Formula ManagerFormula Manager

A hundred years of racing: 1950 to 2050

Pick the year your team is founded, anywhere from 1950 to 2049, and race on to the end of the 2050 season. Fourteen eras each bring their own cars and rules: front-engined roadsters on treaded tyres, rear-engined cigars, the first wings, wedges and airboxes, ground-effect wing cars, the turbo years, refuelling and screaming V10s, the hybrid era, and forecasts of the decades to come, ending with silent electric single-seaters in the 2040s.

• Every era has its own car to build and its own engine sound: superchargers, flat-out V8s, turbo whistles, V10 screams, hybrid surges and electric whine.

• When the regulations change, development resets. Put R&D into next year's car early, or win now and start again from scratch.

• Era rules on track: refuelling stops, flag starts, pit boards instead of radio, no safety car before the 1990s, open-face helmets, the halo from 2018.

• Drivers are born, peak and retire. Champions go into the hall of fame, and the history of the sport builds up around you.

From karts to the Grand Prix

Start in any of the five championships, or begin with a small karting outfit and a tight budget and climb. Finish in the top three of the teams' championship to move up. The ladder has five tiers: Kart, Rookie, Contender, Elite and the Grand Prix World Championship. Each step brings a faster car, a longer calendar, bigger sponsors and tougher rivals.

Every race, live in 3D

Qualifying and races run in real time on 26 circuits: permanent tracks, street circuits, night races and eight kart tracks. Follow the action from TV towers, the chase camera, onboard or the helicopter. Then take control from the pit wall:

• Push, defend or save fuel and tyres. Harvest or deploy energy. Call the pit stop yourself or let your engineer read the race.

• Choose which set of tyres goes on: a weekend allocation, wear on every corner of the car, temperatures, graining and blistering. Rain rolls in, the track dries and a line appears.

• Wheel-to-wheel battles, slipstreams, DRS, blue flags, damaged wings, punctures and spins decide the result.

Your colours, your sponsors

Paint the car in the livery studio. Choose colours, patterns and finish, then design your drivers' helmets and suits. Prefer your own art program? Download a paint template of the car, suit or helmet, paint it, and import it back. Sponsors bid for space on your car. Safe deals pay a steady retainer. Risky deals pay more if you hit their targets. The most visible slots are worth the most money, and every logo appears on the car when it races.

Build the factory behind the team

Your headquarters is a city builder. Lay roads, supply power and place more than twenty kinds of building: design offices, wind tunnels, CFD supercomputers, powertrain divisions, simulators, a pit-crew training rig and a fan zone. The technology arrives with the years: the first wind tunnels, then CFD, then simulators. Where you put them matters, and every upgrade feeds car development, driver growth, pit-stop speed, fans or sponsor money.

Run the whole operation

• Develop aero, engine and chassis parts across the season, for this year's car or next year's, and tune the setup for each track in practice.

• Scout and sign drivers from a large fictional field. Every driver has their own skills, form and racecraft.

• Hire staff, manage the budget, negotiate contracts and keep your sponsors happy.

• Fifty rival teams across five championships, each with its own history, livery and ambitions.

Make it your own, or rewrite history

Rename and repaint every championship and team, write your own driver lists, set calendars and points systems, and draw your own circuits in the track editor. Full mod packs go further: write the whole history from 1950 to 2050, with your own eras and rules, teams that enter and leave in the years you choose, circuits that open and close, and drivers with their own birth years and careers. Share your mods in the in-game community library, or install other players'.

Made for racing fans

Every team, driver, engine maker, sponsor and circuit in Formula Manager is original. The world belongs to you, not to a licence.