Returned to have a proper go.

[Seismica]

So I started playing this game again earlier today and I have to say it is pretty good. I used to play it with driving aids of, auto gears etc. But after playing GT5P I've learned to drive without them in effect. So I thought I would have a proper go at the career mode in this game.

The physics, whilst arguably not as realistic as GT5P, do have some good points. I am using the pad so I can't comment on force feedback, but from what I can see the physics are ok.

I started a career mode, picked Super Aguri as my team on medium difficulty, and proceeded to become their test driver.

Firstly, I am not familiar with the majority of the F1 circuits, it takes me a few laps to get in the groove. So far, out of Sepang, Barcelona, Silverstone and Bahrain, I have only done good at Bahrain - I know that circuit well after watching the F1 practices, qualifying and races a couple of weeks ago. The test sessions annoy me, because sometimes they have a very low time limit when I have to essentially learn the circuit before I can set my laps.

But when testing at Sepang I came across a very simple flaw. The testing is not very sophisticated at all. The team wanted to test camber angles at Sepang on a wet circuit. That was all well and good, I smashed the target time with neutral camber. But then they put negative camber on the car, and it made the car completely undrivable, snap oversteer on every corner which was near impossible to correct, no traction out of the corners, no grip under the slightest of steering lock etc. I thought, maybe if I drive into the pits the team will get the message that this particular setup is going to get their driver killed.

But no, that doesn't work, it just drives through, so instead I just stop at the side of the track. Then getting back to the main screen I get an email saying my performance was poor

I'm also a little disgruntled that I'm forced to use the triggers as shift up/down, when i'm used to using R1/L1 in prologue, it just feels more natural. Because shifting down 5 gears for a hairpin when the trigger spring is slow to come back up is costing time.

And this is from <2 hours play. I'm sure there are many many more problems with this game that I haven't come across yet. I hope F1:2010 turns out to be a decent game.

 

[Ardius]

Just save the game before each test and try again? The weather is random, and that Sepang test is not impossible.
I'm going to guess your problem is turn 2 with the bump? My advice is to try a far, far wider line on that corner when you have negative camber, you don't need to take it flat out and tight as long as you're ok in the rest of the lap.
If you still have trouble, practice with different lines and speeds in the corners, you'll get it eventually. You can't expect to use the same exact line whatever the setup.

You don't have to pass each test either, just enough to meet the goals they set you in the contract (viewable in the player statistics screen). Then they'll promote you to 2nd driver and no more testing! Its pretty easy at Super Aguri too, just 1 or 2 personal tests and 1 or 2 team tests successfully completed. They don't have to be consecutive either.
Personally, I find such a challenging game refreshing, very similar to the Gran Turismo driving license tests - a great way to learn new lines and car control but also not a breeze and rewarding.

 

[Seismica]

Just save the game before each test and try again? The weather is random, and that Sepang test is not impossible.
I'm going to guess your problem is turn 2 with the bump? My advice is to try a far, far wider line on that corner when you have negative camber, you don't need to take it flat out and tight as long as you're ok in the rest of the lap.
If you still have trouble, practice with different lines and speeds in the corners, you'll get it eventually. You can't expect to use the same exact line whatever the setup.

You don't have to pass each test either, just enough to meet the goals they set you in the contract (viewable in the player statistics screen). Then they'll promote you to 2nd driver and no more testing! Its pretty easy at Super Aguri too, just 1 or 2 personal tests and 1 or 2 team tests successfully completed. They don't have to be consecutive either.
Personally, I find such a challenging game refreshing, very similar to the Gran Turismo driving license tests - a great way to learn new lines and car control but also not a breeze and rewarding.

The weather is random? I guess that re-assures me a little. I think it was just because a lot of the turns on that track are high speed and require a lot of grip (No problem for the hairpins or anything). There is also a lot of uphill/downhill sections which i suppose catch me out a bit. I mean it was not difficult with the neutral camber. There was loss of traction due to the wet weather but it was still fine, just had to be a little gentler with my steering/throttle input. But when they put on negative camber it was a complete joke, the car had no grip at all, I was consistently spinning out several times per lap. The team said they need 3 consistent laps to compare the data; Well i did give them around 6 consistent laps and the data they need to compare is the fact the car can't finish a lap because it has no grip A full race distance on that car would be impossible.

I failed that test but I couldn't be bothered to re-load the game, just like if I lose a race or crash out I won't re-start because I can't expect to win every race, when I become second driver anyway. On to the Melbourne testing, which was not too difficult, fuel test in the dry. Are the tests the same everytime you play the game?

I'm also curious, how much of a difference is there between the performance of each car? Obviously there is quite a big difference in real life, but did they replicate that properly in the game?

The new F1 season and the news of F1 2010 I guess has got me back into this game, and I didn't really give it a chance before.

 

[Ardius]

Firstly, yes the tests are the same for each track, regardless of season or team. So you will always have an aero test at Bahrain, camber at Sepang, fuel at Melbourne, etc.

Secondly, yup, there is a significant difference between Super Aguri and Renault/Ferrari. If you drive the Super Aguri on hard mode at a track like Sepang where the AI doesn't make any huge errors, you will find it very difficult to battle for places anywhere beyond 13th/14th place without some serious practice and a very good setup.
It varies from track to track though, some circuits have rubbish AI lines on them, like turn 13 at Bahrain or the final chicane at Nurburgring - the AI always take them too slowly. But on circuits where their line is fine, they will leave you for dust. Sometimes the track also helps equalise the difference too, as the Super Aguri has rubbish straight line speed, so it will perform better at Monaco than say at Montreal, Shanghai, Monza or Silverstone.

 

[Seismica]

Thanks for the info 👍

So i'm now second driver. Just starting the Monaco GP (It's on 50% length, but I have to do practice sessions etc. beforehand). Wish me luck

I guess in some ways this will prepare me for damage in GT5

EDIT:

I qualified on pole at Monaco But that dominance was short lived, I crashed out on lap 3

So on to the British GP at Silverstone. I spent the full hour of first testing getting my setup right. I managed to get my laptimes down to the low 1'24s but the car was simply not competitive, with the Renaults and Ferraris running high 1'21s And this is on medium difficulty. This car is simply too slow on the straights. But I've just got through the first session of qualifying (Just got in at 14th with a 1'24.361) and will move on. I should be able to finish this race, there is nothing to crash into. Monaco is such a difficult circuit to be consistent.

EDIT2:

Due to a series of mistakes I finished 19th (Which was higher than the team expected of me, and higher than my teammate T.Sato). I have to say the developers have indeed focused on the racing portion of the game. The flag system is good, the blue flag comes up at the right time. The AI could be better, but is a long way ahead of GT5 Prologue. I like how the AI gives you a run for your money

EDIT3:

Scratch that, the AI is bad. I qualified 2nd for the Canadian GP, behind Fisichella and ahead of Alonso. On no less than 3 occasions the Renaults tried to pass on the final chicane, pushing me into the run off. So on the 3rd time, (I was in the lead at this point) Fisichella came from 2-3 car lengths behind to take me on the final chicane. It was too late for me to turn away. We locked wheels, he spun me around, into the wall and race over for me. Fisichella went on to win the race.

I need to be in a more competitive car it seems. Maybe I should just stop racing and let all the AI past until I get enough races under my belt to get into a faster team.

I don't mind being overtaken, but really, overtaking at that chicane, are they crazy?

 

[Biggles]

Well, I'm back into my World Championship season in F1CE - grappling with the horrifyingly tricky Turn 8 at Istanul. I just love this game. I still think, for a real racing fan, it's the best offline game on the PS3, by far.

If the AI is pushing past you, or hitting you, then frankly, it means you're still too slow & need to practice some more. The one complaint I would have about the AI in F1CE , is that the AI is not aggressive enough on the "Hard" setting. The cars are pretty fast, but don't attack your position aggressively when you are in front, & don't defend aggressively when you are behind. However, it took many hundreds of hours of racing before I reached the skill level where this would represent an issue (I'm not sure that I'm there yet!). But given the fact that the AI in F1CE is light-years ahead of GT5P, SHift, FC & SCC, it's hardly a major complaint.

Yes, some of the tracks are relatively "easy" (Bahrain, for instance) & others are very difficult (for me that would be Melbourne, or Suzuka - Monaco is just hard to complete without wrecking your car at some point ) Good luck! You've got a lot of super-challenging racing ahead of you!

(BTW: you might consider concentrating on a World Championship season rather than Career mode. That way you can focus on dialing-in a really competitive car & learning the tracks without having to contend with "tests" & a slow ride.)

 

[Seismica]

Nah i think i'm settling into the game alright. I regret starting on medium instead of hard, but i'm into it now and can't really be bothered to start over.

Came across an interesting glitch in a practice at the French GP, I hit the kerb at the chicane just before I went over the line during the evolution/tuning stage. It automatically puts me back to the garage, but my car actually reversed over the line. So when it came to me setting off from the garage again, my car reversed into the back of the garage and kept going

I had to quit the game and restart. This time I opted to tune the car myself.

Qualified on pole by over a second (Quite lucky actually) and due to several costly mistakes in the first 5 laps I ended up stone dead last. Made it back up to 4th place but got a penalty on the final lap and finished in 7th place Also had a bit of a scare when Coulthard's rear wing came off while I was slipstreaming him, it went right under my car but somehow didn't damage me

I do agree, this is probably the best racing game on PS3. GT5 Prologue doesn't really count, its just a demo, lacks on content and features.

But this is only my first season, and the test driving took up the first half pretty much, so I didn't get a chance to race at Melbourne, Bahrain, Sepang etc.

By the second season I'll have more experience on all the circuits and hopefully be in a more competitive team. (Though at the risk of the game becoming too easy. I think i'll settle for a team like Williams or BMW, not Renault/Ferrari/Mclaren/Honda, I think it would be too easy with those)

 

[zed300]

Well after not playing this game for at least 6 months, I decided to have a go last night. I started a career, with 30% race on hard difficulty.

The first 3-4 tests in the S.A. were fairly easy then I got a little to confident and stuffed the 3 consecutive laps test. Not to worry, I continued on and got to the end, feeling a little dis-satisfied with my performance. I told myself again again, it's been 6 months.

Ide beat me at the final 1 on 1 test by 1/2 a second at Silverstone, that made it worse. Then to my suprise, as I thought that's it, it's all over, they gave me a drive at Monaco.

I decided to save and quit, to come back to it.

Mistakes killed my quality, but the physics and "the game" delights. This game still delivers. 👍

 

[Golfman]

Agree with you all 100%. Just re-acquired it cheap after stupidly getting rid of it a couple years ago. The first proper racing game for the PS3, and it's still head and shoulders above everything else. It's interesting, and a little pathetic, that no other game on the PS3 over the years has managed to better it. Ok, so stuff like Grid and NFS:Shift are entertaining diversions, but until GT5 or F1 2010 comes out, this is the only one that delivers where it matters - the AI and balls-to-the-wall racing action. Yet magazine reviewers hated it, and my guess is they are too damn scared of it.