One of the great things about PC gaming is that the inherent openness of the platform gives us access to all sorts of experiences that we otherwise might not have the opportunity to enjoy. Say, for instance, your big videogame fantasy is to manage a professional cycling team through a full season of events, from one end of Europe to the other; on the PC, that's a dream you can happily indulge.
In Pro Cycling Manager 2015, you'll recruit cyclists and support staff, manage finances, make contracts with riders and sponsors, arrange for the clandestine delivery of EPO-laced blood bags, set up traveling schedules, and handle just about everything else that happens behind the scenes on the pro cycling tour.
The game offers more than 200 competitions, including the official route for the 2015 Tour de France, and for the first time ever you can go hands-on with the Pro Cyclist Mode, which puts you atop that tiny little seat and challenges you to pedal your way to glory. There's even a multiplayer mode, supporting up to 16 digital cyclists at once.
It's not likely that this is a game that's going to set the charts on fire, but there's a hardcore lycra-clad crowd for this kind of thing. In fact, Cyanide Studio has been developing annual entries in the series since 2001, so it's clearly onto something. Pro Cycling Manager 2015 comes out on June 18, and may be preordered now on Steam.