The Undercut: Racing Manager Review Summary

Deep team and race management with realistic dynamic races and active dev support, but cluttered illegible UI, AI-content worries, and half-baked core systems hold it back.

Active developer and community support: The developer is active on Discord, listens to community feedback, reacts quickly to bugs, and provides timely updates. This responsiveness is praised as a good sign of the game's future.

Realistic and dynamic races: Races are described as dynamic, lively, and realistic, with retirements, accidents, and driver injuries adding drama. The 2D graphics are clear and easy to follow, enhancing the race viewing experience.

Game is fun and engaging: Multiple reviewers consistently highlight that the game is enjoyable and interesting to play, with core gameplay that is both fun and engaging. It is seen as a pleasant surprise with significant depth.

Deep team and race management: The combination of in-depth team management between races with race strategy decisions is widely appreciated. Players value the ability to manage drivers, sponsors, finances, and development comprehensively.

Configurable and tweakable gameplay: The game allows extensive configuration of team, race, and simulation aspects, including balance sliders and customization options. Players can adjust sponsor payouts, AI advantages, and even make crashes happen every lap.

UI is cluttered and illegible: The user interface is described as cluttered, complex, and hard to understand, with tiny elements, scaling issues, and glitches that even break driver switching. Some players found the UI completely illegible on certain monitors, leading to abandoning an 8-hour save.

AI-generated content concerns: Several players believe the game is largely AI-generated, including tutorial voice, graphics, and code, and that the Steam AI Disclosure is incomplete or false. This raises serious questions about quality and transparency.

Core systems are half-baked: Many in-game systems, including finance, signing, and customization, are described as half-baked and in need of major reworks. This indicates the game is far from a polished state.

Small bugs and rough edges: The game is filled with small, annoying bugs, and various interfaces are rough. This suggests inadequate quality assurance, which is especially concerning for an early access title.

Progression and difficulty issues: Starting in Normal mode with lousy facilities and finding it very difficult to finish in points makes progression feel unfair. The simulation also takes too long, and there is too much random stuff happening to the player's drivers specifically.

Simulation of racing and management: The game heavily emphasizes simulating races, practices, and qualifying sessions, with deep micromanagement of drivers, staff, finances, sponsors, and car development. This core mechanic is frequently praised by players who enjoy a comprehensive management experience.

Management breadth and depth: The management aspects cover a wide range of areas including finances, sponsors, suppliers, driver improvements, and team management between races. While not insanely deep, the breadth keeps players engaged and reinforces the manager role.

Strategic pit stops and tires: Players appreciate the race strategy options involving pit stops and tire choices, noting that these decisions feel meaningful and well-integrated into the gameplay. This adds depth to the racing simulation and is a key highlight for many users.

Macro vs micro management: Some players note that the game focuses more on macro-management rather than micromanagement, allowing players to oversee high-level decisions without getting bogged down in fine details. This approach appeals to those who prefer strategic oversight.

Extensive customization settings: Gameplay settings can be customized extensively, allowing players to tailor the experience to their preferences. This flexibility is appreciated by players who want to adjust difficulty or simulation depth.

Recommend at current price: Several reviewers recommend the game, especially given its price point, stating it offers good value for money. This sentiment appears in multiple clusters.

Avoid until full release: One reviewer advises not buying based on future promises, and another suggests waiting for full release before judging, reflecting caution about the early access state.

Cannot recommend current state: Some reviewers cannot recommend the game in its current state, indicating significant issues or incomplete content.

Strong general recommendation: Multiple reviewers give a general high recommendation without specific caveats, indicating broad satisfaction.

Recommend for motorsport fans: The game is highly recommended for fans of motorsport and team sims, as well as management and motorsport enthusiasts, highlighting its target audience appeal.

Session length: 1.0h.

The game is complex with poorly designed UI and tutorial, causing early confusion, but players who persist and focus on macro-management may find it enjoyable.

Friction: complex systems; AI-generated tutorial is unhelpful; unreadable menus; micro-management burden; first hours confusion.

The Management Sim Purist: Methodical; micromanages upgrades, assigns test laps to substitutes, and follows race outcomes closely. Motivation: Strategic long-term play, developing drivers and cars week-by-week to optimize race results. Stance: buy.

Supportive Early Access Believer: Tolerant of bugs and missing settings; engages with feedback loops and tracks development progress. Motivation: Supporting a small developer and witnessing the product evolve through updates. Stance: buy.

The Cautious Pragmatist: Evaluative and hesitant; likely waits for patches, sales, or full release before committing. Motivation: Getting fair value for money, balancing current content against the asking price. Stance: deep sale.

Strong competitor against established managers: The game is frequently compared to F1 Manager, Motorsport Manager, and FM24, with many reviewers noting it stands out or is already better in simulation depth. It is seen as surpassing F1 Manager in this regard and is preferred over both F1 Manager and Motorsport Manager.

Modding community is highly anticipated: Players are looking forward to mods and add-ons, with several planning to create their own. There is hope for Steam Workshop inclusion, as modding support for custom car sprites and logos is expected to make the game amazing.

High potential for future greatness: Reviewers believe the game has lots of potential and could become the best motorsport manager. The roadmap is full of features, and the expected development direction could result in a very good game that overshadows Motorsport Manager.

Roadmap includes key features: The game has a roadmap that includes pre-qualifying and weather, and a weather radar is mentioned as a future addition that would be great. These planned features show a clear direction for the game's evolution.

Price point is polarizing: Reviewers are divided on the price, with one finding it hard to justify and feeling they are paying to be quality assurance for an AI. Conversely, another reviewer considers the price a bargain, reflecting a wide range of perceived value.