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iGP Manager 26: Universal Driver & Staff Rating System

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Leveling the Playing Field
One of the biggest changes in iGP Manager 26 is the universal rating system for drivers and staff. Instead of skills being capped by your manager level, every attribute now sits on a single global scale, so a 5-star driver is always 5-star, no matter who is looking at them. Your drivers do not lose any skill as you level up. Instead, there is a seasonal reset, at the end of each season in with the new league system, applying a 10% atrophy in all skills in the off-season.

Universal % Scale & Stars
All driver and staff skills are now shown as percentages:


  • 0% = minimum, 100% = maximum (universal cap)

  • The same number means the same thing for every manager

  • Star ratings (1–5 stars) sit on top of this for quick comparison



Example:


  • A driver with 85% Talent and 4–5 stars is that rating for everyone

  • A staff member with 60% in a key attribute is clearly mid-range on a scale everyone shares



Migration: How Existing Drivers Are Converted
When iGP Manager 26 goes live, all existing drivers and staff are automatically converted:


  • First, their skills are scaled from your old level cap onto the new universal cap

  • Then, a one-time 10% reduction is applied to every trainable attribute



In practice, that means:


  • A maxed driver stays at the top of the field, just on the new universal scale

  • We preserve relative strength between drivers, while lining everyone up on the same scale

  • The addition of more levels at launch has no impact on things, you won't have to progress through those levels, your driver will be freshly scaled into them at launch



This 10% reduction doubles as the first “seasonal reset” in the new system. From here on, each season end applies a 10% atrophy to keep training meaningful and prevent everyone from parking at permanent 100%. VIP subscribers racing in multiple leagues (more on that in the leagues thread) are protected by a cap that synchronises atrophy to the global cycle, so they don’t get penalized for playing more.

A Single Global Transfers Market
Because everyone uses the same rating scale, the transfers market is now truly global and cross-level:


  • All managers see the same driver and staff pool

  • Percentages and star ratings make quality obvious at a glance

  • Pricing is relative to the buyer’s level and economy



That means a 90% / 5-star driver is desirable for everyone, but wages and fees are scaled locally to each manager's level in their interface, creating a natural progression. The goal is simple: anyone can find good talent, and the market always has meaningful options available, yet it will also become much more competitive.

Fair Cross-Level Competition
With the universal rating system in place:


  • Drivers and staff are judged on the same percentage scale for all managers

  • Car design uses a universal 300-point cap across all tiers

  • The matchmaking system which groups managers of similar levels ensures that there are not significant level discrepancies, creating a natural balance, unlike the old system

  • Boost and DRS are also now star-rated rather than raw levels, so provided everyone maintains everything at the maximum level for their team, they will have the same Boost and DRS available in the race



Success comes from how you build and run your team, training choices, facility upgrades, race strategy and transfers, rather than from which level you are. A smart level 10 manager with well-trained drivers and good decisions can now credibly take on far more experienced rivals.

The result is a management experience that’s easier to understand but deeper in practice as it becomes more competitive.

What This Means For You

  • New managers join a shared ecosystem instead of being locked behind level walls

  • Veterans keep their hard-earned advantage, but on a scale that’s fair and understandable

  • Recruiting, training and race strategy all gain importance relative to raw level



The universal driver and staff rating system is designed to make every decision, from a training session to a big-money transfer, feel clearer and more meaningful, while opening up a fair, shared playing field for the entire community.

More details and screenshots will follow in a blog.
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HCR
This is an excellent and transformative update that fundamentally changes the progression and competitive dynamics of iGP Manager. It directly addresses the "pay/grind wall" problem common in management games.

Here's a breakdown of the key changes and their profound implications:

Core Change: From "Level-Capped Stats" to "Universal Scale"

Old System: A "5-star" driver for a Level 15 manager was not the same as a "5-star" driver for a Level 30 manager. Skills were capped by your manager level, creating isolated progression bubbles.

New System: A 90% Talent driver is a 90% Talent driver for everyone, forever. The scale is global. This is the single most important change.

Key Mechanics & Their Impact

1.Universal % Scale & Stars:


  • Impact on Clarity: This is a massive win for transparency. You can instantly assess any driver's true worth on the global market. No more guessing if a "5-star" driver from a lower-level league is actually good.


2.Seasonal Atrophy (10% Skill Reduction):


  • Purpose: This is the new progression sink. It prevents the game from stagnating with everyone at 100% stats. It forces active management—you must constantly train to maintain performance or make strategic decisions about when to let a driver atrophy before replacing them.

  • VIP Protection: The sync cap for multi-league VIPs is a crucial and fair feature. It prevents them from being punished with 2-3x the atrophy just for playing more. Is that correct?


3.Single Global Transfers Market:


  • Impact on Gameplay: This creates a true, liquid, and fiercely competitive market. A world-class rookie will be seen and bid on by every manager in the game, not just those in your level bracket. Scouting and sniping deals become critical skills.

  • Localized Pricing: While the pool is global, prices are scaled to your level. This is the genius balance—it preserves a sense of economic progression (a Level 30 can afford more) while letting a Level 20 see and dream about the same top-tier talents.



4.Fair Cross-Level Competition (via Matchmaking):


  • How it Works: The universal scale alone isn't enough for fairness. The key is that the league matchmaking system (grouping by XP/RXP) will naturally place managers of similar overall progression together. So while you all use the same driver scale, you'll primarily compete against people who have had a similar amount of time/investment to build their team.

  • Car Design & Parts: The universal 300-point cap and star-rated Boost/DRS are the final pieces. They ensure that, within a matched league, the tools are equal. Victory is decided by how you use them (strategy, driver training, facility upgrades), not by having unlocked a higher "level" of parts.


Strategic Implications & New Meta


  • Driver Development Strategy: The 10% seasonal atrophy changes everything. Do you:


🤖 Continuously train aging veterans to maintain their edge?

🤖 Adopt a "churn" strategy, hiring young talent, training them for a season or two, and selling them before atrophy hits their value?

🤖 The youth academy becomes exponentially more valuable.


  • Market Strategy: The global market means timing is everything. Player behavior will create market cycles—a rush for talent right after the seasonal reset, potential firesales before atrophy hits. Understanding these cycles will be a key skill.

  • Shift in Power: Advantage shifts from "time played / level reached" to "managerial skill."
    [Saying 'managerial' out loud felt like my tongue attempted parkour in a syllable-based obstacle course. It did not medal.]
    A savvy new manager who makes brilliant training, market, and strategic calls can genuinely outperform a veteran who coasts. The veteran's advantage is now embodied in their accumulated facilities, financial muscle, and game knowledge, not in hidden stat caps.



Migration: The One-Time Hit


  • The one-time 10% reduction on conversion is a smart way to:


🤖 Immediately apply the new "seasonal reset" mechanic to the entire game.

🤖 Slightly compress the field to make the new universal scale feel fresh.

🤖 Preserve relative strength (the best remain the best, just at 90% of their old scaled value).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the philosophical goal here is clear: to create a more transparent, more competitive, and strategy-focused experience where your decisions as a manager matter more than your player level, while still rewarding long-term investment and game knowledge. It lowers the barrier to understanding while significantly raising the skill ceiling for mastery.
This master update, combined with the league changes, completely rewires the game's social and competitive DNA. It's a bold move that should make the ecosystem feel more alive, dynamic, and fair. 🤖




Dude, stop copy pasting from ai, this is a forum
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Jack
Your drivers do not lose any skill as you level up. Instead, there is a seasonal reset, at the end of each season in with the new league system, applying a 10% atrophy in all skills in the off-season.


Will talent also get atrophied? 

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F

Jack
Your drivers do not lose any skill as you level up. Instead, there is a seasonal reset, at the end of each season in with the new league system, applying a 10% atrophy in all skills in the off-season.


Will talent also get atrophied? 


Talent is not trainable, so I believe not
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Balerion Dragón medal 5113
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Will the transfer window last 4 minutes as usual?

It would be better if the window were longer.
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Jack
Your drivers do not lose any skill as you level up. Instead, there is a seasonal reset, at the end of each season in with the new league system, applying a 10% atrophy in all skills in the off-season.


Will talent also get atrophied? 


Good question. No, talent wil not experience atrophy.

Balerion
Will the transfer window last 4 minutes as usual?

It would be better if the window were longer.

At launch it will be unchanged, but we'll see how it goes. Given that there will only be one market across the entire game we may need to tweak it until it's balanced.
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Aldux Leclerc medal 5620
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Does this mean in the market I can find talent 30 drivers (100%) even if I’m level 10 e.g.?
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Ino Yamanaka medal 5064
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If the managers has old/high-age riders(then older the rider, then more difficult it is for him to increase the level) and it turns out that the top rider whom you developed over the course of months, or maybe more than a year, will become a useless pumpkin?
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Aldux
Does this mean in the market I can find talent 30 drivers (100%) even if I’m level 10 e.g.?

Essentially, yes. Everyone is accessing the same performance. It enables much wider cross community play options.

Ino
If the managers has old/high-age riders(then older the rider, then more difficult it is for him to increase the level) and it turns out that the top rider whom you developed over the course of months, or maybe more than a year, will become a useless pumpkin?

Fair point. I can tweak this. What do you think age should impact if not that?
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Ino
If the managers has old/high-age riders(then older the rider, then more difficult it is for him to increase the level) and it turns out that the top rider whom you developed over the course of months, or maybe more than a year, will become a useless pumpkin?


You could base the atrophy level to the drivers age. Say 10% more points for every year after 30. That way drivers are still useable in their early 30s but by the time they reach 35 but they’d be losing 50% more than others and need a bit longer to train it back. This could be lower if 10% is too much, depends on how quickly they can train to get get it back.


On the opposite side, I’d expect drivers less than 25 to have lower atrophy too, so perhaps a similar mechanic applied.

You wouldn't need to calculate these values each time, once you know the numbers they can be hardcoded to the age. So if base atrophy is 100 for 25 to 30 years old, then you know that at 31 it will be 110, 32 is 120, 130 at 33, etc. etc.


You could also reduce training gains for over 30s at a cumulative rate, but that becomes a double penalty where may be only one is necessary. 
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Jack
Aldux
Does this mean in the market I can find talent 30 drivers (100%) even if I’m level 10 e.g.?

Essentially, yes. Everyone is accessing the same performance. It enables much wider cross community play options.

Ino
If the managers has old/high-age riders(then older the rider, then more difficult it is for him to increase the level) and it turns out that the top rider whom you developed over the course of months, or maybe more than a year, will become a useless pumpkin?

Fair point. I can tweak this. What do you think age should impact if not that?



Let's look at real racers. As an example of the same, Fernando Alonso. He is 44 and has his driving become worse? Personally, I think that he didn’t, and if he had a competitive car, he could still fight for titles without any problems. The same with Hamilton, who is 41, develop a Ferrari car for him, not for Leclerc, could show good results. What am I getting at? So the point is not to make the pilot clearly weaker with age, but to change the concept... For pilots 35+, cut the endurance parameter a little and if you really want to introduce atrophy, this should affect not the racing and psychological, but the physical aspects. In addition to endurance, add a couple more stats to the physical data column (reaction, vibration resistance, temperature resistance). Display experience in a separate column and make it more influential on the pilot’s performance). Add characteristics of fuel economy and smoothness, whose growth depends solely on age (young people generally drive more aggressively, but they wear out the tires faster and burn more fuel). It’s just that in real life, a pilot’s peak occurs closer to 40 years of age, and pilots leave earlier often not because they have become worse with age, but because the team thought “why do we need this old guy who also needs to pay a higher salary, when we can take a young man, who may be worse now, but his requirements both for salary and for a car are much lower?" The goal is to make veteran pilots not useless pumpkins, but strategic assets that, although no longer the fastest, are capable of bringing points due to stability and experience, which young people by definition do not have.

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Ino
If the managers has old/high-age riders(then older the rider, then more difficult it is for him to increase the level) and it turns out that the top rider whom you developed over the course of months, or maybe more than a year, will become a useless pumpkin?



Isn’t that what happens to drivers in real life?  Not sure why this a problem tbh.  The only thing I think should change is you should be able to retain the drivers special abilities and use them on replacement drivers (maybe drop them down a level so Legrandary become Rare and you just pay to level them up to Legendary again).  Drivers like Alonso are a rarity in F1 and most drivers lose something as they get well into their 30’s,  it just physically but mentally as well.  They aren’t aren’t prepared to take the same risks in arace they did when there were younger.  You only have to look at the season Verstappen won his first title and the many incidents with Hamilton, he wouldn’t yield position whereas Hamilton often pulled out when it got risky.  F1 is increasingly becoming a young persons sport and it’s got nothing to do with salaries. 
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Ino Yamanaka medal 5064
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Just as a fact, I categorically disagree with all this changes (I’ve had almost a year of suffering on my main account. I recently managed to take level 28, and now all my efforts will be worthless, since the level will no longer decide anything and the riders I’ve been developing for 6-7 months will become useless pumpkins)...
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Ino
Just as a fact, I categorically disagree with all this changes (I’ve had almost a year of suffering on my main account. I recently managed to take level 28, and now all my efforts will be worthless, since the level will no longer decide anything and the riders I’ve been developing for 6-7 months will become useless pumpkins)...


Why dont you just be happy that Jack and his staff is finally trying to revive this game, which is currently plain dead. 


Why dont you just wait until the update is live and we can make our experiences with the new functions, instead of useless complaining? 
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I think it would be wrong to make drivers decline with age. It should always be possible to keep them at the max level, if the right amount of training is done.

Not only do you have Alonso in F1 being very competitive at 44, but in IndyCar you had Will Power winning the title aged 41 recently; Castroneves won the Indy 500 at 44 too. I don't think drivers should decline in age, it would just be unrealistic. Maybe it should require more training to keep them at the max level, but it should be possible to maintain it - both because that is realistic, and because it is an in game achievement to enter a retiring driver into a race. You should be able to keep your drivers until 43 or 44 at max stats level.

Drivers seem to hit their real life prime around 30. If their is age drop off (which I don't think there should be) I don't think it should begin until they are late 30s at the earliest.
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Hi, I'm a longtime manager. I've never played in 3D. Playing in 2D will have problems with this update?
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Marco
Hi, I'm a longtime manager. I've never played in 3D. Playing in 2D will have problems with this update?

2D remains supported in iGP Manager 26. We intend to always support it. However, 3D does provide a clearer view of racing situations.
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Sean O'Callaghan medal 5624
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Hi Jack,

Staff stats have been reduced by 25%, this was never communicated, how can staff be retrained?
I purchased 2no level 30 staff from my HQ friday night, if I had known that I would never have wasted my tokens!!!
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Sean
Hi Jack,

Staff stats have been reduced by 25%, this was never communicated, how can staff be retrained?
I purchased 2no level 30 staff from my HQ friday night, if I had known that I would never have wasted my tokens!!!



I don’t think it’s been mentioned here, but the iGP Twitter/X account says that staff will be scaled overnight.
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So if my maxed out staff are now 3.5 stars... Wth? Buying all new staff wasn't in the budget.  There's no sign of what level the cars I want to research off of are at, it shows me as the highest in each stat.  Maybe cancel all races til you fix it. 

The whole boost thing is super unclear.. do you earn them from playing, or is it real money only. There's pages and pages talking about stuff that means nothing to me, with no answers to these questions. I don't have hours to read every comment looking for an answer.
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