Given the popularity of F1 in recent years, Frontier Developments’ decision to take on the project (releases in 2023 and 2024 are expected) comes as no surprise.
F1 fans will now have the chance to sign their favorite driver(s) to Red Bull, bring Haas forward from the back or develop a promising young driver like Isack Hadjar in F3 to help him become the next Max. Verstappen. Now that the game is officially licensed, all official F1 teams, drivers, staff and junior drivers from F2 and F3 are included.
Speaking exclusively with crash.net earlier this year, game director Andrew Fletcher explained why F1 manager 2022 is a must-buy for any fan or newcomer to the sport.
“I think the first thing will be authenticity,” Fletcher said. “You get to the team selection screen, you have all the drivers there, all the teams, you can see the depth that has been replicated, so I think they get a kick out of it by looking into the game somehow.
“I think one thing that surprised a lot of people when we showed the game in a closed-door event recently was that they were surprised by the level of management on the racing side.
“In the races people knew there was going to be a lot to do in the team management, the micro management, the ERS battery management, the fuel, fuel charge and management and tire management, setting up the strategy, all that stuff, people when they got it got their hands on they felt there is a lot to do during the race, you don’t want to fast forward it, you want to be in the race and in the moment. I think players will get a kick out of that. All in all, the completeness of it and that excitement of race day for sure. ”
Authenticity and immersiveness have been key pillars Frontier focused on for their first release. F1 Manager 2022 will feature real-life team radio messages, making the most of F1’s extensive archive of sound bites.
On top of that, Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft and expert Karun Chandhok are on hand throughout the game, adding another layer to the realism element of the title.
“We have authentic team radio samples that we put into the game, so on the other half of the management game, when you sit on the pit wall and manage the race, you also have that authenticity on top of all the normal stuff, the driver’s licenses, the liveries and all the things you would expect. We took it to another level,” he added.
In addition to the realistic audio, Frontier has done a remarkable job with the way the races are presented to the player. The highly detailed, stunning race presentation screen makes watching the races particularly appealing, as opposed to seeing your driver as a punt race around a 2D race track.
Fletcher revealed that Frontier wanted the game to capture the “excitement and spectacle” of a Grand Prix Sunday.
“In the end, the points are won on race day, so you want to make something of that,” he said. “I think there are so many micro-manage elements of a race and strategy is an important thing. It would be a shame to downplay that and go for a long-term management… Like I said, the response so far has spoken volumes about how well that has been done In a funny way it is more about getting tenths of a second off the lap time.
“It’s really those little decisions and when you make them and under what circumstances that make the difference, so we had to bring that to the fore and do it with this broadcast style that Frontier has a fantastic art system, animators, so we have to turn them on work.”
Capturing the chaos of F1
F1 is a complex, data-driven sport with many nuances. Whether it’s car tuning, strategies, the rules or technical regulations, there’s a lot for fans to orientate themselves to.
To ensure Frontier captured all of these elements of the sport, Fletcher revealed they had support from Alpine and visited the factory to improve some of the game’s features.
“We’ve been in touch with Alpine,” Fletcher said. “We went to their factory, we did the pit stops with their pit crew to get them all mo-capped for a realistic representation of that and also for garage interactions.
“It was very helpful to talk to them about the day-to-day running of the team.”
The nature of F1 makes it a challenge for newcomers to understand the sport and its rules.
Frontier has put in place a thorough tutorial to ensure that all fans, no matter how much they know about F1, understand enough about the game to ensure it is a playable and enjoyable experience.
“We have a tutorial in the game so you can turn it on or off,” he explained. “When you go in, you play the tutorial. I think that balances out really well, showing you around the UI and basically how you play the game even for those who know their F1 and also just explaining some of those basics.
“We’ll talk to you about the types of tires, why we need the strategy, why the fuel is important, and I think there’s a lot of depth to explore, but we’ve got the tutorial at a level of this the game has to play. We’ve tried to make it as simple as possible for people getting into it so fresh.”
Why no multiplayer?
A disadvantage to F1 manager 22 is the lack of multiplayer or the ability to start a save with a friend. A game’s lifecycle depends on social play, but considering it’s Frontier’s first F1 management title, it’s understandable why they haven’t tried everything in their first year.
It’s a similar story with creating your own team – maybe something we’ll see in 2023 or 2024, adding an 11th team to the grid, like with MyTeam in F1 22 by EA Sports.
“For now, we’re focusing on the main F1 Manager 22 career mode and making it as authentic and engaging as possible in this first iteration,” he explained. “We’ll see what the future brings on that side of things. There’s nothing to say about that now.”
Pressed by the lack of multiplayer at the moment, Fletcher sticks to the decision not to add it until 2022.
“We’ve tried to make sure we focus on getting the best possible experience from this core experience in 2022,” he concluded. “Different players will want different things when they play it. Referring to the event I mentioned earlier, getting people in the same room to play it, a lot of stories were shared in that local area.
“I think at Frontier we have a good history of building communities, even in games that are expanded single player, Planet games, Jurassic games, so I think that will be one of those games as well. If we want to expand that, we’ll see what the future brings.”
F1 Manager 2022 is now available for pre-order. It is set to be released digitally on August 25 for PC, PlayStation 4 & 5 and Xbox One / Series X|S.
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