Ever since the initial announcement trailer back on 7 March, racing game fans and F1 fans alike have been eagerly anticipating the first gameplay footage for F1 Manager 2022. Here are all the new details we learned about F1 Manager.
Image credit: Frontier Developments
Last week, the F1 Manager Twitter account posted a screenshot showing a Red Bull in the wet at Baku. The surprisingly high quality of the graphics, especially when one considers that this is a management game, built the hype further.
Now, three full months after the initial announcement, the first gameplay footage has been released. Not only have Frontier Developments released a new gameplay trailer for F1 Manager, but content creators have shared, more in depth footage of the game. So, what new information do we know about the game? Let’s take a look at the gameplay features, release date and other information that was revealed for F1 Manager 2022.
When Will F1 Manager Be Released?
One of the most frequently asked questions towards Frontier Developments over the last three months has been: what is the release date for F1 Manager 2022? After initially stating that they will release the game in the summer of 2022, they have now confirmed the precise date in question.
F1 Manager 2022 will be available on 25 August for players who pre-order the digital version. Judging by the game’s Steam page, the game will be available to everyone on 30 August. This means that pre-ordering the game will allow players to access F1 Manager five days early.
For the time being, it doesn’t seem as though there will be any other rewards for pre-ordering beyond a 10% discount. Other versions of the game, such as a deluxe edition or similar, have not been revealed. So, with only one version of the game to buy, and a 10% discount on offer, how much will F1 Manager 2022 actually cost?
How Much is F1 Manager 2022?
Without the 10% pre-order discount, F1 Manager 2022 currently costs £44.99/$54.99/€54.99. This places it generally in-keeping with other officially licensed games. Notably, it precisely matches the price of the latest Football Manager release, Football Manager 2022. With the 10% pre-order discount included, the game costs £40.49/$49.49/€49.49.
What About the Gameplay?
Naturally, the most exciting part of any gameplay trailer is, well, the gameplay! In general, the footage revealed both in the trailer and in the videos of content creators tended to focus on the in-race play rather than the more management side of things.
That being said, the in-race graphics are certainly impressive. While there were some issues with clipping textures and lighting in places, it is likely that these will be addressed before the release in two and a half months’ time.
When in race, players will be able to micromanage their two cars as much as they want to. This means that they can control how hard the drivers are pushing their tyres, how much fuel they are using, their battery consumption, whether they should let their teammate through and so on.
Any order given to the driver will be accompanied by a voice line of the real-life race engineer you have in your team giving the command, and another real radio message from the driver acknowledging it. Telling Esteban Ocon to push will garner a response of “copy that” from the Frenchman himself.
Outside of the race itself, shots were shown of the part development screens, an email inbox which will function as the primary gameplay hub, the headquarters improvement screen and more. One interesting aspect of this latter screen was a button with which players could ‘refurbish’ a certain part of their HQ. This will hopefully mean that, unlike in Motorsport Manager, staying at the top is just as hard as getting there in the first place.
What are you most excited to see in F1 Manager 2022? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
