The pattern showed up in all seven save snapshots the author tested, and also among 17 to 21-year-olds, who have not started rising yet. So it is not just that older players are rated differently.<\/p>\n
The hidden attributes Important Matches and Pressure, by comparison, moved ratings by only 0 to 0.003 per point. Of those tested, Consistency is the only one that clearly shows up in ratings.<\/p>\n
A 22-year-old whom your scouts describe as inconsistent will improve on his own from 23 onwards. Veterans, on the other hand, carry an advantage you cannot see on the attribute screen. In the author's save, the average 30-year-old had 15.5 Consistency in 2040.<\/p>\n
(Chart: Randy Olson, randalolson.com, based on 4 FM26 saves read with fmsave)<\/em><\/p>\nThe problem lies with newgens. They arrive with an average of about 9, while real players aged 16 to 22 start between 9 and 12. Over time, long saves end up with inconsistent kids and consistent veterans.<\/p>\n
Versatility behaves in a similar way: flat until 22, around one point a year from 23, and it never drops.<\/p>\n
How the FM26 data was collected<\/h2>\n
The author read every player in 13 FM26 saves: new games simulated for one season, his own long careers and saves other users sent him. He used an open-source library, fmsave, to read the files and matched players by ID and birth date.<\/p>\n
An important caveat: this data comes from FM26. We don't know whether Sports Interactive kept the same logic in FM27, so it is worth checking once the game is out.<\/p>\n