Here's why the Motorsport Manager 2 announcement is such a big deal

To be an F1 fan is to spend your Sunday afternoons tutting and muttering to disinterested loved ones about how you would have managed the undercut better. Playsport Games understands this better than anyone, that it’s just as engrossing to be on the pitwall as in the cockpit. An understanding they proved it with 2016’s magnificent Motorsport Manager. 

A full decade on, the announcement of Motorsport Manager 2 is a rather big deal.

We haven’t been starved, exactly, for virtual team principal work in the interim. Frontier’s fantastic F1 Manager games let us scratch many of the same itches, from choosing tire strategies to allocating wind tunnel time and negotiating driver contracts. And even though the latter featured an official F1 license and fancy graphics, mechanically it leaned heavily on Playsport’s blueprint. 

Plus, oddly enough, the official-ness of it all actually made for less of a compelling sandbox. Real drivers, real rules, real cost caps – not much mucking about, just for a laugh.

In short, we’ve missed this series. But we don’t need to feel its absence for much longer: the rights to the PC version have recently been reacquired by Playsport, and the first thing they’ve done is announce they’re working on a new one, due in 2027. 

You can have a look at the teaser trailer, although fair warning, emphasis on teaser. The Steam store page is also up, where you can find all the info that’s currently been revealed. 

“The sequel is designed as an evolution of the series, not a reinvention,” reads the announcement. 

“The core fantasy remains clear: build the team, improve the machinery, hire the right people, and go racing. Motorsport Manager 2 expands that foundation with more depth, more freedom, and a more reactive motorsport world.”

GT, endurance and single-seater categories have all been mentioned, with more to come. There’ll be mod support from day one – a very big feature, given how passionately the community’s supported the first game – and the game promises more tactical action on race days, and more customisation and ‘what if’ scenario creation in the options. 

“A major focus for Motorsport Manager 2 is delivering a more dynamic and believable race experience,” say Playsport.  

“Teams will react more intelligently to what is happening on track, adjusting strategy in response to changing conditions, pit stops, rivals, and opportunities. A new weather simulation introduces more varied and dramatic race-day decision-making, with conditions that can change across different parts of the circuit rather than simply applying to the whole track at once.”

Off-track, the absence of licenses means players are free to make their own teams, drivers, and championship categories. That’s the bit we particularly like the sound of. Extreme 48-hour endurance series, anyone? Featuring all your old secondary school teachers? 

Our best experiences with 2016’s Motorsport Manager were tied to that unlicensed, player-led storytelling. The relationships formed with utterly fictional drivers. The gradual, diligent progress of our fictional minnow team through the categories. That one race where it alternated between monsoon and dry conditions every five laps. 

So to us, it sounds like Playsport’s leaning into the real strengths of the series. We absolutely can’t wait to hear more. In fact, we refuse to wait. Tell us more. NOW.