F1 Manager 24 exclusive: Developers provide insight into the upcoming game

The all-new Create a Team feature: 

For the first time in the F1 Manager series, the player can create their very own team. "It's a really big tentpole feature," says art director Matt Dickinson. We've given players the opportunity to create what they want in a hopefully relatively free-form way.  We've had some really nice comments back about how easy it is to use, but again, how much breadth there is. I can move my sponsors around, scale them, rotate them, and all these other things. We wanted people to be able to feel they could build something that was theirs, but at the same time, not that they had to invest a huge amount of money. That sort of thing comes out of time or being overly familiar with 3D software. We want something that anyone can pick up and enjoy and doesn't feel like they have to understand some complex concepts to be able to make my car." 

Players can choose to bring their own team onto the F1 grid in this year's game. Customisable livery and logo creation tools give players full control over their team’s unique identity. ‘Team Origins’  influence your own team's starting position. Do you want to come into the sport as an underfunded underdog? Or burst onto the scene as a title contender with major investment? The choice is yours. You can live out your own F1 fantasy with the introduction of the new feature.

Immersion 'key' to the title

Players must feel immersed in order to believe they are an F1 team principal. Executive producer Stuart Warren just how important this is to the team at Frontier. "We talk a lot internally about authenticity. That's one of our key pillars for the game. I think that is intrinsically tied to immersion. We want the players to feel like they are the team principal in the F1 environment, right? So even with the new features this year, like creating a team, we've built that in a way that you can that's your team that you've built and you're competing in this F1 environment. Immersion is really, really key to the title."

The game's reflection of true-to-life Formula 1 makes the difference too. "Just looking at something simple like the sprint formats. We've had three different sprint formats over the years. F1 themselves have done various experiments and made changes throughout the year. That's one example where this year we're really happy that we've matched everything perfectly. We've got 2024’s sprint format in the game. But even something like that has huge gameplay effects. You can reconfigure your car differently after the sprint race now because the parc ferme rules have changed. Even getting something like that in is a change from the game side. We have to make sure that we represent that accurately," says Dickinson.

Feedback from fans and teams alike has also helped the title evolve. "It's great that they've done it because this is a gameplay improvement. So it is quite interesting that a lot of the feedback that you see from players, it mirrors quite often the feedback you see from the teams. Last year we saw a lot of talk from the teams saying like, we really want to do this. And we kind of got the same player feedback going, what we really want to do is this. So it's interesting that the two marry up. And as a management strategy game, it's really well aligned to kind of what happens within the world of F1. So we go through similar sorts of implications with the rule changes and those variables that you mentioned. But, year on year we build, and we're improving those systems and how they react to things and how the AI uses the tools that we've given them to kind of improve the racing and the difficulty," says F1 Manager's Art Director.

Why should you buy F1 Manager 24?

Both developers explain why returning players and new players should purchase F1 Manager 24. "I think from my point of view it is the most in-depth realistic F1 management game. if you want to live and breathe the life of a team principal, build a team, and make decisions, this is the game for you and it allows you to live out that dream." Concludes F1 Manager's art director.

"If you've ever watched an F1 race and you've sat there screaming at the TV because you don't agree with a decision that's been made, you know this game puts you in that position and you can prove that right." 

More F1 Manager 24 exclusive content can be found on GPblog soon...