The Undercut: Racing Manager

AI disclaimer is wrong. This is clearly completely AI generated. Starting with the whole tutorial (seriously, an AI generated tutorial. Absolute joke), to graphics and probably all the code as well. Can't even say if any of the design is human made. And while I'm actually very much pro AI in software dev, this much AI reliance is a real problem from a development perspective, especially if the dev hasn't done a lot of QA (which they clearly haven't). It's filled with small, annoying bugs and most systems are at best half baked. This could be excusable on a human made early access game, knowing that there was already a lot of work put in to get it to this state and pride will likely push people to finish it. But with an AI made game, that isn't even selling well, I have 0 trust that this will ever be worth 15€. Do not buy this right now on a promise of what's to come. You are paying for the privilege to be QA for an AI, which is an absolute joke. Wait until the full release and then judge it.

Accessible yet complex Early access, though plays well Extremely well executed Very addictive for someone like me First race- both cars retired from mechanical failure, one on the last lap. 10/10

In its current state, this is the best motorsport management sim currently out. Races feel real, and seeing a crash develop a couple of seconds before it happens produces a perfect combination of excitement and dread. Sponsors and suppliers are now prizes in their own right: if your marketing department is weaker than the opposition, then you risk being a poor team with a terrible engine. The game itself is very tweakable - if you feel that a strategy is overpowered or underpowered, you can adjust the balance sliders yourself. (There's a LOT of them, too.) After finishing the demo twice (including the version that was released 2 days before the full launch), I was impressed at the improvements in the full version. The economic difficulty has been adjusted from "torturously difficult" to "easily managed if you pay attention", and the dev is enthusiastically taking notes in discord, and I'm confident that the roadmap will be delivered. But even if it's not, this is still better than Motorsport Manager - the race strategy options make sense, and aggression and engine management settings make sense. In a serious step forward, you don't get telemetry on your opponent's tyres and engine settings; you just say to yourself "He's been on softs for quite a whille, surely they're going to fade soon. Please?" There are a couple things that are a bit more difficult than they need to be and some minor but annoying glitches in the user interface. Given the rate of patches to the demo, I feel confident that they'll be resolved in the very near future. (And I did find the driver radio voice annoying. So I turned it off, but kept the engine noises on because there's something soothing about a swarm of angry bees.)

Can't recommend it in the current state, but I feel like it has a lot of potential. Pros: Customization. Create your own teams, drivers, sponsors, tracks, schedules etc. Nice. Even ability to add logos and custom car sprites. No crashes, runs well, basic features all seem to work. Cons: My drivers in the test season I started couldn't even complete a single qualifying lap without spinning off the track at least 3 times each lap. Car sounds are not that great, and driver voices are just gibberish. No weather yet, but it is coming. Wishlist: Easier ways to mod custom driver faces. Optional female drivers for if you want to include teams like the Iron Dames, or run an F1 Academy style series. Or just add in the occasional female driver like Jamie Chadwick, Sophia Floersch etc. A way to keep them optional would be nice, because not everyone would want them in their games. Better camera angles for the live races. tl;dr Wait a while, this could be pretty good later on. Looking forward to seeing how it develops.

Needs too much work. - Drivers ignoring their settings - UI scaling is completely off - Way too much "random" stuff happens to your drivers specifically - Finance system needs a total rework - Signing system for sponsors, drivers and suppliers need a total rework

I spent some time with this game and while I don't often leave reviews, I feel a solo dev team may benefit exponentially from specific criticism, and I believe in the future of this product immensely. To be blunt, this game is fun. It takes time to truly grasp the many mechanics this game has to offer, and the state of things like driver contracts, sponsor contracts as well as teams leaving and joining the grid occur just often enough to keep the experience dynamic. There are pretty glaring issues with the 2d in race depictions of events, especially people crashing or spinning off, but once you come to terms with it, it doesn't bother you much. The big issue that needs needs needs to be addressed is the lack of a save feature, mixed with a UI that is cluttered, lacks context, and most importantly is completely illegible on certain monitors. I abandoned an 8 hour save due to accidentally skipping past the "infrastructure phase" during pre-season due to a combination of these issues, as I wasn't willing to sit through another full season being unable to make any real progress. In all, I recommend this game, especially at the price point, and remain excited for future content, but do be warned that this is an Early Access game.

I love it. I feel like if I tell my driver(s) to overtake, they go for the attempt soon after, as well as mapping for other buttons kicking in when I press it (LiCo, Stay behind etc). I only ended up in 1 train of 4 cars chasing but it felt real. My car was faster but their driver/s were better at defending so I had to wait for an opportunity. Eventually he took it but it was a risk and I felt that Things I won't need added but would be cool if they could figure it out is a "create a driver" mode where you create a driver, and you just manage your driver, if the team tells you to map 9 or LiCo for e.g., you can decide for just that driver if you listen or not. If they tell you to overtake or give position, you decide if you press that button. Right now I have to jot down on a piece of paper the time difference between me and the opponent cars both in front and behind every 5 seconds. It's fun, I like the realism of the 1990s of having to write down the stopwatch times for each driver at each checkpoint to determine if they should push or back off, but it would help my wrist if their was a feature in game showing both increase/decrease per sector and gap increase/decrease per sector from the opponents both behind and in front. Also what lap they pitted maybe? I feel like I would have someone on my pitwall to monitor when other teams pitted. Just helps to know that I don't need to map 10 because the car infront pitted for softs 10 laps ago for example 1 true critism I can give is graphics but I feel that's a known. The other minor criticism I can give for the game is from a game perspective it doesn't explain key race weekend mechanics. It does a good job to give you the basics and I feel with just these you can just go, but maybe if you have time outside to explain other race mechanics, like how the game could give a few explanations about how traffic during a qualifying session is detrimental or give detail why a map 10 for 10 laps at the start has a negative effect on your race strategy. It just brings the game to that next level of introducing people that may not understand racing like we do (as fans) to that level. I would put that as a stretch goal, but worth while. Outside of nitpicks this is a really good simulation of racing (if simplified). I prefer this to F1 manager or Motorsport Manager

Une excellente découverte pour les amateurs de management automobile ! 🏁 The Undercut: Racing Manager propose un tutoriel d'environ 1 heure, idéal pour découvrir tranquillement les différentes mécaniques du jeu. On retrouve ensuite une gestion complète de son écurie : pilotes, personnel, finances, sponsors, développement de la voiture et stratégie de course. Le jeu est agréable à prendre en main et son style rétro pixel art lui donne une vraie personnalité. J'apprécie particulièrement le mélange entre gestion d'équipe et décisions stratégiques pendant les courses. J'ai également eu l'occasion de réaliser une vidéo découverte du jeu sur ma chaîne YouTube. https://youtu.be/KgsB1Wq6qi8 et des Lives sur twitch et YT. 🏎️ Une belle découverte que je recommande aux fans de management et de sport automobile !