Did You Know?
You can improve your staff working conditions and give them extra training to aid their performance. You can bring in a driver to test for you as a guest, this can be to evaluate his performance or just please sponsors. If Negotiations with a potential sponsor hit a critical phase you can send the head of your organisation to meet with their top brass as a signal of intent. What you say in the media after a grand prix will directly impact on the morale of areas of your team Failure to adequately manage your teams finances and budget could well lead to your team principle stepping in and doing the job for you The developers of this game, practically have no life. You can negotiate supplier deals for things such as your cars engines, fuel and brakes. You can join up with a junior team in another motor sport category to blood driver stars of the future. You can interact with the sports governing body to appeal for rule changes or to complain about another teams conduct. You can delegate work between designers to maximise their capabilities. If you want to find out more read our FAQ |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Game: Development, Technical and Publishing
To Summerise, GPRM is a computer management game where you take control of a Grand Prix team, signing sponsors, Developing new parts, negotiating driver, staff and supplier deals, in order to build the fast possible car with the best team. And of course there is the little matter of setting your car up for qualifying and managing the race.
AzTech Games are the developers of GPRM
When will GPRM be released? The team has given release dates in the past and those dates were never met. That's why the team has decided not to give any new release dates until they are sure the release date can be met. At the moment the game is being tested by the Alpha-testers.
When more testers are needed, the right people are contacted by the Test-Coordinator. He will only choose you when he feels you should get a chance. So please consider the time it takes for him to wade through all the e-mails he gets from people asking if they can be on the team. This is useless for both parties, and besides that, it uses precious time that could be used working on the game.
What development phase is the game currently in? How is the game development progressing? The game is currently in Alpha 4 or version 4.0.0. Alpha 4 will very soon be released the the testers who will do further testing. At the moment it's being source tested, bugs are being solved, and all the data is being corrected where needed. Work on the screens is pretty much done and a sidebar has been added recently to make navigation easier. In percentages I would estimate the game is about 80-85% complete.
How long will testing take? That depends on how much work has to be done. The game will go through various phases. In those phases the game will be tested, improved and bugs will be removed. We hope to reach the Beta testing phase December 2005.
What are all these stages about? In any software development, a game goes through 4 stages: Pre-Alpha: This is where the software is being developed. It's not really functional yet. Alpha:
The software is beginning to function, but it's not done yet. There are
typically two or three alpha stages in development, where the games goes from
loosely put together to pretty much all features done, but with lots of bugs. Beta:
The software is now feature complete - or very nearly - and the bugs are being
removed. In the beta stage, the game goes through extensive testing outside the
development environment. Like alpha, there are typically 2 or three stages
here. Release-Candidate: The game is now feature complete and all known
bugs are fixed. Now it's time to do even wider testing. More types of hardware,
OS, drivers, setups and so on. This is where the last few bugs are discovered
and fixed. After all that, it's released.
Are Alpha3 screenshots available? New screenshots have been sent to the new screenshot admin who will hopefully be able to send the screenshots from Octobre 2005 onwards. You can request the screenshots in the Screenshots forum topic. Please note that it is our policy to not send out screenshots to Hotmail and Yahoo accounts. We only send them to ISP addresses. NOTE:
All material is copyrighted to the producers and publishers of GPRM and no
onward distribution is permitted without the express written permission of a
Director of AzTech Games. E-mails sent by AzTech Games containing GPRM material
are confidential and intended for the sole use and perusal by the individual
who made the request for the screenshots.
What are the Minimum system requirements? We are not sure yet. There aren't a lot of 3d graphics in the game. The game does use DirectX. A computer bought after 2000 should be able to run it with ease. This is just an indication though. More detailed specs will follow.
Will there be a demo for this game? The publisher will decide if there will be a demo version of the game.
Will there be multiplayer? There is a 2-player hot seat mode. We will inform you as to how the 2-player mode will work.
What is the chance of any Internet interactivity? I mean either playing over the internet or a board where the best scores are posted? We are very keen on developing a User community on the web and we have had many offers from you guys to host such activities. There may be an official site for posting player ratings and a kind of 'high scores' hall of fame. GPRM is not a fully internet based/enabled game and does not have web hosting potential for multi-player or on-line competition. Maybe a sequel could change that, but we do want players to be able to compare each others performances etc. stats based.
At the moment we are in talks with publishers. When there is news in this area an announcement will be made.
Won't the name be a problem? In the end the publisher will decide on the name, so this will not be a problem.
Will the game be published in the country I live in? This is the decision of the publisher. We can't say anything about it until a deal has been made with a publisher
Is GPRM going to be playable in others countries home languages? We will get people to translate the game into localized versions in countries that the publisher distributes.
Will there be an update for 2004? A 2004 update is not planned at the moment. However, there is an option planned: at the end of the 2003 season you should be able to choose between the 2003 or 2004 rules. That is: the back to back qualifying or the 2003 system. The one-engine rule will be harder to implement.
What will your next project be? We hope to successfully launch GPRM and to follow that up with GPRM2, this will include all the features that we couldn't put in the original game. Some of the things that spring to mind is real internet play, proper 3d TV style interface with high-resolution graphics. We will also hopefully have a bigger budget, bigger team. Also probably an even better game!
Is there a plan to try and take the game to E3? Currently the team is too busy working on the game to go to E3.
Which programming language is the game being developed with? The current version is being developed using Visual Basic. When the game is feature complete and pretty much bug free the game will be ported over to C++ which has already begun.
When the game is released will there be support in the form of patches to fix bugs, errors, and mistakes that slip through the testing stages? How much support will depend on the publisher, but yes there will be some type of support.
I was just wondering, what if you can't find a publisher ? Because of the license or because of the market ? At Aztech the team is always optimistic and are always on the look out for a publisher. Given the quality of the product it is much better than any of the competing products. Don't worry, the game will get published.
Will GPRM be available on different platforms? It will be up to the publisher as to whether or not GPRM will be available across other platforms.
Game play, Realism and some specific situations
Will you be able to drive in F1 Championship Manager? This version of the game will not include driving the cars. This would be a huge project to undertake as you would need to make 2 different game types.
How many difficulty settings are there? There are 3 difficulty levels, beginner, intermediate and advanced. Additionally you can set 3 levels of AI Team game play.
What will be your position in the game? You are the Technical Director of a team. It's your job to handle the financial, design and tactical part of the team among other things. If you don't do a very good job at it, you will get fired. If you are fired you can still watch the seasons progress, and if you will see a position coming free you will want to jump right in. Rather or not a team want you will depend on your reputation you have built as a Technical Director.
What are the game phases? Each game phase is 1 week in time so there are 52 phases in the season - within each phase is the opportunity to perform R&D, a chance to look at your Design programs and sort out any business deals. The game is linked directly to the 52 week calendar.
What season will the game be based on? The game was originally based upon the 2001 season. However we decided to update it on the 2003 season, because most people will want to play an up-to-date season with all the new rules and drivers. We are aware of the licensing issues that have come into effect with the season change, but feel that the 2003 update is important to make this the best F1 management simulation. Obviously we will do our best to base the game on the most recent season available. License issues are the keyfactor here, but that will be dependend on the publisher.
How many seasons can you play? This depends on the license we can use. A realistic setting is 50 seasons, because the current inflation model* used in the game will not function properly after that amount of time. *This provides economic changes in the game
In other F1 manager games you could see the team overall on the driver pictures. If you were a Ferrari manager and signed David Coulthard he would still be shown in McLaren clothing. Is this going to be any different in GPRM? We have tried to focus on faces as much as we could, but in the end you will probably see drivers and team members in their original colors. So if you sign David Coulthard you won't really see him in McLaren clothing because we have brushed all the marks away, but you will see he is still wearing silver. Unfortunately there is no way to change that right now.
Will there be a trophy cabinet where you can see all the prizes your team has won? No, not at this moment. However you can see a lot of statistics about what you have achieved.
Will there be cheats in the game? Cheats aren't really required. If you need cash you can take out a loan. At the moment cheats are not planned for the game.
Will you see unrealistic things such as Minardi winning the races in the first season of the game (02/03)? In GPRM every team is modeled and performs like the current real life team so it is unlikely that you will see Minardi winning races in the beginning.
Will this game be like other games where once you get Mercedes engines, Neil Oatley and Adrian Newey you completely dominate the sport? Or will it be realistic where Mercedes could make a bad engine and half way through the season the redevelop a new engine which makes you faster? We are trying to balance the game so that the pack will be shuffled up a little bit on the grid. The game is a constant evolution of technology and a repetitive gamble on the next step of each developed part. Some engine suppliers may make 3 steps forward which increases steadily the power of their engines, but the durability of those engines may vary massively from one step to another. This is the same for every component that your team develops too. Conservative development should maintain where you are on the grid. Too conservative and you may have a healthy bank balance but find that you lose sponsorship revenue because you slip down the grid, and find yourself dipping into your savings just to try and redeem your original status. Be too aggressive in development strategy and your quick car may not finish a race, and again the sponsors will run away as you slide down the Constructor rankings. So the key is to be as aggressive as possible to try and leap frog your opponents without overstretching your budget and your development capacity. Each season, the AI teams will adopt variable Development strategies dependent upon their progress and previous season's performances, so I have no doubt that the degree of success will be highly irregular. That in turn should result in the 'shuffling of the pack'. Finally, the Best Designers do not always produce the best cars, but often they do.
Will the Drivers make unrealistic team moves such as Schumacher going to Minardi? Drivers have an important role in GPRM, the good ones are expensive but will make a significant difference to the performance and development of the car. The AI teams know this too so they will be looking to sign up the best drivers that their budgets will allow, but as in real life F1 Minardi signing Schumacher is highly unlikely.
Let's say I join Jaguar, get good results but due to some loss of Sponsors and other unforeseen expenses I manage to get in a debt. Will I get fired or will they also look at the other aspects of my managing? There are some instant dismissal offences which will be made clear to you by the boss. These will include overdrawn bank status where your liabilities exceed your revenue stream. Most bosses require you to make a profit in order that they can pay the profit as a dividend to their shareholders and re-invest it into the infrastructure of the team. They will tell you what financial position they expect at the end of each season and if you fail that is one of several conditions of your contract that the boss will use to determine whether or not he fires you. But spending too much money regardless of the results will send the business bankrupt - at which point you are fired and the boss tries to negotiate his way out of the problem with the parent Company or Bankers.
I just took over from Lauda and he left me with a huge debt and after 2 races they decide to replace the top brass and inject a lot of money. In this case it wouldn't be fair to fire me? If you take over a team with a poor credit status you will not inherit an irrecoverable debt problem. Your appointment will be part of a recovery program and you will need to spend very wisely, but you will never take over a job with a team whose forward order book means they are effectively already bankrupted. You will also be given until at least the end of that season to work your magic.
Is there a 3D mode to watch your team race? No, there is not a 3D racing engine in GPRM instead there is a map showing locations of the cars as they move about. Plus you have feedback from the drivers telling you what is happening on most of the laps.
What points system is used in the game? There are two points systems available one is the old top 6 and the other of course is the top 8.
Will you allow GPRM to be easily modiIGPAble? I mean, many people out there love making season packages for games and even F1 Manager 2000 had season packages. Modifying / Customization is the publisher's decision and currently we really can't speculate on anything.
1)If you have a driver for 1 season and contract another driver to replace him at the end of the year, will his performance suffer for the remaining races, e.g. Trulli?2)Will there be any sort of commentary in the game?3)Is there telemetry in the game? Yes, to all three.
In previous F1 management games there were three main screens. The office, development and the garage. In each of these screens you could select several different areas for instance: click on the phone to contact sponsors or click on the managers room to negotiate drivers and engineers. Will it be similar in this game? With the new sidebar we have added in August 2005, the navigation within the game has improved dramatically. You can essentially reach all of the screens you need by using the sidebar, without getting lost or losing sight of what you are doing.
With the race results we know that we get an end of race report with the final standings etc, however will these be archived like in GPW to be reviewed later in the year should you want to, and also if they do get archived will they be removed at the end of season or will they always be available for the length of your game? You can view previous results on the championship screen. You can currently view the current 2003 and also see seasons 1998-2002
I think it will be a great game if there will be some TV translation during the races. All in all GPRM programmers can try to copy the graphical parts of the game from GPW (Grand Prix World Manager) or F1 Manager 2000. Nope, we are not doing that.. we have chosen a different approach for GPRM.. to make a 3d engine would be a very time consuming operation and time is not on our side. You will just see the track lay-out and car numbers moving over the track. As you have seen in GPW and F1 Manager it is very hard to have a good 3d engine. We would rather have an approach that just looks good than to try and fail at another 3d engine in an f1 manager game, but for the sequel this is definitely being looked at.
I was wondering if there will be an editor in the release version of the game, and if so, which parts of the game can users change with it? This has not been decided on at this time, and the publisher will have a say in this as the license might prohibit the inclusion of an official editor.
Will there be crashes in the game that will give a code red? Yes.
In GPW during the race and qualifying sessions they had sound effects and audio & text commentary of what was happening on track (e.g. informing you of a new pole time or a driver returning to the pits).Will something like this be put into GPRM? Each driver has their own box and they say things like: - (I have spun off)
Drivers
Will driver X be in the game? There is a drivers list, that has been researched at the moment. Time will tell which drivers from other classes we can have in the game. This is dependent on the licenses.
How many Dutch drivers are there in the game and who? Currently two, Jos Verstappen and maybe Christian Albers
How will Verstappen be rated (from a Dutch fan) ? Each driver has a set of numbers which are varied slightly each time you start a new game (that way no two games are alike), so sometimes Jos might be rated higher - others where he is now, and other times his rating might be lower.
Will there be drivers from DTM? If there are, they will probably be in the 'other drivers' category, but at the moment it doesn't look like DTM is going to be used in the game.
How does the Driver skills & ratings system work? There will be an array of point ratings for each driver. Two types of rating systems are in the game: Historical (driver wins, poles etc) and Ability ratings (driver speed, wet weather skills etc). Driver statistics can vary with game events, performance and age. The direction of the change depends upon a whole range of factors not limited to: Age, Confidence, Morale and Performances.
Can the Drivers have Injuries, Retire, or even Die? Drivers can get injured. Once drivers retire (from F1), they stop driving, with performance and age being the major contributors. Death may be a real danger in F1 but not in our game. Parents could be outraged, children mentally scarred - all that sort of stuff. Drivers will have a fitness rating, a driver less than fully fit is more likely to get injured.
Can I offer contracts to rookie drivers? Drivers from other Formulas are available (F3, F3000, CART etc) and you can watch their progress with an option to hiring those drivers or offering them a shoot-out test.
Will the drivers have their original contract terms in the game? We will mirror reality wherever we can.
Will we be able to pick our own drivers before the start of our first season as manager or will have to use the original drivers for the first season then pick our own drivers from the second season onwards? You start with your teams original drivers, some might even have 2 or 3 years left on their contracts you can always fire them, but it will affect your bottom line.
Before the start of season, can I give my drivers a holiday break? You are in charge of all schedules for your drivers. If they are not listed for duty they do what they like in their time.
Will the driver help you to improve your car. e.g. Verstappen is well-known for his good feedback to the team, will he for instance tell you or the engineers that his car lacks front-end grip? Each driver has a capability rating in very many different categories, one such category is their Feedback to Set up the car. The best Engineers and a driver with a high Feedback rating will establish what areas of the car need adjustment in a shorter period of time than those less highly rated. This speed and accuracy in identifying the problems should translate into getting your cars dialed into the best set-up configurations faster during a race week-end, but equally as important they will help in the car development program.
If the above is answered by a YES, will there be any difference between drivers? The difference between higher and lower Feedback ratings is the speed of identifying the problem and offering the best solutions. This speed will enable you to try out more possible solutions and analyze the outcome faster. Indeed, if your team has very low ratings they may never actually find the problems out in time for you to set the car up properly for either the race or the Qualifying session - DISASTER
Are the drivers going to perform any better at their home GP's? Drivers raise their game on home soil, they go slightly faster for slightly longer.
How many test drivers can you have in your team? You can have 1 official test driver and up to 4 guest test drivers.
What will make drivers decide to retire or go to other areas of the racing sport? This will be based on age and performance. These days, drivers end their Formula1 career when they are about 36 or 37 years old. If things are not going as well as they would like, or they are getting tired of Formula1, they could retire at an earlier age. Their decision as whether or not to go to another race class like IRL also depends on performance and age
After a while all the current drivers will retire. So how will that work? We don't know if we can design the game to have unlimited seasons yet, but even if it's a 50 season limit you would run out of drivers after a while. So, new drivers are generated by the game, the names will be taken from a database with first and last names based on nationality, so you will basically get different names every campaign you play.
In GPRM do you plan to have hidden attributes or will everything be visible? Yes , there are Hidden Attributes, depending on the difficulty level chosen at the start of a game there will be more or less.
How many drivers are the in the game and are there also drivers available from f3000, f3, and other series? Currently there are approximately 250 drivers in the driver database with real names from different series and the database can create new driver names based on nationality.
Is it possible to have a scouting window to keep tabs on drivers you might want to hire, or do we have to search for them whenever we want to check up on them? Once you are in negotiations with a driver or any staff you will be in contact with their agent, this is called the Agents Approach screen.
Teams, Design and Set-up
How many teams are there in the game? There will be a limit of 12 active teams, just like in real Formula1
Which teams will be in the game? All the 2003 teams. When a team disappears, a new 'spare' team will make up for it, this will keep a constant number of teams in the game.
Is there a value on how good the tires will 'fit' on your chassis? Yes. There are different values for tires and for each manufacturer these values will change every grand-prix. There is also a value for how good the tires will be when used on your chassis.
Is there a possibility that your car will not respond to setup changes like it should? There is no such factor, however some cars will be more difficult than others.
Will it be possible to build a totally new or revised car like McLaren has done this season? Yes, but that will of course take some time, so it will not be something you will want to do just to make the car 0.02 seconds faster
Can you start on your 2006 car design in 2004? You might be able to do that, but it wouldn't be practical since you do not know the rules for 2006 in 2004.
The FW26 and MP4/19 have revolutionary designs. Will GPRM render revolutionary things like the FW26 nose when the new car is done? No. GPRM uses the same car model for all the teams and this model will be used for all the seasons. GPRM has no limit in the number of seasons you can play and it will be impossible to create new revolutionary models. Besides, we don't know what revolutionary things will come in the future. However, you can make small changes to the chassis and they will be visible. You can make it shorter, longer, higher, lower etc.
What can I change about next years engine? With the right type of contract, you can specify to the engine department what changes you want with your next step of engines, e.g. BHP, Reliability, and Weight.
Let's say I want to make my fuel tank bigger for the next season. Can I tell my design department to do that? You can ask your engine department to make a smaller engine, so you can increase the size of your fuel tank.
A question about McLaren. Will McLaren start the 2003 season with the MP4/17, the MP4/17D or the MP4/18? In real life, we saw that the MP4/18 was never used on the race weekends. We will never know why it wasn't used in race weekends. It could be that it was slower than the 17, or it could be that it was unreliable. In GPRM the 18 will be (by default) lighter than the 17. In GPRM you can have up to 7 chassis available at any one time. The game starts on 1st January 2003, at that moment you will have four MP4/17 available, and three MP4/18 which are in development. When you're at McLaren it is your choice, you can: further develop the MP4/17 or focus on the MP4/18. By default, the 18 will be lighter and quicker. The computer AI running with McLaren will want to run the 18 as soon it possibly can.
How many Spare Teams are in the game? We are currently finalizing all Spare Teams, we have 21 so far and are planning to increase or decrease this. We will let you know once it has been decided or completed.
Is it possible to design one off parts? e.g. extra high down force wings just for Monaco as the drag doesn't matter? You can make them yes, but its up to you to make it. Teams start testing for tighter tracks like Monaco early on, so you might want to create certain aero parts for the future races. Then you will be able to select your wing (for instance) with the Monaco down force required.
I have probably played most of the F1 Manager games out there and one thing that has annoyed me the most has to do with setups. In many of the games you are not only the manager but also the race engineer. At the same time you hire race engineers which is a bit odd. To my mind, setting up a car is impossible since in most of these manager games you don't get any feedback from the drivers. How will this work in GPRM? Will there be setup or can you use your hired engineers for that? Will there be feedback from the drivers? You can choose whether you will do the setup or let your race engineer do it, if you choose to do it yourself then you will have feedback from both drivers and race engineers, the precision and the amount of information will vary depending on your drivers and race engineers skills and of course the difficulty level of the game you have chosen.
Commercial and Deals
Are there any sponsors in the game who are not in F1 right now? All of the sponsors we are currently using have been or are in F1, this may have to change for obvious reasons.
How are the teams sponsored? There are dormant sponsors in GPRM who are prepared to go into F1 if they see the right deal and if they can agree a price with you. You have to be commercially astute to get sponsors and to sign all the supplier deals and driver deals. Drivers don't pay you but certain drivers work for free with their sponsor paying you money in exchange for advertising space and conditional upon you retaining their sponsored driver. Potential Sponsors will offer teams sponsorship funding based upon only two things. ; I)
The market value of the space you offer them on your car. II) The
sponsors own perceived value of the space available. When a deal is on
the table you decide whether to take it, reject it, or ask for more money. Your
hospitality budget can be increased to attract more interest but the final deal
is dependant upon those two factors. Getting them to the negotiation table in
the first place requires hospitality and promotion. There will almost certainly
be a tobacco ban from the start of the game-commercial reasons-Parents do not
want their children playing games promoting cigarettes and alcohol. It is bad
for games publishers to upset their consumers too. In order to mimic the real
situation we have included a Group of sponsors who will no longer be allowed to
play a part in the sport from 2007 onwards.
If you assign more or better personnel to a sponsorship deal will you get more money or will the deal happen faster? The game uses 5 slots for sponsorship. You have 5 current sponsors you can negotiate with for a new contract, and you can negotiate with 5 different new sponsors to replace the current sponsors. Sponsors have 1 to 5 stars which reflect the amount of money they will want to pay. The stars also reflect the position the sponsors will want on your car. 5 star sponsors will not want to sign on slot 5 but rather on slot 1, which is obviously the best place on the car. If you have good personnel in this area you could get more money from a sponsor. How fast you can get the sponsor will depend the way you handle things, and of course your performance. You can accept another sponsor to replace your current sponsor after the current sponsorship ends.
So should you replace a deal before it's ended? Your performance amongst other things will determine whether or not your current sponsor will want to sign another contract with you. Negotiating with a sponsor could take up to a year, so you always want to have a sponsor to replace the current one, should that sponsor not be willing to renew the current contract.
Can you paint your own color design on the car? We tried to implement this, but came across serious problems. So, we have had to scrap the idea for now and the game will use the standard car liveries. However, you will be able to change the team colors, so you will be able to change the color of the menu bars, and you will see that the 'cars' on the mini-map will have the new color.
Can you see new sponsors on the Car Liveries? Same story, we tried but so far we have had no luck. So no, you will not be able to.
Can your rename your team? If I lose West sponsorship and I get Marlboro to sponsor me will my new team name be Marlboro McLaren Mercedes? Yes and no. You won't be able to change the name yourself, but the team name is changed to whatever sponsor is signed for slot 1. For example: If you're in charge of Minardi and you sign a deal with Trust to be your slot 1 sponsor, the team name will be 'Trust Minardi Cosworth'. Of course provided you have signed Cosworth as your engine-supplier. Marlboro will not be in the game though.
How will GPRM handle financial problem situations Team debt in GPRM is caused by over committing fixed and incidental spending against your income. AI teams finances will not be programmed to be overstretched. They will get into financial problems especially when they take on a longer term, for instance a 3 year engine deal (or other similar big expense) and their results and status falls. When this happens they will have an extended fixed expense column and a declining revenue stream. They will quickly work out that they are in trouble and will try to cut their cloth accordingly with major cut backs in their Testing and Development program. They will also aim towards bringing in funded drivers and inexpensive staff all around. They will re-structure their debt with budget changes that smooth out their bank balance and erode their debt by working to a positive cash flow situation. This will not result in them freezing all expenditure and all development, but will drastically reduce their programs in order to start bringing in more money from each race than they spend. Of course, they can not freeze all spending as that will send them to the back of the grid very quickly. When spending cut backs are too severe and the results start to deteriorate grid positions the value of advertising space is naturally reduced also, which can in turn drive down the financial security of a team. When there is a very serious financial problem there will be a rescue plan which will include an injection of capital but will see a change at the top of the Company tree and also many senior personnel figures are fired - including you, if you are running one such operation. Bankruptcy is also possible which could result in a new team replacing a bankrupted operation.
How will this rescue plan be implemented? like Stoddard and Minardi and Ford and Stewart (no money problems but taken over) or just suddenly new people and money? How will the news handle it? Will it say: Brattier takes over Prost or will it not show up in the news? Everything shows up in the News. We have a number of spare Team Heads that may replace the failed outgoing bosses. So that is what will get reported. There are two categories of failure - The Works team failure and the Privateer failure. When a big works team gets into trouble the big parent operation comes forward and injects cash after firing the top brass. When a privateer manages his teams finances poorly a mysterious un-named business syndicate comes forward and buys into the operation, normally leaving the top boy in charge. The likes of David Richards (this was written long before he took over from Craig Pollock) and Stewart are eager to take over a team in GPRM. We have new 'spare' teams too.
What about Driver Sponsorship? Some Drivers will carry sponsorship funding which is dependant on you being able to carry their logo on your cars. We have also included Marketing/Merchandising Deals (this is in addition to sponsorship deals) that will accompany high profile drivers. This was necessary to enable realistic driver salaries. M/M deals will only follow the successful bedding in of these high profile drivers and will not be part of any initial deal.
If you have a driver that you pay $10 million and you lose your major sponsor, and bring in a sponsor with less resources. Will he accept having his payroll reduced for only one year to lets say $7 million? If you sign a driver on a $10m 2 year deal and you have not already secured sufficient sponsorship for that second year you will be gambling the financial status of your team and you probably never should have committed to that 2 year deal. A 1 year deal would have been more prudent, then on the basis of whatever finances you secure for year 2 you can determine what to spend on drivers/suppliers etc. In GPRM you need to balance the books, because if you don't you will pay the price with your job.
Can you make deals with merchandising companies and with TV channels? Marketing exists but mainly in connection with those expensive superstar drivers (Schumacher, Villeneuve etc).
Can you have a demonstration day, to show some F1 cars on a circuit and you get paid for it? You can use the 2/3-seater program to generate revenues as well as for marketing/hospitality reasons.
Media and Politics
Is there going to be In game Media and Press? At the end of each race you may have to face a Press conference. There will be some very difficult questions when things do not go as well as were expected and you must answer to the Press. Sometimes you have the choice to explain a bad result by blaming your drivers or by blaming a member of the Team. When things go wrong you often have to upset someone. This will impact their confidence and performance and a few bad results through bad luck can decrease the morale of your outfit. The Drivers may also feed the press with some criticisms of you. You are forced to back him or slap him. Depending on his character he will react either well or badly. You need to understand your Team members and you can even use the Press to get the best out of your driver. You must handle the press well and you must understand and observe your driver and Team's reaction to adversity, praise and criticism.
Can you get involved with F3/F3000 Teams? You can partner with (pay money to and for the team) F3, F3000 formulas in GPRM. Such partnerships will secure you some influence within that team enabling a young contracted Driver to secure a good drive in a good team and enabling them to develop their potential more quickly. The importance of such partnerships is in the Development of Young preferred Drivers. Also, we have developed the US CART series to run parallel in the current program but this may have to change because we may have problems due to licensing issues.
What will the politics in GPRM be like? GPRM has several scenarios that are random but event driven. They are similar to the 'chest' or 'community cards' you find playing monopoly. You don't start these events, you react to them.
Can you arrange team launches and invite the media and sponsors to the event? Also can you attend other team launches or do you get a press release stating that this event has happened? It is not decided yet if team launches will be in the game graphically and/or how much detail you will get from them.
Tracks, Race weekends and Testing
How many tracks are available in the game? There are 17 current racetracks. Whether or not we can increase that number will depend on the license. The original plan was to have spare tracks like Bahrain, China, Holland, Portugal, Argentina, South-Africa and Mexico. Each GPRM season will be a 17 race campaign. Again, it is license dependent so we don't know which tracks can be included.
What about the GP's of the future, Russia, Lebanon, Turkey and about 2 other GP's, will these be in the game too? We are not sure about the list of 'spare' circuits to be included for future races. It is going to be difficult to include circuits that have not yet been built and that have no designs or track data. We had planned for Bahrain, China, Russia, Argentina, Portugal, Mexico, Holland and South Africa but we are currently concentrating on getting the 2003 circuits data mapped and built. We hope the license will allow additional circuits
Will the race calendar change with new tracks coming in and current ones going out? Yes. The race calendar will change, not as many times as some other manager games, where 3 or 4 tracks could change every season. GPRM will handle this realistically.
Are the Tracks going to have different weather conditions? Each Track has a unique % rating for Rain, Temperature range, and Variability. So tracks with low variability are more likely to stay the same throughout the weekend, but like real F1, anything is possible.
How many tire varieties are there? Wet, Intermediates, and two Dry compounds will be available at each race weekend.
Will there be Safety car situations and red flags? Yes. These will both be in the game.
What is the amount of fuel used during Safety car periods? Drivers use around half the fuel of a normal race speed lap.
Often drivers go in during a Safety car period in the race. Can I do that too? Will the AI drivers do that? Yes, you can do that too. And the AI teams will try to beat you wherever they can, that means they will try to get the best out of a Safety car situation too.
What safety events happen during a race? There will be safety car sequences (Safety cars will be replaced by warning lights in 2002 but we are unsure if we will let the game reflect this.). Incidents will get investigated by the Stewards who may take action. You may also appeal to the stewards who, again, may take action. Fines can occur, points deducted etc. Also random penalties may occur, things like the Mechanic not clear in time prior to race start!!
Are the Track conditions going to be visible? The Track conditions are visible throughout every session. Current rubber (grip) on the circuit or current moisture (slip) levels. Temperature and Weather conditions are also clearly displayed.
Can you speed up or slow down time in the race weekends? You can speed up and slow down the sessions. You can also slow the sessions down again after you have raised the speed. (In GPW you had to wait for the race to end in high speed).
Can you save your game between sessions? Can you deselect some sessions? You can save your game between sessions. On low difficulty settings you can deselect practice sessions. On higher difficulty levels you automatically have all sessions in the race weekend.
How does the 2 players system work in the race? Do you have to call your pit crew to get ready or is it automatic? The 2 player game enables both players to access their pit calls simultaneously without having to press a switch over button. On scheduled stops the Pit call is automated unless you keep your driver out on the track.
Will wind be implemented in the game? Yes, but the wind direction doesn't really matter. You will notice the amount of wind in the lap times.
Can you have two spare-cars at the race weekend? Yes
Can you decide not to change tires but just get fuel during a Pit Stop? You can select - Fuel only, Tires (front/rears) only etc.
Can you decide to just change tires? Yes
Can you decide to change only the back/front tires like Fisichella did in Belgium 2001? Yes, interesting move, but I can never see that working for the reasons Fisichella used (stabilize excessive rear tire wear - over steer) it won't work in GPRM unless Tire degradation is almost zero.
Can you abort the pit stop in the middle of it and send the car out immediately? (for example to keep him in front of another car). If the fuel rig fails you can abandon the pit-stop - but make sure 4 tires are on first!! I can not see that working either because you may wait 30-40 seconds hoping rig problems are solved before deciding to abandon the stop ??
In the game is it possible to turn the driving aids off. Either if they are broken or not reliable or if the driver doesn't want it. In GPRM if you develop good TC or LC that is reliable you decide whether or not to use it.
Could you make it realistic by making some drivers refuse to use launch control devices in case they stall in the last race? The teams will all have a Traction Control and Launch Control system at the beginning of the game, how good that system is will depend on how high up the field the team is. The TC and LC are based on 2 things - Reliability and Performance. once you can convince your drivers the performance out weighs the reliability problems they will use it every race without any trouble.
How is the Testing going to work? Testing is vital if you want to ensure the reliability of your parts. In Free practice you can ask your Race Engineers to set up the car for the race or you can take control of the whole thing, it's your choice. Some people find setting up the car boring - others love it - this option accommodates everybody. There will be set Test dates sanctioned by the racing authorities. A team may not buy a Test Track, but Ferrari does get exclusive use of two circuits and only by concession can other F1 teams test there.
When you test for aerodynamics, will the development team just improve the car with their findings? You have information about your parts regarding things like drag, down force etc. and when you go to the test track to do testing on aerodynamics the parts you are developing are tested, this will show if the parts are faster than the parts you are using now. Track testing is the last stage of development, after that you will be given the choice to build the part, or do some more work on it. You can also scrap the project at any time during the development progress.
Tell me more about the stages components go through in development. Your engineers will update you on their estimates for the performance ratings after each part of the test program has completed. After the initial design process is completed you will use the recommendations of your engineering team to decide whether or not to prototype the new component and test it at your next test session. Track testing will bring you closer to the definitive ratings of each component and also will be able to help to define the reliability of the components. Track testing developed parts enables you to get a more accurate picture on how good and reliable the parts are. The more mileage you put onto a component in testing, the better your engineers understand how to get the maximum benefit from the component. So parts are actually improved by the engineers who make minor modifications after each test.
Will you get testing points for your setup like in GPW? No. You make the choice if you want to tweak the setup yourself, or you want the Race Engineer to do that. There are not any setup points in GPRM, because you will have as much time as you can use in the sessions. The time and ability of your crew is not shown in blocks, but you can rather see it in real-time.
What is the maximum number of cars you can use at a test? At the moment 2 cars.
Can you improve a driver within 1 or 2 tests? Improving will be mainly down to the drivers themselves, you can't tell a driver to get out there and improve himself.
Will the 20 test days -or Friday testing choice be implemented? The testing schedule accommodates 2003 rules and regulations for the 20 day test limit.
When you decide to go to test sessions can you decide what part or parts you want to test? Yes, you get a list of options on what you want to focus on, there is almost no limit as to what you can choose to test
1. With testing do you have the option to watch the testing sessions like in F1 Manager or will it be like in GPW. 2. Also with pre-season testing will u be able to run the car in an interim livery like Minardi is doing at the moment with a straight black car, without the engine and tire suppliers logos and the lead sponsor? 1. You don't watch testing, you just pick the option of who, what, when and where and then you see a summary at the end test session. 2. No, you can't run with a plain livery unless you do not have any sponsors, which is not a good idea if you are to survive as a manager. The
pictures that you will see of the cars i.e. on front team page after 2003
season will be plain with no sponsors because we don''t know which sponsors you
will have.
During a GP weekend, after practice sessions, will there be information available to you which says how good other teams are on long runs or how consistent their lap times are or whether they only look good for a few laps? Currently no, but the team is considering adding this in the future, so no, not directly, but you can look up their lap times.
IGPA and Rules
IGPA stands for International Grand Prix Association, a governing body in GPRM.
Will your new car have to pass the IGPA crash test? Yes, every new car you design will have to pass the crash test just like every other team. You will be informed of the other teams progress in passing the crash test through the IGPA section. As for your car, if it fails you will be forced to redesign your car. This will add lots of weight and fundamentally change the design of the car. Again you will go through the same procedure. The IGPA will examine the car and crash test it. This will cost you more money, so be careful on your overall spending on each chassis design. If this fails, you could again go through the crash test procedure, but its more prudent to design a new chassis from scratch.
In GPM2 they had the possibility of banned driver aids (ABS, active suspension, turbo, etc.) becoming legal in future years. Is that going to be put into GPRM? Yes GPRM has concepts with rule changes that make certain things illegal and legal from time to time.
Will new driver ideas and aids be added as teams develop them? This way the IGPA can ban them and they can be re-integrated later. This could cause a boost in performance or a drop. There are always special concepts that are waiting to be discovered in GPRM, but they are expensive to research and develop and will more likely be researched by the richer teams. Certain materials and concepts will get an F1 ban.
Will the IGPA try to level the field when one team is dominating? The rules are changed from time to time to slow the cars down. The IGPA will try to stop a team from dominating this way.
Will the 107% rule be applied? In the 2003 season the 107% was not applied in Formula1. Since GPRM is based on the 2003 season, it wont be applied in GPRM.
Is the HANS system in the game? In 2003 the HANS system is compulsory. So yes, it will be included.
When the IGPA want to change the rules in the game, will all the teams have to agree on it or are they just put in place without any influence from the teams? The rules are not voted on by the teams, the IGPA puts them out for the next season without any input.
As the game is possibly starting at the 2003 season will all the rules and regulations be updated and implemented as we move on to the current 2005 season? e.g.. During the 2005 season in the game we are playing to the 2005 rules and regulations that are in place for real life formula one? Currently only the set of rules from the 2004 season are in, and the 2004 season will be played with the 2004 regulations, as of now none of the rules for the 2005 season are in the game, but for future seasons the game will change its own set of F1A rules.
Contracts, Personnel and Suppliers
How are the Driver/Team and Manager Negotiations working? There are various performance clauses available for both Managers (you) and Drivers to negotiate. When you join a Team you are given a contract. Your objectives are stated as performance clauses. If you do not achieve your objectives you are in breach of your contract and you may be fired. You must then wait for other job offers. Your team may offer you an extension to your contract or you may be approached by another team who may offer you a deal to join them.Hiring Staff from other teams can give you a short term boost in the relevant department. Such staff can bring some secrets from their previous team which can allow you to replicate the design more quickly. This advantage soon disappears due to progressive technology. You hire a Race Engineer for each driver and they calculate much of the race-data for you to inspect.
Just 1 quick question do you get to state your intentions when you join a team e.g.: - going for the driver and constructers championship for duration of contract- challenge for the driver or constructer championship for duration of contract- improving the development of the car to compete for podiums and wins- develop a strong base for the future of the team by securing long term contracts in main areas and scoring some championship points- surviving in the sport but signing short term deals and saving as much money as possible At the beginning of each season you are told what the expectations are. It can be going for the title, be top 3, get in the points 5 times and so on, depending on your team.
How are contracts negotiated? In GPRM, The negotiations all work fairly similar. You are given a screen dedicated to the negotiation. On this screen you have lots of options which will OBVIOUSLY construct the contract between the parties. Once you have been given a proposal via the screen mentioned above, the opposing party/s will analyze the proposal and keep you updated regular via email. They will get back to you as soon as possible, and you will get rejected quickly if the offer is ridiculous and you will certainly be put in your place. The
main concept behind this engine is quite deep. Stu (Program Manager) has spent
a long time in perfecting this Engine. You are always progressing together to
find that perfect solution. After all they are going to become your partner. The
engine negotiations are bit more delicate, you will need to tread carefully as
not every engine manufacturer will be interested, so you must deal with them
more precisely to find a solution to end up with a contract.
When you start a game with e.g. Ferrari, and you want to join e.g. Minardi.. can you just switch teams, or will you have to get fired, and wait for a bid from Minardi? If you want to go to Minardi while your currently at Ferrari, it isnt just a question of switching teams. Like in real f1, if a TD gets fired he will have to be glad with whatever team he can jump into any time soon. Take David Richards for example: in 1998 he was the Benetton TD. He got replaced in 1999, and he came back at BAR in 2002. So when you get fired, you're going to have to wait till a position becomes available! Of course, if the position at Minardi would be open you can choose to resign at Ferrari. If you have a good enough reputation I'm sure it won't be a problem to get in at Minardi. You can resign from your current team any time you like! But remember: if you have a low rating when you retire, it's unlikely anyone would give you a contract again, because like in real life, teams don't usually go with a TD that has little experience. In real life though, a TD usually has had a similar position and knows how the formula1 world works. You don't have that advantage in GPRM, so be sure to only resign when you have a reasonable reputation.
Is there a mode where you can only choose your team based on your reputation? At the beginning of the game your reputation is very low. At the moment you can choose any team you want. This is just to keep everyone happy. We know a lot of you guys want to try out a challenge with Toyota, McLaren, or Williams for example. Those teams would, in real life, never commit with a manager who has zero experience. To program a complete new game mode like that would take a lot of new coding work. The team thinks it might be a nice idea for the sequel though, but the game has progressed too far to add such a big feature right now.
What happens in the game while you are between contracts? Its been proposed that you see one screen that summarizes EVERYTHING you need and you just press next week until something happens, so basically you would just see results of races and wait until a spot comes open.
Do the AI teams fire their drivers? Yes they can, but this would mainly happen when a driver under performs against his targets as set in a release clause. A driver may have to score, say, 8 points before the 8th race to keep his race seat and his failure will mean his immediate dismissal without any penalty to the team. Interestingly there can also be a driver release clause that allows him to leave you or your rivals in the event that the team is not above a certain position in the Constructors Championship etc.
What are the ways that contracts can be signed under? Contractual agreements have either: 1)neutral (no clauses). 2)In
favor of the team (allowing the Team to sack the Driver). 3)In favor of
the driver (allowing the driver to leave).
Can you buy people out of contracts? Yes
Can you hire a driver that you have fired earlier on? The drivers, sponsors, engine manufacturers, suppliers etc. will ''black-mark a team''. This lasts until another team upsets them. So if you fire a driver, your team will be black-marked, and until he is fired by another team he is unlikely to sign a new contract with you.
At the easy difficulty level the staff will have a rating from 1 to 100. In the hardest difficulty level they will have a rating from 1 to 20, making it much harder obviously to tell which of the staff will turn out to be the best choice.
Will there be implemented contract clauses? If so how will they work? They will either be a standard fixed term deal, where if either party reneges compensation penalties will be high. The break clauses in the contract and renewal options will be in the favor of either the Team or the Driver. So you might have a 1 year deal with Trulli, but he may have the escape clause that unless you are in the top 6 after Race 8 he can leave immediately without penalty. You may be 7th and he has no other offers so he may stay with you but the decision will be his.
One thing that always bugged me about driver negotiations in F1 Manager was that you could negotiate with a driver three years before his contract expired and he'd accept just as willingly as if you did it three months before it expired or even after. This seemed a little strange even though (As far as I'm aware) driver stats didn't change with time in that game. Is this taken into consideration with GPRM? This and other teams didn't try to make early bids so it meant the moment a driver went on the market you had first pick. That was one major drawback to the game too, is this accounted for in GPRM? Also, finally, do driver stats actually change with time? And can this totally change their performance? (Like the current situation Jacques for example.) Yes too all. How could we say the ultimate f1 manager when we dont take all this into account?
Will you be able to hire Professional weather forecasters for your Team? Weather forecasting is part of GPRM.
Will you be able to hire your drivers personal-trainers? Optimum fitness training is regarded as standard in GPRM.
Will you be able to hire your pit crew? Mechanics are part of the pit crew. Your chief-mechanic decides who does the stops/fuel etc. Your input is in determining quantity of practicing and the timing of pit-routine practice.
This is one of those difficult reality vs. playability issues. We have had difficulty in dealing with this one and in order to stop the game becoming so biased towards Internally Engine supplied teams we have decided that all suppliers including engine suppliers are regarded as being outsourced.Having said that, Renault will only supply Renault as their works team as will Ferrari and Toyota but those departments are not under your control in the game You can give the Engine Dept a hard time and demand an earlier release of the next generation engine, but this is also the case for all the other 9 teams that either get the engines for free or have to pay for them from Engine suppliers. If you are Ferrari you do not control the Engine Dept spending or supply deals. The advantage in being Ferrari, Toyota or Renault is that you are guaranteed a works engine for as long as you want but you may decide not to use them (unlikely but possible).
The main Engine factors are :
- 1-Power - BHP
- 2-Weight (kg) - effects the Center of Gravity figure
- 3-Budget spend $$$ (annual)
- 4-Operational Direction (Power vs. reliability)
An option to re-badge the engine may also be available.
Engine suppliers may wind down their Development program if they intend to withdraw from the sport. This does happen.
What will be the benefits of having an engine works deal? You will get engine upgrades, corporate investment income, and you can tell the manufacturer what you want to change for next years engine.
In GPM2 some engine-suppliers would only supply you with their engines if you would take a driver of their nationality in your line-up. Will this be implemented in GPRM in any way? Yes, these kind of deals will be in the game. However, it will not be a deciding factor like it was in GPM2. If you are a top-team chances are that you dont have to hire, for instance: a Japanese driver should you want the Honda engine. If you are a smaller team it will be a much bigger factor.
In 2003, Michelin tires were very good but they went through a stage in the season were they were not very good, will this be in the game? This is not currently implemented in the game, but is being discussed by the team.
If you manage Ferrari will you have complete say over designing engines or do you just tell the engine designer what u want? If you''re a team like Ferrari or Toyota you will have the same amount of control as any other works deal team - this is essential to make sure the game isn''t biased towards the ''engine teams'' like Renault and indeed Ferrari.
What you can do however is tell the engine supplier your wishes for next spec engine. More reliability versus horsepower for example.
So manufacturer teams have more chances to upgrade their engines than works teams, and customers have very few or no upgrades? Customer teams will have only a 1 or maybe 2 engine upgrades, manufacturer teams will have exactly the same thing as a works team.
Will it be possible to have a Toyota customer engine in the game as they now offer one? It is possible to have any make of customer engine in the games as long as your offer is accepted
How many engine suppliers will their be in GPRM? Just the ones that haves engines in F1 from the start of the game, or will it be possible to sign with a company like Lamborghini later in the game? Lamborghini is not in the game, but there are 10 engine manufactures in the game including Asiatech and Volkswagen, companies not participating in the sport can be signed also, provided that they are interested in joining F1.
I really like turbo era f1 cars, so I wonder if there will be such an opportunity in GPRM to use these engines? For example after regulation changes. Don''t know about specifically Turbo engines but there will be regulation changes, so if Turbo engines are available then they will definitely come in after a few x amount of years.
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