EA Sports F1 Manager Reject events

[Jocke1]

I have had this game in my possession ever since it was released, I can't tell you how many times, and on how many different computers I have installed it in through the years.
I was cleaning out an old closet recently and found it again.
Dusted it off and started playing it once more. Here are the most interesting things that happened in the series during the first season (1999).


Luca Badoer finished 4th, on the lead lap, at Spa-Francorchamps.




Brings tears to my eyes.

















Takagi 5th !




















Crystal Ball ?



Poor Arrows








Zanardi podium. Both Minardis and both Arrows in Top 10 !



Luca 8th. On the lead lap !



Luca 6th.



Luca 5th with only 29 mins remaining.



Zanardi 3rd and Luca 15th in Magny qualifying.



Luca 16th in Monaco qualifying. Ahead of 1 Ferrari and both McLarens !



Luca 10th at Monza.















Five finishers in Austria.

[Ataxia]

If you edit the people.txt file correctly, you can replace a couple of fictional drivers with Jos Verstappen and Jorg Muller (you'd need to bump up their stats a little, too...). Of course, you can put anyone you like in, but Verstappen and Muller appear to have the full set of pictures and commentary soundbites. Nakano has pictures, but appeared to be unfinished.

I had a little phase of editing the game a few years back, just to spice up the game a little.

[Wallio]

I have had this game in my possession ever since it was released, I can't tell you how many times, and on how many different computers I have installed it in through the years.
I was cleaning out an old closet recently and found it again.
Dusted it off and started playing it once more. Here are the most interesting things that happened in the series during the first season (1999).


Luca Badoer finished 4th, on the lead lap, at Spa-Francorchamps.




Brings tears to my eyes.

















Takagi 5th !




















Crystal Ball ?



Poor Arrows








Zanardi podium. Both Minardis and both Arrows in Top 10 !



Luca 8th. On the lead lap !



Luca 6th.



Luca 5th with only 29 mins remaining.



Zanardi 3rd and Luca 15th in Magny qualifying.



Luca 16th in Monaco qualifying. Ahead of 1 Ferrari and both McLarens !



Luca 10th at Monza.















Five finishers in Austria.

I have the game as well, but can't get it to install in a 64-bit system. Any tips?

[UncreativeUsername37]

Did you really have to quote the whole post to say that?!

[Wallio]

(shrug) not really just a force of habit.

[Julien]

This game is one of the biggest "could have been" in F1 gaming history. It had EA backings, complex system, dynamically changing driver, car and part stats, a car composed of several components, you could actually recolor your car with your sponsors... And they still managed to completely ruin it with oversimplified driver and supplier contracts, pointless test days, bad setup micro management and the fact that on the last 4 races every team runs out of fresh engines and you can score victories in your first season with Minardi because you're the only one who finishes the race.

[Ataxia]

Wallio, you need to install the game and then install the F1OTM no-cd patch. It works for me, anyway...

[Ferrim]

This game is one of the biggest "could have been" in F1 gaming history. It had EA backings, complex system, dynamically changing driver, car and part stats, a car composed of several components, you could actually recolor your car with your sponsors... And they still managed to completely ruin it with oversimplified driver and supplier contracts, pointless test days, bad setup micro management and the fact that on the last 4 races every team runs out of fresh engines and you can score victories in your first season with Minardi because you're the only one who finishes the race.

Was going to say pretty much the same. The problem with this game is that it is an unfinished product. It only ever advanced to the beta stage and, for some reason, someone at EA decided to release it in that state. Things like the repetitive news and mail messages, the ridiculous spread of laptimes, the fact that every driver completes the full laps of the race (IIRC) and the other ones that you comment in your post show that the game wasn't properly tested and finished, and it is a big shame.

[Julien]

Yeah... It's pretty funny when the leaders finish the race and the Minardis still have 4 laps to go totally alone
There are only 2 things you can tell about this game. 1) You can place the sponsor logos on your car and they slightly influence your livery. 2) Even if you hire the best staff, you can't turn the worst into the best car for the next season (unlike in GP World or GPM).

[Benetton]

I played this a lot a couple of years back but never advanced past the 2001 season because of the "lack of realism". Most annoying was the massive spread in lap times and that there was no rain! Instead of using data on the completely irrelevant "video game graphics" they should've used a text sim that would have been realistic. I also recall that on some tracks it was quite easy to win (Magny-Cours, Sepang). I once turned Stewart into a dominating outfit when I hired Newey and Byrne in 1999 and I had clearly the best car in 2001 and Fisichella won the WDC.

It was also frustrating how sometimes they would not sign Hakkinen or Michael Schumacher to a contract, but Toranosuke Takagi did find his way to the grid And how you had a infinite budget once you got more than 100 constructors points a season since the prize money + sponsor money > costs of running the team.

[Ataxia]

A couple of little things I've also remembered became particularly irksome within the game. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it, but there were some things like this:

- I found it incredibly difficult to qualify well at Monaco and Silverstone; even if I'd followed the technical director to the letter, my cars would always be around the back.
- Some drivers (Jarno Trulli in particular) would depreciate so much that they'd eventually be worse than the fictional drivers within the game.
- Williams would always sign a really turdy driver as Number 1, and a decent driver as Number 2. I've lost count of the number of times that Ricardo Zonta would be sitting in the #5 car, with someone like Fisichella resigned to the number #2.
- Eventually, the majority of teams would turn up to a season with the worst engines. Not really a gripe as such, but if I'd got as far as 2002/3 then the competition would be ridiculously easy. I'd be there with Stewart-Mercedes leading from McLaren-Ford Zetec and Williams-Peugeot.
- Although I'd take advantage of it, usually Mika Hakkinen would be seatless for 2000. This meant I'd snap him up at a cut price for 2001, and dominate.
- Arrows, Williams and Sauber have ridiculous championship demands. Arrows want a 6th place with the 2nd-worst car on the grid, Williams want 2nd with average engines and drivers, and Sauber want a 5th with some of the more rubbish engines and drivers. Sure, it ramps up the difficulty, but what's to stop me taking Stewart or Prost, probably the easiest teams in the game?
- Engines weren't scaled in prices. Why would you spend £20m on a year's contract for Ford Zetecs when you could spend exactly the same on Mugen Hondas or Mercedes?

[Benetton]

- I found it incredibly difficult to qualify well at Monaco and Silverstone; even if I'd followed the technical director to the letter, my cars would always be around the back.

I don't know about Silverstone but at Monaco the quickest lap in quail or practice was the outlap (!) and since the pits garages were organized in alphabetical order Arrows and Benetton had a huge advantage (since the timing of the lap ended once you reached your garage) and the likes of Williams and Stewart struggled. Rejectul!