FDB14 nearing release

In the next few days, the PCM Focus DB team will be adding the final adjustments to their new 2014 DB. Alongside usual features like updated stats, squads and stages, it also includes new things like feeding stations in stages and a new interface for PCM. A full list, plus some sneak peak screens and promo videos can be found over here!

Have your say in the first ever favourite ManGame jersey contest

Hardly anyone can dispute the popularity of the annual favourite rider and team contests have achieved over the course of the last few years. As a result, Mresuperstar has now presented a third category: PCM.daily's favourite ManGame jersey. Voting is still only in its early stages, so jump in and make sure that the shirt you like makes it all the way!

To do so, have a look at this thread.

ManGame crits set for return

They were widely appreciated last year, but eventually started fading away due to the heavy workload that was necessary in order to keep them going. However, the crit series have returned with Australia's Bay Cycling Classic - offering a chance for riders from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Japan and Great Britain to show themselves before the actual season starts.

If you have riders eligible for racing (the criteria for participation can be found here), hurry up and sign them up, because many spots have already filled up!

It is that time of year again, with approximately 3 months until the new game is released, and this year PCM.daily have been given the first interview about the game!

The interview is with Clément Pinget, and reveals the first real bits of information about what we can expect in Pro Cycling Manager 2014. The main conclusions are below, or you can click here to read the full interview.

Career Mode

The career mode has been one of the main areas of focus for improvement this year, and two systems have been developed from scratch. The first involves equipment, and allows you to sign contracts with suppliers and participate in research and development programmes for new parts. The second involves the contracts and transfers system. The realism of transfers have been improved - in terms of both salary levels and the nationality focus of a team - and players will have more choices available when dealing with this part of the game.

Tutorials

It has been many years since there was a demo for the game, and this looks set to be partly addressed in the form of two tutorial levels. One will be aimed at total beginners, but the other will be geared towards more advanced players and will help to highlight the changes that have been made between 2013 and 2014.

Gameplay

The main change here relates to an automatic mode where it seems that you can let the AI take control over part of your team - to allow you to focus only on the important riders. It will also be possible to give multiple orders to a rider at the same time. So while a rider is collecting water bottles for the team, you can tell him to go straight to relaying once that task has been completed.

Daily Form

The impact of daily form looks set to be greater this year, which will lead to some more unpredictable results - an outsider could achieve a big result if he has a great daily form for that race. How the daily form is generated has also been changed - with a rider's recovery and the weather conditions being important factors. In career mode, rider illness will also lead to a rider receiving low daily form for a few days in a row.

Resistance Stat

As many people noticed, the Resistance stat had become irrelevant after changes to PCM2013. This has been addressed for this year's game.

Stage Editor

A new feature will allow climbs or route sectors to be inserted straight into a .zcts file, without the need to map them out every single time. Already nearly 60 famous climbs or places have been recreated from France and Italy, including the likes of Alpe d'Huez and Mont Ventoux. This could be a great time saving feature for stage makers.

Long Term Plans

Beyond PCM 2014, there is a hope to improve the ease in which the game can be modded, in particular with the installation of different database - making it possible for the game to work with multiple different databases at the same time. Cyclocross is also in the minds of those working on the game, having been a popular suggestion for many years.

More news to come

There will be improvements to the multiplayer mode, and other changes to the career mode, as well as news about new features for the console version of the game. But further information on this will have to wait for now!

Fantasy classics: Remember to change riders for upcoming cobbles

With Milano - Sanremo and the first race of Velogames fantasy spring classics out of the way, we travel north to Dwars Door Vlaanderen - which takes place on Wednesday. A different set of riders than what you used for Sanremo may be needed for some of you, so don't forget to make your changes before then!

ManGame: Done with transfers? Here's what to do

Several teams have already shut down their transfer season, and the rest will be following in the next few days. The actual season can't start quite yet however, so here's a little reminder of what PCT and CT managers can do while waiting for everyone to finish. Remember, the earlier this is sent in - the sooner the season can begin!

- C1/C2 selections for PCT and CT teams. Have a look over in this thread to find out how this is done

- Wildcard applications. If you want any, which? Information can be found here

As in previous years Velogames has started their fantasy cycling season. This time it starts with the spring classics.

So time is limited to join as the first race is already Milan San Remo, followed by some cobbled classics and ended with the Ardennes Classics.

So what is the Velogames Fantasy Spring Classics?

In short: 11 races, a team of 12 riders with a max amount of 100 points, 24 transfers allowed in between the races to change from cobblers to puncheurs and so on.

As done before, there is a PCM Daily Fantasy league, that you can join to get a PCM Daily member ranking after each race as also a general ranking in the end.

So if you are interested. Join here.

To join the PCM Daily league after creating a team use: 19075729

Any questions? Check this thread.

Follow Cyanide's development blog for PCM14 updates

The PCM14 release is only three months away, and work is being done to get it ready in time every day. For a look into the process, check out the official developer's blog by clicking this link. The most recent update is only a couple of days old, and covers the voice recording for in-game commentary.

Transfer frenzy taking over both PCM.daily and Twitter

With many of the site's active members participating in the ManGame transfer season, other parts of the forum have perhaps been a bit slower than usual these past few days. Just like last year, transfer discussions have also spread to Twitter - albeit with the most important things still going on over here. If you're interested in constant updates from various managers, have a look at the list of teams and managers to find their respective Twitter accounts.