F1 2018 - Tell us about your career

skydragon49

skydragon49

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Brazil
Brazil 🇧🇷
blacksky37
Hey guys, I remember seeing a thread like this for the previous interations of the game and then I saw the F1 2018 section and thought... why not?

Feel free to share what's happened in your career, whatever R&D decisions you've made and how it's turned out.

*I played most of the Codies F1 games (from 2010 up to 2015, little bits of the '16, skipped the '17 and I'm getting the '18) and can't wait to dive into the game again.
 
So... let me start the thread. (Since there's no reply from nobody so far lol)

- I decided to go with Sauber in my first season. I'm a Ferrari fan all the way, but I thought it would be nice to start with the Team B of Ferrari and then make my way through the red cars.

- I played around time trial for a while with my Sauber to get used to the game, even tried to tweak the car setup for Australia.

- I also played the Grand Prix for Australia to check what the IA level is all about. Tried the "low" expert (IA level 80) but I couldn't keep up with the pace. The gap was bigger than 2,5 seconds. Which I think should be the ideal gap from the big teams to Sauber. Did some trials, ended up going with "medium" hard (IA level 70).

- the first weekend:
Took my time to do some research programs. Got purple for track aclimasation and green for ERS and tires management. In P3, I managed to match the expected pace within the quali pace program. Also took the session to meet some team goals and put in the bag some resource points (RP).

-The qualifying:
I asked the team to equip the Ultra Soft tires and went right away on track. (Unrealistic, I know lol). But I was feeling too confident with my set up and the results of my Research Programs and just went for it. I did just one lap (for saving my tires) and for whatever reasons Toro Rosso failed to send Gasly on track and Hulkenberg failed on getting a good lap. Then I could move to Q2. Nice.

Nicer than that, my teammate also moved to Q2. The gap between us was something 0,00X. So close.

The Q2 was more than I expected to be and reach in the first weekend. I opened the monitor and I saw some cars on track and some light rain pouring down. Quickly decided to bet on going on track using another brand new US tires set. I thought I should put up a good lap before the rain got heavier. And man, the bet did payout. I passed to Q3 on P10. Leclerc secured P11. I guess I was faster on betting on the track conditions than him. Lol

The Q3 arrived and so the heavy rain. Due to Parc Fermé I couldn't mess with the setup and adjust the car to the situation. I went on track for a flying lap (or should I say sliding lap?) but I failed miserably right and left. I aborted the lap I made myself happy with the P10.

Maybe tomorrow if I have the time I'll do the race (25% distance). I still have to check the race strategy and some tutorials about the race day (VSC, Safety Car, adjust the pit assists or not, manual start, formation lap). If I come to not have the time, at least I'll put some laps in time trial at the Aussie circuit just to not forget how to drive it.

C ya.
 
And the first race of this first season of mine is done.

I had a P10, but Verstappen got a penalty and then I moved to P9. And my teammate moved to P10.

- The start:
I confess I tried (flashbacks everywhere) several times to get a clean first corner, untill I got used to cold break and tires conditions. When I did it, I managed to get P8. At the same time I saw Grosjean, aka the first turn maniac, hit someone else and then the rest of the grid behind me got stuck and packed. This gave a huge gap advantage from the P9.

- the road not taken:
Me and my Sauber had a good pace and when the pitstop window opened, Jeff asked me if I wanted to change it and go for 1 stop only. I refused. After the pitstop I came back on track on P14. Due to fresh tires and also because I saw a couple cars heading to the pit next lap, I regained my original start position. P9.
I thought getting some points in the very first race was now a real chance, but that hope was shortlived. I had another pit and after the 2nd stop I was pushed back in the pack and never got the pace back again. I had the soft tires on, and those compounds were never good for my car. Besides, most of the drivers went for 1 stop only.

-the final stretch:
I ran pretty much a race on my own from that moment forward. Nobody close in front, no pressure from behind. 4 laps to go and Jeff tells me I'm closing the gap to the car ahead (Perez). I was P16 (2 cars retired) and overtook P15 in the end. The next car was Perez, but man... talking about agressive IA... Perez was all over the track, left and right, bumping wheels and pushing me over the curbs. I decide to let him go. Jeff told me I could run out of fuel. Moved to Lean mix, to finish the race and also save something on the Power Unit.

At the end, Ricciardo won his home GP. I got P15. Leclerc DNF.
 
Well I have had a roller coaster of a career.

Good races, amazing races, awful races, 3 dnfs.

I started in Sauber. Decided I didn't like the car so went to McLaren after Baku. Everything was fine until the updated performance and now I think that is awful too. So now I have just signed with Torro Rosso. All in 1 season. I am at Spa atm.


I have a feeling that Spa will be a bad race as I had to compromise on setup to account for an instability in downforce upgrades. However Monza should be a good one as Honda will have overtaken Renault by then with the upgrade I have coming. Should have a drag reduction upgrade too.
 
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Lizard
Well I have had a roller coaster of a career.

Good races, amazing races, awful races, 3 dnfs.

I started in Sauber. Decided I didn't like the car so went to McLaren after Baku. Everything was fine until the updated performance and now I think that is awful too. So now I have just signed with Torro Rosso. All in 1 season. I am at Spa atm.


I have a feeling that Spa will be a bad race as I had to compromise on setup to account for an instability in downforce upgrades. However Monza should be a good one as Honda will have overtaken Renault by then with the upgrade I have coming. Should have a drag reduction upgrade too.
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That's a roller coaster indeed!

I haven't been able to boot the game and have a proper gaming session. Just another day I had some decent chunck of time to spend and decided to dive into time trial at Bahrain to get familiar with the track and find a direction to work on a setup.

20 laps later I'm pretty sure I hit the car's limitation (and mine) for it. Moved to Grand Prix mode and let the IA run the qualifying by itself, so I could compare my laptimes to IA's difficulty level. My lap time at time trial would give P9. Which is unrealistic for my Sauber.

Ok, the car is given to me in time trial is fully developed, I know. But still unrealistic.

I may raise the IA level a little bit (from 70 to 75). I guess it will do more for the realism and immersion in my career.

At the end of the day I left the session confident on my pace and also I do have the impression that Bahrain is a much more friendly track than Melbourne which I (and lot of people) seems to struggle with.
 
Got finished Australia. Got 18th. I'm driving for Sauber. Qualifying was raining, which sucked. Plus I got a 5 place grid penalty from practice, so I started from the back. I had contact on the first lap and pitted for a new front wing. About 6 laps later, safety car gets deployed, and I start making up spots, and then contact again! This time with my teammate, and I need another new front wing. After that I was pretty much by myself for the rest of the race. But the team was happy with my driving, so I thought it was an okay start to the season.

I did one of the classic car challenges after the race, and I passed it! I never passed a classic car challenge in F1 2017, so I was happy with that.
 
skydragon49
That's a roller coaster indeed!

I haven't been able to boot the game and have a proper gaming session. Just another day I had some decent chunck of time to spend and decided to dive into time trial at Bahrain to get familiar with the track and find a direction to work on a setup.

20 laps later I'm pretty sure I hit the car's limitation (and mine) for it. Moved to Grand Prix mode and let the IA run the qualifying by itself, so I could compare my laptimes to IA's difficulty level. My lap time at time trial would give P9. Which is unrealistic for my Sauber.

Ok, the car is given to me in time trial is fully developed, I know. But still unrealistic.

I may raise the IA level a little bit (from 70 to 75). I guess it will do more for the realism and immersion in my career.

At the end of the day I left the session confident on my pace and also I do have the impression that Bahrain is a much more friendly track than Melbourne which I (and lot of people) seems to struggle with.
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I run at 103 AI. Bahrain is a low downforce track as it has 4 high speed straights so remember that when setting the car up.

And both my engine and drag upgrades came through. For Monza of all races. :D

Spa was a crap race. Finished last of the runners which was 17th. Was catching the Williams in front but not by enough to get him before the end so I just turned the engine down to save it.
 
Just finished Australia here as well, 25% distance. Qualified 14th in the sauber, finished lap 1in 11th. Some opportune overtakes, then on super softs at the end verstappen had some problem, I got past him and perez to get to 9th. Never liked Albert Park, but actually found some rhythm which was nice. Enjoying the game.

An amusing a moment when a Renault got stuck in the pit exit and was trying to do a 3 point turn and failed.it did this throughout all of fp1, and caused a yellow on the pit straight for the whole session!
 
Lizard
I run at 103 AI. Bahrain is a low downforce track as it has 4 high speed straights so remember that when setting the car up.

And both my engine and drag upgrades came through. For Monza of all races. :D

Spa was a crap race. Finished last of the runners which was 17th. Was catching the Williams in front but not by enough to get him before the end so I just turned the engine down to save it.
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Well the upgrades certainly worked.

It was a minor drag reduction and major engine power upgrade. Managed to get me p12 on the grid with the Honda at Monza.

Not doing the race till tomorrow, as I do 100% races I have to be feeling completely perfect and right now I am tired.
 
Just started (one career) with Williams; teammate is Lance Stroll - want o beat him so I could get a spot at Force India next year instead of Lance ;) The AI is set to medium so I can see how tough the AI (may crank it up later). Qualied 10th and managed 9th place in the race. Spun just before the pit entrance on Lap 3 so I decided to make an early stop and hope for points. \Really like the physics engine in this version; better than 2017. Online has a lot of crashing drivers so far so just dabblin with online races so far. Also now I have a honking desktop gaming computer so now no lag at all -deeeecent as Bubbles (from Trailer Park Boys) would say eh :)
 
Strangest thing happened in Monza practice though.

Usually if you set up the car too front heavy on grip it is hard to control the rear. However here there was a different issue. If I set the ballast back or stuck more front wing on the car actually started understeering through the Della Roggia and the Lesmo's. I find that most odd.
 
Lizard
Well the upgrades certainly worked.

It was a minor drag reduction and major engine power upgrade. Managed to get me p12 on the grid with the Honda at Monza.

Not doing the race till tomorrow, as I do 100% races I have to be feeling completely perfect and right now I am tired.
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And it got me 6th. Very pleased with that. :D
 
Just finished Bahrain, driving for Sauber. Overall it was a very successful weekend. Qualified 5th, but then had some contact on lap one. Perez came from my blind spot and slammed on his brakes, and it broke my front wing. Pitted for a new front wing, finished the race on medium tires, and took P9. First points of the season! I'm now leading the driver rivalry, which is awesome. I also never thought about looking up guides for setting up the car for the different tracks, and that helped a ton. In practice I went from a fastest lap of 1:38.8, to a 1:36.0, and qualified with a lap time of 1:34.7.

I'm really enjoying this game. Can't wait for China!
 
bmdubya
Just finished Bahrain, driving for Sauber. Overall it was a very successful weekend. Qualified 5th, but then had some contact on lap one. Perez came from my blind spot and slammed on his brakes, and it broke my front wing. Pitted for a new front wing, finished the race on medium tires, and took P9. First points of the season! I'm now leading the driver rivalry, which is awesome. I also never thought about looking up guides for setting up the car for the different tracks, and that helped a ton. In practice I went from a fastest lap of 1:38.8, to a 1:36.0, and qualified with a lap time of 1:34.7.

I'm really enjoying this game. Can't wait for China!
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Nice.

What AI setting are you running?
 
Lizard
Nice.

What AI setting are you running?
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I think 60. It's the level where it changes from medium to hard. After that I'm thinking about bumping it up. I was able to overtake Hulkenburg and Alonso pretty on the long back straight. But I'm also pretty new to racing with a wheel, so I am getting to used to it.
 
bmdubya
I think 60. It's the level where it changes from medium to hard. After that I'm thinking about bumping it up. I was able to overtake Hulkenburg and Alonso pretty on the long back straight. But I'm also pretty new to racing with a wheel, so I am getting to used to it.
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Fair enough. :)

I just started again with Torro Rosso.. for the pure reason that changing from Sauber to McLaren to Torro Rosso didn't sound logical as something that could happen. :lol:
 
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The last f1 game that I played was I think f1 2010 or 2011 so '18 is a big improvement.
Signed with Force India so I could have Ocon as my teammate. ;)
Australia was a really fun circuit and I really liked it. I qualified 1st, did a 1 stop and finished 10 sec in front of Bottas. I spent my R&D points on Chassis, Aero and something else that I don't remember.
Bahrain isn't my strongest track (and won't ever be) it took me long enough to re-learn it again. I again qualified p1, 0.2 sec behind me is Bottas again. I'll do the race and see where I finish and according to that I'll change the difficulty. (currently I'm running on 85 but I might put it up to 90-95).
 
My PS4 just died! So, my career is on hold for now.

It kept getting into safe mode over and over, until it entered the said mode and never came back.
 
I just finished the first season in the Williams - i came 'best of the rest' in 7th - narrowly beating Sainz.

Hamilton & Bottas both finished TIED on 288 points - but Lewis took the title on race wins!!

I managed to not lose any R&D under the regulation changes,so im hoping to break into that top 6 in season 2.

RB,Ferrari & Mercedes are all pretty much evenly matched so it will be interesting to see what happens. Renault and Force India look to be my main rivals....Perez has had a few podiums and Sainz looks strong.
 
50% race length at Spa, 90 AI difficulty. Would prefer the 100% race length, but forgot to change from the previous race.

Qualified P15 at Spa in a seriously underpowered Williams (Sirotkins car). Was moved up to P14 at race start as Hamilton was penalized and moved down to P16. I haven't done much of upgrading other than some bits in the reliability tree.

First couple of laps I made my way up the field to P6 after a few of the heavy hitters went for early pit stops. I went on a yellow soft tire strategy, followed by a set of intermediates when I pitted on lap 9 just behind Ricciardo, but came out infront him and the rest of the field. (He finished P19 in the end). Heavy rain for the remaining laps of the race.

After fighting with Hamilton for P1 for about 6 laps, I had to let him past. After that it was block, let Kimi past, overtake him again until the 21st lap, of 22. Almost everyone pitted again for the final lap, which saw me cruise in the for the P2, +32 seconds behind Hamilton.

Not sure why everyone pitted but I know that my tires would not last another lap of pushing, so I was smiling all through the final lap. :dopey:


Back up to 100% race length for Monza, coming up next on the calendar.
 
Yesterday I raced Azerbaijan. Started from pole, 2 stop strategy. Safety car got deployed on Lap 8 I think. It was out for a good 3 laps and I pitted right away and got new tyres and started from p17 or something. I overtook some people but a lot pitted while I was out. I was third, Grosjean and Magnussen in front of me. Went for a move on Grosjean, p2. And then I went for a move on Magnussen - and just like in real life - he just put me into a wall. I got front wing damage and he got a warning. :(
I pitted for a new wing and they put on old softs. I had to pit the next lap for new ones and then they gave me a fresh set. :confused:
I ended up at p16 and force India being mad at me. :nervous:
Can somebody tell me when you get front wing damage and you want to change the tyres or don't want to change them, how I can say that to Jeff? :confused:
 
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My first season in F1 2018 is over. I completed my first season with Haas with 7 wins and I finished second in the championship. The start of my career was a struggle as this is my first F1 game since 2012. I started strong in Australian GP, but a mid race spin left me to finish 14th. I followed that performance up with a roller coaster of a season...

A win at Bahrain GP was followed by back-to-back DNFs in China and Azerbaijan. Following two more lackluster races at Spain and Monaco (10th and 15th), I started to find my groove with finishes of 1st, 5th, 4th, 2nd, 6th, 5th, 3rd and 1st.

Now I'm on to another street circuit, this time Singapore. 19th. For what ever reason, street circuits are not my thing as I recorded finishes of DNF, 15th and 19th Baku, Monaco and Singapore. I wasn't even close to pace of the cars directly in front of me.

I finished the season strong with finishes of 1st, 1st, 7th, 7th, 1st and 1st.

The entire season I ran 25% races with limited damage and pit assists on with a difficulty of 75.

For my next season, I want to try 50% races with simulated damage and no pit assists. I'm also ramping the difficulty up to 87.

While I'm disappointed with my teammates lack of pace, I've enjoyed running with Haas and decided to stay with them for a second season.
 
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And after a few days of deciding what team to actually run I went back and started again with Sauber.


And man I am angry with myself right now.

I was running 8th, I made an ambitious move on KMag, didn't work, sent me into the wall costing me a nose and the chain reaction took my team mate out the race. Finished 13th. There were only like 8 laps to go as well.
 
Here’s my latest episode:



First time I can say the halo may have been useful - at the same track LeClerc could have said the same in real life!
 
Just finished my first season the other day.

Felt kind of bored with Williams, so I decided to opt for a contract with another team. Having set the difficulty a bit low through most of the season, I had some amazing results with Sirotkin's Williams car, and finished 4th in the drivers championship.
But for the next season, this time in the Sauber, I will try out a higher difficulty. Maybe in the region of 95-105% AI difficulty.

Still gonna do 100% races as much as I can, but might change to 50% race length in some cases.
 
Finally, I completed a qualifying programme that suggested my pace was good enough for pole position...surely nothing could go wrong from there at Suzuka - my favourite track after all...

 
Just finished Season 2,and incredibly i was only 12 points away from champion Vettell in the end - in what was a very close championship! He basically had it won before Abu Dabhi though.

Im definatly putting the difficulty up to 85 for Season 3,as i really shouldnt be that high up. I had to re-invest all my durability R&D near the end of the season,so that delayed a lot of my other development.

Renault are now on level par with Mercedes as the joint 3rd best team which is surprising - so lets see if they can do anything! Ferrari lead the way with RB just behind.

Iam in 5th with Williams but hoping to catch Renault this season. Perez seems to do really well in races,despite Force India being the 6th best team.

Some interesting facts : that is the first time Vettel has won a championship in at least 10 seasons (2017 & 18)!

Also,Bottas has yet to retire in 2 seasons.
 

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