Pro Cycling Manager - anyone played it

[Jamsque]

I am crazy addicted to these games and have been for years, but they are very, very flawed. Obviously they are the only cycling game on the market, so they have no competition to drive them to improve. They release every year, which means their development cycle is too short for them to ever be able to create a new engine for the game, which is what it desperately needs.

The basic mechanics of how the riders move and expend energy haven't really changed since the first 3D version of the game, and the more I have played the more annoyed I have got with how entirely unlike actual bike racing they are. Every year I wish they will overhaul it, and every year they just crank up the graphics settings a little and add some more races.

All that said, I will buy PCM '10 and probably play the hell out of it, although (like all of their releases) it will probably have some pretty major bugs for the first few months.

 

[Barrus]

I am crazy addicted to these games and have been for years, but they are very, very flawed. Obviously they are the only cycling game on the market, so they have no competition to drive them to improve. They release every year, which means their development cycle is too short for them to ever be able to create a new engine for the game, which is what it desperately needs.

The basic mechanics of how the riders move and expend energy haven't really changed since the first 3D version of the game, and the more I have played the more annoyed I have got with how entirely unlike actual bike racing they are. Every year I wish they will overhaul it, and every year they just crank up the graphics settings a little and add some more races.

All that said, I will buy PCM '10 and probably play the hell out of it, although (like all of their releases) it will probably have some pretty major bugs for the first few months.

Too be wuite honest, I myself almost never play the races, only focus on the managing aspect, so I couldn't really care how it looked. I know it is then mostly random who wins, but that's the way I like my strategy/managerial games. Best part I think is the mod community that makes the database that much better

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I've played every version of Cycling Manager since the first in 1999. It is an awesome game.

That's funny, since the first version of the game, Cycling Manager 1, was released in 2001

Been there from the start

 

[CrueTrue]

That's funny, since the first version of the game, Cycling Manager 1, was released in 2001

Been there from the start

I already mentioned that in a different thread

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?p=77492#post77492

 

[saganftw]

damn i have my own huge database for PCM 2009,i am too lazy to redo it for 2010 ...if 2010 is only about graphics i ll pass

 

[markene2]

Cycling Manager... What a classic. Might have to list my collection

Cycling Manager 2
Cycling Manager 3
Cycling Manager 4
Pro Cycling Manager
Pro Cycling Manager 2006
Pro Cycling Manager 2007
Pro Cycling Manager 2008
Pro Cycling Manager 2009
Pro Cycling Manager 2010 (Just Bought the download verision)

I still think of Cycling Manager 4 as the best though.

 

[kurtinsc]

Oddly enough... PCM 7 is what got me into posting on cycling message boards. Started on the PCM-Daily board trying to find a better database to play careers with, then posting about stuff on their general cycling thread... then here.

Skipped '08, but play '09. I'll probably skip this year and try the '11 version. Buggy, but still enjoyable.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

yeah i like it when i find some time to play it.
will probably buy the next one

 

[craig1985]

I think I could climb better then what Chris Anker Sørensen does in my game.

 

[Claudiu]

I play since 2006 (didn't know about it until then) and since then i play at least 1-2 hours every day, i am an addict. I can't wait to see what 2010 version has to offer, although i guess my pc is not good enough, the 2009 version appears the most i can handle with my specs. I play with the best databases and graphical add-ons out there, and the only teams i played with in the newer versions are Astana, Katiusha and Cycling Club Bourgas (yeah, fan of eastern european ones). Actually, i currently work at a database that will include 2 romanian teams, Tour of Romania, all the riders we have, plus all the graphical stuff, but it is very hard alone (find all the data in a country that cycling is not the best sport, make the stages, and so on). Anyway, since the single player is not too chalenging (for example, with CCB in first season i won: 5 stages in Tour of Qatar with Erki Putsep, climber jersey with Martin Prazdnovsky in Giro del Trentino, Tour de Picardie, Tour of Slovenia, and first place in general rankings in Tour of Ireland and Giro della Calabria, sprinter jersey with Normund Lasis in Presidential Tour of Turkey, after 2 stage wins, a 3rd place, and a breakaway for the intermediate sprint points, the best young rider jersey with Stefan Hristov in Giro di Sardegna and Bayern-Rundfahrt, and ITT stage wins with Matti Helminen in Volta ao Algarve, Vuelta Asturias and Tour of Missouri, also lots of podiums and top 10 rankings...and i will not list the victories with Astana, is too long) i was wondering if we could do a multiplayer season (if there are some people interested here), or at least a big stage race, if the versions matches and it is posiible, it could be very fun and competitive to play (if the game supports) let's say Tour de France with all the teams human controlled, every player with his favorite team.

 

[Archibald]

I think I could climb better then what Chris Anker Sørensen does in my game.

his is a bit of a sh*t-truck isn't he

am waiting to hear the feedback on the 2010 version - rumoured to be much upgraded on 2009. I just want it to stop crashing

 

[craig1985]

his is a bit of a sh*t-truck isn't he

am waiting to hear the feedback on the 2010 version - rumoured to be much upgraded on 2009. I just want it to stop crashing

You know I thought that was only happening to me.

 

[Archibald]

You know I thought that was only happening to me.

constant crashing or CA sorensen being lame?

 

[craig1985]

Constant crashing.

 

[ericthesportsman6]

It's totally not true that this game is easy. It's called not editing the DB so that your fav riders are amazing and turning up the difficulty to hard/extreme.

 

[Claudiu]

It's totally not true that this game is easy. It's called not editing the DB so that your fav riders are amazing and turning up the difficulty to hard/extreme.

I play on hard, and the DB i use is not the game's original one, is edited, i guess is fairly known by players, download it for every PCM but their stats are not crazy, Vino is 72 MO 75 HIL, Daniel Navarro 75 MO 74 HIL etc, and they are balanced enough, so i don't get it about the edited DB...of course i don't play the original one, with the fantasy names and so on, so what's that have to do? Umm...whatever, if you mean that i edited the database, that's a very long shot, since even the best edited DB is so buggy that you can not play too much seasons, i can't imagine what would it be if i stick my numbers there, probably i'll get a nice CTD right from the start, so what's the point? I just told my game experience, and that it could more fun and competitive to play with others rather alone with the poor AI...and yes, i stick to my opinion that it's not hard to achieve the sponsors objectives, plus another good races during the season for extra cash (to hire better trainers, send the riders to training camps more often and effective, and when the Vuelta comes and i own them all with a David De La Fuente that i've prepared all season long, somebody comes to say that i pump the numbers and play on easy, and stuff...) Play more often, you should see then, but don't come after a failed Tour Down Under, or an epic +7 minutes late in a mediocre stage in Tour de Romandie with Schleck. There are some topics about the fairly easy gameplay in the sites for the PCM hardcore players, you should check those too and call them all cheaters. Oh well, enough talking, i should probably go youtube with some races, but i still hope that i could play against some of you guys if there's interest. It's a long response, and may sound a little cranky, but i just wanted to say that wasn't right, and explain why.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

It's the training that makes the game easy. It's a bit of a joke. You can make any half decent rider amazing for a GT by having the right schedule and training them in the mountains to the max (seriously I could probably win the tour with reus if i wanted)

For that reason, I never use the specific training (mountain training)... maybe for a few days prior to a GT at most. Otherwise it's a bit silly and unrealistic. I also download the 2010 list from PCM with is pretty accurate with the riders imo.

his is a bit of a sh*t-truck isn't he

am waiting to hear the feedback on the 2010 version - rumoured to be much upgraded on 2009. I just want it to stop crashing

yeah mine doesn't even open anymore. It crashes on startup ( my computer can easily handle the game, so I don't get it).

 

[Claudiu]

It's the training that makes the game easy. It's a bit of a joke. You can make any half decent rider amazing for a GT by having the right schedule and training them in the mountains to the max

Yes, in my first season for Astana, i've trained hard Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy in MO, HIL and TT, after seeing his potential, and until Giro, this bad boy reached 76 MO, 70 HIL, 70 TT and that is...i'll say just over rated training effect, especially for not even a half year, a growth like that is just insane.

 

[hrotha]

Well, don't use gamey exploits then.
Seriously though, don't they patch this stuff?

 

[Claudiu]

It's not really exploit, i guess...i mean is normal to train your riders, and it's a little disappointing that for a more balanced game, i got to ban my riders from training, but it is the best solution in this aspect for now, yes.
They patch it a few times, but the main target is solving the bugs, which are enough, so they don't even finish that until the next game season version comes out, and so on...

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

It's the training that makes the game easy. It's a bit of a joke. You can make any half decent rider amazing for a GT by having the right schedule and training them in the mountains to the max (seriously I could probably win the tour with reus if i wanted)

For that reason, I never use the specific training (mountain training)... maybe for a few days prior to a GT at most. Otherwise it's a bit silly and unrealistic. I also download the 2010 list from PCM with is pretty accurate with the riders imo.



yeah mine doesn't even open anymore. It crashes on startup ( my computer can easily handle the game, so I don't get it).

The training is just inbuilt doping for those who wish to use it, the game is still comically easy if you don't bother, just attack on any descent and no one will defend you - once you spot this, it gets tedious quickly.

And sprints are rendered pointless as you just sprint follow hop your way down someone else's train, build up momentum and pass with 2.5 to go, sprint your leadout man then kick your last man at 1.5 and YOU WILL NEVER EVER LOSE.

 

[Indurain]

I think some of you guys are exaggerating how easy it is to win eg. sprints. I've been playing it since the very first one and I can tell you that I still love it now. Sure if you want to cheat then yes it will become tedious. 2008 is proabably the best one thus far in my opinion. I made my own team and started off as neo pro's with good potential. Took 2 seasons to start really performing. Even then the classics were hard to win. Tours a little easier.

Haven't tried 2010 yet, but looking forward to it. HOpefully they did fix the downhill attack cheat.

 

[Claudiu]

Agree with the two posts above. As for the fix, i also want, and not only this, but from what i saw, the developers look more oriented to make the game just more eye-candy...but i hope i am totally wrong.
Nice to see a game player that started from scratch with a brand new team, is a very good game feature i must say. I also tried, and made my dream team - not the big stars, just the riders i like the most, like Ignatas Konovalovas, Branislav Samoilau, Simon Spilak, Marko Kump, Normunds Lasis, Johannes Frohlinger, Tanel Kangert, Stefan Hristov, Matti Breschel, Frantisek Rabon and some cheap unknown names to fill the roster within the salary cap, i was very excited with the prospect of managing a team with my favorites (there are more, didn't afford to sign them though), but every time i try to start a 3D race, CTD...only works simulating, which is not that enjoyable...i don't know what the problem is.

 

[nvpacchi]

This is a stupid question, but what exactly is the Resistance category?

 

[ericthesportsman6]

I play on hard, and the DB i use is not the game's original one, is edited, i guess is fairly known by players, download it for every PCM but their stats are not crazy, Vino is 72 MO 75 HIL, Daniel Navarro 75 MO 74 HIL etc, and they are balanced enough, so i don't get it about the edited DB...of course i don't play the original one, with the fantasy names and so on, so what's that have to do? Umm...whatever, if you mean that i edited the database, that's a very long shot, since even the best edited DB is so buggy that you can not play too much seasons, i can't imagine what would it be if i stick my numbers there, probably i'll get a nice CTD right from the start, so what's the point? I just told my game experience, and that it could more fun and competitive to play with others rather alone with the poor AI...and yes, i stick to my opinion that it's not hard to achieve the sponsors objectives, plus another good races during the season for extra cash (to hire better trainers, send the riders to training camps more often and effective, and when the Vuelta comes and i own them all with a David De La Fuente that i've prepared all season long, somebody comes to say that i pump the numbers and play on easy, and stuff...) Play more often, you should see then, but don't come after a failed Tour Down Under, or an epic +7 minutes late in a mediocre stage in Tour de Romandie with Schleck. There are some topics about the fairly easy gameplay in the sites for the PCM hardcore players, you should check those too and call them all cheaters. Oh well, enough talking, i should probably go youtube with some races, but i still hope that i could play against some of you guys if there's interest. It's a long response, and may sound a little cranky, but i just wanted to say that wasn't right, and explain why.

I stand corrected, you clearly know much more about this game than I. Never even realized the whole training glitch. But editing DB's doesn't make your game crash.