Formula One fans can plunge deeper into the role of an F1 team principal this summer when Frontier Developments launches F1 Manager 2022, a management simulation take on the white-hot popular racing series. F1 Manager 2022 will launch on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X. At the same time it will also be available on Windows PC, via both Steam and the Epic Games Store.
F1 Manager 2022 is licensed by Formula One and the development series Formula 2 and Formula 3. As team principal, players must promote, demote, hire and/or fire staff; engage developments on the car week to week; balance budgets and the demands of superstar drivers; and make in-race decisions regarding tire, pit strategy, and other team orders.
As a management simulation, F1 Manager 2022 will be a career layer more detailed than the extremely popular My Team mode that Codemasters introduced two years ago with F1 2020. The major difference, of course, is it won’t include the hands-on racing gameplay seen in each event. That said, as many new fans have come to embrace Formula One, the tension among drivers on the same team, the intrigue and highly specific rivalries between two teams, and the heat-of-the-moment pressure in a grand prix have all helped it become appointment television.
I can’t tell from the video above, and the news release announcing the game didn’t volunteer more details, but if it allows full customization — livery design, sponsorships, team name, and the like — I imagine F1 Manager 2022 will cater to the sense of vicarious moguldom that animates so many who play sports career modes.
F1 Manager 2022 is the first licensed sports video game to be developed and published by Frontier, which most recently launched 2021’s Jurassic World Evolution 2 and the Elite Dangerous: Odyssey expansion.
