F1 2010 Career advice - stay with Lotus vs. moving team?

[andyk_47]

Folks

I have a question regarding changing team.

I am with Lotus and ½ way through my first career season out of 7 on Professional difficulty on PS3. With teams starting to show interest in me, it looks as if I will be lucky if I get an offer from Force India (at best) based on reputation pts required (I am 3rd in the championship but some distance behind Webber). Is it best to move to a better team at the end of the season, or stay with Lotus for a bit longer and upgrade the Lotus car? If I do change teams for Season 2, will I have to start from scratch with the upgrades for the new car?
I ultimately would like to get into a Mercedes or MacLaren but have also seen posts from people who have stayed with Lotus and the upgrades have paid dividends.

Thanks

 

[My993C2]

If you want a ride at a top ranked team that will last more than one year, you need to be building your "Reputation Points" high enough. You can win a ride at one of these top ranked teams by beating a rival, but that ride will only last one season if your rep points aren't high enough.

Don't listen to me (haha), but if I were you I would stay at Lotus at least one more season ... maybe even two more seasons (the car will be slightly better in season two) before moving on the a team like Force India. Building up your rep points will be easier at Lotus.

 

[Wojciech Grabowski]

Teams in F1 2010 are in few groups:
Tier 1: Red Bull, McLaren
Tier 2: Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault
Tier 3: Force India, Williams
Tier 4: Toro Rosso, Sauber
Tier 5: Lotus, Virgin, HRT

When you are ending season, your team is one tier upper, then before, so if u'll stay with Lotus, your car will be as good as STR and Sauber, so going to these teams is not best idea (in Lotus u will be no. 1 driver).

Maybe try staying with Lotus for all 7 years. Last 3 years should be absolute domination, like Schumacher 2000-2004

If u have your fav team in F1, go with them. I personally love Ferrari

Cheers.

 

[Tom Michelmore]

Lotus is the best choice as Wojciech Grabowski said. Nicer sounding engine and you'll be a No.1 driver with effectively the same car as the Sauber and Toro Rosso. Victory would be more sweeter if you won the championship in the Lotus instead of a different car as well.

 

[Iulian Cezar]

Teams in F1 2010 are in few groups:
Tier 1: Red Bull, McLaren
Tier 2: Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault
Tier 3: Force India, Williams
Tier 4: Toro Rosso, Sauber
Tier 5: Lotus, Virgin, HRT

When you are ending season, your team is one tier upper, then before, so if u'll stay with Lotus, your car will be as good as STR and Sauber, so going to these teams is not best idea (in Lotus u will be no. 1 driver).

Maybe try staying with Lotus for all 7 years. Last 3 years should be absolute domination, like Schumacher 2000-2004

If u have your fav team in F1, go with them. I personally love Ferrari

Cheers.

Agree with everything, minus the fact that Ferrari is actually Tier 1 not Tier 2

 

[Wojciech Grabowski]

In real F1 2010 sure, Ferrari was fighting with Red Bull for championship, but in game I'm sure that Ferrari is Tier 2 team.

Ferrari @ database I just did screen from ORIGINAL database. As we can see, Ferrari is tier 2 team... But still faster than Mercedes and Renault.

 

[Aarqiel]

Yep, the game considers McLaren and Red Bull the only Tier 1 teams; Ferrari are Tier 2 with Renault and Mercedes.

 

[andyk_47]

Great thanks for all the help.
Cheers

 

[David O'Reilly]

Andy K
I am just completing yr 2/7 and am still at Lotus having signed for season 3.
The car does get faster and it is satisfying to take podiums for a small team.

What assists if any are you using? If you have achieved 3rd in WDC in yr 1 in the Lotus you might want to turn all off or go up to Legend AI. Otherwise you will win WDC next season then what?
Managing the difficulty settings is probably as important for your enjoyment. This season my results have been anywhere from P1 - P17. 111points, 7th in WDC but great fun.
Settings: Legend AI, only assist is Auto and pit, limiter/box, All sims on except fuel (fuel is v/hard against Legend AI)

 

[ACGameFreak]

I think you should stick with Lotus for at least one more year. I'm sure the extra development time will pay off.

 

[Steve Riddell]

Well i decided to wait until end of season before choosing which contract to take and won the championship with 2 races to go, and weirdly lotus took thier offer of the table. I have contract offers form merc 2nd driver, renault 2nd river and redbull 2nd driver after beating my rival.

I was going to stick with lotus as no1 and disable tyre/fuel sim for 2nd yr, so a little bit gutted to say the least. So looks like im going to go with renault as 2nd driver unless ferrari or mclaren come in with a offer as they are still interested with 2 races left and rep is at 18 so may get a offer with ferrari but will wait and see.

 

[Iulian Cezar]

Does Tier 1 teams can get better the 2nd season? Or Tier 1 is the maximum, and bassically a RBR or McLaren will stay the same every season?

 

[David O'Reilly]

Steve, Why disable tyre sim?
As you get better and the car gets faster why make it easier to win? Tyre sim also adds so much to the game. eg Bringing the temp in in quali, strategy, wear/setups etc.

Messerschmitt: Good question. I don't know for absolute sure but it would seem strange to make cars faster that are aleady in the fastest tier. They would need performance parameters that don't exist already in-game.

 

[Dylan Hember]

I am playing on Legend AI with all Most of the assits on as i am not about making this season a challenge, but i want to see how much faster each tier is for me. I am writing down my quali lap, fastest lap in the race, the total race time, average speed and where i started and finished in the race. Then the next season i will compare my results. When F1 2011 comes out, i will release my results. (Want to try and get as many seasons in as possible. I am at Catalunya in season 1, did quali and managed to get pole with a 1:22.612. Btw i am in a lotus

 

[Steve Riddell]

Steve, Why disable tyre sim?
As you get better and the car gets faster why make it easier to win? Tyre sim also adds so much to the game. eg Bringing the temp in in quali, strategy, wear/setups etc.

Messerschmitt: Good question. I don't know for absolute sure but it would seem strange to make cars faster that are aleady in the fastest tier. They would need performance parameters that don't exist already in-game.

Hi Dave,

im 31 with a wife and wee kids and aint much time to play xbox maybe 1 hr a night plus i work offshore so just want to get a half decent team before i turn the tyre sim on. Think of it as a short cut as this game IS awsome and takes up a lot of time i simply dont have at the moment with the wee kids and work lol.

tryre sim turned off makes so much off a difference to your rep building, qualifying times and obviously the race id be stupid not to take advantage BUT it is going off for my second season with a decent team

 

[Ryan Vickery]

If you win the championship (or are on course to) then I would (and did) move to a midfield team in the second season, staying with a bottom tier team even with upgrades and 1st driver privaliges still works out a slower car than moving up.

Force India, Sauber or Torro Rosso would be a great place for year 2, with a Tier 2 or Tier 1 in year 3.

 

[David O'Reilly]

Fair enough Steve.

 

[andyk_47]

Thanks for the info gents, alas I have royally screwed up I suspect!
I decided to stay with Lotus after reading these posts but this was after I had declined their initial contract offer! Sauber and Torro Rosso showed interest, but I decided to hold off til the end of the season in case Lotus put another offer on the table. .....they didn't, and after the final race (which I finished a very respectable 3rd) both Sauber and Torro Rosso withdrew their offers. I finished 4th in the championship as well (Professional, all assists off apart from pit and driving line).
So now I only have offers from HRT and Virgin! I guess I will just have to choose one of them and learn for next season. Question though - will these cars have received some upgrades during the first season or do you have to start from scratch in season 2? If they have some upgrades already then maybe it's not too big a deal....

Thanks

 

[iJAIVIES]

Does Tier 1 teams can get better the 2nd season? Or Tier 1 is the maximum, and bassically a RBR or McLaren will stay the same every season?

Steve, Why disable tyre sim?
As you get better and the car gets faster why make it easier to win? Tyre sim also adds so much to the game. eg Bringing the temp in in quali, strategy, wear/setups etc.

Messerschmitt: Good question. I don't know for absolute sure but it would seem strange to make cars faster that are aleady in the fastest tier. They would need performance parameters that don't exist already in-game.

I think it varies, In my previous Career, Red Bull were at the top for the first 2 seasons and started to fall down the grid to the point where they were getting Podiums at best. HRT were regular point scorers, likewise Lotus! Mclaren stayed at the top pretty much all the time, although they were inconsistent with wins. Heres what it was like for me by the time I had finished my Career last time:
Tier 1: McLaren, Ferrari
Tier 2: Mercedes, Red Bull, Renault
Tier 3: Force India, HRT, Lotus
Tier 4: Sauber, Williams
Tier 5: Virgin, Toro Rosso

Again this is just a rough sketch of what It seemed like by the end of my career last time. Its hard to sum it up though as I had Kubica win about 3/4 races, Liuzzi winning a couple, Rosberg was regularly in the podium positions and got a win or 2 but roughly this is what it was like.
I never known one team become dominant though, Red Bull got worse like I said (not sure if its the same for anyone else) although my 3rd Season (signed with Williams after winning title with Virgin) Mclaren, more noticeably Hamilton, were doing very well. Going into the last few races, Lewis was leading, I was 2nd and Fernando n Jenson were level on points! Like I said Im not sure if this is the same for everyone but thats how it worked out for me, so yeah Im guessing Mclaren or Red Bull could become dominant over everyone else but for no longer than a season, Mclaren went from dominating in season 3 to struggling in the start of S4 but winning all but 3 of the last 7 races Hope this helps a bit