Once upon a time, all Formula 1 fans cared about were the fast cars – the Ferrari, the Lotus and the Mercedes. Then the drivers came forward, propelled by the charismatic James Hunt, quickly followed by Prost, Senna, Mansell, Schumacher and Hill. The past few years have been all about Hamilton, Verstappen and the new guns; petrolheads clamoring for the chance to ride in their hero’s racing seat.
And those dreams pretty much came true, as the F1 series of games from the kings of racing at Codemasters became more and more realistic and engaging. It’s with that series that we got to drive those cars and prove ourselves in the cutthroat world of F1, albeit virtually.
But now we want more. It’s not good enough just to drive the cars or win the races and be on the podium and spray the fizzy stuff. We want to have complete control over every aspect of running an F1 team. We want to be a motorsport supremo. We want to sit behind Toto Wolff’s desk, gather the finest brains, or throw down cans of Red Bull like Christian Horner, swearing like Guenther Steiner. Hell, when it comes down to it, we’d be delighted with Jost Capito’s sheer enthusiasm.
And this is where Frontier Developments comes in F1 manager 2022 – a game that hopes to do for F1 fans what Football Manager did for fans of the most beautiful game. While it may not do everything right, and there are certainly some weird little things that kick it up a notch, as a first attempt at giving fans the chance to dive into the most detailed F1 stats, it does the job.
It should come as no surprise that Frontier is behind F1 Manager 2022. In the past they have seen their ability to build management and slower gaming experiences like no other – Planet Coaster and the Jurassic World Evolution series are their most recent success stories – it all feels good to put that knowledge into an F1 management game.
But while there was hardly a foot out of place with those aforementioned titles, there are times when F1 Manager 2022 struggles, and that comes from a big fan of the sport, someone who loves the statistics and facts of the world’s greatest motorsport.
So let’s make one thing clear: F1 Manager 2022 can be a bit boring. To be fair, that’s pretty much to be expected from a stats-based, track-defined F1 title; one in which you can never ‘race’ properly. It rarely feels exciting and without that excitement and intrigue, the sport as a whole is nothing. The same can be said for the Football Manager series and in the same way that the game pulls players in and refuses to let go for hours on end, F1 Manager 2022 is quite similar. If you get it, you will For real do you understand. But still, five minutes with F1 Manager 2022 can be enough.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that the game itself puts you in the shoes of a team boss, left to make the decisions necessary for your team to succeed. You decide how sponsorship goes, how the finances are used (and how that budget cap has to be met), which team members have a role after that of one race and ultimately how your team comes together on race day. Strategic decisions can be yours, tactical actions on tire compounds, pit stops, qualifying sessions and then the race itself is all in your hands. Hell, getting on that radio and telling your drivers when to push, when to wait, when to save tires and more, that’s all up to you.
At least, if you want to: should you decide that the sheer numbers F1 Manager 2022 offers are all too overwhelming, sitting more in the backseat and simulating weekends is a viable alternative. However, we’ve found that going as deep as possible is the best option – if only because then there’s no one else to blame but yourself when your drivers miss a qualifying cut or run too long on the most worn tires.
Playing through a calendar system that spans the real-life 2022 season, one where your days are filled with all kinds of meetings with your board and sponsors, with your development teams, your research gurus and more, building a stable F1 team is no easy feat. But it’s one that Frontier has put together well and in terms of the stats present and the sheer range of depth and options on the table, F1 Manager 2022 is rarely lacking. This is pretty much the definitive management game for any Formula 1 fan.
With a console controller in hand, you might think it could be a bit of a ballache to work your way through the plethora of menu systems on offer. But Frontier knows how to play a management game and they have thoughtfully designed a system that is easy to master. It takes a while to really start to understand the complexities of the situations, but it certainly helps to be chatted through the options in an informed manner by a tutorial team member.
It’s also comparable in terms of race day, and it’s a breeze to see your drivers’ progress halfway through the race. Multiple cameras are available if you want to feel the need for speed, while overviews of every tiniest detail are just a push of a button or three away. You can really zoom in on whatever you want in F1 Manager 2022, and it’s in the race format when things come to life. Admittedly it’s nowhere near as exciting or capable of delivering anything close to a racing feel as a dedicated F1 racer, but it gets pretty tense when your two drivers come on the radio asking for information and advice. Are you going to the next stop with medium tires or hard tires? Do you distribute your strategies across the team? When should you push leading driver and hold and defend his teammate? There are a lot of questions going on in every lap of every race.
Fortunately, speeding up time is an essential part of any playthrough, and skipping up to 16x normal speed makes the mid-sections of each race less tiring. It’s something we occasionally look for in real F1, and it’s a godsend here. You’ll find this goes back to 1x when an important call is needed and that’s a handy move.
The problem is that the way the races are going is a bit pompous. Visually, F1 Manager 2022 mainly focuses on the stats and numbers, and while the cutscenes are nice, the character models look a bit plastic. The cars are great though and it’s fun to watch a pit stop play. But again, the action on the track is kind of the same – cars follow in DRS trains, miss corners several times and flash from here to there on the track, quite unrealistic. In the end, it all doesn’t feel real.
By going away to replays of various incidents – overtaking, stalling and the like – you become very familiar after just one race, but those incidents themselves rarely bother a driver. I’ve seen Pierre Gasly go into the gravel more times than I want to remember, Lance Stroll misses almost every apex ever and Zhou Guanyu happily dumped his Alfa into the barrier, backing up, hard, only to carry on like nothing ever happened ; lap times with his previous best. That in itself kills the immersion.
And oddly enough, especially given the quality of voice artists, it’s also lacking in commentary. Give Frontier some credit, they have some great names to audibly deliver the action, with David Croft and Karun Chandhok (perfectly suited to an F1 management title in our opinion) on the mic, but again it rarely feels ‘real’. It’s similar when you hear the chat between engineers and drivers during the race. Chatter should of course be kept to a minimum, but it is very repetitive.
But then F1 Manager 2022 is primarily a management game and so if you’re looking for reality you should really look elsewhere. This is a game that wants you to dig deep into the details, into the finances, into research and into the many options ahead. If that’s your bag, there’s really no other Formula 1 game quite like this one.
That means if you love F1 and are as obsessed with what goes on behind the scenes as you are with racing on the track, F1 Manager 2022 is going to be an addictive hit; a game where you have to think about statistics until the wee hours while trying to ensure success for your team. But on the other hand, if it’s the sheer excitement and adrenaline rush of racing that gives you the thrills, it could miss the mark, leaving you to practice your craft behind the wheel with EA and Codemasters instead. F1 22 instead of.
F1 Manager 2022 is certainly quite an effort; a well-crafted management experience that does a lot of good – Frontier is to be applauded for that. But move away from the stats and you’ll find a number-driven management game that just falls short of those higher podium steps.
F1 Manager 2022 is available from the Xbox store
Once upon a time, all Formula 1 fans cared about were the fast cars – the Ferrari, the Lotus and the Mercedes. Then the drivers came forward, propelled by the charismatic James Hunt, quickly followed by Prost, Senna, Mansell, Schumacher and Hill. The past few years have been all about Hamilton, Verstappen and the new guns; petrolheads clamoring for the chance to ride in their hero’s racing seat. And those dreams pretty much came true too, as the F1 series of games from the kings of racing at Codemasters became more and more realistic, more and more…
F1 Manager 2022 Review
F1 Manager 2022 Review
2022-09-07
Neil Watton
Advantages:
- As deep a management game as you’d like
- Controller configuration works well
- There is a huge amount of playing hours available
cons:
- Action on the track doesn’t keep up with things behind the scenes
- Audio is quite repetitive
Information:
- Thank you for the free copy of the game go to – Frontier Developments
- Formats – Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, PC
- Version Reviewed – Xbox Series X
- Release Date – August 30, 2022
- Introductory price from – £44.99
TXH score
3.5/5
Advantages:
- As deep a management game as you’d like
- Controller configuration works well
- There is a huge amount of playing hours available
cons:
- Action on the track doesn’t keep up with things behind the scenes
- Audio is quite repetitive
Information:
- Thank you for the free copy of the game go to – Frontier Developments
- Formats – Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, PC
- Version Reviewed – Xbox Series X
- Release Date – August 30, 2022
- Introductory price from – £44.99
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