F1 Manager 2022 bought a new level of excitement and enjoyment to Formula 1 fans last year, but it lacked any online play. With that in mind, does F1 Manager 2023 have multiplayer?
F1 Manager 2022 was a hit, at least initially, with players around the world but it lacked one crucial aspect: multiplayer.
The lack of online or offline gameplay with friends really hampered the expansion of the F1 Manager fanbase. This year's instalment is out now, and so fans are wondering if F1 Manager 2023 has multiplayer. We've got everything you need to know about F1 Manager 2023 multiplayer.
Update: You can pre-order F1 Manager 23 now on Fanatical and use code F1MRG at checkout to get 19% off.
F1 Manager 2023 multiplayer
Fans were disappointed they couldn't do saves with friends in F1 Manager 2022.
After all, who doesn't want to duke it out with buddies at the top of the grid with Red Bull, Ferrari, & Mercedes? Or even do some Road To Glory battles at the back with Williams, Aston Martin, and Haas?
This is something that is standard among fans of other managerial titles, like Football Manager, where online saves among friends are typical.
Despite it being a long-requested feature, F1 Manager 2023 does not have multiplayer. For now, the F1 Manager series is single-player only.
Responding to a fan on Twitter, Frontier confirmed that "multiplayer isn't currently on the cards" as the team is "focused on honing and delivering the best single-player experience first."
This will be disappointing for fans hoping to play with friends online, especially as this is a common feature in other sports management titles like Football Manager.
F1 Manager 2022 was reportedly a disappointment sales-wise thanks to lower-than-anticipated cut-price amd holiday sales in the months after release. Alongside some negative reviews based and in-game bugs, the lack of single-player experience may have hampered sales, and the same could happen to F1 Manager 2023.
Adding multiplayer will certainly lead to a longer shelf-life for players and open up opportunities for gameplay challenges and experiences. Instead, Frontier has prioritised improving the single-player experience in F1 Manager 2023, adding new features such as a new Sports Director, pit crew training, sprint races, an immersive visor camera, Race Replay, and more challenging AI.
These improvements may sound minor, but they add up to provide a deeper experience.
How multiplayer can work in F1 Manager
With a solid single-player foundation to build on, we could see multiplayer in F1 Manager 2024. But how would multiplayer work in an F1 Manager game?
One barrier to multiplayer saves is the time accelerator option in races. Plenty of players will fly through the opening two laps before DRS activates, slow it down to try and micromanage a few overtakes, and then speed things up again until the first round of pitstops.
This race time speed will need to be locked in multiplayer games in order to keep everyone seeing the same thing and reacting to events at the same time.
Contract negotiations will also need to be reworked to allow multiple parties to go back and forth with staff and drivers at the same time.
These are really the only things standing in the way of multiplayer (along with servers of course!) but they shouldn't prevent Frontier from adding it to F1 Manager in the future.
We were big fans of last year's game and have poured hundreds of hours into it across multiple saves. Hopefully, F1 Manager will eventually let us team up and see who really is the best Team Principal around!
Review
If you're on the fence, check out five reasons why you should buy F1 Manager 2023 and our full review.
You can also check out our in-depth guides on hiring the best Technical Chiefs, Race Engineers, Young Drivers, Sporting Directors, and Heads of Aerodynamics.