Frontier Finally Announces F1 Manager 22, After Years In Development

Frontier Developments is finally ready to talk about F1 Manager 22.

Frontier has spent years developing its proverbial 22 car. The studio has been teasing a game related to Formula 1 for many years now, with most assuming it would be a management sim of some sort. Now, we have a name — F1 Manager 22 — and a release window for later this year.

As one might expect, F1 Manager 22 is coming to PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. The PC is the natural home for crunchy  sports management sims like this. More surprising: the game is bound for consoles too. Previous and current-gen versions for PlayStation and Xbox hardware are on the way as well.

F1 Manager 22 couldn’t hope to enter the market at a more perfect time. Interest in Formula 1 is at an all-time high. Netflix’s Drive to Survive series has given the sport a needed, pandemic-driven resurgence, particularly in the US. The 2022 F1 season follows a tumultuous 2021, which saw Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen neck-and-neck for the championship. This year, the sport introduces new, next-generation cars and technology designed to promote closer racing.

Those new cars are on full display in F1 Manager 22 trailer.

The first vehicle, an unpainted, industrial matte black, is the windtunnel version of the 2022 car. It was the first glimpse of F1’s future and, at the time, still slated for a 2021 launch. The second car, red accented with reflective paint, is the baseline model unveiled by motorsport governing body the FIA last year.

It’s been years since the last true motorsport management sim was released. Motorsport Manager, by Sega stablemate Playsport Games, is a beloved and long-running game which launched on iOS in 2014, before moving to PC the following year. It came to the Nintendo Switch in 2019. But even MM‘s most devoted players admit the game is getting pretty long in the tooth.

F1 Manager 22 launches on PlayStation and Xbox platforms, and Windows PC, later this year.

The post Frontier Finally Announces F1 Manager 22, After Years In Development appeared first on Kotaku Australia.