F1 2010 How to keep same F1 team each season?

[bud7h7]

Hi everyone!!
What are the criteria for being offered a new contract with your existing team? I find it very unrealistic that even after an unrealistically remarkable performance all season long my team would not want me back next season! It's frustrating to finally get a driveable car after two seasons only to be let go and have to start again with a new team.

 

[Aarqiel]

If you get a contract with a higher team through the rival challenge, and then don't have a high enough rep at the end of your first season with that team to warrant the offer normally (ie no rival involved), they won't offer you a new contract. It's a pretty big flaw with the way the rep system is supposed to work along the rival thing, and hopefully 2011 will have a better progression.

 

[David O'Reilly]

It seems that in my view there is a basic philosophical conflict between a realistic "career mode" and getting a quick and easy seat in a top team. The career mode requires that you earn rep points to get the big offers. I believe that feedback indicated that many people weren't patient enough and wanted a fast track into top teams and thats why the "rival challenge" was inserted.
If it (the seat) were then retained for good then the real career format is broken or irrelevant.
I look at Mr Webber for example (ok I'm a fan). Minardi, Jaguar, Williams, RedBull (remember when they were mid field and he weekly beat Couthard) now thats a career.
I'm in yr 3/7 and about to start year 4 still in the Lotus and for me the depth of the career mode is over 7 years taking the Lotus to WDC. Two races from the end of season 3 and 4 points behind Webber in WDC and I have 30 rep points, almost enough for Renault @31. I'll only accept a contract based on Rep points as I'll know Ive earned it and probably get to keep it.
(50% Dist, Expert mode except Auto Gears, Pit lane and Pit Box oh and fuel sim still off-coward).

 

[Ryan Sylvester]

I have (with mixed feelings) taken advantage of the rival system, Im going to be in a Renault as 2nd Driver in my second season (i beat Kubica by 2 points to come 10th in the championship). first season in a HRT. i made the decision that if i beat him over the season (which i was highly dubious of) i would drive for them, my other choices for a rival were Massa and button, so i feel i chose the slowest car of the 3 in order for it to still be challenging for me as Renault are not ferrari or Mclaren in my eyes. if i didnt win, i would look at whatever was available (as i liked the idea of being in a STR) but i got no offers (notoriously bad answers to the press seemed to have put people off) and i had upset HRT which left me with a choice of Virgin, Lotus or Renualt, the other two seemed like backward steps to me.
I do have the game on legend A.I. with auto gears,TCS, ABS and fuel sim off. the only knock being due to my lack of knowledge of the tracks and speeds that F1 can get to i have racing line on in corners ). I will do this year, and if i walk it and win the WDC, i will probably not get a contract offer from Renault anyway (being level 17 now) and will probably/hopefully get an offer i hope from maybe Foce India or Williams and race for them. (i dont want to be in the top tier teams until the final season). another reason is as I am not as quick as some, the achievements that some drives on RD reach in career mode, i do not think i would manage unless in a quicker car earlier, so im using the Renault in order to build my rep up quicker to possibly get a mid table drive to then stay at until season 7 (although in about 8 weeks the new game comes out and will be unlikely that i will get to this point anyway).

also from early reports i've read/watched on the Codies site/blog/video, there is going to be an even bigger gap between cars and their speed than in this years, im sure i heard that even if you nail a lap in a HRT you will still be behind by about 6 seconds.. which is true to F1 at the moment, i mean just the other week, the Mercedes was over a second and a half off the pace.. and they are considered the 4th best team! but i think this means that it will be very interesting to see how the progression is going to be tracked in this game and the focus must really be on beating your team mate to be even noticed i guess.. i know this doesn't have alot to do with what we are talking about but im excited for the new game and will be interested to see how this goes.

 

[Robert McCoy]

Ya that does suck, what ive noticed when playing is that they will either offer you a contract which comes a little earlier than the others and if you dont except it, it will go away after a race then they dont offer you another one, or they just dont offer you one. That is what i have found.

 

[David O'Reilly]

Ryan I only turned off racing line this season. But once I know the tracks I was faster without it and much better at picking a consistent brake marker.

 

[Ryan Sylvester]

yeah that is what im hoping to get to David, one more year, then i will have raced every track at least twice, and so i will see no reason why i shouldn't be racing without racing line.

going to move to long race weekends as it means more laps..

 

[David O'Reilly]

yeah that is what im hoping to get to David, one more year, then i will have raced every track at least twice, and so i will see no reason why i shouldn't be racing without racing line.

going to move to long race weekends as it means more laps..

Thats a good way to do it.
PLus you can go into GP mode and do a long race outside career.

 

[My993C2]

As others have pointed out, the secret to staying at a good team (once you get there) is to have a sufficient "Reputation Level". The only way to build your reputation level is to meet all the team's requirements (which is easier to do in lower ranked teams). Unfortunately CM dropped the ball in several areas. 7 seasons is a long career, but why were we just restricted to 7 seasons? In a 7 year career you need to spend at least 2-4 seasons in a lower ranked team to build up your rep level. Then spend another couple of seasons in a mid level team. By the time your rep level is high enough to race in a top level team you can only stay there for 1 maybe 2 years before your career is over. WTF CM? Why are we capped at 7 year careers? You would think giving us at least a 10 year career might work better. But why cap the career period?

Racing in this game can be fun, but there are a lot of things CM has done which is just plain retarded. It remains to be seen if F1 2011 fixes some of these things, but I am not holding my breath.

 

[bud7h7]

Ah, that's it then, because my rep is not very high after season 2. To be honest I usually only take advantage of the rival challenge if I'm not happy with the offers available from other teams. I basically join the better team for season two just to have a good car while I wait for the team I really want (Renault, Force India, Merc). I honestly don't want a career in the top 3 teams because I need all 6 of those drivers on the track so the game is at least somewhat challenging for me. If I replace any one of them, that's just one less car to give me any kind of competition.
I appreciate that CM apparently are going to make the cars even more unevenly matched in 2011 for realism sake, however this will make racing BORING for the player. You're basically racing one or two drivers and the rest are merely obsticles. Once you master the game, 20 of the 23 other cars provide zero challenge.

WTF CM? Why are we capped at 7 year careers? You would think giving us at least a 10 year career might work better. But why cap the career period?

The career capped at 7 is terrible. With only 7 seasons, I feel rushed to progress to better teams. More importantly, a game "ending" for no good reason is always a bad thing. Particularly a sim. You finally have a car that will hold to the track and guess what - sorry mate, career is over.

 

[David O'Reilly]

Bud7h7
You have overlooked the fact that you can win races and the WDC in a tier 5 car if you stick with it and develop the car. The Lotus in year 3 has won 7 races and will be 1 or 2 in WDC for me 248 points with 1 race to go.
I am also confused by the apperently conflicting points that the a) game has not enough challenge for you but b) that the lower tier cars don't "hold to the track". Why are you changing teams to have a good car if the game has no challenge?

So is it too easy or too hard?
You also have the opportunity to manage difficulty with settings. If you are saying that everything is maxed ie all assists off and all sims on max that it presents no challlenge then you are a driver of elite skill.

 

[raistlin76]

Do you know if there is a time you need to accept contract offer from your team? I'm on my first year in Lotus, I think I received contract offer before Hungaroring, but wanted to wait and see how my challenge against Rosberg (my rival) would go. After Korea I'm 5 points ahead of him in the standings and suddenly my contract offer from Lotus is gone. Now the only offer I have is from Toro Rosso as second driver, which I don't like. I think I would be able to beat Rosberg, but to be honest I don't want to go to Mercedes because I would never reach 36 reputation points after 2 seasons, so I have to change the team again. Is this possible that Lotus will offer me contract once again for example after Abu Dhabi, or once gone it's never come back in the same season? I wonder if I should accept offer from Toro Rosso before Interlagos, because if it's gone my only choice could be Mercedes after I beat Rosberg.

 

[David O'Reilly]

I don't know but will be interested to hear.
I did refuse (rather than ignore) a Lotus offer last season at about Silverstone. 15m and #1 again.
Next race the agent told me that she had an updated offer from Lotus! I felt like a high flying negotiator until I saw the exact same offer as before.
I am in season 4/7 and at Monaco my points are 31.
The Lotus is faster each year.

My instinct would be to take the Toro Rosso offer, Its a better car than the season 1 Lotus and prob about equal to season 2 Lotus.
You can then build it up while you wait for a proper contract in the car of your choice rather than a 1 season wonder based on the rival challenge.

 

[raistlin76]

So, after Interlagos, Toro Rosso offer is gone and now I don't have any, but still leads Rosberg by 4 points. I think I'll beat Rosberg in the last race unless something unexpected happens, but it's quite tempting to lose and see what happend, when I don't have any offers and lost rival challenge

 

[Ryan Sylvester]

i think you basically just get an offer from either HRT, Virgin or lotus as #2.(back to the beginining really, but with higher reputation). not 100% though..

 

[DavidHC]

I also have a question on this subject... Let's say I'm in the middle of 2nd season and pick Button as rival, because I want an offer from McLaren. But... After Monza I received a direct offer from them. I will take the offer, as a 1st driver and Button my teammate. But... Here are my problems. I use 2011 season, True AI and AIFSBv2C. In the offer Button is my teammate, but when I will be in the team it's not possible to have Hamilton as 2nd driver?! And what happens if I beat Button in championship?! I will receive another offer?! Will still be as 1st driver with Hamilton 2nd, or it will be as 2nd driver?! What will happen if I will refuse that offer? My actual contract will be terminated?
I'm asking because I want to have Hamilton on my team, not Button. And I've read here on RDD something about teammates, like in the contract it's Button but for real Hamilton it's my partner.

 

[raistlin76]

i think you basically just get an offer from either HRT, Virgin or lotus as #2.(back to the beginining really, but with higher reputation). not 100% though..

I was disqualified in last race (corner cutting), but Rosberg manage to get only 2 points, so I beat him. As you thought, I got offers from HRT and Virgin, but thought it would be step backward for me, so I decided to take Mercedes offer. So far after three races of season 2 I got two victories (Bahrain and Malaysia and fourth place in Australia). [h=3]http://www.google.pl/url?sa=t&sourc...sg=AFQjCNFaM2xjR2X0FufelmR9G4tNGlM_rw&cad=rja[/h]

 

[Peter Hooper]

As others have pointed out, the secret to staying at a good team (once you get there) is to have a sufficient "Reputation Level". The only way to build your reputation level is to meet all the team's requirements (which is easier to do in lower ranked teams). Unfortunately CM dropped the ball in several areas. 7 seasons is a long career, but why were we just restricted to 7 seasons? In a 7 year career you need to spend at least 2-4 seasons in a lower ranked team to build up your rep level. Then spend another couple of seasons in a mid level team. By the time your rep level is high enough to race in a top level team you can only stay there for 1 maybe 2 years before your career is over. WTF CM? Why are we capped at 7 year careers? You would think giving us at least a 10 year career might work better. But why cap the career period?

Racing in this game can be fun, but there are a lot of things CM has done which is just plain retarded. It remains to be seen if F1 2011 fixes some of these things, but I am not holding my breath.

If you think 7 seasons is bad wait until 2011 where there will be only 5 years as the career. That really is not enough as far as I am concerned and will make it even more of a rush!!