It’s late May in F1 Manager 23, and we’re at the motorsport’s iconic Monaco Grand Prix; a devilishly tough track at the best of times, its winding corners and narrow straightaways make overtaking nigh on impossible. Worse still, the weather’s not been kind, and it’s pouring with rain. And it doesn’t look like it’s letting up anytime soon.
At the real life Grand Prix, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was first to cross the finish line, after snatching pole position right at the end of qualifying the previous day. In F1 Manager 23, launching July 31 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, I’m tasked with an alternate scenario. As Aston Martin’s team principal, I’m to snatch the win away from the Red Bull Racing world champion for Fernando Alonso. I aim to do so by predicting the downpour ahead of time, swapping Alonso’s slick tyres for a pair of intermediates.
I make the call to pit early, assuming the Spaniard would welcome the strategy by pitting first ahead of his Dutch rival. I watch as the dazzling green Aston Martin car slides into the pit lane. The crew have done a fantastic job, and the driver’s in and out in a matter of seconds. Now, it was just down to Alonso to deliver the win.
But there’s a problem. A big problem. Alonso is still on slicks. He’s out there dropping positions to drivers he should have no trouble beating. First goes Esteban Ocon in the Alpine, closely followed by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari zips past like a crimson bullet. Somehow, even Kevin Magnussen’s managed to zoom his way into a points-scoring position. In a Haas. “What’s going on?” I audibly wonder.
Then it hits me. It wasn’t Fernando Alonso I’d ordered to take the pit stop. It was his teammate, Lance Stroll, who now finds himself passing Alonso on his fresh set of inters. My mistake became obvious: I’d had my camera focused on Stroll this whole time, and all the orders I’d meant for Alonso instead went to the Canadian driver.
Meanwhile, the former world champion was dropping out of the points on a pair of slicks. A strategy that surely would’ve had any team principal immediately out of a job. I rapidly call Fernando into the pits, but at this point, it’s far too late. Challenge failed. Verstappen takes the checkered flag whilst the Spaniard endures an all-time career low.
Back to the drawing board
Things took a turn for the better in the second part of our preview session. There, I took over from Toto Wolff as Mercedes AMG’s team principal, with the aim of guiding Hamilton and Russell to podium finishes at the legendary Silverstone. The British lads are on home turf, so the fans won’t expect anything less than a top three result from both drivers.
During this session, I got a much better feel and understanding of F1 Manager 23’s flow. Ahead of the three practice sessions, I headed to the garage to inspect the team’s two cars, finalizing their parts and general race strategy. Then, on track, each drivers’ success was measured in track acclimatization, and how comfortable each was in their car.
This was a gradual process over the course of the practice sessions. After completing their tests, the drivers gave me their rundown on what they thought about the cars’ setup. Initial responses from both Hamilton and Russell showed they were unsatisfied. My job, then, was to guide the team to make small adjustments to the cars to better fit their needs and preferences. This wasn’t easy, as getting each stats’ slider into the sweet spot proved to be a challenge.
All the work paid off, though, as come qualifying, Hamilton managed to score pole position, with Russell lining up second on the grid. F1 Manager 23 encourages the player to really take their time fine tuning their cars’ setups and strategies, and clearly rewards them for doing so. It was an immensely satisfying feeling, especially after my prior blunder at Monaco.
Nail-bitingly immersive
One aspect of F1 Manager 23 that really stood out to me were the drop-dead gorgeous visuals. Exceedingly photorealistic, jumping into the cockpit camera provided an absolutely thrilling experience. I’m not in control of the cars themselves, but it was nonetheless breathtaking watching my drivers belt it down straights and carefully swerve around corners, complemented by a convincing motion blur effect and physics-reactive animations.
All the rules and high-stakes drama of Formula One races are accounted for, too. For example, I witnessed plenty of instances of cars spinning out, which you’re able to view by clicking a prompt at the top of the screen for a quick action replay. In another instance, a particularly nasty crash occurred, meaning all cars had to line up once again at the start line behind a safety car.
The preview event for F1 Manager 23 only ran for a couple of hours. But in that time, I was able to witness the boons of effective strategy, and the woes of a not-so-effective one. Compared to EA Sports’ F1 23, races felt vastly more unpredictable and prone to weather changes.
I found myself constantly having to readjust strategy based on track conditions and my drivers’ positions. Do I risk going on the attack to claim a position or two, or maintain position and conserve fuel before the first pit stop? These were decisions I had to make on a lap-by-lap basis, meaning no two were ever the same.
All in all, I think the preview event for F1 Manager 23 was a strong slice of what we can expect in the full game. I’m looking forward to taking my admittedly limited managerial skills to a full season when the game launches on July 31. It's certainly a contender for our best strategy games list.
F1 Manager 23 might not be launching until the end of July, but EA Sports' F1 23 sim racing title is available now. It's a huge improvement over last year's release, and finds its way onto our best racing games list.
