This game is the poster child of delayed gratification.
You fire up the game, and decide to start at the lowest league with a custom team. You get a first look at the tools at your disposal - sub-par drivers, a barren HQ, and cars which more closely resemble lawnmowers than purebred racing pedigrees. Your designer is illiterate, your mechanics are arts majors. The best sponsor you have is a bubble gum manufacturing company with mere pocket change to spare, your pit crew have all the coordination of blind monkeys, and the only form of inspiration is your chairman's encouraging sentiment at - maybe, if you're lucky - finishing the season in 10th place of a 10-team league.
Then you go to work.
Your first couple races are god-awful, but that's expected. You're shocked at how much of your team's money you're burning through every race just to stay in the game, and weigh how much you have left and how many races are left against building new parts. You pick up quickly the importance of improving your car's performance and reliability. Through your best efforts, results are beginning to show - your drivers, once finishing in 17th and 19th place, slowly start to crawl up the board - you find yourself grinning at a well-timed pitstop or a lucky break which result in a 12th or 13th place finish. Nice.
You finish your first season, not in 10th, but in 9th - to which you're beyond satisfied. You get your prize money, and you're a mess trying to figure out how much you can afford to invest in upgrading your HQ against how much you want to have an edge for the following season. You mire at the possibilities - perhaps, with some careful planning, you might *just* maybe, finish in 8th next season.
You carry on doing this....and things begin to change.
You learn the curve. You're careful with your money. You quietly keep moving up the board - and now, into points territory. You know you're not about to win a race anytime soon, but you're pleased as punch to have a driver finish in 9th, or 8th.....or 5th, or even 4th......
It takes a couple seasons of this mediocrity, but at some point, it happens. Mysterious as the circumstances may be, it finally happens.
You thought it was just a well-timed pitstop. Or, perhaps just a lucky break. However....it happened. For some reason, you've got a driver leading the race. The driver behind you is breathing down your neck - hot on your heels, and hell-bent on passing you as soon as is convenient. You're frantically assessing your tire wear and remaining fuel - just how much do you have left in the tank to throw into the race?
It comes down to the final few corners, but suddenly, the potential of winning it all begins to manifest in your mind. You'd be perfectly happy with a podium finish of any kind, but in this very moment right now, the possibility of being 1st becomes tangible. It almost - almost - becomes real....something that really might possibly, just maybe, might happen.
Then, before anyone else, your driver crosses the line. And in that moment, you find yourself at your virtual pit wall, springing to your feet in excitement and ripping off your headphones in excitement precisely as palpable as any C-tier F1 team finishing in 1st would. You're *right* there, on the pit wall, seeing your sub-par driver in your ramshackle whip bring home the first win ever to your team, chomping at the bit to spray champagne across the room you're in in celebration. You came in first. Your team, your baby you've guided and nurtured from infancy....your drivers, your car, your team - you came in first. And nobody got you there but you.
11/10, fantastic game. Highly recommend.
