F1 Manager 2024 preview - More intense and realistic than ever before

After spending a few hours on F1 Manager 2024, I definitely understand why people get completely absorbed into playing this style of game. Though I know shockingly little about F1 as a sport, I know just enough to sort of get by. That is mostly thanks to my grandmother, and my colleagues, who are fans of the most intense racing on the planet.

During this preview session, we got a look at what it takes to set up a racing team, as well as a look at the new “mechanical failure” system that was introduced in F1 Manager 2024. This system adds real depth to the system, requiring players to make some very clutch decisions at any given moment.

F1 Manager 2024 brings the players and the sport to life in a way that hasn’t been done in the franchise before. It’s going to be a very exciting year for motorsports fans.

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Improvements and updates to F1 Manager 2024 make the game feel far more realistic

The Bottom Tier was ready for victory (Image via Frontier Developments)

There are a few ways that really stand out to me when it comes to new features or ways to appreciate F1 Manager 2024. The first was the ability to completely customize your team. Sure, you can play as Red Bull with their incredible drivers like Max Verstappen - but why not build your own team from scratch?

You can completely customize your team’s logo and livery, so it’s very much your creation. You can even adjust how great your start is with Team Origins. You can make yourself a weak newcomer, or a powerhouse with capital and strong drivers. I put myself somewhere towards the top, to make up for my lack of experience.

This new camera angle is amazing - especially for people like me who get bad motion sickness (Image via Frontier Developments)

In addition, you also have to manage your sponsors - and their expectations of you. Sure, it’s more money, but there are going to be times when important facilities are going to be in use, due to tours, or other things that come as a cost of doing business. This was a really intricate system, and I enjoyed being able to consider what each company wanted of me.

Major sponsors would give you your money for services rendered and for your driving results. Sometimes the balance of these figures varied, depending on what was important for each company. It’s such an intricate, interesting system. However, there’s one more really important system: Mechanical Failure.

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Mechanical Failure puts a whole new spin on simulated races in F1 Manager 2024

If you want to be a real success on the track, know when to change your strategies (Image via Frontier Developments)

The biggest change, and the one that interested me the most, was the mechanical failure system. The more you drive with specific parts, the more wear and tear you put on them in F1 Manager 2024. This makes sense and emulates real life.

To simulate this, we were given a separate save file, where we were in control of the Red Bull racing team - the goal was to get a point finish. However, there was a catch: There was a very high chance of mechanical failures happening throughout the race.

This was a test to see how we, as players, could respond and react in real-time to these issues coming up in F1 Manager 2024. As someone who was very new, I was grateful to have some devs around to give me advice and show me through the various menus and systems.

The game will warn you when you need to make decisions (Image via Frontier Developments)

Knowing when to swap tires out for different ones, when to reduce the wear you’re putting on the battery, or other facets of the car is incredibly important. It’s something you’ll get the hang of after some practice.

As your cars are taking to the track, you can, in real-time, take a look at the various systems, and make adjustments if you’re worried. When a critical error comes up, the race will pause so you can make the necessary decisions, and keep going. It really brought the race to life, even through this simulated system.

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How does F1 Manager 2024 feel?

Whether you're planning sponsors or performing in a race, every choice counts (Image via Frontier Developments)

As someone who isn’t really into racing games, or management sims, I now have a greater understanding of why people like these games. It’s addictive in its own way. I loved having the power to make all these decisions and the stress that came with them. Making my own team, and being responsible for their success and failure was really exciting.

While I’d never played an F1 game before F1 Manager 2024, I definitely could understand how swiftly people get absorbed into these games. Before I knew it, about three hours had passed, and I had already seen a few victories. It looks like it’s going to build nicely on F1 Manager 2023, which we praised highly upon launch.

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F1 Manager 2024 will launch on July 23, 2024, for PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One platforms.