Motorsport Manager Review

Motorsport Manager is a racing management simulation game in which players take control of their own race team and guide them towards international success.

The interface is extremely well done, with each transition running smoothly and fluid animations that make navigation a breeze, giving the app a quality feel. At the start, players will be greeted with a screen in which they can enter their team colors and name, ready to establish themselves on the international circuit. After choosing a championship to enter they will begin their first race with the sole purpose of qualifying in a decent finishing position. It is then up to them to strategically plan their approach to the race, taking weather and track layout into account.

During the race, players will be struck with certain dilemmas such as whether to make a pit stop or push their tires or the car itself further, leaving them to decide which will harm their lap time and final position more. There is also a strategy button underneath each driver, so players can be in constant communication with their drivers if they want them to push on or level off their speed, for example.

There is so much content included in Motorsport Manager that it can be daunting at first as players exert control over a wealth of factors that can effect the outcome of each race and tournament. They can customize the tire tread from soft tires designed to improve speed but with less resistance to wear, to hard tires built to last over long races. They can also invest in research, hiring the best engineers they can afford and ensuring that their car has the latest technology available to put them ahead of the curve. Players have to manage their budget between 3 main areas of development: Aerodynamics, Design, and Manufacturing, as well as negotiating driver and engineer contracts at the same time.

It truly feels like a substantial undertaking, so the payoff that comes from success feels earned. Although there's no doubt that Motorsport Manager is unpredictable, with races sometimes taking a nosedive out of nowhere. While it certainly keeps players on their toes, it can be frustrating.

However, once players have developed an effective racing strategy, and after throwing some money at research and development, they'll definitely see improvements in their performance. As someone who would hardly call himself a fan of management simulation/strategy games, I found Motorsport Manager to be an accessible, comprehensive, and compelling experience.