F1 Manager 2023 was released on July 31. The latest offering from Frontier Developments puts players in the management chair instead of the driver’s seat. With it, gamers can control each and every aspect of a Formula One team. Instead of controlling the driver, they control everything else.
F1 Manager 23 excels in a lot of areas, but it’s not a perfect game. Those rarely exist these days, but Frontier has clearly put a lot of effort into its latest release. It features quite a lot to do and even includes a fun Tom Cruise cameo at the beginning of the game. The intro does a lot to set the mood for the game and makes everything feel very exciting. Does the rest of the game hold up?
Feels like you’re really a manager
The gameplay is extremely smooth. F1 Manager 23 goes in and out of different parts of the game, whether it’s controlling gas usage or pace on a vehicle, or training a driver to try and improve their confidence. F1 moves around like an experienced car on the track.
There’s plenty to do here. The game genuinely puts players into the shoes of a manager. With an F1 team, there’s a whole lot more to do than just racing. Car parts need to be designed and developed, racers need to be trained, money needs to be earned, and naturally, races need to be won.
That can be a good and bad thing. For a management game, it’s best to provide players with a lot of options. If there’s not going to be any driving done by the players whatsoever, it’s wise to fill that space with activities that gamers can do.
In that regard, Frontier Developments has excelled. Players shouldn’t get bored of the game due to the sheer volume of things they can do. What’s more, these things pretty much always need to be done. Once a season begins, there’s really no downtime. This can all be a bit overwhelming. This is just the second Manager game from Frontier, so it’s not as established as other sports video games. That likely means that a lot of this game’s traffic will come from first-time players.
For those first-time players, this game will probably be a lot to take in. When you get into a season, you have to design new vehicles, purchase items, manage the drivers, run the races, keep up with sponsorships and so much more. Where other games give you events to play, this game throws everything at you at once, and it can be a lot to digest.
To F1 Manager 23’s credit, there’s a concerted effort to make all this information as simple as possible. There is a multitude of tabs on the main hub, but every time players do something new (assuming they have the setting enabled), a narrator explains what’s happening and what it means. That is a vital inclusion as some of the jargon and activities might be a little confusing.
The graphic fit the game
The latest offering from Frontier makes use of all the graphical improvements one would expect from a game in 2024. Where F1 Manager has an advantage is actually in that aforementioned lack of racing. Without having to program graphics to move with players, they are very strong.
Everything on-screen looks exceptionally realistic. The cars driving are not real, but you might have to do a double-take to find that out. You follow the car as your driver moves around the track. It genuinely looks as if you’re controlling it since the camera view can be from the driver’s seat. You’re not, though, so moving the joysticks won’t do anything.
When things go wrong, it can be seen on the car. You can change the camera to get a wider view if you want, which allows you to truly see everything that’s going on. You can see fans in the stands that look pretty good and you can see other cars around your own. Since everything else includes a lot of menus, the graphics in the game stand out.
A smart User Interface
F1 Manager 23 is a game predicated on being behind the scenes rather than sitting in a driver’s seat—players are hands-off. This means that there are quite a lot of menus and options. Even within an active race, there are multiple menus to work through. When you’re not in a race, the number increases exponentially.
That means that it’s paramount to ensure the user interface is good. The UI is where players will spend the vast majority of their time. If it’s bad, frustrating, or confusing, players will likely stop playing.
Fortunately, that’s not the case. The interface is strong, maybe even the strongest aspect of the game. All the menus are in the right place and it all flows logically. Each and every aspect of the game is accessible through a clear, detailed menu. Given that a huge portion of the total gameplay is spent in menus, this is arguably the game’s biggest strength.
A clean management experience
Where F1 Manager excels is in replicating the race experience. Even though you can’t drive, you experience every single part of the race weekend. Managers have to oversee the pit stops, the driver’s confidence, the car itself and so much more. This all happens in a very fast-paced setting, which perfectly emulates the anxiety of race weekend. With sponsor goals and more looming over each race, players genuinely step into the shoes of a real life F1 team manager.
When you’re not in a race, though, the game can get bogged down. There’s a lot to do in between races to keep players busy, but that can feel like a never-ending slog to push through to get to the next race sometimes. Plus, the highs and the excitement of the race are unparalleled, so it’s hard to come down from that.
