Alright Boyz, here we go!! Motorsport Manager

[AnalBumCover]

Not sure how much anticipation for this title there is in FOFC... I found one lone mention of the mobile app a while back.

But the PC version is finally available on Steam. I'm downloading it now.

[EagleFan]

It's on my wishlist. Was curious to hear about it first, however. Have been very disappointed by similar games in the past.

[EagleFan]

Did look it up on Steam and there have been a lot of good reviews so far. The only negative I saw was some idiot complaining about there being too many female drivers.

[rjolley]

Is this the PC version of the Android game?

[Shkspr]

It's by the same studio, but I believe they've enhanced and deepened the game somewhat.

[rjolley]

Nice. I have the Android version and like it. I'll pick it up on PC at some point.

[SlyBelle1]

Purchased it myself and played around a little last night. Does seem to have a good presentation and watching the races seem fun so far. I am not a racing expert so will take me awhile to figure things out but hopeful it turns out OK. Just hope there is enough decisions and management aspects to keep things interesting long term, especially when your running long races.

[PilotMan]

It's been on my list since Marc pimped it out. It looks really fun.

[frnk55]

Oh shit another game I want. I'll be waiting for the reviews. Ok so after checking steam the AI seems good and the reviews are good.
Dammit! Tyranny comes out today.

[AnalBumCover]

Here's Rock Paper Shotgun's review

[SirBlurton]

I've watched a bunch of youtube videos and am super excited to get home after work and dig in. I found the iOS version to be pretty ho-hum but it seems like they've added some interesting pieces for long term playability.

Huge fan of the the Grand Prix Manager games and this looks to have at least similar depth. To be honest, I'm looking even more forward to next years game (hopeful optimism).

Nice to have finally seen a sim like this make it to the market. There have been many attempts that failed.

[nilodor]

I'm just digging in as well but I would say that I'm cautiously optimistic. I've played alot of Grand Prix World and the GPM series and it certainly has that feel. My big question mark is how balanced development is, are there any game breakers? If not I think it will be pretty solid.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Bought it. Really good so far. Definitely a much more involved game than the mobile counterpart. Much better than its competitor on Steam.

[QuikSand]

I played the iOS version for a bit... but it pretty quickly devolved into a too-predictable grind. I confess I never got deep at all into tactics of anything complicated.

It just felt like:

-lose a lot but earn some money
-spend money to improve your car/team
-start winning as your stuff gets better
-promote to next level
-repeat

I'm sure I got my few bucks worth of enjoyment out of it, but I have no temptation to go back to that game after it ran its course fairly quickly.

[TexasT]

I love it. Having a great time with it. But that's speaking as a big F1 fan!

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I played the iOS version for a bit... but it pretty quickly devolved into a too-predictable grind. I confess I never got deep at all into tactics of anything complicated.

It just felt like:

-lose a lot but earn some money
-spend money to improve your car/team
-start winning as your stuff gets better
-promote to next level
-repeat

I'm sure I got my few bucks worth of enjoyment out of it, but I have no temptation to go back to that game after it ran its course fairly quickly.

This was my experience with the app. Will need a fair bit of convincing that the PC version is different before i consider picking it up.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by TexasT

I love it. Having a great time with it. But that's speaking as a big F1 fan!

They've actually done a really good job of FM-ing this game and that's a good thing.

[EagleFan]

Broke down and picked it up. This has been very fun, I suck at it so far but it has been very fun.

Had an amusing report from my driver during the last race. It was a full on thunderstorm with a completely soaked track (full bar) and my driver says... "I think the track is drying out, maybe we should switch to slicks."

The amusing part is that when you mouse over him one of his attributes says he is basically dumb as a bag of rocks; guess that is true.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Broke down and picked it up. This has been very fun, I suck at it so far but it has been very fun.

Had an amusing report from my driver during the last race. It was a full on thunderstorm with a completely soaked track (full bar) and my driver says... "I think the track is drying out, maybe we should switch to slicks."

The amusing part is that when you mouse over him one of his attributes says he is basically dumb as a bag of rocks; guess that is true.

Yeah, you have to take their 'advice' with a grain of salt. I'm doing the challenge where you start with the worst team in the worst league and try to work your way up. It's a challenge for sure.

BTW, the effects during a thunderstorm are REALLY cool.

[nilodor]

I'm really enjoying this one as well. I started with a mid level team (Octane) in the lowest championship. It's been a lot of fun so far. Managed to finish second overall in the first season. Am doing well in the second season, although I'm super in the red so I'm going to have to stop developing the car for a while, which will complicate things a bit.

My first playthrough of the game I managed to get canned at the same team, so I'm happy that it's working out better this time around.

[hollmt]

also pulled the trigger on this as well. i debated for a couple days on this and tyranny as i didn't really need them both since i just also bought 'The Last of Us Remastered' for the PS4.

the youtube videos by aarva, i think, is what finally sold me on the game. enjoying it so far. started with the worst team at the worst level and promptly finished 17th and 18th in the first race, only because 1 dude crashed and another dude broke down. Fired everyone and picked up a unemployed driver and used my other reserve driver and started well on the 2nd race, but rain conditions messed with my strategy as I went to inters right off predicting a wetter track by laps 3 to 10 and it sort of worked out as we started rough but everyone then pitted and we caught up. then i overpushed my car on the main drive and he broke down. finished 19th and 20th.

it's going well.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

In my first year in the worst team, I also fired my reserve driver and my 2nd driver. Moved my first driver to reserve and hired two unemployed drivers. I managed to get my #1 driver to 12th out of 20 drivers for the season. He had two third places and a couple other good finishes. Team still finished in last place in team standings.

I will say, there is nothing more frustrating than being in good position in a perfectly planned race only to see a yellow flag or a huge thunderstorm hit at the most inopportune time. It makes it interesting for sure.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

BTW, the effects during a thunderstorm are REALLY cool.

Yes, very.

[EagleFan]

In the third tier and almost had my first top three finish. But I was an idiot and calculated fuel poorly. Top driver was in third and gaining on second going into the last lap. Then I had the oh sh*t moment as i saw he had less than a lap of fuel. I had to change him to conserve fuel, saw him drop to fifth and then coast across the line in sixth. To kick my while I am down he was dropped two more places when our new part was deemed illegal.

[hollmt]

not going to give the name as i am not entirely sure it will always be that way...but in my couple tries ,there is an unemployed driver that is really good to start with you can grab. he wants quite a bit of $, so you have to factor all of that in if you start at the bottom of the barrel.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by hollmt

not going to give the name as i am not entirely sure it will always be that way...but in my couple tries ,there is an unemployed driver that is really good to start with you can grab. he wants quite a bit of $, so you have to factor all of that in if you start at the bottom of the barrel.

I grabbed Rodriguez.

[Icy]

Enjoying it a lot, reminds me to Grand Prix Manager but much more deep. There are some bugs that I hope will be fixed soon, also an editor should be released anytime soon too, so we could play with real names and teams.

[Marmel]

I never make impulse purchases like this, but I bought it last night on a whim. Maybe the novelty will wear off, but I had a lot of fun with it last night. Took a midlevel team in the lowest league and went through the tutorial. Not the best, but not the worst tutorial in the world.

When the first race started, I saw you had to sit through the whole race and I was disappointed, but then I actually got into it and was pretty stressed/excited as the race was winding down. Then I went through a bunch of screens and tutorials and picked some stuff up and got a little overwhelmed. I did a few things that I thought might help and advanced to the next race.

I started practice, and I thought we got 12 laps of practice, but I only got about 3-4 and it all ended. I thought qualifying would be next, but I was sent right to the race, so again I'm confused and disappointed, but hell if this race wasn't more fun that the last. I found one of my drivers in the top three, but with less durable tires than most other racers. With about 10-11 laps to go I see that I will probably have to stop, but most others have different tires and might be able to stretch it to the end. More tough decisions and stressful ending to the race.

I'm hooked and I never watched a car race other than maybe 100 laps of Nascar in my life.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Marmel

I never make impulse purchases like this, but I bought it last night on a whim. Maybe the novelty will wear off, but I had a lot of fun with it last night. Took a midlevel team in the lowest league and went through the tutorial. Not the best, but not the worst tutorial in the world.

When the first race started, I saw you had to sit through the whole race and I was disappointed, but then I actually got into it and was pretty stressed/excited as the race was winding down. Then I went through a bunch of screens and tutorials and picked some stuff up and got a little overwhelmed. I did a few things that I thought might help and advanced to the next race.

I started practice, and I thought we got 12 laps of practice, but I only got about 3-4 and it all ended. I thought qualifying would be next, but I was sent right to the race, so again I'm confused and disappointed, but hell if this race wasn't more fun that the last. I found one of my drivers in the top three, but with less durable tires than most other racers. With about 10-11 laps to go I see that I will probably have to stop, but most others have different tires and might be able to stretch it to the end. More tough decisions and stressful ending to the race.

I'm hooked and I never watched a car race other than maybe 100 laps of Nascar in my life.

I would agree on the speed of the race. Would really like to see a speed one tick faster than the current fastest speed, but the problem with that at a lower level team is that you don't have much time to react to the weather due to your lack of forecasting, so maybe the top speed is good enough.

[hollmt]

hey marmel, if you haven't already, check out the rules for each league as a few of your questions might be in there.
as far as practice goes, you get a time limit, not total laps. also, there is no 'qualifying' in the lowest league, rather, it is based off of your standings, so last place gets pole, 19th gets 2nd, and so on.
Some decent guides already on the steam community as far as prepping your car during practice and some other stuff. I'm about to give it another go with some new knowledge.

[cubboyroy1826]

Originally Posted by Marmel

I never make impulse purchases like this, but I bought it last night on a whim. Maybe the novelty will wear off, but I had a lot of fun with it last night. Took a midlevel team in the lowest league and went through the tutorial. Not the best, but not the worst tutorial in the world.

When the first race started, I saw you had to sit through the whole race and I was disappointed, but then I actually got into it and was pretty stressed/excited as the race was winding down. Then I went through a bunch of screens and tutorials and picked some stuff up and got a little overwhelmed. I did a few things that I thought might help and advanced to the next race.

I started practice, and I thought we got 12 laps of practice, but I only got about 3-4 and it all ended. I thought qualifying would be next, but I was sent right to the race, so again I'm confused and disappointed, but hell if this race wasn't more fun that the last. I found one of my drivers in the top three, but with less durable tires than most other racers. With about 10-11 laps to go I see that I will probably have to stop, but most others have different tires and might be able to stretch it to the end. More tough decisions and stressful ending to the race.

I'm hooked and I never watched a car race other than maybe 100 laps of Nascar in my life.

This is great to hear as I was worried my complete and total lack of any racing knowledge would kill this game for me.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by cubboyroy1826

This is great to hear as I was worried my complete and total lack of any racing knowledge would kill this game for me.

I have little to no race knowledge but have been enjoying the hell out of this one. It seems to be simplistic enough to be able to pick up the basic ideas quickly but deceptive depth.

I thought I had my first chance at a victory last night. Brought up my reserve driver to give him a shot. He was in 2nd and battling the leader but got his front wing clipped and I had to bring him in. He would later have more contact and I would have to bring him in again. Ended up 12th.

[Marmel]

Does anybody have any advise for setting up your car before/after the practice session. I'm talking about the part where you can adjust 3 different settings on the left and on the right it shows your mechanic suggesting as a green bar and after practice it shows the happiness level of each driver for each adjustment...

I've tuned the cars to have all the meters in the green area, but often times the driver is still not happy, or downright sad. I have no idea what to do in this part of the game and I feel like it is probably costing me a ton of time on the track and probably several places each races at least.

[hollmt]

Yes, I do. Hopefully I can explain it well.

Wherever the green bar is (lets say it is all left of center) I will do my best to place the bar to the right (as close to center as possible) while still maintaining the other 2 bars to their respective 'side' of center as possible.

So, if your driver comes back and dislikes what you did, you now know to go the other way right off. So if you had it on the right of the green bar closest to center as you can, then you now know to move it to the left some. All, while maintaining the other bars as well.

Also, I've been sticking with a 10 degree separation on the front and rear angles and adjusting from there.

Once I get at least 2 comments from the driver, regardless of the race trim I am having them do, I bring them in and adjust. It is also good to compare your trims and make adjustments there too.

Another thing I am doing based on weather and lap length (i run medium races) is decide on my strategy. If i think I'll do a long strat, Ill have both drivers fun Soft so that i get level 2 knowlege which will hopefully give me another lap, maybe 2 and hopefully maybe 1 less pit stop if all works out.

I am with Predator and had my girl driver hit the top 5 in race #2, which to me was quite an accomplishment. The other dude still sucks. I use him to block other drivers though and harass.

Hope that helps. If not, I got the ideas from the steam community and a guy there has some screenshots explaining it as well.

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by Marmel

Does anybody have any advise for setting up your car before/after the practice session. I'm talking about the part where you can adjust 3 different settings on the left and on the right it shows your mechanic suggesting as a green bar and after practice it shows the happiness level of each driver for each adjustment...

I've tuned the cars to have all the meters in the green area, but often times the driver is still not happy, or downright sad. I have no idea what to do in this part of the game and I feel like it is probably costing me a ton of time on the track and probably several places each races at least.

The settings are kinda broken up into, the top two being for downforce, the middle two for handling and the bottom two for speed.

If the green zone is all to one side of the recommendation I'll adjust the settings until I just get into the edge of the green zone. If the bar is huge I'l just kinda leave it near the middle. The one rule I follow is I try and keep a 10 degree separation between the front and rear wings.

Then when on track the driver will give feedback on each group of settings, eg, can we have longer gears, the handling feels too soft, etc. These give you an idea which way you need to adjust each group. If you also pay attention to the size of the green bar it will generally move in more from one side than the other, this also gives you a hint which way you need to move the needle.

For example say you have the gearing set to 50% and the driver says I'm hitting the limiter on the straights, they are asking for longer gears. When you get back to the pit say the have the OK face, this means you need to move the needle fairly far. I would then try to move the gearing two or three clicks longer so from 50 to 63 or 70. Then send them out again. They should tell you that it feels much better, or, better yet just right. If they tell you that something got worse, then you adjusted things the wrong way.

One last thing, I like to use the tire pressure and camber as fine tweaking and use the suspension settings to do the bigger initial tweaking.

[Umbrella]

I picked up the game as well. My computer didn't meet the specs, but it still runs, although slow, and the graphics aren't as great. Gameplay is fine though.

One question for you all. When doing the practice laps, how hard do you push? I generally leave it on yellow/yellow while I am trying to get the setup right, then go orange/orange to see my best lap time. I'm not sure what the AI racers are doing though.

[hollmt]

Well, Im in the lowest league, so I dont push at all since times dont matter as there is no 'qualifying'. So, just yellow/yellow. All about trying to get the best optimization for the car/driver and tire knowledge.

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by Umbrella

One question for you all. When doing the practice laps, how hard do you push? I generally leave it on yellow/yellow while I am trying to get the setup right, then go orange/orange to see my best lap time. I'm not sure what the AI racers are doing though.

I'm pretty sure the AI is busting out some red red laps during practice. I normally run yellow yellow to maximize the number of laps I can do during practice to try and get the performance perks for the race.

[NoSkillz]

Like many here, I have absolutely no knowledge of auto racing but picked this up after seeing the recommendations and I'm completely hooked.

There are many similarities to Football Manager here in scope and game design that breeds familiarity to me and the very solid tutorial guides you through your first week and a half on the job but doesn't give you ALL the answers, leaving you to fend for yourself on key matters like pre-race car setups, which are quite complex on the surface, at least in these initial stages.

I'm very impressed. It's quite a polished product already and the actual racing, which I thought might end up being a drag, is incredibly intense and satisfying...especially with me at the helm of the worst team on the worst circuit!

I may do a dynasty writeup of my experience too. Really, really enjoying this so far.

[pbot]

My practice strategy has been to send out both cars, and immediately call them back in. They technically don't complete a lap, but you still get feedback. I adjust based on the feedback, and then send them out for the second time.

On the second trip I will let them complete a full "flying" lap, and then immediately call them back in. So they run the warmup lap, a full timed lap, and then another partial lap back to the pits. Tweak the setup a bit more and send them back out for a third time.

Even if they run out of practice time on the third run, you still get the feedback so it gives you three sets to look at for adjusting before the race. I haven't been too successful, so maybe not the best approach.

[hollmt]

So, I think I have a decent grasp on the per-race setup now. I am not entirely sure I explained it that well above, but I got the info from steam forums, which has much more info, so you can head there if you want better examples w/ pretty pictures.

I started a new career, with Predator again because I like losing. But I am also doing long races, which on speed 2 and 3 on some cases, doesn't really take that long. The pros I see from long is that strategy and driver ability actually come into play more. I could really see the different strategies crews were doing and adjusted my own. I feel like, with good tire strategy and pit strategy/luck you can probably outsmart the AI and gain free spots. I was able to, with the setup strategy get 97% optimization for my girl driver and she really competed well and finished 14th, which hit my sponsor bonus and that was exciting. Who would think, finishing 14th would excite me. The dude is just bad, but he still finished 19th (again because another dude crashed) and I still got his setup above 90%, so it is just on him being a bad driver in the rain (one of his negative perks).

I haven't decided yet on my long term strategy. I upped my finances to save the most possible for my car for next year, but I also told my boss I would finish at least 8th and I feel that my shitty driver will not help that matter. I also don't want to waste money right now on engineers or designers this year. I know though that I will need another driver that can help me get points or 8th is probably out of the question in constructors but that will be expensive too.

[Bobble]

Am I missing/skipping over some sort of post-race analysis breakdown? Lap times with tire wear, temp, how much I pushed, weather, etc.? I'd like a little more of a spreadsheet to show me where I was obviously making a mistake. I'm having trouble seeing where I'm going wrong.

[hollmt]

Should be some tabs at the bottom after race completion with what crews were pitting for tires and laps they got out of them and some times and graphs etc. Not sure if that is what you might be looking for or if you already saw that.
You can check that during the race as well via the 'view details' button at the top right i believe. It will pause the race and you can review what is going on a bit there as well.

[Umbrella]

Does anybody know what driver fitness does? I just finished my race, and my driver's fitness dropped all the way down to 0. In his perks, it says he has a bad neck. He didn't crash, so I don't know what that is all about. I don't know if this means I should run my reserve driver instead.

Also, a related question. Is there a way to switch a driver for a race? I am guessing you just swap your reserve driver with your main driver, but that ticks the main driver off. Also, my #2 can't race in the rain, so when race day came around and it was pouring, I wanted to run my reserve driver instead. But I couldn't figure out how to do it.

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by Umbrella

Does anybody know what driver fitness does? I just finished my race, and my driver's fitness dropped all the way down to 0. In his perks, it says he has a bad neck. He didn't crash, so I don't know what that is all about. I don't know if this means I should run my reserve driver instead.

Also, a related question. Is there a way to switch a driver for a race? I am guessing you just swap your reserve driver with your main driver, but that ticks the main driver off. Also, my #2 can't race in the rain, so when race day came around and it was pouring, I wanted to run my reserve driver instead. But I couldn't figure out how to do it.

Fitness affects how quickly the driver tires. So if they have low fitness or get tired they will not function upto their full abilities and may make mistakes such as locking up or running wide. If you highlight the little i on the driver screen a tool tip pops up that describes the ratings.

For the second part you could try promoting your reserve driver, although it would probably piss off your number 2. I'm not sure if swapping the drivers back and forth works out morale wise.

[hollmt]

but can you promote on race day? i have my reserve driver do the practice laps, but on race day it defaults to #1 and #2. i think that is what he was referring to and im curious about as well. subbing the reserve for the crappy wet weather driver on the day of the race.

[Umbrella]

Originally Posted by hollmt

but can you promote on race day? i have my reserve driver do the practice laps, but on race day it defaults to #1 and #2. i think that is what he was referring to and im curious about as well. subbing the reserve for the crappy wet weather driver on the day of the race.

Yes, this is exactly what I am referring to. And thanks for the tip about highlighting the title. I didn't know that.

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by Umbrella

Yes, this is exactly what I am referring to. And thanks for the tip about highlighting the title. I didn't know that.

I don't think you can promote a driver on race day. FWIW I don't think you can in real life either. I think the few times a driver has been too sick between practice and the race, they just don't race anybody.

[EagleFan]

Got my first podium finish, 2nd. Best race of the season for me so far as the other diver came in 7th.

Really liking this game.

Did find what may be a bug. I had promoted my reserve driver mid season and he has a great feedback rating. That put me into 3rd level for feedback each practice but then he hurt his neck so I thought it may be better to bring the other guy back up but let the reserve run his practice (the original guy had an AWFUL feedback rating). It seems the feedback for the driver was based on the driver that was going to be in the race and not the driver that was driving practice as it didn't even get to the first notch.

[Ajaxab]

I'm a bit confused on the reserve driver situation as well. The tip suggests that you use practice to get your reserve driver some experience to improve his/her skills, but does the feedback from that driver apply only to the car that was driven or does it translate to how the main driver likes the car set up?