Motorsport Manager - Endurance Series DLC

Adds a lot of variety to the game. Though managing multiple drivers can be quite annoying. Overall, a good dlc if you are looking for more variety.

I love the Endurance series, as i love the tactical battle of long races, it would have been interesting to add a Daytona, Le Mans and Sebring style races, and winning the triple crown could have gained something extra in the game.

I'm not sure why this DLC gets mixed reviews... maybe people's expectations were a bit high? I think they wanted like a full different game but instead they got this, which is a different way to play! One of my favourite things about Enduro is the roster management. Every car has 3 drivers and driver endurance becomes a major factor selection as you'll need to make more pitstops if a driver doesn't last long before they are fatigued. Tyre choice also seems to matter more in enduro; do you want to run a harder compound and try to get two stops out of it, or leave a high-stamina driver in for a "double-stint"? I find it much more strategic than the standard mode which I feel is mostly won off the track rather than on it.

I love the base game but can’t recommend this DLC. Like many reviewers said it feels like they just upscaled certain game parameters to try to fit what they already had, but it always seems disconnected from what you would expect in real life. I personally found it a little challenging to adjust to the new mechanics after playing many hours on the original mode (just sponsor and pro driver mods). For some reason I had become bad at the game all over again, even though I used the same general strategy that had won championships before. This was the case even with the best drivers in the league, excellent setups across the board, and mostly matching AI movements with regard to tires/stamina. It all just seemed so off from what I had become accustomed to. No inclusion of night racing just makes no sense to me for Endurance theme, and neither do unrealistic rain dynamics. A little more attention to real life detail here would have been better. There’s no reason the devs could not have simply mimicked what happens to real life WEC teams without having to get creative. Also note that you might break a save file if you have mods turned on and activate this DLC. Since modding comes with that risk I don’t blame the DLC at all of course, but just keep that in mind if you’re in the middle of an active series with mods on.

This DLC adds several welcome new features and complexities and sufficiently captures the spirit of endurance racing: +The new car models look awesome, and more accurately show your livery on track than the OW or GT cars, which is a satisfying addition. +The 6 hour races (because you weren't going to pick anything less than that, were you?) with the new features to think about do not drag on, and are just as, if not more engaging than the existing formats, even over the longer timeframe. This includes the weather. The track no longer dries out in about 2 minutes... +Driver fatigue, whilst a bit overexaggurated (even the best drivers are falling asleep within 90 minutes), adds a new level of strategy in the game that affects your practice programme decisions, and your fuel and tyre strategy in the race. +Because of the length of the new races, those Tyre Wear and Fuel Burn track stats actually matter now, and heavily affect the tyre strategy for each track. +The multi-class aspect of endurace racing is implemented perfectly. Qualifying is a free-for-all between all classes (although unless rain plays part, the outcome is as expected, 1st-12th A-class, B-class the rest) and then the classes race side-by-side in the race, with no blue flags. All in all, this DLC adds probably the most interesting Championships to date, is fun to play, and well worth the full pricetag.

I was afraid of this and thats why I only bought it because the dlc is on a hefty sale. This DLC doesn't really bring much new to the game, it only adds a more longer boring version to the game with an extra driver and different car models. They should have spend that time on creating a new circuit pack dlc for the existing game insted. Endurance mode doesn't work in a game, it's to long and boring as hell. I did one race and did it mostly in 12x normal speed to make it barable. I love the normal game and GT DLC though, this dlc not so much.

I love the base game, but I'm finding this dlc a little on the dull side tbh. You have the option to chose the length of time the races will run when starting a new game, with 6 hours the maximum. This doesn't quite translate into 6 hours of real time, especially as you'll end up running the majority of the race at x12 speed. However in doing so, it removes a lot of the tactics that come with the base game. i.e. when to push, when to conserve, when to pit, because it is too hard to track what is going on at that speed. What it really comes down to at the end is if you choose the correct amount of fuel and the right tyres to match your drivers stamina. My vote is a negative on the DLC, but a huge thumbs up on the base game.

I already rated the original game 90% here: http://steamcommunity.com/id/the_rock0123/recommended/415200/ This DLC re-confirms this very high rating and slightly improve it. I am thoroughly recommending this DLC to anyone who enjoys the original game and here’s some reasons why: 1 – The focus is put back into “management” of a team. Now you have 6 drivers to manage, as well as all the pit crew members. Just what many players wanted. 2 – The cars are based on the successful World Endurance Championship, cars which race in the Le Mans 24 hours. 2 classes are covered and they race on one track, just like in real life. In my view these are real racing cars, better than single seaters! 3 – Strategy is far more important and the manager has to concentrate over a much longer period – 90 mins, 3 hours or 6 hours per race. Mistakes can be caught up but too many and you will lose ground. 4 – Loads of new strategic options in this DLC: You can only set up the car to benefit one driver, who gets a bonus, and the others will make do according to their adaptability skill. Drivers get fatigued and will dramatically slow if not run wide or crash when in their red zone. Drivers now have a target to aim for where they are “in the zone” and drive hard – some drivers are good starters and some are good race finishers. All 3 drivers have to race for a minimum / maximum time, exceeding these limits will result in points deduction – a big change to strategy. Qualifying is average lap between 2 of your 3 drivers. The new pit crew feature (also available in the base game) lets you micro manage the crew – who is good at tyres, fixing part, refuelling, jacks, etc. Each crew has a skill rating and error rating as well as their own fatigue levels to manage. Off the track, cash can be tighter as you are potentially paying 6 drivers not 3. It puts more focus on to where to spend money and which sponsors to choose. 5 – There are new achievements which are interesting to aim for and add new life to the game for regular players. If you’re a fan of endurance racing you will absolutely love this DLC. If you are not a fan of this type of racing there is a high chance you will love this DLC or get into this type of racing as it’s much more strategically involved in my opinion. What’s great is the price – even at full price this is an absolute bargain as you effectively get a whole new game mode to play. I will probably play this for more hours than the base game (by its nature the races are longer! I usually play 3 hour races at x2 speed making each event 1.5 hrs long, with 9 races per season). With this add on, plus the free to download DLC’s, I now rate the Motorsport Manager game at 92%. The only reason I rate lower than 10/10 is because sometimes the details don’t make sense, like fans’ social media reactions being wrong, drivers retiring early, drivers not looking like their nationality, limited music (no national anthems), no older drivers for this DLC. But mostly these are cosmetic and the game itself plays fine with no crashes experienced. If you’re reading this and thinking of buying it but not sure, I’m confident in saying you will more than likely love this DLC and it will continue and re-ignite your Motorsport Manager addiction. A hidden gem of a sports management simulation game and a DLC that will surprise a few players in how enjoyable it is.

If you got bored with the original game and already played the GP expansion, then there is very little new here. They did add a few new things, but didn't bother to redo some elementary game parameters which would make it more than a reskin with a few little changes. First and foremost, with endurance racing I expected to face some kind of challenges only present in this kind of racing. The only difference between this one and original+GP is (obviously) the ability to change the drivers, and so you need to manage it carefully. That's good, that's new. But the bad thing is, everything else stayed the same. Basically every race consists of speeding it up 8x and it progresses identically to how you'd see the original game on normal speed. Only now you have to change the driver in addition to tyres. The major shock for me, which screams "lazy" is that they didn't bother to change weather simulation & prediction. Basically, they just scaled the whole thing up. Now it takes 10-20 laps instead of 1-2 laps for the track to go from dry to wet in persistent rain. And you can see rain predictions way further (in terms of time) as well. That's why playing on 8x speed is now indistinguishable from the original. This is ridiculous. That would be an interesting challenge to consider - it takes a few minutes for the track to go wet, is it worth changing the tires, if now it takes so long? That shouldn't be a decision you make over 10 laps. That's insane. And such a simple fix as well. So, totally not worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed the original, even though it has little re-play value after you managed to win your first world title, and GP expansion is quite nice if you want to relive the experience. But this one - after 2 races all I did is just blankly stare at the screen waiting for race to finish on 8x...

So what do you get from this DLC. You get: New car models Longer races Longer pitstops Longer periods with rain 3 drivers per car Longer everything.... but not really what I hoped for.... a Le mans DLC. Let me say that all works fine like the base game - and it's not really that different from the base game. Tracks: Same tracks allthough almost always the full track (which is nice since this layout is seldom used in the base game). But a 13.7 km track in France would have been nice. :) Cars: Top cars with ERS like GT cars and regular cars as regular formula cars. Same setup options as GT/Formula cars Time: While 6 hours seem like a lot, it seems like the developer has just multiplied the standard track periods with 5. When it rains it takes a very very long time before you have to switch from Inters to Wets (you can use at least half inters rubber before having tio change to wets). When it stops raining it takes hours before the track is dry (again you can wear down a pair of inters from the rain stops until it is dry several hours later and you can fit slicks again). Strategy: It does not feel like le mans series. It feels like the regular game - just more laps. Stamina is a nice idea but doesn't do anything much but make you choose the right tires for when the driver gets tired. Basically changing a driver takes as long as changing tires so you might as well change both. It might change when you get a top pit crew but there is no penalty for not doing it. Fuel consumption doesn't make sense for endurance racing. In a 6 hour race you have to refill every 2 hours - so 2 stops or 3 stints. In a endurance race drivers can empty the fuel tank 2 or 3 times before getting tired, known as double or tripple stints. So 1-2 pitstops to refuel per driver stamina bar needs to be put into the game to make it more realistic (high stamina can do 3 - bad ones 2 stints or maybe even 1). Hardest compound tires should last 4 to 5 stints. Having fuel for 2 hours and a driver lasting 45-90 minutes doesn't make sense or feel right for endurance racing. I have a hard time figuring out if the 6 hours are supposed to be compared to 6 hours in real life or 12 or 24 hours? The strategy implementation depends alot on this. What is missing: Night mode! Engine modes having bigger impact on gearbox and engine and less on nose/rear Nose/rear takes too long to fix compared to gear/engine - a nose can be changed in seconds - an engine needs minutes if not hours to fix. Having 100% reliability on engine/gearbox and running neutral engine settings should not require fix in race. Having 100% reliability and running higher programs should always require fixing of engine and/or gear. Having 85% reliability before race and running neutral engine program should require some engine fixing. This is endurance racing after all where you trade speed with reliability. Realistic rain periods. Better fuel/tire/stamina ratios. More small crashes that needs repair time. Endurance feeling. Longer tracks. It's not a bad DLC - it's just not worth the money right now.