Motorsport Manager Mobile 3 reviewed

Review

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I’ve always been a fan of the Motorsport Manager games, and all credit is due to the developers behind the game for shaping an independent product that has evolved with each release. The core product has always been fundamentally very strong, with subsequent changes by and large adding to, rather than detracting from the heart of the game.

Two years ago the title successfully made the leap to the big screen. But the team is continuing to refine the mobile offering, and recently released the third iteration.

Motorsport Manager 3 is another step forward – with the introduction of GT and Endurance racing, together the addition of invitational events. This makes for a more diverse offering and a somewhat broader winder on the world of motor sport.

Whichever career route, the main aim of the game is to progress up the motorsport ladder, developing drivers, facilities and supplier networks as you go. MM3 offers the opportunity to expand rapidly, moving up the ladder with each season, or to stay put and dominate before progressing. The action moves between decisions back at base and the race weekend.

My biggest gripe with the game is that I find the in-race management quite dull. I can’t quite put my finger on why this is, but I think the addition of boosts/ERS goes beyond strategic management and into driver input.

The races in the current edition are also quite long, which particularly for the endurance races shifts the game into train ride home territory, rather than a good way to kill five minutes. As a counterpoint, I really enjoyed the elimination races in the invitational section – it’s not pure racing, but I found it more involving from a strategy perspective.

I also have enormous sympathy for the developers. For the game to structurally hang together it is necessarily a huge departure from real life – the sponsorship and prize money funding mechanics in the game would reduce most team managers to tears. However, the true task of scouring karting for someone with a hedge fund or fashion label owner father, or latching on to a gentleman driver with deep pockets just wouldn’t work.

That said, I find developing and managing the team in the game to be a lot of fun and the balance between investing in this or next year’s car can have big consequences either way. As in MM2 I’m not quite sure the young driver development element works as well as it could (it is often cheaper and easier to hire a driver with potential and develop them through improvement points), but this is hardly a showstopper.

Most importantly, MM3 is a game that has clearly been put together by people who know and enjoy their motor racing – this is evident from the circuit design, series structure and some of the subtle humour throughout.

MM3 is a great evolution of the franchise, and an absolute bargain at the price given the hours of play time on offer.

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https://youtu.be/GLeabeTxiOA

F1 Fanatic rating

Rating four out of five

Motorsport Manager 3

Formats: Android, iOS
Publisher: Playsport Games
Published: 2018
Price: £3.99

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Author information

Ben Evans
Motorsport commentator Ben is RaceFans' resident bookworm. Look out for his verdict on the latest motor racing publications on Sundays....

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3 comments on “Motorsport Manager Mobile 3 reviewed”

  1. It’s a good series, and I’m on my 6th full season on the PC version.

    That said, I agree with the author in that the developers are getting too focused on the driver input aspect. It irks me to even have the option to manually heat up the tyres during qualifying outlaps.

    Instead of that, the game on PC needed a lot more intricate ‘contracts’ system, ie. trades, setting up driver and staff contract for the future to let their existing contract play out so you avoid the buy-out fee. I feel the emphasis is being lost dramatically here. The game needs to have the management system sharpened.

    Contrast this with the F1 games taking an emphasis on media interviews, and it feels that developers would rather ‘bells and whistles’ as opposed to accurate representation of the racing or team management.

    1. yes id have to agree with you there about heating up tires. Id like to see some more dilemmas, or just more improvising and “events” to react to – maybe even more politics.

  2. I’m on holiday and those 5 euros are providing hours of slacked entertainment. I literally never play on my tablet so I’m not exactly an expert in mobile gaming, but I’m having the right amount of fun from this game. I tend to simulate qualifying but that’s a cool aspect too. There’s a quite broad range of races with some degree of variance, so until now I’m not yet bored. I’ll certainly leave it in a couple of weeks but again, for that price it already repaid itself.

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