Motorsport Manager

Let me start by saying this; if you are a fan of motorsports (Formula/GT/etc. ), this game is definitely worth your time. Whether you buy it on sale or otherwise. I've rated the game 3/5 but have spent just over 100 hours on it. It is a highly addictive game, that makes the hours vanish very quickly. It does have some issues, but overall it is such a unique game, and the mechanics are really fun to play around with.

Let's start with the negatives:

The biggest issue I have with this game, is that the AI teams do not have a similar level of reliability issues with their vehicles as the player has. The reliability of your parts will naturally deteriorate during a race, if it deteriorates low enough the vehicle will break, unless you repair it during a pit-stop. This was the main challenge for me during every race. Throughout the game I felt that the AI did not experience the same level of deterioration, in fact they did not seem to have much issue with it. It made the game feel rather unfair and unbalanced. Related to this, is that there are sudden spikes in deterioration that are not explained, it just happens from out of nowhere.

A similar problem concerns the tyre degradation. As in the above case, I did not feel that the AI experienced the same level of tyre degradation as the player. For example, it was odd seeing the AI drivers race around with worn slick tyres on a soaked track, keeping the same pace as my own drivers with Intermediate or Wet tyres.

In general, I felt that the "rules of the game" where more strictly applied for the player, and more leniently applied for the AI. For example, whereas my own drivers would automatically let leading cars pass when blue-flagged, I often witnessed that the AI did not do the same, and thus got an advantage since the game did not punish them.

A minor issue, is that the driver's ratings do not really matter, apart from affecting your team's budget. For example, my test-driver would often equal and even outperform one of my main drivers, even though the latter had twice the ratings and were being paid 10 times as much in salary. So in the latter half of my experience with the game, I just went for the cheaper drivers instead, saving a great deal of money for my team. I learned that it is the car that matters the most in this game when it comes to doing well in a race, your driver's abilities are not as important.

The positives then:

Firstly, the above issues were largely mitigated by lowering the AI's difficulty. By doing this I felt that I got a game that played more fairly. So the fact that you can adjust the AI is definitely worth including and rewarding as a positive trait. It more or less "saved" the game for me, making it worthwhile to continue playing.

The biggest positive this game has, is that it is a very unique game. Personally I have not seen another game that features this type of gameplay and content, and this level of complexity. For someone like myself, who watches a great deal of racing on TV and the Internet, this game is a pleasant treat that meets a need you can't get in any other racing game. So the fact that this even exists is worth praising, that someone bothered making it.

The game finds a very nice balance of complexity. Some functions - like the crew management (mechanics etc.) - can even be handled by the game, should you wish so. The interface is highly intuitive to use, making it easy to learn the game. It also allows you to focus on the fun stuff: the micro-macro management of your team and of the racing. You will manage the vehicles' upgrades and maintenance, sponsors, drivers, headquarters (factory etc.) and so on. During a race you will manage things like tyre and fuel choices, your driver's aggressiveness or "effort", monitor the status of your vehicle parts, etc. It might sound overly complex, but the way the game handles it and presents it to you is very intuitive and easy to grasp.

It is the combination of ease-of-use and pleasant level of complexity, that makes it very easy for you to loose many, many hours playing the game. It has a very strong just-one-more-turn effect, except in this case it's a matter of just-one-more-race effect. You are eagerly waiting the next race, to test your upgrades, try a new strategy, or simply to have better luck this time around. You are always looking forwards.

Visually the game looks awesome, making it especially enjoyable to watch the tiny cars go round the tracks. Effects like rain are nicely done as well. The presentation of the game as a whole, menus and what-not, is very slick and modern.

To sum things up:

I debated whether to rate the game 4/5, to reflect the 100+ hours I've spent playing the game, enjoying the majority of my time with it. Since this game is based on a mobile game, it feels highly unrealistic to expect a similar level of simulation as Assetto Corsa, rFactor or RaceRoom, when it comes to the accuracy of things like AI, tyre & fuel wear, and so on. The level of computations required are vastly higher, and requires a much higher level of expertise and data. So I don't want to be overly harsh on the game. However, I can't ignore the fact that I only got a fair and more balanced game by lowering the AI level. It's not a question of difficulty for me, but a question a perceived unfairness in parts of the game's design. So I think a 3/5 rating is itself ... well, ... fair.