Gamer reviews for Race Team Manager

Race Team Manager Review

Race Team Manager draws inevitable comparisons with Motorsport Manager, and in this industry, it's pretty much impossible to download a new game without accusations of cloning and copycats. In this case, however, Big Bit Ltd. have attempted to strike out in their own direction and produce something different. It's a bit scrappy, rough around the edges, and could certainly do with some tweaks and better pacing, but has a huge amount of charm that any racing enthusiast should be interested in.

First things first, you won't be racing the cars in this game, not in the traditional sense at least. Having said that, it's not as rigidly strategy-based as Motorsport Manager - there are sections of each race when you are given control and allowed to influence the success of a passing move or block attempt. From the outset, however, fans of sports-management sims will feel most at home. You set up your racing team, picking its name, drivers, mechanics, equipment and facilities, and of course the cars. All of these have an impact on where you will qualify for the race, and also how likely you are to be able to pass or defend your position once the action is underway.

The game sports a selection of officially licensed cars, the champion of which is the McLaren P1, as seen on the cover of Forza Motorsport 5. There are four series of cars, with four in each, making a total 16 in the game. Four of these are premium, meaning you can only buy them with real money (or saved up premium currency). As a race season goes on, you have to upgrade your car, driver and facilities to try to stay competitive. Just like in real motor racing, each team has a technical battle to evolve their car and win the championship, and Race Team Manager captures this feeling well.

During a race, you must pick either a cautious, balanced or aggressive driving style. These serve to conserve fuel as well as the length of time until your car needs servicing (requiring a 15 minute wait or premium currency). You will have to pit at least once in each race, and it's on these occasions that you get your first taste of the action. Taking place with very nicely rendered graphics, you watch your car speed into the pits and then must tap on the nuts of the wheel to remove it, and then tap again to tighten them. Trying to beat your fastest pit time is a real thrill, but try too hard and you might end up making a mistake and cost yourself time. The main events of the race are played out in a 2D menu, but there are certain key events that you are able to have a hand in. Overtaking, where you tilt your device to steer around a corner; slipstreaming, where you swipe left or right at the correct moment to speed past an opponent; blocking, where you swipe left or right to defend; and crashes, where you draw a line through a multi-car pile up to gain places. These are all graphically rendered and compete well enough with the big hitters in the racing genre on mobile devices in terms of visuals. Most of all, they are a lot of fun, at least initially.

The first championship is more of a tutorial. Your car is far better than most of the others, so you qualify high and overtaking is a breeze. By the time the second one comes around, however, things get more tricky. You will start towards the back of the grid unless you've got some premium currency. At the back, it's harder to overtake as there are more cars in the way. Also, with your car being less competitive, it doesn't have the speed or handling to complete the moves (leading to crashes, hurting your Service meter). It's here that you will really notice the game's microtransactions for the first time. You get premium currency for leveling up, but you can only do this when you place highly in a race. So it becomes a grind, basically, to be able to upgrade your cars and your personnel.

The game also struggles occasionally to keep up with itself. You need nearly perfect timing in the harder races to be able to overtake, and the sensitive tilt controls for overtaking and dodgy frame rate for slipstreaming will lead to lots of crashes and frustration. With all this said, Race Team Manager is an addictive game. The free component is well worth experiencing, and the developers have managed to capture a certain level of the charm, excitement and exhilaration of a real life race team. For that alone, you should check this one out.