After months of anticipation, F1 Manager 2022 is almost here. With a plethora of team management options, breathtaking broadcast-style presentation, and thrilling racing action, F1 Manager 2022 promises to be the most authentic motorsports management simulation ever. Fans of Formula 1 and management games are in for a treat.
With just over a week to go until launch, here are five F1 Manager 2022 features you need to know about.
Real radio messages
Frontier Developments is making a big push for realism in F1 Manager 2022, from scanning driver faces to recreating the circuits with pinpoint accuracy from satellite data. This incredible level of detail is also applied to the amazing audio design.
Radio conversations you'll hear between drivers and race engineers in F1 Manager 2022 are real, with audio samples taken from 25,000 lines of dialogue from actual races.
These conversations add an extra layer of immersion while also giving an insight into the driver and pitwall communication you don't always hear in TV broadcasts.
Broadcast quality presentation
One of F1 Manager 2022’s most publicised features is its broadcast quality presentation. Every race can be viewed from multiple camera angles, from onboard views from the driver’s perspective to track-side cameras based on the camera angles used in real-life F1 race TV broadcasts.
The presentation is so authentic you could mistake F1 Manager 2022's races for a real TV broadcast. Watching the cars race around the track while frantically giving orders to change ERS deployment and watching those changes happen in real-time is incredible.
Accessible to everyone
If you’re new to management games, the amount of depth and detail in F1 Manager 2022 can be daunting. With Formula 1 attracting a larger worldwide audience than ever before thanks to the popularity of Drive to Survive, making F1 Manager 2022 accessible to new players is crucial.
Thankfully, Frontier has added several useful features that guide new players through the game. For example, emails appear in your inbox advising you on decisions from recruiting new drivers to fitting a new part to the car at the right time.
In-game tutorials at the start of your save offer further guidance and you can also refer to help pages covering all key areas of the game you need to know. Thanks to these help features, F1 Manager 2022 is accessible to everyone – even if you’ve never played a management game before.
More experienced players who want full control can delve deeper, developing new car parts and analysing data on just about everything to get the most out of the car and drivers.
Hire drivers and staff
Most F1 games ignore the staff behind the teams, instead focusing on the drivers. This is, however, the first officially licensed F1 Manager game in over 20 years.
Not only can you recruit real-life F1, F2, and F3 drivers, but also key staff from Race Engineers to Race Engineers. Every driver and staff have a unique rating based on skills like cornering, braking, and reaction times.
As your driver develops their skills, these ratings can change over the season. Drivers can also retire, requiring you to scout for new fictional drivers. Continue playing through the 2030 season, and you might see drivers transfer to other teams.
Anything can happen in the world of F1: in F1 Manager 2022, it's possible for Lando Norris to drive for Mercedes and George Russell to race for McLaren in a future season.
Detailed race weekends
As a Team Principal, you have complete control over your team for the entire race weekend. Practice and qualifying sessions can be played in real-time or simulated up to 16x speed. The decisions you make can affect your team’s position on the grid.
Before a practice session, you’ll need to set performance targets with sponsors, check powertrain components, and make sure spare parts are stocked up. There are three practice sessions, allowing you to test setups and try different strategies. Feedback from drivers can also be used to configure the car’s setup for the race to maximise performance.
Data gathered from practice and qualifying sessions can be used to set your race strategy – but be prepared for the unexpected. Mistakes made by other drivers on race day can cause safety cars or red flags. How you react to these scenarios can make the difference between a spot on a podium. It’s your call whether you want to tell your driver to increase the pace and risk an overtake or preserve the tyres by avoiding curbs.