Pro Cycling Manager 2023

2 hours in, Pro Cyclist Mode only. I've been buying PCM every year since 2006. Is the game very similar to last year, yes. Okay, now that everyone's biggest gripe about PCM is out of the way, my first impressions are very positive. The changes to the Pro Cyclist Mode make it feel more in control of a pro cyclist rather than controlling a single rider as in years past. The weekly training choices make things interesting and the requirements to focus heavily on a specific skill in order to evolve the potential is a great addition. The option to focus on XP in the weekly training takes some of the slog out of the Pro Cyclist mode from years past, where you had to fight through many races of working as a domestique just to get good enough to compete for climbing points or a sprint during a breakaway. It also seems that stamina/endurance has been reworked a bit, it isn't as easy to break away at km 0 and stay away until the peloton catches you. Now the riders seem to run out of gas a bit more naturally, not just getting steamrolled by the peloton in the last 10km. I'm hoping there are no significant bugs to be found (like not being able to race in the European championships in the first year they added that to the game). So far, I haven't experienced any. Yes it is very similar to last years game, but that isn't a bad thing. I'm okay with the developers refining the formula a little bit each year as long as they focus on quality. For example, the addition of the medium mountain stat, if it plays out to really have a difference, is a great improvement allowing riders like Alaphilippe to be more competitive on those short mountain stages, adds to the realism. It also allows for more strategy during grand tours, some riders where the shorter punchy climbs will have different outcomes than the long slogs like Tourmalet. I'll update my feedback if the experience changes, but as someone that was very critical of the last few versions, I can say I'm very pleasantly surprised this year and would recommend to all, veterans of the series, and especially for anyone who has yet to dive into PCM. Well done Cyanide.

if you've never played a cycling manager game ever then just buy another one thats cheaper bc their all the same, the only difference between this year and last year is that mycyclist mode is more entertaining now. but ill still probably play this one for a 500+ hours

I'm a big fan of this cycling game and every year I buy the new version. But, however, the game is simply not balanced enough to give it a thumbs up. Like every year there are always some bugs that are seriously damaging the gameplay experience. - Right now, in pro cyclist mode, the stamina management doesnt work properly so you're basically not able to compete in multiple mountain stages. - In career mode, after 2030 there are no newgens anymore and/or new cyclist all of sudden are 32 years old. - Also after the last patch update, the game crashes frequently. Probably some of these issues get fixed (or not), but it's always like that with Cyanide. They seem to struggle to deliver a well polished product. And these issues are too much harming your gameplay experience, to take it for granted. Then there are some serious functionalities that lack realism. - In career mode, the sponsors that want to fund you, are completely random. I've build up a fully Dutch team but there are never Dutch sponsors that want to fund me. - There is also no option to negotioate the sponsor goals with your sponsor. If you want to compete for the mountains yersey but your sponsor wants you to end in the top 10, you can not discuss this. If your big star get's an injury, your sponsor will not take this in account when you fail to deliver results. - Contract negotiations with cyclists is unrealistic and works with a weird file system. As long as you have enough money, you can basically get any cyclist with an expiring contract. There is no threat of the cyclist rejecting your contract because he has a better option at a bigger team. - The racetracks dont change during the years. So every year you have the exact same racetracks. This get's boring. The Devs actually did do some new features with some good intentions (MM skill, better planning and training systems, improved progession with pro cyclist mode). Credits for that.

the positive first. this years edition doesnt crash every 30 minutes on launch. well, thats it, very little new under the sun, most long standing problems are still the same, for example in be a pro mode your rider will be instructed to pull the peleton for x km, and as soon as the stage starts your teammates will attack, leading to you getting rewarded for intentionally chasing down your own teammates, other problems even seems to have gotten worse, like getting stuck behind opposing riders that decides to pull the brakes and drag you from the front to the rear of the peleton in a few seconds with 0 player agency, or the ai deciding to ride at 100% pace at completely pointless times, leading to a worse AND less realistic gameplay experience.

You basically get nothing for your 40eur if you bought a previous version since 2020. The gameplay and features are the same, so are the limitations and bugs. Pro cyclist mode is currently unplayable: - Sprinters will pass 4 mountains to win stages, the peloton will sprint up mountains etc. - Splits in the peloton will never hold. A combined peloton catches breakaways 100% of the time.

This game is like Primož Roglič. With a couple of bruises, but still delivers. Now... Coming from PCM 2019 I can say it's worth the purchase. Everything is better if I compare it to 2019. I had also to re-adapt the new way of racing. This game it's worth to buy every 2- 3 years to see the true improvement. At this stage the game is stable. I had no crashes even with workshop items added. It's a solid game. Now excuse me, I have to destroy other Conti teams!

After playing the game since Cycling Manager 2 and being part of the beta testing of some previous PCM, I am starting to get really tired about the same bugs. It seems they do not care about the game anymore, they just focus in changing two features to sell you the new game but they won't correct what is known to not be working for several years. I have only played the pro mode and here are the main bugs that is making me start hating PCM2023: - The maintain position button WON'T MANTAIN POSITION. will be either on top of the peloton or botton of the peloton, just based on the effort that you assign to the skill. This will lead either to get all the wind nd get tired constantly, or choose to be regulating the effort constantly so you won't be able to skip certain stages parts with the x8 button. - The objectives in pro mode are unrealistic. For example: I am a top 2 favorite for the mountain stage, but the team consider I have to work for my sprinter for 30KM. This would be funny as a joke. But how is possible that the IA cannot recognize that the end of the stage is a HC mountain, and I am a 3 star favorite with Vingegaard and Pogacar ? It is really frustrating. - The contract negotiation. I do not really understand why in year 3 I hadn't the posibility to negotiate the duration of my contract. I get only one year deals, and no matter how good of a season it was, it will be just around three teams of interest. - The rider progression does not make any sense. On year 3 I am already in 82 of Climbing but somehow my rider only has 70 on Hills stat. How a climber cannot go properly through hills?. Also stamina is below 70 when Climbing is in 82, which makes not really compatible the fact that you are good at climbing big mountains but still get tired pretty easily... EDITING TO ADD THE MOST FRUSTRATING BUG: I forgot to mention that it feels more than ever that the AI races against you. And when I say the AI I meant all the teams will ride against you. For example if someone is attacking, the peloton will not do anything, but if I attack, the peloton starts working really hard to avoid me get part into the breakaway. It is ridiculous to the point that someone was attacking and the peloton was really slow, I followed the attack and they started to chase us like crazy, and then I stopped, the other rider was still atacking, but somehow the peloton stopped the effort to catch us immediately, and let the other rider get into the breakaway. Really pathetic. These are the three main things that I consider that does not make any sense from my experience in the pro mode. It is a bad review but I also have to say that I like the stamina management more than other years. There are some mountains that every rider will run out of energy and they will just basically reach the top of the mountain based on their climbing skill, so makes the selection of riders more realistic than previous years.

No matter what race, situation or rider. The AI will always, always, always chase all they can, whenever human player is attacking. But less inclined when AI is attacking for the morning break-away. This has been the case in PCM 2008, and for some reason still an issue that can't be fixed in 2023. Why??

I love the game! Last time I played PCM was the 2008 version. So, this version is very nice in terms of features and graphics. My knowledge and likes for cycling sport is greater than before. Great game! RIP Mader.

Nacon refuses to let go of the juicy Tour de France licence. As a result, the game is more and more crippled with game breaking bugs, its AI lost the I even compared to the 2004 edition. Nobody will defend this game beyond the ones who get some king of benefit from it, be it Nacon, Cyanide, "content creators" or "modders". Definitely take it if it's under $5 and you like cycling, just don't expect a great game. Is it a surprise coming from Nacon, the infamous publisher behind Gollum ? Nope. Do they care about the feedback they received since they took over the game in 2019 ? Nope, not beyond the corrupted part of the community that generates benefits from a crippled game.