Do you think you can do a better job than the Ferrari Formula 1 team’s strategy department? Ok, I’ll rephrase that: do you think you can do a better job than any other Formula 1 team’s strategy department? If the answer is still yes, then F1 Manager 2022 looks to be the game for you.
During a live stream on F1 Manager’s YouTube channel, the game’s community managers, Steve James and Chris Groves, talked us through a night race in Bahrain as they made a bold strategy call for their driver Alex Albon. In the year 2030…
Still racing for Williams, the now 34-year-old Brit started in seventh position on the hard compound tyres. Groves and James decided to bring him in for an early stop to get out of traffic, bolting on a set of grippy softs.
The decision enabled them to undercut Charles Leclerc for position and also gave them a chance to enact team orders. Williams’ number two driver Théo Pourchaire, is quickly told to let Albon through. The fact that Pourchaire is driving in F1 at all means the game’s Formula 2 driver progression mechanic is working well.
After rising to fourth, the team bring Albon in for a final stop, electing for medium compound tyres, with an instruction to push for the remaining 17 laps of the race. Emerging 11th, and with the cars in front nursing their mediums and hards until the end, Albon pulls off an exciting march to the front, taking the win from the Mercedes (!) of Lando Norris.
The live stream also highlights the game’s use of real F1 audio samples. As the chequered flag flies, Alex Albon’s race engineer James Urwin chips in his thoughts via team radio: “who says you can’t pass around here?” Brilliant.
F1 Manager 2022: Shaping rules and regulations
Perhaps the most interesting feature to appear during the live stream, however, is a more detailed look at the way players can shape F1’s rules and regulations via an in-game voting mechanic.
Players will be sent various options to vote for, with three separate categories of regulation: Sporting, Technical and Financial. Sporting Regulation changes include voting for or against a point for fastest lap and pole position and gearbox and engine restrictions. Presumably, there will be a greater variety of proposals each season but this is unconfirmed at this stage.
Technical Regulations cover all aspects to do with chassis, underfloor, suspension, sidepods and front and rear wings, although we didn’t see how detailed these options went. Likewise, Financial Regulation changes weren’t displayed in any detail.
It remains to be seen whether teams’ political influences will hold sway in F1 Manager 2022. If you manage Ferrari for example, will you be able to put pressure on fellow Ferrari-engined teams like Alfa Romeo and Haas to vote the same way? Will Ferrari still hold the virtual veto on regulation changes as they do in the real world?
It’s certainly food for thought, and we are looking forward to seeing for ourselves how the game balances political, sporting and financial factors into a fun and interesting F1 experience. F1 Manager 2022 releases on 30th August 2022, with digital pre-orders available five days earlier.
What do you make of F1 Manager 2022’s emerging features? Let us know in the comments below.
