Racing Boss

What it is

In the publisher’s words, Racing Boss is a free online racing management game in which you control a racing team against players from all over the world. From a virtual office you design, repair and set up your car, forge deals with suppliers and sponsors, give tactical orders to your driver and decide on race strategy. You can also team up with other players. The game was previously known as F1TIME.

Running the team

The staff list is broad: a driver, a car designer, technical personnel and marketing staff whose job is to land better sponsorship deals. You sign supply deals for engines, gearboxes, tyres and car components, develop parts, and can either train your driver or take the car to a test track to gather research and development data.

The rulebook gives a good idea of the depth. It covers league structure, promotion and relegation, taxes, financial assistance, driver ageing and team retirement. This is an economic game as much as a racing one, and a careless budget can sink a quick car.

Race days

The weekend follows a familiar pattern. Practice gives you the driver’s feedback for setting up the car. Qualifying asks a simple question: go all out, or take the safe route to a decent grid position. Then you set the pit, fuel and tyre strategy and watch the race unfold live, which the homepage says happens twice a week.

How much time it asks

Two race days a week set the rhythm. Preparation happens in between, whenever it suits you. Our read: a couple of short sessions per race plus a longer weekly look at finances and development.

The rules page is long and worth reading before your first season. The publisher notes that the more time you invest in learning the game’s quirks, the better your chances, and that not knowing a rule is no excuse for breaking it.

How it compares

Next to GPRO, Racing Boss leans harder on the commercial side: suppliers, marketing staff and sponsorship deals are a bigger part of the weekly routine. Next to iGP Manager, there is no live intervention once the race starts — your orders and strategy are set beforehand, and the live broadcast is for watching, not steering.

That makes it a good match for players who like to win the race on Wednesday and simply confirm it on race day.

What’s free and what isn’t

The official site calls the game free. We didn’t find a paid tier described on its public pages and saw no price list, so we don’t quote one. Membership rules — one account per player, fair play, respect for game masters — come with registration.

Where you can play

In a browser; we found no app linked from the official site. The interface is offered in more than a dozen languages, Italian, Hungarian and Finnish among them. The about page lists a small, dedicated team running the game day to day, which suits a game that changes carefully rather than quickly.