The Undercut Racing Manager Launch hotfixes 0.5.4-1 and 0.5.4-2

Steam Early Access opened on build 0.5.4. Within days Staz.Tech pushed two hotfixes: 0.5.4-1 and 0.5.4-2. They are not the weather update. They are the reports that arrived once thousands of principals actually clicked scrollbars, booked GP-10 meetings, and raised UI scale on a 4K panel. If you last read the 0.5.4 launch notes, read this page before you blame your Soft cliff or your factory for a bug that already shipped a patch.

Official text lives on Steam Community announcements and Discord, linked from the links hub. This page translates those notes into the systems this wiki already covers.

0.5.4-1 — displays, phantom Safety Cars, honest infrastructure

Fullscreen. Running fullscreen at a resolution smaller than the monitor could draw the track as a black rectangle under the HUD. Fullscreen now always renders at the screen’s native resolution. If you want a smaller internal resolution, use windowed mode. That is the 4K / laptop-on-TV rule. Pair it with system requirements and controls.

Menu background. The main menu no longer runs a live animated track. It is a static image. The live circuit was chewing CPU on weaker machines and Decks. If your menu feels calmer after the hotfix, that is intentional.

Phantom Safety Car. A car rejoining from the pits could be counted as a collision with a car on the straight, often triggering a Safety Car that nobody earned. That is gone. If you still see a Safety Car, look at a real crash, not a pit-exit ghost. Strategy implications sit on race strategy.

Punctures. They were firing too often. Stints are now planned with a margin so punctures come from racing variance, not from the strategy generator itself. A two-stop that looked cursed on launch night may simply have been the old puncture table. Recheck the pit strategy tool with a fresh practice measurement; do not inherit last week’s fear.

Infrastructure money. Spending used to leave the budget the instant you pressed +. Raising a level then lowering it refunded only half. Nothing leaves your budget now until you end the turn. Adjust freely. Undo costs nothing. That is the factory rule the car development page assumed in spirit and the hotfix made literal.

0.5.4-2 — World Data, scrolling, GP-10, audio, summer break

World Data crash. Opening World Data could freeze and crash the game. Fixed. Almanac browsing is safe again: series, circuits, driver careers, the archive that 0.5.3 promised.

Mouse wheel. On Windows and macOS the wheel jumped a whole block per notch — lists, run plans, mail. It now scrolls like a normal desktop app. If you were avoiding the wheel in controls, try it again.

Scrollbar click-through. Clicking a scrollbar’s arrows or thumb also triggered the button or row behind it. That is how you accidentally opened a negotiation or a department. Fixed. The click belongs to the bar.

Scale for 4K and Retina. UI Scale and in-race HUD scale now go up to 300% and 400%. High-refresh support shipped in 0.5.4; this is the missing magnification. Use it before you sit six inches from a 32-inch panel.

Audio devices. Menu music, UI clicks, and tutorial voice stayed silent on some sound devices. Fixed. If Sarah was mute after launch, update before you assume the tutorial is broken.

Summer break suppliers. A condition at the summer break could make every engine, tyre, and fuel supplier announce they were leaving at once. That is a career-killer, not a story beat. Fixed. If you lived through it on day-one Steam, it was a bug. Supplier strategy still lives on suppliers.

GP-10 offers. The free weekend gave three driver offers for the whole weekend instead of three per turn. You now get a fresh set each turn, with the remaining count shown. That is a large market buff. Recheck scouting before you fire someone to “save quota.”

Scouting labels. A driver under contract was labelled Free Agent in Scouting → Missions. Fixed. Status badges now match the contract. Do not plan a zero-buyout raid off a lying chip.

How to play after the hotfixes

1. Let Steam update. Confirm the news post title includes 0.5.4-2 or newer.
2. If you were mid-factory shopping, you can now nudge levels without paying until End Turn. The getting started checklist still says keep a cash buffer; the hotfix just stopped the buffer leaking on a misclick.
3. Re-measure practice before you swear off Soft. Puncture margin changed the generator, not the cliff physics.
4. At GP-10, spend the three offers each turn, not once.
5. Raise UI scale if the tower is small. Then reread controls so bumpers still match the new HUD.

These patches do not add rain, era tech, or playable GT. Those remain on the roadmap. They do change whether a Sunday looks like a strategy problem or a bug. When in doubt, the Steam notes win, then this page, then an older alpha wiki draft.

Report leftovers with the in-game reporter (log attached) or Discord. A save file is still worth ten descriptions.