Rainbob

[calan_svc]

My Bob can't win a NASCAR race to save his a$$, but he lapped the entire field halfway through lap 4 in the FGT at Suzuka in the rain.

WTF?

I swear...B-spec is the strangest, most inconsistent, and useless game mode I've ever seen.

 

[Blessorship]

In all NASCAR events I repeatedly told him to Pace Up. (except coming out of the tunnel near the end of the lap at Grand Valley once leading). Make sure you've got your top speed appropriate for each track, and try taking all the downforce off and raising the ride height +5 at the Ovals. Also I'm sure you did this already, but change the oil to get max HP to 892.

 

[Sum1s2pid]

B-Spec requires an effort few people want to put in. When the B-Spec driver fails, the player is quick to blame the game and not themselves, for picking a driver with lackluster stats and putting them in a car that is not optimized for a particular track. B-Spec is fine.

 

[TBR 427]

My Bob can't win a NASCAR race to save his a$$, but he lapped the entire field halfway through lap 4 in the FGT at Suzuka in the rain.

WTF?

I swear...B-spec is the strangest, most inconsistent, and useless game mode I've ever seen.

Try a new Bob.

For some reason they are good in difference cars, I've got two that are phenomenal in the Formula GT and nearly nothing else, one of them is brilliant in the Corvette ZR1 RM and other GT cars, and my last one is godlike in hatchbacks but spins most RWD cars.

 

[SideShow Bob]

Yep. B-spec is the gamers fault.

 

[calan_svc]

B-Spec requires an effort few people want to put in. When the B-Spec driver fails, the player is quick to blame the game and not themselves, for picking a driver with lackluster stats and putting them in a car that is not optimized for a particular track. B-Spec is fine.

Yep. B-spec is the gamers fault.

LMAO

Good ones.

 

[Sum1s2pid]

LMAO

Good ones.

Yes, let's blame the game for someone's inability to win a race, when they're given plenty of options to stack success in their favor -- no matter what the race, car, or competition. Good one.

 

[breezy]

That's because for some odd reason all AI in B Spec rain events take hard tires. They go <50mph the entire first lap and pit to get rain tires..I'm doing the Dream Car Championship(on the last race at the 'Ring) and my BSpec driver just started his second lap and the rest of the field is at the Karussell.

 

[calan_svc]

Yes, let's blame the game for someone's inability to win a race, when they're given plenty of options to stack success in their favor -- no matter what the race, car, or competition. Good one.

You can't be serious, but ok... I'll play along.

I started racing sims back on NASCAR 2003 and have raced about everything there is (all the NASCAR games, WOA sprint cars, GT2-5, Toca, several F1 games, Dirt 1 & 2, RBR, Grid, GTR series, rFactor, etc etc etc). I have 99% completion on GT4, and am at 27/24 on GT5 with mostly golds on everything.

I raced my first real-life drag car in 1982; a '77 Camaro that I built. I have an SCCA autocross/NASA road car up on stands in my garage that I've built from the ground up, and have worked with a friend locally on setups for street stock, superstock, and modified dirt cars. I race with a simulator chassis that I designed, along with software and pneumatic systems I developed that drive it. I wrote a guide on how to modify rFactor AI to be more realistic, and created a program for developing accurate AI driving abilities for the VHR mod in rFactor. I'm pretty sure I understand how to set up and modify a car chassis.

I've spent several entire b-spec races in GT5 with my fingers on the buttons trying all kinds of pace combinations and setups with 3 different b-spec drivers with completely unrelated results. I ran a 30 lap b-spec Suzuka race with the FGT and did nothing but press "start", and Bob won by more than 8 laps with no input whatsoever. I've since then run the same exact race with the same b-spec driver while fighting the buttons the whole time with completely different results.

So please enlighten me as to how it isn't a completely random mode of game play, and how I can control it. I'd really like to know, as it's getting pretty frustrating to fight with certain races at certain times to win a few thousand credits and a lame car.

Any actual help is greatly appreciated.

Sorry for the rant (and nothing personal). I have no doubt that b-spec works just fine for some people...but I just get tired of all the fan-boy type comments that are so quick to stand up for PD and blame REAL GAME ISSUES on the people that play it.

Ok... off my soapbox and back to watching Bob go round and round for a few $$$ so I can afford a car or two that I want to drive.

 

[xNEVER-ONEx]

Yes, let's blame the game for someone's inability to win a race, when they're given plenty of options to stack success in their favor -- no matter what the race, car, or competition. Good one.

Bob will win, and is easy to control, if he has a overpowered car. But put him in something that is close to the competition and he fails. The AI drives on rails, and the only way BOB wins is on the straights. He needs lots of power always to out muscle the competition on the straights.

 

[calan_svc]

...But put him in something that is close to the competition and he fails.

That's the problem...there's no consistency to it. I put the same Bob in the FGT against equally matched FGT's, and he won by 8 laps with NO INPUT AT ALL. I ran the same race on the same track with the same car again (after an oil change no less), and I had to fight the buttons for the entire hour and 15 minutes to get a 1st place finish at the last lap.

I don't car what anyone says about how b-spec works for them. It is inconsistent, and makes no sense. If I'm just missing something, please let me know what it is.

 

[tinram]

If a race is close, i drive the car first and set it for better driving/faster times, then i give to bob and keep him calm and bob wins, simple!

Hardly bobs fault is you give him a unbalanced car, and keep him in the red. Yes, that would be the manager's fault! Guess who the the manager is.

 

[xNEVER-ONEx]

That's the problem...there's no consistency to it. I put the same Bob in the FGT against equally matched FGT's, and he won by 8 laps with NO INPUT AT ALL. I ran the same race on the same track with the same car again (after an oil change no less), and I had to fight the buttons for the entire hour and 15 minutes to get a 1st place finish at the last lap.

I don't car what anyone says about how b-spec works for them. It is inconsistent, and makes no sense.

Well, I think he does better on tracks with lots of straights. But for the most part, your car has to have a good amount of HP advantage to win. Your FGT probably has more power than the competition.

 

[calan_svc]

Your FGT probably has more power than the competition.

Ummm... ok.

So how does my used lot FGT have enough power to win by 8 laps against other FGT's with no input from me whatsoever in one race, and then after changing it's oil...not have enough power to even keep up without a bunch of input from me in the same exact race right after that?

Same setup, same tires, same bat time, same bat channel. LOL

 

[xNEVER-ONEx]

Ummm... ok.

So how does my used lot FGT have enough power to win by 8 laps against other FGT's with no input from me whatsoever in one race, and then after changing it's oil...not have enough power to even keep up without a bunch of input from me in the same exact race right after that?

Same setup, same tires, same bat time, same bat channel. LOL

Sorry, didn't understand your post above. That is weird. Are you sure everything was the same?

 

[mechwarrior]

My bob is great, he obeys all of my commands

!!!

 

[calan_svc]

Sorry, didn't understand your post above. That is weird. Are you sure everything was the same?

NP

Yep. I've actually done a bunch of "test" runs with Bob. It's just weird and random...no doubt about it.

I didn't mean to start a rant thread or anything. It's just strange as to how unpredictable the b-spec mode is. Different people have completely different results. Hell, I have completely different results using the same bobs that can't be explained rationally.

 

[xNEVER-ONEx]

NP

Yep. I've actually done a bunch of "test" runs with Bob. It's just weird and random...no doubt about it.

I didn't mean to start a rant thread or anything. It's just strange as to how unpredictable the b-spec mode is. Different people have completely different results. Hell, I have completely different results using the same bobs that can't be explained rationally.

I agree, for example on the British light weights race at TG, my level 10 guy couldn't beat the competition in like 4 tries with a 450 HP Tomora, but my level 5 guy did it on the first try.

 

[Sum1s2pid]

Post!

It's a possibilty that my drivers have spoiled me. For the NASCAR series, I forgot to adjust the settings and make an oil change to the #88 Earnhardt Impala, and G.Pace only required enough input to pass until he got the lead (took about 2 ~ 4 laps), and to maintain a pace that put him halfway into the red. So, um... try it stock?

Bob will win, and is easy to control, if he has a overpowered car. But put him in something that is close to the competition and he fails. The AI drives on rails, and the only way BOB wins is on the straights. He needs lots of power always to out muscle the competition on the straights.

Not always, but it helps.

 

[calan_svc]

It's a possibilty that my drivers have spoiled me. For the NASCAR series, I forgot to adjust the settings and make an oil change to the #88 Earnhardt Impala, and G.Pace only required enough input to pass until he got the lead (took about 2 ~ 4 laps), and to maintain a pace that put him halfway into the red. So, um... try it stock?

Man...I've tried everything. There just doesn't seem to be any logic to it. I just ran a few laps of the NASCAR indy race with my big-dog bob, and he was driving like a 3-yr old... in last place before the 1st lap was over. I exited the race (on the 3rd lap, still in last) and immediately restarted it with no changes at all, and he went to the front and was in 2nd place after 2 laps with no mistakes (other than the usual brake checks).

I don't get it; it's just....weird.

Again... nothing personal against your posts. I just tend to get defensive when I perceive that someone is talking to me like I'm a 16 yr old kid that doesn't understand what shock bound/rebound or downforce means.

 

[calan_svc]

Ok... check this out.

Since a few posts back, I've been running that same bob in the Dream Car Championship in the FGT. Easy win...bob in the FGT up against Super GT and LM class cars. Bob won the first couple events by a landslide with no input from me as expected. Now I'm in a rain race at Nurburgring 24h, and bob is in 7th place and can't advance past that. He's on rain tires with a fresh oil change in the FGT and no changes from the previous FGT races.

So the same bob that won Suzuka in the rain by 8 laps in the FGT against other FGT cars with no input from me, can't advance past 7th place against GT class cars in the rain on NBR even with my help.

I don't get it.

EDIT:

Ok, it get's weirder.

At the end of lap 2 on the ring, bob is in 7th place in the rain...in the FGT on rain tires against GT cars. So he pits and gets racing hard tires (even though it's still pouring), and he ends up winning by 20+ seconds...he changed to hard race tires in the rain and made up 7 spots to win by 20 secs. And I did nothing but start the race and watch.

Ideas?

 

[Sum1s2pid]

EDIT:

Ok, it get's weirder.

At the end of lap 2 on the ring, bob is in 7th place in the rain...in the FGT on rain tires against GT cars. So he pits and gets racing hard tires (even though it's still pouring), and he ends up winning by 20+ seconds. And I did nothing but start the race and watch.

Ideas?

As weird as your driver seems to be, this seems common. In some cases, what looks like weather that should require Race - Rain -- or even Race - Intermediate -- doesn't.

I don't quite fully understand why this is, but on a few occasions, I too have put my driver out on those tires, only to have him fall far behind the field. This has happened at all the tracks that support rain (Suzuka, Sarthe, Nurburgring, and Monza). He would then pit at Lap-2 for Race - Hard, and proceed to catch and sometimes lap the field.

I guess rain isn't rain, unless it's rain.

 

[komprakk]

I find that the way Bob drives depends alot on who he follows on the track. I have noticed that Bob copy the lines and patterns of the ahead driver by blazing up his rear tires, "drifting" a little and/or touching cerbs and grass in the same way that the car infront does.

This is not the standard "following the driving line" or anything. I'm talking about the same throttle and brake patterns and the same mistakes as the car infront of him. More or less a copy of the other drivers. This was displayed at the MX-5 Roadster races. A juiced up 89' 1.6 MX5 vs the same car stock. He could not pass or pull away from the stock mx5 despite the 80 something HP advantage.

But other times he has his own will and at those races he drives as a demigod. This is why i loathe the lack of qualifying in certain races. He starts in the middle and stays there because he likes driving identical to a lesser car.

 

[negative1]

I've just started playing b-spec as of late Friday night. I have since gotten to level 10 and have 3 drivers. What I've noticed, and didn't really see anyone else say anything about as I skimmed over the responses is that I think each bob has his own "moods". Not the hot or cold attitude, but when you are at the driver screen he can either have a blue arrow pointing up to the right, a green to the right, or a yellow down to the right. I assume that this indicates what his "mood" is and that the higher the arrow points, the better he will perform on either that race with that car or just on that day.

Just an observation I've made. No clue if its really what I assume it to be, but could help in matching the bob to the car and the race or just his "mood" to that day.

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

I've got rain on a b-spec race too in suzuka and guess what lol my bob was doing time of around 2:25-2:30 while the rest of the opposition was running 3.30 time, he was lapping the 2nd driver every 3 turn. Was on the superGT race, my bob was running a stock Arta NSX.

 

[iNiff]

My BOB seems to overtake better on corners than straights.. Ive seen him struggle to keep up with a small hatchback on a straight only to out brake them at the corner and disappear entirely with no sign of the hatch catching up again.. and thats with me spamming "Overtake" the whole time.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, he was in a F40.

 

[DickDastardly]

There's definitely something funny going on with the rain in b-spec. Apart from the fact that if the previous race was dry, they all start on dry tyres in the wet, that is!

I was doing the Dream Car Championship in the Minolta. 4th race was wet, so everyone started the 'Ring on full wets. My Bob, like breezy said on page 1, was on his 2nd lap when the rest were half way round the first. None of the opposition Bobs went into the pits at the end of their 1st lap. On their 2nd lap, my Bob starts lapping the slowest ones. The ones that didn't get lapped went in at the end of lap 2 for Intermediates.

My Bob was fairly consistent in his lap times, all between 10 and 11 minutes. The opposition Bobs ranged from 16 mins to 19 mins on lap 1. On lap 2 (remember, same tyres as lap 1), the fastest ones had sped up to 13 mins. The slowest ones obviously got lapped and didn't record a time for lap 2.

 

[grbmrdj]

B spec is actually a lot more advanced than people think. Bobs actually get used to different cars and car types (FWD, AWD etc.) and different conditions. My bob used to suck at rain but now hes pretty good at it.