Preview | Golden Lap - A Casual F1-Style Management Sim That Takes Risks
Racing management sims have never reached the popularity that Football Manager commands, though they have found some traction these last few decades. Older hits like Motorsport Manager set the ground running, while Frontier's more recent F1 Manager series effectively uses the sporting licence that's held my interest. Golden Lap has intense competition, but it could be a future winner.
Releasing a free demo for Steam Next Fest, Golden Lap is a new contender with no flashy licences to its name. Funselektor Labs has a fine history with stylish indie racers. Both Art of Rally and Absolute Drift go beyond your standard car games to deliver unique experiences, and with its pleasingly minimalist aesthetics, Golden Lap seems to be cut from a similar cloth.
Starting in the ‘70s, Golden Lap's demo features a brief career mode across four tracks. Ten fictional teams, some clearly inspired by real-life F1 constructors like Lotus and Ferrari, can be chosen in the full release. The demo only offers two - a frontrunner and a midfield outfit whose lofty goals involve coming seventh. I chose the latter as someone who always prefers a challenge with management games.
What follows feels like a stripped-back version of F1 Manager. While I like Frontier's annual series' in-depth options, there's an appealing strength in Golden Lap's simplicity that never feels shallow. Concerns like next year's regulations or facility upgrades don't exist here, though you must choose two drivers, an engineer, and a pit crew head within your budget.
That creates an enjoyable balancing act that also factors in the car; do you want a more reliable vehicle with less speed, a balanced middle ground, or an experimental design more prone to reliability failures? Risk vs. reward is a crucial theme reflected across Golden Lap's demo, and sponsors are no different. Whether you opt for a higher guaranteed income each race with a smaller bonus payout or the reverse but with higher bonus criteria, it's a difficult choice. Everything comes at a cost.
Golden Lap keeps this interesting by assigning everyone traits, meaning you need to weigh up potential risks. For example, 'Privateer' means someone could be surprisingly affordable while an ‘Efficient Driver’ knows how to use their fuel best. On the other hand, flaws can include weak defence against overtakes or being a jerk, which can make drivers harder to work with. Seriously, one of the traits is simply titled 'Jerk.' That adds some welcome strategy that goes beyond simply choosing the fastest driver.
Once everything's ready, it's time to race. You won't find the full Formula 1 weekend of events here - there's no practice, and qualifying is just one long session, which better suits more casual gameplay. Your main considerations are manageable, though not particularly exciting: your fuel consumption, the weather, and how hard to push the tyres - which affects your speed and how quickly they wear out.
Failing to manage your team correctly with a timely pitstop fittingly punishes your negligence with a puncture, forcing your driver to limp back to the pitlane. Annoyingly, a bug I found in this demo wouldn't let me pit my secondary driver when this happened, even after calling them in. As an early build, I'm aware that will likely be fixed, but watching them struggle for the remaining race and ending up +12 laps down cost me both points and pride.
I wish there was more unpredictability with wet weather racing, too. The infographic helpfully displays the forecast up to a certain distance, and your two wet weather tyres - intermediates and full wets - conveniently tell you when it's suitable to use them. Yet there's something entertaining about how unpredictable these moments get in real-life races, and I'd love to see that better reflected. Still, these issues did little to dampen my wider enjoyment.
How Golden Lap surprised me in the second race will stick with me. A red flag was brought out following a crash, letting me pocket a free pit stop that helped secure the win near the end. Racing continued, and I initially thought nothing of it until I later discovered the driver who crashed had died. Fatalities are thankfully nowhere near as common in motor racing compared to 50 years ago, but still, it's a sobering reminder even now about the brutal reality of driver safety in that era.
By cutting out the wider micromanagement, Golden Lap delivers a more casual racing management sim that's held my interest. Building a team feels straightforward yet strategic. There's an appealing art style and a real sense of risk-taking I've not seen before in this genre. Taking victory with the seventh-place team after a hard-fought qualifying felt particularly lovely. Though I couldn't quite muster up the performance to win the season, seeing my main driver come second overall in the season feels great. Come full release, Golden Lap could be a podium contender.
