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Something F1 2018 related I thought I'd share. One of my favorite sim racing YouTubers Jimmy Broadbent was doing an online race yesterday, and among the participants in the race was one Brendon Leigh. Leigh started from the back, and this is the moment where he caught up to Jimmy. Broadbent is a pretty high-level iRacing competitor who does Le Mans and other competitive series, so he's not a bad driver at all. The difference between him and Brendon Leigh is quite stark, although there's some pretty good racing while the champion tries to get by.

https://youtu.be/kp9fwIleZjA?t=2h53m6s

The full thing is quite long, but here's where Brendon Leigh shows up. If you watch to the end, you'll see the pace difference between an eSports champion and a merely quite good sim racer.

Nice vid , how jimmy manages to keep the car on the track even with 2 tires over the grass is quite the feat in the rain no less. The cars in the rain are no joke in this game. A lot of throttle control is needed....

Brendon’s speed is always like a computer, the guy just sticks to the track everywhere. The speed he carries into the corners and his breaking points are top notch every time, I’ve watched his world record Monaco laps and it’s mind blowing when you try it yourself in game.

Black_Flag_11 wrote:I still haven't got around to starting a career mode yet, I've been messing around in TT with the classic cars mainly and working out how best to set my controls up for the 2018 cars.

I think I've settled on binding an ERS increase shortcut to B and and ERS decrease shortcut to the 'view' button. Using the view button is fine because that just changed the camera angle before and I didn't use that anyway but annoyingly B I used for voice control (where you can ask for weather updates etc.) so I'll just have to make do without it.

There are a few additional buttons on my wheel but they're just mapped to effectively be a second 'A' button etc. and I'm not sure of anyway to change it to be it's own independent button for control bindings.

To avoid such a situation, I clicked some images of my calibrated control in F1 2017 game. I then viewed those images when setting up my control for the 2018 game. This way I would be in a familiar setting.

Here's a small video of me crashing through Eau Rouge. Wonder if somewhere the setup got me wrong. I had to lift off the throttle a little bit in order to get through.

Guess what!!!!!!!!

As You guys were aware I was struggling through Eau Rouge, I made 1 last ditch effort. I started my 2017 game, went to the Spa setup that I've used for many years in career mode. I wrote down the entire setup on my pc & upon starting the event, I setup my car as per this 2017 setup. Voila....car was not only stable but could blast through Eau Rouge. I'm thinking I'll note down all my 2017 setups as it did work for me.

In 2017, my AI difficulty was 85%. In the event at Spa, I tried 89% & could only finish in 8th. So the difficulty level is somewhat the same but 2018 is harder for sure due to renewed car handling. First it was ok to attack the kerbs but not now in 2018.

In the event, out of 4021 players, I'm ranked 208th.

UnlikeUday wrote:In 2017, my AI difficulty was 85%. In the event at Spa, I tried 89% & could only finish in 8th. So the difficulty level is somewhat the same but 2018 is harder for sure due to renewed car handling. First it was ok to attack the kerbs but not now in 2018.

I've always been nervous about attacking kerbs, so hopefully that won't be a big issue for me!

I'll be starting my career mode when I get the game tomorrow. I brushed off with some practice around Monza last night against 100% AI and I felt fairly comfortable in qualifying (qualified on pole by -0.600 with a lap about 9 tenths off my PB) but then in the race I had my hands full actually keeping everyone behind. Most people are saying the 2018 AI is a little bit tougher, so that should work well with me keeping the same difficulty level but putting myself in the shoes of a rookie who will need a bit of time to get up to speed. I'm thinking either Sauber or Toro Rosso, but I haven't made up mu mind yet.

Exediron wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:In 2017, my AI difficulty was 85%. In the event at Spa, I tried 89% & could only finish in 8th. So the difficulty level is somewhat the same but 2018 is harder for sure due to renewed car handling. First it was ok to attack the kerbs but not now in 2018.

I've always been nervous about attacking kerbs, so hopefully that won't be a big issue for me!

I'll be starting my career mode when I get the game tomorrow. I brushed off with some practice around Monza last night against 100% AI and I felt fairly comfortable in qualifying (qualified on pole by -0.600 with a lap about 9 tenths off my PB) but then in the race I had my hands full actually keeping everyone behind. Most people are saying the 2018 AI is a little bit tougher, so that should work well with me keeping the same difficulty level but putting myself in the shoes of a rookie who will need a bit of time to get up to speed. I'm thinking either Sauber or Toro Rosso, but I haven't made up mu mind yet.

Did You check my video? If I tried the default setup or the F1 2018 setup, my car just oversteered into a crash. When I tried the 2017 setup, it was perfect. As You had suggested earlier, I had even tried increasing the differential but for me a lower differential works. Higher differential on this circuit was a no go for me.

I've written & saved all the setups from 2017. So that makes me ready for the career. Last year, Sauber was the weakest car. I believe Williams would be the weakest this year. I'll probably start with Williams. But Toro Rosso also should be fun as they're with Honda.

I'm looking forward to the new event that will take place in Monza as well.

@ UnlikeUday

What spa setup you revert too???

@ excediron

I’ve noticed that the AI is easier to surpass in quali but much tougher in the actual race. Like you said you qualify in a certain position and then have a bigger challenge keeping them behind. When the AI is attacking they are relentless which can be fun and frustrating. When I follow them I can feel the aero loss but when they follow me they are uneffected

Mayhem wrote:@ UnlikeUday

What spa setup you revert too???

Believe it or not, I used my F1 2017 setup. I could be flat out through Eau Rouge.

UnlikeUday wrote:

Mayhem wrote:@ UnlikeUday

What spa setup you revert too???

Believe it or not, I used my F1 2017 setup. I could be flat out through Eau Rouge.

What was the main difference in those setups your aero or suspension ?

Mayhem wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:

Mayhem wrote:@ UnlikeUday

What spa setup you revert too???

Believe it or not, I used my F1 2017 setup. I could be flat out through Eau Rouge.

What was the main difference in those setups your aero or suspension ?

A bit of everything including ballast. Here's the setup I used:

Front wing – 5
Rear Wing – 3
Differential On – 85
Differential Off – 70
Suspension:
Front Camber – 3.10
Rear Camber – 1.60
Front Toe – 0.10
Rear Toe – 0.41
Front Suspension – 8
Rear Suspension – 6
Front Antibar – 6
Rear Antibar – 7
Front Ride height – 3
Rear Ride height – 4
Brake Pressure – 95
Front Brake Bias – 58
Front Tyre Pressure – 23.8
Rear Tyre Pressure – 22.3
Ballast - 5

Thanks, I’ll give that a try. I wasn’t a fan of the Renault in that event not sure if it’s b/c I’ve already gotten used to the Sauber. The difference in those cars was immediately present and the Renault felt like a turd lol

Mayhem wrote:Thanks, I’ll give that a try. I wasn’t a fan of the Renault in that event not sure if it’s b/c I’ve already gotten used to the Sauber. The difference in those cars was immediately present and the Renault felt like a turd lol

True. You can feel the difference in the Time Trials as well. BTW, my PSN id is the same incase You wanna add me.

If You wish to receive or view the setups of my 2017 game, You can either PM me Your mail id or mail me with my same username at Gmail. This game is fun & feels more realistic.

UnlikeUday wrote:

Mayhem wrote:Thanks, I’ll give that a try. I wasn’t a fan of the Renault in that event not sure if it’s b/c I’ve already gotten used to the Sauber. The difference in those cars was immediately present and the Renault felt like a turd lol

True. You can feel the difference in the Time Trials as well. BTW, my PSN id is the same incase You wanna add me.

If You wish to receive or view the setups of my 2017 game, You can either PM me Your mail id or mail me with my same username at Gmail. This game is fun & feels more realistic.

Yea the speed in the Sauber was shocking tbh and it’s lacking in aero but helps in a place like spa. The Renault was much more stable but didn’t have the power I was used to. And the braking points different in the Renault. So there was time to be found in the Renault but I didn’t want to learn a new car while doing career already.

Cool, I’ll add u on psn now. I’m online

I haven’t tried my old setups so I might have to revisit them. But we can exchange setups anytime just lmk

Mayhem wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:

Mayhem wrote:Thanks, I’ll give that a try. I wasn’t a fan of the Renault in that event not sure if it’s b/c I’ve already gotten used to the Sauber. The difference in those cars was immediately present and the Renault felt like a turd lol

True. You can feel the difference in the Time Trials as well. BTW, my PSN id is the same incase You wanna add me.

If You wish to receive or view the setups of my 2017 game, You can either PM me Your mail id or mail me with my same username at Gmail. This game is fun & feels more realistic.

Cool, I’ll add u on psn now. I’m online

I haven’t tried my old setups so I might have to revisit them. But we can exchange setups anytime just lmk

Great. Since this is the Italian Grand Prix weekend, I'm expecting the Italian race scenario in Events. It should get updated tonight & will activate on Friday. I suggest start practicing on the Monza circuit already to prepare for the event.

UnlikeUday wrote:

Mayhem wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:

Mayhem wrote:Thanks, I’ll give that a try. I wasn’t a fan of the Renault in that event not sure if it’s b/c I’ve already gotten used to the Sauber. The difference in those cars was immediately present and the Renault felt like a turd lol

True. You can feel the difference in the Time Trials as well. BTW, my PSN id is the same incase You wanna add me.

If You wish to receive or view the setups of my 2017 game, You can either PM me Your mail id or mail me with my same username at Gmail. This game is fun & feels more realistic.

Cool, I’ll add u on psn now. I’m online

I haven’t tried my old setups so I might have to revisit them. But we can exchange setups anytime just lmk

Great. Since this is the Italian Grand Prix weekend, I'm expecting the Italian race scenario in Events. It should get updated tonight & will activate on Friday. I suggest start practicing on the Monza circuit already to prepare for the event.

I’m sure it will be just wonder what car they will select..,, I’m going to race @ China in a bit in career mode then once that is done I will start learning Monza for the event

Usually it's a random car but I really enjoy the events. It feels like a POV race scenario.

Started my career mode today (Sauber, Leclerc as my teammate) and got about an hour and a half into it, completing all the practice programs and qualifying but not the race (I'm going to be doing 100% distance races, so I need some time for that!)

Here are my first impressions so far:

• Handling is so much nicer than F1 2017. Gone is the low-speed washout understeer that plagued me throughout the 2016 and 2017 handling model; I can actually make the car do what I want at low speed, and it makes everything so much more enjoyable!
• I currently have the AI on 101% (the extra 1% is purely so I can say it's on Ultimate...), and it's delivering about the experience I want. I set a not-great lap in quali and Leclerc out-qualified me by a tenth and a half. I can see that I'll almost certainly need to turn it up at some point in my career, however, since this is my speed right out of the box.
• Not having played a career mode since F1 2013, a lot of stuff is new to me. I like most of the practice programs, but I'm struggling a lot with manual ERS. The only way I was able to pass the program was by setting it on 'low' for most of the lap and just driving faster!
• I like the new engine sound. Much better than last year in my opinion.
• As someone who drives in cockpit mode, I need to have the halo center bar off. With it off, I don't notice the stuff on top at all.

Looking forward to getting stuck into my first race and finding out how I do over a Grand Prix distance!

PS: For those who have had a little more time with the game, how much difference does a custom setup make? I'm running the default setup for now, and it feels pretty good. Is there a large time gain to be found by tweaking it?

Exediron wrote:Started my career mode today (Sauber, Leclerc as my teammate) and got about an hour and a half into it, completing all the practice programs and qualifying but not the race (I'm going to be doing 100% distance races, so I need some time for that!)

Here are my first impressions so far:

• Handling is so much nicer than F1 2017. Gone is the low-speed washout understeer that plagued me throughout the 2016 and 2017 handling model; I can actually make the car do what I want at low speed, and it makes everything so much more enjoyable!
• I currently have the AI on 101% (the extra 1% is purely so I can say it's on Ultimate...), and it's delivering about the experience I want. I set a not-great lap in quali and Leclerc out-qualified me by a tenth and a half. I can see that I'll almost certainly need to turn it up at some point in my career, however, since this is my speed right out of the box.
• Not having played a career mode since F1 2013, a lot of stuff is new to me. I like most of the practice programs, but I'm struggling a lot with manual ERS. The only way I was able to pass the program was by setting it on 'low' for most of the lap and just driving faster!
• I like the new engine sound. Much better than last year in my opinion.
• As someone who drives in cockpit mode, I need to have the halo center bar off. With it off, I don't notice the stuff on top at all.

Looking forward to getting stuck into my first race and finding out how I do over a Grand Prix distance!

PS: For those who have had a little more time with the game, how much difference does a custom setup make? I'm running the default setup for now, and it feels pretty good. Is there a large time gain to be found by tweaking it?

Yeah pretty sure there's a lot of time to find in running setups although I've never actually tested it. I'd just rip them of YouTube if I were you and tweak from there if you feel the need to.

I also play cockpit but don't mind the centre column of the halo, I did bump up the 'look to apex' limit a bit though so the camera leans in toward the corner a bit more than usual.

Exediron wrote:Started my career mode today (Sauber, Leclerc as my teammate) and got about an hour and a half into it, completing all the practice programs and qualifying but not the race (I'm going to be doing 100% distance races, so I need some time for that!)

Here are my first impressions so far:

• Handling is so much nicer than F1 2017. Gone is the low-speed washout understeer that plagued me throughout the 2016 and 2017 handling model; I can actually make the car do what I want at low speed, and it makes everything so much more enjoyable!
• I currently have the AI on 101% (the extra 1% is purely so I can say it's on Ultimate...), and it's delivering about the experience I want. I set a not-great lap in quali and Leclerc out-qualified me by a tenth and a half. I can see that I'll almost certainly need to turn it up at some point in my career, however, since this is my speed right out of the box.
• Not having played a career mode since F1 2013, a lot of stuff is new to me. I like most of the practice programs, but I'm struggling a lot with manual ERS. The only way I was able to pass the program was by setting it on 'low' for most of the lap and just driving faster!
• I like the new engine sound. Much better than last year in my opinion.
• As someone who drives in cockpit mode, I need to have the halo center bar off. With it off, I don't notice the stuff on top at all.

Looking forward to getting stuck into my first race and finding out how I do over a Grand Prix distance!

PS: For those who have had a little more time with the game, how much difference does a custom setup make? I'm running the default setup for now, and it feels pretty good. Is there a large time gain to be found by tweaking it?

A custom setup (Created either by You or taken from online) is definitely better IMO. A default setup is ok to get around but a custom setup will help You lap around more competitively. I'll give 1 example; For my Singapore setup when I moved the ballast to 4, it not only improved my lap times but made me enjoy Singapore so much as the ballast positioning towards the front made my corner entry that much easier.

UnlikeUday wrote:

Exediron wrote:
[*]Not having played a career mode since F1 2013, a lot of stuff is new to me. I like most of the practice programs, but I'm struggling a lot with manual ERS. The only way I was able to pass the program was by setting it on 'low' for most of the lap and just driving faster!
PS: For those who have had a little more time with the game, how much difference does a custom setup make? I'm running the default setup for now, and it feels pretty good. Is there a large time gain to be found by tweaking it?

A custom setup (Created either by You or taken from online) is definitely better IMO. A default setup is ok to get around but a custom setup will help You lap around more competitively. I'll give 1 example; For my Singapore setup when I moved the ballast to 4, it not only improved my lap times but made me enjoy Singapore so much as the ballast positioning towards the front made my corner entry that much easier.

@ exedrin, for the ers management when u get control of the car after the flying lap intro immediately switch the ers to “none” charging the battery close to 100% / keeping it 100%. As your approaching the line switch it to medium. I bounce back and forth from low - medium. Using low approaching braking zones / slow corners. (Sauber battery depletes FAST! Until u upgrade it)

As for the custom setup as UnlikeUday and blackflag11 stated there are chunks of time to be found in the small tweaks. Example if the back of your car is washing out on accerlation and you adjust the rear toe it will help remove the wash out. What I do is start with a basic layout then start making my fine adjustments from there depending on what improvements I’m looking for over the course of 1 lap. Also different fuel loads make the car feel different so make sure your tune is comfortable with a full tank....

I am also using Sauber with Leclerc as my teammate. I am doing 50% race distance. One thing I have noticed is that in quali the AI ISNT as fast as they are in the race. At the start you will gain plenty of places in the first few corners but once everyone settles into there respective position that’s when the AI comes alive. Attacking and defending, they will cut off the inside of the corner while your shooting for it and will brake check you at times in a slow corner. Good luck on your first race, use your ers wisely and charge it as much as possible

Mayhem wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:

Exediron wrote:
[*]Not having played a career mode since F1 2013, a lot of stuff is new to me. I like most of the practice programs, but I'm struggling a lot with manual ERS. The only way I was able to pass the program was by setting it on 'low' for most of the lap and just driving faster!
PS: For those who have had a little more time with the game, how much difference does a custom setup make? I'm running the default setup for now, and it feels pretty good. Is there a large time gain to be found by tweaking it?

A custom setup (Created either by You or taken from online) is definitely better IMO. A default setup is ok to get around but a custom setup will help You lap around more competitively. I'll give 1 example; For my Singapore setup when I moved the ballast to 4, it not only improved my lap times but made me enjoy Singapore so much as the ballast positioning towards the front made my corner entry that much easier.

@ exedrin, for the ers management when u get control of the car after the flying lap intro immediately switch the ers to “none” charging the battery close to 100% / keeping it 100%. As your approaching the line switch it to medium. I bounce back and forth from low - medium. Using low approaching braking zones / slow corners. (Sauber battery depletes FAST! Until u upgrade it)

As for the custom setup as UnlikeUday and blackflag11 stated there are chunks of time to be found in the small tweaks. Example if the back of your car is washing out on accerlation and you adjust the rear toe it will help remove the wash out. What I do is start with a basic layout then start making my fine adjustments from there depending on what improvements I’m looking for over the course of 1 lap. Also different fuel loads make the car feel different so make sure your tune is comfortable with a full tank....

I am also using Sauber with Leclerc as my teammate. I am doing 50% race distance. One thing I have noticed is that in quali the AI ISNT as fast as they are in the race. At the start you will gain plenty of places in the first few corners but once everyone settles into there respective position that’s when the AI comes alive. Attacking and defending, they will cut off the inside of the corner while your shooting for it and will brake check you at times in a slow corner. Good luck on your first race, use your ers wisely and charge it as much as possible

Even I started my career yesterday. I chose Williams. Even though the development chart shows Williams as the weakest team, it's not. It's speed & handling are good. So I reset my career & chose Sauber. This car nearly felt as slow / weak as the Sauber of F1 2017 game.

UnlikeUday wrote:
Even I started my career yesterday. I chose Williams. Even though the development chart shows Williams as the weakest team, it's not. It's speed & handling are good. So I reset my career & chose Sauber. This car nearly felt as slow / weak as the Sauber of F1 2017 game.

Lol. Funny you mention that because Sirotkin was giving me a really hard time last race in China but I got away from him with my better tire strategy in mixed conditions , but sadly I was bumped out of p10 by Hulkenberg with only 2 laps to go I couldn’t match him as my ers was drained trying to keep him behind .....

I’m not a fan of the aero on the Sauber and my first major aero upgrade failed . The ers really has to be babied on the Sauber as it instantly drains when on hot lap mode and it takes forever to harvest!!! I just got an ers upgrade and it’s much better. I’m currently in fp1 at Baku. My best finish so far was 8th in Bahrain but that was all due to the 3 cars ahead of me all having time penalties so I was gifted 8th while actually finishing 11th..

Mayhem wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:
Even I started my career yesterday. I chose Williams. Even though the development chart shows Williams as the weakest team, it's not. It's speed & handling are good. So I reset my career & chose Sauber. This car nearly felt as slow / weak as the Sauber of F1 2017 game.

Lol. Funny you mention that because Sirotkin was giving me a really hard time last race in China but I got away from him with my better tire strategy in mixed conditions , but sadly I was bumped out of p10 by Hulkenberg with only 2 laps to go I couldn’t match him as my ers was drained trying to keep him behind .....

I’m not a fan of the aero on the Sauber and my first major aero upgrade failed . The ers really has to be babied on the Sauber as it instantly drains when on hot lap mode and it takes forever to harvest!!! I just got an ers upgrade and it’s much better. I’m currently in fp1 at Baku. My best finish so far was 8th in Bahrain but that was all due to the 3 cars ahead of me all having time penalties so I was gifted 8th while actually finishing 11th..

1 weird thing I read on Codemasters forums & have experienced this as well so I know it's true.

The AI are weak in qualy but are strong in race. This means You may qualify much higher than anticipated but in the race, AI will give You a harder time.

1 update - the event at Italy has started in Events. We'll be in Ricciardo's shoes.

UnlikeUday wrote:

Mayhem wrote:

UnlikeUday wrote:
Even I started my career yesterday. I chose Williams. Even though the development chart shows Williams as the weakest team, it's not. It's speed & handling are good. So I reset my career & chose Sauber. This car nearly felt as slow / weak as the Sauber of F1 2017 game.

Lol. Funny you mention that because Sirotkin was giving me a really hard time last race in China but I got away from him with my better tire strategy in mixed conditions , but sadly I was bumped out of p10 by Hulkenberg with only 2 laps to go I couldn’t match him as my ers was drained trying to keep him behind .....

I’m not a fan of the aero on the Sauber and my first major aero upgrade failed . The ers really has to be babied on the Sauber as it instantly drains when on hot lap mode and it takes forever to harvest!!! I just got an ers upgrade and it’s much better. I’m currently in fp1 at Baku. My best finish so far was 8th in Bahrain but that was all due to the 3 cars ahead of me all having time penalties so I was gifted 8th while actually finishing 11th..

1 weird thing I read on Codemasters forums & have experienced this as well so I know it's true.

The AI are weak in qualy but are strong in race. This means You may qualify much higher than anticipated but in the race, AI will give You a harder time.

Yes this is true, I mentioned it on here earlier.... I have increased difficulty and the AI has gone even slower in quali by as much as .5 sec...... what I am doing at the moment is seeing where Leclerc qualifies and I do just enough to beat him. If I go all out the Sauber qualifies way too high and then in race I’m a sitting duck

Alright, my first race is in the books! I started P18 after what I felt was a poor qualifying (only set one lap after crashing on my second run), with Charles one position ahead of me in P17. I finished in P14, and Charles beat me pretty soundly to get P11 (I was +2 laps, he was +1).

That sounds like my pace was pretty awful, and to start with it really was. I had a decent first lap, passing I think two cars and ending up in 16th. Through pit stops and crashes I made it as high as P11, but then I started to fall badly off the pace - at this point I was lapping in the 1:30s (my fastest lap was a 1:27.1 on the same tyres, so bad) and starting to build up a train. In the second half of the race I got some clear air and started to settle into more of a rhythm, and after that point I was steadily growing the gap to Stroll behind and keeping it pretty constant to Hartley in front. I ended up with a fastest lap 1 tenth slower than Charles'.

My race was overshadowed, however, by a very annoying bug that likely cost me any chance to get truly comfortable and settle into it. At random braking zones my steering wheel would lose force feedback entirely, and I would find out when I began to turn into the corner and had no feeling at all. Every time that happened I pretty much had to flashback, and since it happened at least once every 2-3 laps I was constantly having to reset and getting annoyed about having to reset. Without that, I really think I could have done a lot better.

As far as ERS management went, I left it on normal except when I needed an extra boost to overtake or defend. I was losing too much time when I was trying to fiddle with it every corner - that's something I'll need to work on throughout the season. I do the same thing with my fuel, and I realize that between the two I'm probably losing half a second at least to someone with similar skill who is capable of managing them effectively throughout a lap. Hopefully I'll pick that up by the end of the season.

Oh, one other thing: I quickly learned that I'm sharing the race track with 19 Maldonado copies. I think they might need to tone down the aggression a little - some of the time they went for a gap that quite certainly did not exist!

Nice to hear you got you first race under your belt exediron. You can certainly get your time down with a better setup. Which default setup did you use for Melbourne??? Did your tires last as estimated in the tire sim program?? ( in the tire sim, I shred the tires as much as I can to see how much I can push in the race and then adjust accordingly depending on the race)

The ers is a handful at first but you get used to it. You really have to keep the menu open to cycle through it faster but it really takes up a lot of the screen on the bottom right. I would love the option to place it where ever suits the driver.

Ironically the crazy driver in most of my races thus far is Grosjean always contact with him lol. He usually takes him self out believe it or not

Exediron wrote:Alright, my first race is in the books! I started P18 after what I felt was a poor qualifying (only set one lap after crashing on my second run), with Charles one position ahead of me in P17. I finished in P14, and Charles beat me pretty soundly to get P11 (I was +2 laps, he was +1).

That sounds like my pace was pretty awful, and to start with it really was. I had a decent first lap, passing I think two cars and ending up in 16th. Through pit stops and crashes I made it as high as P11, but then I started to fall badly off the pace - at this point I was lapping in the 1:30s (my fastest lap was a 1:27.1 on the same tyres, so bad) and starting to build up a train. In the second half of the race I got some clear air and started to settle into more of a rhythm, and after that point I was steadily growing the gap to Stroll behind and keeping it pretty constant to Hartley in front. I ended up with a fastest lap 1 tenth slower than Charles'.

My race was overshadowed, however, by a very annoying bug that likely cost me any chance to get truly comfortable and settle into it. At random braking zones my steering wheel would lose force feedback entirely, and I would find out when I began to turn into the corner and had no feeling at all. Every time that happened I pretty much had to flashback, and since it happened at least once every 2-3 laps I was constantly having to reset and getting annoyed about having to reset. Without that, I really think I could have done a lot better.

As far as ERS management went, I left it on normal except when I needed an extra boost to overtake or defend. I was losing too much time when I was trying to fiddle with it every corner - that's something I'll need to work on throughout the season. I do the same thing with my fuel, and I realize that between the two I'm probably losing half a second at least to someone with similar skill who is capable of managing them effectively throughout a lap. Hopefully I'll pick that up by the end of the season.

Oh, one other thing: I quickly learned that I'm sharing the race track with 19 Maldonado copies. I think they might need to tone down the aggression a little - some of the time they went for a gap that quite certainly did not exist!

What's the AI difficulty You're running at? For ERS, I used it mainly on straights. Don't touch ERS during practice. The AI this year surely are fast & aggressive. Surely better than last year's AI that had no sense of being competitive.

Mayhem wrote:Nice to hear you got you first race under your belt exediron. You can certainly get your time down with a better setup. Which default setup did you use for Melbourne??? Did your tires last as estimated in the tire sim program?? ( in the tire sim, I shred the tires as much as I can to see how much I can push in the race and then adjust accordingly depending on the race)

I used the balanced setup, although I tried the higher downforce one and thought it was worse. I usually just copy Salih Saltunc (TheFlyingFinn08) setups when I do time trials, but I don't know how well a time trial setup plays in career mode.

My tyres were fine, about 30-40% at the end of each stint. I didn't have any trouble with them. I drove the race pace program like I would drive a real race, except much more consistent - my five laps were all within two tenths of each other, which wasn't at all how the actual race went!

UnlikeUday wrote:What's the AI difficulty You're running at? For ERS, I used it mainly on straights. Don't touch ERS during practice. The AI this year surely are fast & aggressive. Surely better than last year's AI that had no sense of being competitive.

101% for now. And yes, I do certainly agree that the prior AI was very subject to being abused by dive-bombing them - I've learned that this AI won't jump out of your way, which is quite nice! They just need to stop fully committing to gaps that are always going to close, and they'll be pretty good.

Will be posting 2 videos

The 1st one is a glitch I found. It looks as if the car exits twice from the pitlane when using Far Chase view.

The 2nd video also concerns the event. When exiting the Lesmo turns, I feel the backend of my car slip away (don't know if it's oversteer). In the 1st lesmo it doesn't happen but in the 2nd lesmo, You can see the car continuing to turn right. I need to over correct & steer t the left t keep continuing. I wondered if by changing the ballast would make a difference. My balance at first was at 7 but after this situation, I go it to 6. I definitely felt an improvement.

Friends...You can also get good setups from Time Trial. Once You've set a time good enough for it to be ranked, apart from the rival setup that can be incorporated into Your car, You can also scroll through various users in the rankings list & take a setup from any of them.

What I keep in mind is that I choose a user who's using a custom setup & not the other way around.

Patch 1.05 has been released on PC & the consoles will get it by the end of this week. Here are the improvements that it will bring:

General:
- Interviews – Option included to turn off or extend the interview timer – you can find this option in Preferences -> Gameplay Settings -> Press Interview Time Limit.
- Fixed an issue where race fuel load was insufficient to finish a race after using the race strategy practice program in a restarted practice session – NOTE: This fix will only apply after you go to the next Race Weekend. You may also have to complete a Race Strategy Practice Programme for it to take full effect.
- PC – Fixed issues with Thrustmaster T300 wheel.
- PC – Game now works with AMD Phenom CPU’s – (without the need to use the Beta workaround) NOTE: These CPUs are below minimum specifications to run the game and are therefore not technically supported, so you may still experience some performance issues.
- Updated the Abu Dhabi tyre compound selections.
- Fixed a crash when fast forwarding an instant replay.
- Re-balanced Medium Traction Control Settings.
- Fixed an issue where AI team mates could become stuck queuing in the pit lane.
- Updated the Baku track map to include all DRS detection zones.
- Improved game stability and various other fixes, including fixing the most common crashes on PC and PS4.
- Fixed a crash that occurred on the last corner of Shanghai.
- PC – Fixed an issue where resolution changes cause partial black screens during cut-scenes.

Multiplayer:
- Fixed an issue where hosting a lobby after leaving a classic race resulted in some players being locked to soft tyre compounds
- Fixed an issue where a dedicated spectator who is a client can get de-synced information for pit lane status in the position list
- Fixed a crash when spectating qualifying sessions
- Improved game stability and various other fixes

On the Codemasters forum, users are complaining after the patch medium TC has become as good as no TC.

Maybe they'll have fixed the issue I was having with my wheel where it lost FF at random braking zones? I've been holding off doing the second race until I'm sure I've found a way around it, since it was so distracting.

Alright, I've got my second race weekend down, and it was quite a different story from the first!

Since Bahrain is one of my favorite tracks, I came into it with quite high expectations. Initially I was having a lot of trouble with the car, not getting the bite I wanted in turn one, etc. I decided to go and get myself a good setup, so I took NLR_Evo's setup (currently the top TT setup for Bahrain). The difference was huge - I was about a second a lap faster with the new setup, and I felt so much more confident as well. I was able to hit good times consistently.

In the end, I qualified P11 (after being badly balked on my second run in Q2) and finished a slightly uncomfortable P4, with Sainz a pretty constant 3-4 seconds behind me for the entire last stint. Hamilton and Raikkonen retired in front, and I passed Ricciardo on track after he had some sort of car trouble. Still, a stock Sauber shouldn't be finishing best of the rest, so if I decide I'm going to keep being too quick with a proper setup I'll probably up the difficulty. I was about 50 seconds in front of Leclerc in this race.

And best of all, the patch seems to have fixed my wheel issue! It didn't turn itself off once during the race, and that made a huge difference of its own!

Exediron wrote:Alright, I've got my second race weekend down, and it was quite a different story from the first!

Since Bahrain is one of my favorite tracks, I came into it with quite high expectations. Initially I was having a lot of trouble with the car, not getting the bite I wanted in turn one, etc. I decided to go and get myself a good setup, so I took NLR_Evo's setup (currently the top TT setup for Bahrain). The difference was huge - I was about a second a lap faster with the new setup, and I felt so much more confident as well. I was able to hit good times consistently.

In the end, I qualified P11 (after being badly balked on my second run in Q2) and finished a slightly uncomfortable P4, with Sainz a pretty constant 3-4 seconds behind me for the entire last stint. Hamilton and Raikkonen retired in front, and I passed Ricciardo on track after he had some sort of car trouble. Still, a stock Sauber shouldn't be finishing best of the rest, so if I decide I'm going to keep being too quick with a proper setup I'll probably up the difficulty. I was about 50 seconds in front of Leclerc in this race.

And best of all, the patch seems to have fixed my wheel issue! It didn't turn itself off once during the race, and that made a huge difference of its own!

Thanks for the update.

After I installed the patch, luckily I don't find any issues with the medium TC & the AI getting soft. They're still aggressive enough to be taken lightly. As for car handling, I think a lot just depends on a good setup. I just finished my Austrian race in career. I used the setup of F1 2017 & I was able to get a podium in the Sauber. The car felt so stable exiting the corners & didn't oversteer.

I too thought about saving setups from the TT but I fear if all of them would be practical for a career race. Most of the TT setups would be aimed at speed more than endurance.

This year it's been hard to find the right setup. My previous race in Canada, I tried many setups but struggled. Surprisingly, the default 2nd fastest setup was the best as didn't get oversteer with it. However, I'm taking every race as it comes as don't know from where I would get the best setup (f1carsetupdotcom or 1 of the 5 default setups or my F1 2017 setup)!

UnlikeUday wrote:I too thought about saving setups from the TT but I fear if all of them would be practical for a career race. Most of the TT setups would be aimed at speed more than endurance.

This year it's been hard to find the right setup. My previous race in Canada, I tried many setups but struggled. Surprisingly, the default 2nd fastest setup was the best as didn't get oversteer with it. However, I'm taking every race as it comes as don't know from where I would get the best setup (f1carsetupdotcom or 1 of the 5 default setups or my F1 2017 setup)!

I was a little worried about the tyres, since I know TT setups are often harsh on tyre life.

I didn't actually have any big problems - I went with a Soft/SS/SS strategy (24 laps for the first stint, 16/17 laps on the Supers) and I only had any tyre wear problems on the last two laps of the second stint. On the Softs I had enough tyre life left to set green sectors on my in-lap, so I think I could have taken more out of them. I think my damage to the second set was self-inflicted, however - I didn't have any lockups, but I did have a few notable wheelspin incidents.

However, I've always been naturally easy on tyres - I sometimes have trouble getting heat into them - so it may be that an aggressive tyre setup is just what I need in the race.

The game event is live. If You've got a setup then fine but if not then do check James' setup on F1 carsetup website under Singapore Wet setup in F1 2018 setup section. If You've got Your own setup, I can suggest 1 tip which created wonders for me. Just move the ballast to 4. It will aid in more better corner entry. Speaking with experience!

In the event, You're in Checo's car in P8. The aim is to finish in P4 or higher. You've 7 laps or so to complete the task. The event starts with little drizzle that begins to ease & stops in a couple of laps. Around 3 laps before finish, it's good enough for slicks & You'll be called in for SS tyres.