For all that F1 centres on driving talents like Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen, it is a sport that’s built on statistics. For the biggest teams, crew numbers stretch into the hundreds, with specialists focused on every aspect of the car, and the variables that can affect it, from sole components to tyre wear and aerodynamics – just look at the fine margins of tyre weight that seemingly led to this weekend’s controversial result! EA’s F1 24 allows you to live out your driver fantasies, but what about those hoping to be the next James Vowles or wanting to channel their inner Hannah Schmitz? F1 Manager 24 lets you take control of an entire F1 team, bringing success through clever strategy, correct car setup and an eye for detail. It’s also the best entry in Frontier’s series so far.
F1 Manager 24 takes a big step forward over last year’s entry with the arrival of Create A Team. It’s almost unbelievable that we’ve had to wait for this feature, but now that it’s here it lives up to expectations, allowing you to personalise and take true ownership of your team’s journey to the top of the podium.
The inclusion of real-life footage immediately makes you feel like you’re entering the world of F1, and as a newcomer to the paddock, you’re heralded with the right level of excitement. What isn’t exciting, is the very short character limit for your team name, so my dreams of operating Leighton Motorsport were immediately dashed. Come on Frontier, if you can’t input at least one of the real team names – McLaren International Ltd character counters – surely we could have had one or two more letters for custom teams?
Once you’ve made peace with the name your team will be sporting, you have to settle on an origin story, from living the life of a billionaire and starting your own team, to joining forces with a high-quality tech startup. It’s a nice little touch that dictates the quality of the car, facilities, drivers and staff you have access to, as well as your starting capital, bringing in a touch of narrative to a game that is ostensibly about the numbers.
Then it’s time for the fun stuff, selecting your drivers, and key staff members. Depending on your earlier choices, you’re going to have access to different people here, but I was able to go with an Alex Albon and Oscar Piastri pairing, while most of my technical staff were lured away from Red Bull, apart from Mercedes Bono, who’s a star in his own right. You can be right in the thick of it from the start, and it’s so appealing if you’re a fan. If you’re not, well, I’m surprised you’re still here.
While there’s plenty of fiction going on, the sport remains grounded in the real world, and it was interesting to note how our second season began, with moves like Lewis Hamilton’s jump to Ferrari happening in sync with the real world. That said, a few shifts like the disappearance of Perez from the grid and his replacement at Red Bull by Carlos Sainz, remain the stuff of (plausible) fantasy.
Progressing the calendar is your main focus between sessions, and from here there’s plenty of the cut and thrust of the F1 back office, including sponsor negotiations, staff appraisals and car development. Balancing the needs of your sponsors, and for the essential income it provides, is done in an interesting way, forcing you to balance the knock-on effect of each event against different sectors of your operation. I mostly focused on not impacting my team’s drivers, but at the expense of my other staff and the effectiveness of the facilities. Moving from being the worst team on the grid to the seventh suggest that it was a solid enough strategy.
To a certain extent, you get out what you put in here. F1 Manager is a very menu-heavy game, and just like the real sport, it’s all about maximising every aspect of the car, the team and the driver. If you’re turned off by the idea of clicking through multiple menus and changing different sliders by a couple of notches, then I don’t think F1 Manager 24 is the one for you.
That extends even further into the races themselves. The overall presentation here is fantastic for a management sim, with multiple camera angles available throughout the race, and the option to accelerate time so you can whiz through an event if you need to, with faster speeds switching from track cameras to a track map instead. However, you’re missing the point if you do. Watching the races unfold naturally, albeit at double the speed – which is a decent balance between realism and feeling like a Benny Hill sketch – while altering your driver’s strategy on the fly and adapting to this entry’s new mechanical failures is the most fun and engaging part of the game.
You feel like you’re in control, cementing the idea that you’re an integral part of this race team, and while it might ultimately boil down to watching a series of numbers tick along, it’s hypnotic and satisfying in equal measure. It doesn’t feel overwhelming either, letting you control as much or as little as you want. If you’re in a hurry you can simulate sessions or whole events, but it does feel you could probably be doing something else altogether if you’re not interacting with it.
F1 Manager 24 really does look and sound the part, and the combination of opening commentary, audio snippets and compelling visual style, make this feel as true to life as possible. It might not be as flashy as Codemasters’ F1 24, but Frontier has captured the sport with a refined eye for detail. It’s even more appealing when you watch your created team’s car zip past a Red Bull too.
