Video: Pro Cycling Manager 2015 trailer

A video trailer for the latest version of the long-running Pro Cycling Manager franchise has been released. The 2015 instalment, which will be out in June, now features ‘pro cyclist mode’ in which you take control of the career of a single rider.

Pro Cycling Manager has been about since 2001 in one guise or another and there tends to be a new release each year to coincide with the Tour de France. By and large, the nuts and bolts of the game remain the same and updates tend to focus on delivering updated team rosters, new routes and improved graphics. However, judging by the trailer, the idiosyncratic translated English which has always been a feature of these games will remain the same.

As with previous instalments, you can choose to be in charge of a group of riders for a single stage or race or you can manage the team across multiple seasons – the latter scenario seeing you take charge of training, scouting and contract negotiations on top of race tactics. However, pro cyclist mode promises a fresh dimension for those who may have grown weary of the franchise.

The basic premise of this new mode appears to be that you create a cyclist with their own strengths and weaknesses and then you play out their individual career, training them and playing out roles within your team in the hope of earning further recognition or a move to another team.

“Your team mates won’t be very helpful to you in the race if you arrive on the scene as the young hopeful who has yet to prove himself,” warns the game’s website. Whether Wiggins-Froome style spats between rivals on the same team are a major part of the game remains to be seen. More likely a bit of solid work as a domestique will earn you more opportunities to go for wins yourself.

The artificial intelligence has supposedly been enhanced to ensure rivals have greater awareness of the routes, while training and scouting have also been improved. The game’s available for £29.99 from June 18, although there’s currently a discount on pre-orders through Steam.