GT Manager mobile review

E-sports

Mobile game GT Manager aims to put you in charge of running a factory GT team but how does it hold up against the competition?

GT Manager

GT Manager puts you in control of your own sports car factory team

@gtmanagergame

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So sim racing isn’t your thing but you’re still eager for some motor sport action in the virtual world?

The console market is filled to the brim with licensed games, and there are plenty of options in a mobile sphere that’s filled with Ridge Racer, Daytona USA and SEGA Rally spin-offs and copycats. But your options are limited if you’re looking for a game that requires a little bit of thinking instead.

GT Manager hopes to fill this void of manager-style game with a GT Racing-focused mobile experience that tasks the player with taking a factory team to the top of the mountain.

So how does it stack up against the competition such as F1 Manager and Motorsport Manager?

Licensed but lacking? Or labour of love?

With Porsche, Mercedes, McLaren, Nissan, Corvette, Audi, Alpine and more all officially in the game with their GT class cars, there are plenty of models to satisfy sports car racing fans.

GT Manager

GT Manager allows you to control all aspects of your race team

GT Manager

The game starts you off with a lower class car for you to then build up into a championship-winner. The core loop of the game will have you targeting your rivals rather than outright race wins every time.

Finish ahead of your top-placed rival car and you’ll be rewarded with sponsorship income depending on how well you did. Use that sponsorship income to develop your team into a better outfit across your racing facility.

You can’t edit the look of your car so if you’re a Porsche diehard and started out with an Audi instead, it’s going to take a restart and another roll of the dice, outside of dropping money for the in-game currency to buy the virtual Porsche of your dreams. And that’s far from the only way to accelerate your progress with real-world cash.

Your team starts off with base-level facilities of a factory effort. Marketing, main facility and driver departments are then supplemented by reward cards you can switch in and out that are ranked on several stats that will improve on-track performance.

As you progress through races and level up, you’ll be rewarded with new cards and facilities to further influence your racing performance.

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Race days are split into sprint and endurance events, five laps for the former, nine the latter. Each will pay out scaled rewards based on race length and finishing position along with any sponsorship bonus criteria you hit.

You control your cars via three buttons: lower speed/high engine conservation mode, higher speed/high engine usage and a middle ground between the two. You also have access to three hits of push-to-pass to use up during a race but beware, it’ll take a lot out of your engine life so be sure you’ll make it to the end before going too wild.

You can pick your starting compound of tyres and dictate strategy during the race, call for pit stops or manage driver’s engine usage from the pitwall in pursuit of victory.

The first few races are kind, rivals struggle and you’ll pick up a fair few wins to boost that bank balance and earn a few starter packs along the way to build up your team, but that progress will start to stall out after a few levels.

Here is where the microtransactions come in.

Packs of varying rarity can be purchased at any time, along with additional credits to allow you to purchase further upgrades for your team, though you can earn several packs for consecutive logins and level-ups sticking free to play.

The only obscene cap in-game prevents players from accumulating income based on time restrictions. Play too much of GT Manager in a short space of time and your income is capped via a ‘Sponsor Limit’ and that’s you locked out of several potential upgrades for several hours — of course unless you want to pay them for the convenience to play the game and reset the limit.

If this kind of gameplay loop puts you off then GT Manager is unlikely to be a game you’ll enjoy. Stick in the hours and there’s no doubt you’ll have earned the rarest of cards to build your racing empire.