It’s not really the wall contact damage that has me annoyed and enjoying the game far less after 1.20 went live, but how it was applied in single player mode. Normally I can avoid hitting walls due to excess speed, poor braking or bad approaches at turns, and if I don’t and hit a wall, that’s on me, I accept that. What really bothers me though is how wild AI drives and is seemingly oblivious to the fact other cars are on the track with them at times. This is essentially out of my control unless I just want to drive far behind them the entire race and finish last. They constantly hit each other, causing accidents right in front of or beside me that I get caught in or hit me directly on the tighter, technical tracks and sometimes it’s almost as if intentional as there is no valid reason for them to swerve at me when they do. Perhaps it’s time to drop from Hard difficulty and back down to Easy where the AI is supposed to be less aggressive? But then the races won’t even be anywhere close so that’s not much fun either.
The first 2-3 laps of Sardegna, for example, are a constant deal with damage from being run into by AI or having the damage to one area fix itself and then I subsequently run into a wall because now I’m no longer needing to correct a steering issue that magically vanishes mid turn with no warning so I tap a wall and the damage cycle starts all over again.
This part of the update should not have been implemented in single player mode without an update to make the AI much better than it is. Online lobbies, yes, fully support this update to aid in punishing bad drivers looking to play demolition derby, but single player with the current AI? Not a good experience.
This new damage has effectively ruined single player enjoyment for a lot of races. I no longer enjoy a lot of tracks such as Tokyo or Sardegna, which previously was my favorite track. I find myself only racing Le Mans now as that track you can avoid all of the **** AI and the damage that results from them and still get a good payout. So much for PD doing things to prevent people from grinding the same race over and over again and making them want to enjoy all of the tracks and cars in the game.