{"id":2174926,"date":"2026-10-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2174926"},"modified":"2026-10-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T21:00:00","slug":"motorsport-manager-2-looks-like-everything-we-hoped-it-would-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2174926","title":{"rendered":"Motorsport Manager 2 looks like everything we hoped it would be"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Playsport Games has awoken, 10 years after dropping the best motorsport management game ever, to show us how Motorsport Manager 2<\/em> is shaping up. It really shouldn\u2019t be this exciting to see tyre selection menus and weather maps, but it is. This game looks like bona fide, \u2018didn\u2019t I used to have a family living here with me?\u2019 life-consuming obsession material. In a good way.<\/p>\n

Of course, the studio hasn\u2019t actually been asleep in the intervening years since the original Motorsport Manager<\/em> arrived on PC. It\u2019s actually been busying away at a number of mobile releases based on the same experience, but it\u2019s in the PC release that the concept can really stretch its legs and deliver a maximalist experience to drench the biggest automotive anorak\u2019s cravings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As such, the latest trailer<\/a> and dev diary<\/a> for the PC-bound sequel are a big deal.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s new in the sequel?<\/h3>\n

A lot. We\u2019ve spied lots of exciting improvements in the latest batch of gameplay, including AI drivers making mistakes and going off onto the grass, radar weather maps, and deep vehicle livery customisation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But the most obvious change is a wider variety of motorsport classes, including modern F1-style open wheelers, endurance prototypes, and bikes.<\/p>\n

Hang on \u2013 bikes?<\/h3>\n

You know, like cars but with two wheels. They weren\u2019t present in the original, but in the sequel you can be the Gigi Dall\u2019Igna of your own MotoGP ecosystem. It\u2019s totally unlicensed of course, as with all the racing series in this game. But that actually ends up being a strength.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If you played a lot of Frontier\u2019s excellent F1 Manager<\/em> games you\u2019ll know how well they simulated the sport in season one of your career save, and thus how limited their potential was to go completely off piste. That\u2019s never been a problem for this series.<\/p>\n

What if I want the real names though?<\/h3>\n

Leave it to the modders. The first game had a lively community of creators who made everything from additional fictional racing series to, well, the sort of thing that\u2019d have FOM\u2019s lawyers in a cold sweat.<\/p>\n

Motorsport Manager 2<\/em> will feature full mod support from day one, and they\u2019ve even hired one of the first game\u2019s most prominent modders as a designer.<\/p>\n

Why\u2019s this taken 10 years?<\/h3>\n

Playsport isn\u2019t delving into the specifics of that, but it likely has something to do with the studio\u2019s previous publishing deal with Sega, mountains of complex rights paperwork, and the budget required to make a game of this scale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the end, that\u2019s less important than the fact it\u2019s happening at all. Frankly we\u2019re very happy to pretend it\u2019s 2016 again, as are our hairlines.<\/p>\n

So what do you actually do?<\/h3>\n

Your role here is like a greatest hits compilation from the best jobs in the F1 paddock. You choose the design of your car, oversee its technical development, sign deals with sponsors, hire drivers, and build up your team facility.<\/p>\n

And if that wasn\u2019t a meaty enough job description, when a race weekend rolls around you\u2019re in charge of both drivers\u2019 setup, pit strategy, and lap-by-lap energy and tyre deployment.<\/p>\n

That sounds a bit like F1 Manager<\/em>\u2026<\/h3>\n

With good reason. 2016\u2019s Motorsport Manager<\/em> provided a fantastic blueprint for the whole genre, and Frontier clearly had an eye on that blueprint. Where the two series most obviously diverge is in Playsport\u2019s penchant for cheeky humour. Think tabloid stories about your driver\u2019s exploits and fruity dialogue lines from them during your interactions.<\/p>\n

That said, the two aren\u2019t totally separate entities. Frontier\u2019s Carlos Lopes has joined the Playsport team after having worked on F1 Manager<\/em>.<\/p>\n

What happens next?<\/h3>\n

We spend an indeterminate amount of time gently vibrating with excitement while Playsport finishes the game, which is due out some time in 2027.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Playsport Games has awoken, 10 years after dropping the best motorsport management game ever, to show us how Motorsport Manager 2 is shaping up. It really shouldn\u2019t be this exciting to see tyre selection menus and weather maps, but it is. This game looks like bona fide, \u2018didn\u2019t I used to have a family living […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-2174926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2174926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2174926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2174926\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2174926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2174926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2174926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}