F1 2010 Time trial lap times: unreal?

[Sk3ptik0n]

I dusted off F1 2010 and I have it working reasonably well. I also managed to change all the XML files to editable files so I am working on my FOV which has been a problem for me.

Now, for the thing that bugs me:

Every track I have tried, even the couple I wasn't familiar with, I was able to match or exceed the 2010 season real life Q time, even though my laps were far less than stellar (I am still getting used to the peculiar steering and FOV in this game).
That seems preposterous to me. Even accounting for all the usual things like not having to pay for the car, being fearless and so forth, I should be at least 4 or 5 seconds off the pace.

Then out of curiosity I went to check the leader boards and I found even more absurd things there. For instance, it appears there are drivers out there not only breaking lap times, but apparently the laws of physics too!
I downloaded somone's ghost car and the entrance to T1 was absolutely impossible. The rest I couldn't see because the guy was 15 seconds faster than me (and therefore that much faster than the RL guys).

But anotehr thing I saw that absolutely made me laugh was that in one of the track currently the first and second times on the LB are about 5 seconds apart. From #2 dopwnward, the spread is pretty even but then there is this guy on top that much faster than anyone else.

If that's not a bug or someone cheating I don't know what it, but at the very least they should have a script to catch these kind of things.

Anyway, moving on, I am having a problem with my brakes.

It seems to me that the brakes are too weak in some cases, but even more frustrating there seem to be a "fade" effect whereas if I only press lightly (I have a load cell) the car brakes quite well, but if I press more, then it's less effective. Needless to say, that is a bit of a pain. Anyone experiencing something similar?

 

[Tom Michelmore]

You can normally tell who's cheating in TT if they are like 5 seconds faster than everyone else. Also TT is everything in its best and arcadey is possible so it should be easy to record the same time as in real life. Not to sure about the brake issue though .

 

[David Chardar]

[...]

Every track I have tried, even the couple I wasn't familiar with, I was able to match or exceed the 2010 season real life Q time, even though my laps were far less than stellar (I am still getting used to the peculiar steering and FOV in this game).
That seems preposterous to me. Even accounting for all the usual things like not having to pay for the car, being fearless and so forth, I should be at least 4 or 5 seconds off the pace.

[...]

It's a game, get over it. Not everything is simulated to perfection, if it did, you would not even get a lap time less than one minute off.

 

[Tacoscent]

It's a game, get over it. Not everything is simulated to perfection, if it did, you would not even get a lap time less than one minute off.

Hes just expressing his opinion. You don't need to get your panties all in a bunch over it, and act like a douchebag. If you don't have anything to contribute, just shut your trap.

 

[Eric Parker]

There is some cheating yes, if you are playing on PC most of the top times on the leader boards are that way. However, other times are genuine. I have not reason to think that Viktor Anderssen or Andrew Bortz are cheating. Its more of a matter they have spent a hell of a lot more time practicing than I ever will. And it shows. Personally if I can get into the top 1/4 of the overall I am happy. As for the brakes, it might be a coding issue or something that Codemasters didn't know when programming the game. Take turn 3 in Korea for example. That corner I have to break really early and be gentle on the throttle coming out of it; but there is a youtube video with Seb talking about that corner and in it the car brakes about 100m before hand and he says how good the traction is coming off of it. Granted I don't think that track was run before the game went gold, so its an unknown factor.

 

[David O'Reilly]

Agreeing with above posts:
TT mode has such high grip levels allowing cornering speeds and braking points that are less realistic than career or GP mode. It also allows you to run so little wing and gears plus no fuel weight that make it about 5 sec faster. EG My PB on Monaco is 1.16.9 in GP Redbull but in TT 1.13.5 in Mclaren.
Conclusion 1) If you want some realism use GP mode or better still multiplayer.
Conclusion 2) the type of guy that would mod his PC version and post lap records 5 sec better than anyone else in the world (not mentioning names but say California Guy for example) is doing the gaming equivalent of a track sprint race against 11 year old kids and then displaying the trophy on his Facebook home page.
In a non judgemental way I call him a loser, cheater and sociopath. I do however respect his right to self expression in say the way of Damien Hirst. I bet he voted for Gerge W Bush and Arnie Schwartzenneger.

 

[Sk3ptik0n]

I am glad to hear there is an actual difference between the modes. I haven't played long enough to really get into the nitty gritty of the game but I did get the impression something was wrong. So now I know.

As far as the brake problem I am having, I was actually able to replicate it in GTR2 to a much lesser extent. It seems my load cell brakes 100% with half pressure or so and if I press more it brakes less. In GTR2 is barely noticeable but somehow in F1 2010 makes a huge difference.
It's hard to train yourself to brake less when coming to hairpins.

By the way, I fully realize this is a game and I am not against making it so that someone spending a reasonable amount of time on it would be able to match the RL lap times of the professional drivers. If they were unattainable it would be a lot less fun.

At the same time, I never raced barahin and I barely know the track, I am struggling with FOV and other issues with the game, I am running with all aids off and I break the pole position time for the 2010 race? It seems a bit too much for me. I think it diminshes the real life drivers accomplishments if somone with a gamepad can do the same lap times with barely any training. It's not a matter to seek pinpoint fidelity. A good approximation would do.

As far as the leaderboard times, I don't remember if they are separated based on what driving aids are turned on. If driving aids are allowed, then that alone would change things a great deal and would explain how some ghost cars are able to drive like they are on rails while mine slips and slides all over the place if I try to keep up.

Or maybe I just suck.

When I bought this game I really hated it. But after tweaking the FOV and other parameters, it's still very arcade, but it got a lot better. So much so that maybe one day I could see it being eligible for full simulator honors (if they decide to go that way. maybe F1 2019).

The one thing that disturbed me a great deal was reading that the AI in championship and GP mode are fake. Essentially, that they are just there to mess with you but they are not really racing you. That would be very lame and it would prompt me to drop any GP or championship I am doing and try to look for online races instead.