I remember when Dan Gurney tried out Grand Prix Legends and said if they'd had that little grip in real life more of them would have been dead.
Its always amused me that games are made hard purely because someone thinks that's more realistic.
Indeed. It's absolutely crazy. I remember that game well and we played it with my brother with our first sim wheel (it didn't have FFB). Great game but way too little grip to be even remotely realistic. They had the modern F1 skins too as an "unofficial download". Some people still play it. I find it amazing.
On AC I increased VS 1998 car's rear wheel grip by changing rear tyres DX ref from 1.8 to 2.1 and it immediately became enjoyable to drive... and probably at least remotely close how the grip on the real F1 car should be. Kunos F2004 drives amazing too. Ironically it needed VRC 2007 tyres to stay on the track on new CSP/CM ai (whatever was causing the spins).
I'm beginning to think (after playing a lot of F1 2020 just recently) that it's the most realistic simulation of modern F1 that has ever been made (when the TC is set on as George Russell himself suggested). That game is loved by a LOT of people and widely regarded as the best of the series... but has always been overlooked by sim racers... even though it does pretty much
everything 100 times better than any of the "real sims" (besides the FFB).
Don't get me wrong some modern AC F1 cars feel really amazing... like Kunos F2004, VRC 2005, 2007 and CIM 2008. And some of the new RSS/VRC cars from 2020's too. AC probably has the best driving modern F1 cars. But when it comes to races and creating a full 2020-era championship on AC (or any other sim at the moment)... they won't come even close.
What is missing:
Qualifying Q1, Q2, Q3
Safety car
Perfect pitstops (yeah you can manipulate the fuel load and force pitstops as I've done but it's never perfect as AI pits sometimes against all logic twice)
Properly executed DRS/ERS (I think this is purely depending on the track as some probably have them nailed)
AI intelligence to use DRS to prevent overtaking when they're driving in the "train" (I could be wrong here as I haven't played a lot of new F1 on AC... it could work if it's all automated)
Blue flag / outlap AI (this is the lamest issue on AC and actually unforgivable from the devs)
Tyre rule (mandatory to use at least two compounds on dry)
Team radio
Qualifying where lower tier drivers aren't constantly ruining your fast lap or backmarkers racing you like idiots
Ability to set up the AI difficulty properly (100 on AC is not always sufficient if the fastlane is not flawlessly made). To be fair 100 is ok most of the time.
Damage model (sure it's not perfect on F12020, either but ok)
Rain physics (F12020 has them nailed pretty good... I think actually better than LMU or ACC. iRacing has the best rain even with its flaws)
As I've said many times... besides the lack of blue flag/QF outlap AI, AC ai is pretty good... MUCH better than its reputation... as long as all factors are properly done (fastlane, cars, individual driver aggression). And car modders are smart enough to have eliminated AC's over slippery kerbs too. It's not an issue on most modern F1 mods. And you can adapt to the ai and learn to overtake properly. But it's not even CLOSE how good ai F1 2020 ai is. Not even on the same ballpark.
AC as a F1 simulator is amazing up until 2010'ish. I've had some incredible seasons on AC. After that... nope.
It's kinda ironic that the best F1 cars are probably those modern RSS/VRC cars. They drive so well and are so well made. I have a few of them like RSS 2022. It's great. Some modern tracks are incredibly well made too. Of course you can hotlap them and enjoy (which I think most people actually do). I could be wrong though... I only played through 2022 season built by Geraint Thomas. Amazing work by him but it's not his fault that AC is just not built for modern F1 championships.
I wish Kunos could just update the AC one day and fix these issues. They're not just F1 issues but for example lack of flying starts prevents all proper Indycar/CART/GT3 season mods. I think those updates would make people much happier than any new EVO updates.
I think the Kunos is even less grippy than the real one. Anyone else have the same feeling?
Kunos RUF Yellowbird is absolutely ridiculous. That famous lap by Stefan Roser was not about "lack of grip" but he purposefully oversteered the car and used its grip. He said himself that it wasn't the absolutelly fastest way to drive the Green Hell with the Yellowbird... there was a lot of showmanship involved. Air cooled Porsches (and all 911's) have engine on the back and they actually have very good grip (until you lose it hehe). The rear of those cars is like a pendulum... if you lift on the corners you'll lose it.
Kunos RUF has zero grip. It's like driving on ice or oil. And believe me... I'm a Finn and I've done a few times on icy tracks and Kunos RUF feels exactly the same (just without studs on the tyres). It probably doesn't have the physics wrong... they are just way exaggerated.
EVO actually has 964 Turbo 3.6 which drives 100 times better. It's challenging to drive too... but in a good way.