing occurs for all of your staff, which includes your designer and two race mechanics. You are also responsible for firing and hiring of your pitcrew, though there is no negotiation. They always agree to join straight away.

I just look at the negative comments that are posted. Take your pick!

The driver-acquisition method seems like a copy from GPM2... at least some of it is! Sorry by using "bid" as a term, but IIRC you were competing with other teams and you would offer/bid and they would choose which ones to accept.

Haha, OK. I'll do a couple, but beyond that you'll have to help me out with specific complaints to be addressed. But with all the help you've given me I think you've earned it

To quote Steamers



Umm, well, err.... One hour eh? Way to be in it for the long haul pal. If ever there were a strategy game I could master in one hour, I don't think it would be for me. The tutorial does set you up to do poorly in the first race. In my case I played a few races, got the hang of things, then started over with what I learned, while disabling the now-not-needed tutorial. That's like strat games 101, to me anyway.



Have not had a single crash, of the computer kind, and I've had ten mid-seasons, and counting. But it IS a racing game after all. Crashes are inevitable



Well, I do have a fast box. But so do you Ice. Patience? Not my strong suit. But I have yet to run out here.

It runs like butter for me, 60 FPS all the time at full settings.



Echoes of truth, but it's racing. How much different is a race in season one from a race in season five supposed to be? And it is simplified. For example, overheated tires should affect both wear and grip. Here it's only wear. That sort of thing. The draw is improving and moving up. Taking a low ranked team to the pinnacle of the sport. At least for me. This is, at it's core, a rather simplified version of auto racing. But it isn't a racing sim, it's a management sim. Like Football Manager, which isn't a great footie sim, but it IS a great management sim. And the 3D presentation in MM is leaps and bounds ahead of the 3D match in FM.



No argument here aside from aside from non-existant feedback. It's there, but rather vague. It helps to have some knowledge about cars, settings and chassis. If you don't know how a stiffer or softer suspension affects handling balance, or it you don't know what raising or lowering tires pressure does, you would struggle to achieve good setups until you DO know this stuff. But then again, what else would one expect?



I agree there is potential for much more. This game is simple. I said so in my first post. Not sure what he means by no engine deals. At the start of the season you choose one of four engine suppliers. There are crashes and collisions, but I feel too rare. This may change in future versions, who knows? Licenses can be taken care of with a mod if that's your bag.

This isn't a 500-hour game. You won't be playing it 10 years from now like it's Falcon. But I think if you're in to management games, and enjoy motorsport, there's 200 hours easy. If you're looking for a detailed simulation of everything Formula One, this isn't it. Hope this helps.

I doubt I'll buy it unless it goes on sale again for cheap but I do enjoy reading these posts about it!

Yeah Master, I have to agree. I don't know if I'd buy it for $40. But it was $8 in the last sale. Easily worth it at that price.

Thanks for that feedback, DBond! I didn't look at it during the sale, I might've gotten it then. One thing I remember about the old game was that once I out-tech'd the competition, I could just "skip" the race, ie, fast-forward to the end, collect my winnings, and rinse-repeat on the next race. I was always #1-#2 with the 2nd place depending on my driver. Sometimes I would let my backup guy race just to improve his skills. Is that the same here?

I think the challenge with this new game is going up the different racing divisions? types? classifications? So it's kinda like a soft-reset of sorts... you were killing it in the lower tiers, now play with the big boys. I don't recall that in the old game, IIRC, it was just F1.

I guess it could be. You can simulate practice and qualifying, but races need to be run (up to 12X speed if you're impatient for results). The races are the most interesting and fun part, at least for me. As for dominating, yes if you reach the top and no one can touch you, the challenge is gone, and why you want to start near the bottom.. At that point I'd move on or start anew. There is a free 'Create Your Own Team' DLC, and if I do start over, I'll go that route.

For what it's worth, there is a built-in performance threshold. Once a certain level of part development is reached, the commissioner resets everything. All teams cars get reset back to near base levels. If you were number 4 before the reset, you'll be number four after. But it vastly reduces the gaps between the haves and have nots. So suddenly Ferrari and McLaren are no longer so far ahead, and things get completely shaken up. I have yet to have this happen. There is no effect on your HQ or staff.

There is also a slider for the AI to speed them up or slow them down. So that means you can always find a challenge if so inclined.



That's exactly right, and essentially how I would sum it up. Last season I ran to an 80 point team win, and my drivers finished one-two. Now, I'm struggling to even earn a point. It took 10 seasons to get here, five in the lowest division, four in the next and now in my first top-tier season.

Does anything from your last "division" carry over when you go up a racing tier? Money? Drivers? I'm guessing none of the cars or tech can be applied to the new tier?

As for the old game, I'd just get my guys to pace themselves.... practice laps clearly show a big lead over the times of other drivers so I could just skip the race. Sometimes, IIRC, I'd be surprised that a driver didn't finish and turns out he crashed as he was overtaking/lapping the lower guys, something like that, but when the season ended, we just dominate... like Ferrari did with Schumi

I'd be interested in hearing more about this commissioner reset thing... and maybe post up some sort of AAR for this game. It'll be a fun read! And post lots of pretty pics! Do you get to choose your own pit girls as well? Or is that an upcoming DLC?

Yes, there is the 9.99 BBBCWoM DLC. That's Big Breasted Bikini Clad Women of Motorsport DLC. Can make them your pitcrew which is best since you can see them, and their BB's. Or your driver, which is great for marketability, but you cannot see this and the driver runs a greater risk if the car catches fire.

j/k

The only thing that does not carry over upon promotion are the cars. You get a new base car when moving up. But staff, drivers, sponsors, and money all go up with you.