F1 2010 How to compensate the fuel sim (without turning it off ofcourse)

[Leon_]

Since this is my first post, I want to start by thanking all the contributors to this forum for posting solutions, setup and other information. I find this forum a great source of information for any F1 racer. Keep it up guys!

Now my question is simple really. I am a n00b driver and not yet in possession of a wheel. So I find myself in my first career year consistently in the back of the field. This is not a problem for me, since I drive a Lotus I find it realistic
However, because of the setups in this forum I can qualify consistently between 11th - 15th place. But in the race I fall back 6 - 7 places losing almost 3 - 4 seconds per lap, with the same setup that gave me 11th -15th place in Qual! This is ridiculous!!

I have all assists on, as well as fuel and tyre sim and drive 100% race distance. So I know the problem lies with the fuel sim.
I have tried to balance the car a bit by giving it more wing, higher anti-roll bars during the race, so the car won't miss the turns and slide through them. Still this does hardly improve my performance.

So first off, can I change my qual setup to compensate for the fuel sim? If so, what is the best way to do it?
If not I have to wait for my wheel, which allows me to turn off driving aids and post faster laps.

Cheers, Leon

 

[Chris Rees]

Theres not too much you can do about the handling of the car with fuel sim on, its obviously not going to drive as well on a full tank in comparsion to a quali run due to the weight of the fuel. Its a case of having to accept you will be a second or 2 slower per lap with a full tank im affraid. The only thing i do on occasions is what you have already said, notch up my wings settings slightly.

 

[Andrew Bortz]

Well first of all take the assists off (wheel or no wheel) talk to any experienced racer and they will tell you its way more satisfying, as for the fuel sim if your on the hardest setting in the Lotus then your just aiming at keeping with the back markers, being realistic if you qualify mid pack which is achievable the only real thing you can do come race day is just keep them behind you (you will become the "Trulli Train") make sure you have the most speed possible out of your can ie wings at 1/1 that way you can keep cars behind you on the straights and generally as long as you dont miss yur braking points you wont get mugged in the corners either.

Im sure others may have a few more pointers, may even have a better way but for now this is how I get around the problem.

 

[Leon_]

Thanks for the tips guys!

@Chris Rees
2 seconds slower than in quali is acceptable for me, but this is not the case (probably due to the driving assists). For example, in Canada I qualified 5th, but my laptimes were only as good as getting me on 16th place. I was around 5 - 6 seconds slower than my quali time. As I said, I am a n00b driver, but still I should manage to gain top 10 when I qualified 5th!

@Andrew Bortz
I know it is more satisfying in Gran Turismo games I drive with all assists off, but there speed lies lower and less gear changes. I.e. it feels more like the driving experience I have when I drive my own car. This is not the case for a Formula 1 car obvious, so I wait for the wheel
And I have created a Trulli train in Hungary now, on 11th place with 6 cars behind me. The only problem is that I'm the only one having to pit for options and than it's game over

But thanks for your feedback, I will finish this season being frustrated as I am. And 2nd season I will buy a wheel, turning off aids to burn the other cars.

 

[Andrew Bortz]

Sorry I couldnt help, if it makes you feel any better when I first played the game I was only qualifying outside the top 20, and finishing 24th with 23rd in sight. Racing 100% distance is a nightmare especially from high up on the grid all it take is one major mistake to lose a ton of places so from 5th to 16th is a decent result and Im guessing you met your teams goal for the race.

(edit) I must also say that I was still proud of finishing there since it is in the region of normal finishing results.

 

[Leon_]

@Andrew Bortz
I understand what you mean, and yes I feel a little better. Reading all these "Champion stories" about guys who push their Lotus to pole position on Legendary makes me feel like I better take up a new hobby

And yes, 100% race distance is a b*tch when tailing your precursor knowing that you need every tenth to stay with him, and than messing up two laps losing 0.5 - 1 second usually means you never see him back.
But still 100% race distance is the only real Formula One experience and I love it even if I finish last.

Still I think Codemasters should fix the fuel sim. It is an option to add realism, not an option to add difficulty!

 

[Sn2op]

In my opinion, the problem isn't that you have fuel sim on, and experience drops in lap times under race conditions, but that it does not apply for AI racers (read about it somewhere in this forum). So when you struggle with a heavy car, they don't... The problem gets more serious when you drive 100% distance races - you lose a lot more time during at least first half of the race and you really become competitive only at the end of the race.

 

[My993C2]

The biggest flaw in this game is that you don't actually race the AI (unless of course they are in the train behind you). The AI cars in front of you have times that are all made up out of thin air. It is still a fun game to play but so far from my experiences playing with fuel sim turned on, against Legends (or even pro) AI opponents, once the AI gets out in front of me, that is it ... good bye. They begin pulling away driving several seconds per lap faster than me lapping at their qualifying times because they are not handicapped by a heavy car. I am guessing that if you want to drive against Legends or Pro AI opponents in long race distances like 100%, your only hope at being remotely competitive is to race with fuel sim turned off.

 

[Leon_]

Nice insights both of you. I also wondered if there even was a way to "compensate" the problem. But since you guys both advice to turn off the fuel sim, I will consider this option, because as you are saying, it ruins the bit of realism that is left in the game.

 

[F1 2011 Rocks!]

The biggest flaw in this game is that you don't actually race the AI (unless of course they are in the train behind you). The AI cars in front of you have times that are all made up out of thin air. It is still a fun game to play but so far from my experiences playing with fuel sim turned on, against Legends (or even pro) AI opponents, once the AI gets out in front of me, that is it ... good bye. They begin pulling away driving several seconds per lap faster than me lapping at their qualifying times because they are not handicapped by a heavy car. I am guessing that if you want to drive against Legends or Pro AI opponents in long race distances like 100%, your only hope at being remotely competitive is to race with fuel sim turned off.

Even with fuel sim off I'm having that problem - I blame it on the AI's tyres not wearing.

 

[My993C2]

I am thinking of trying a race where I turn the fuel sim back on while keeping tire sim off? I don't know ... I want a competitive race where I have to work for my results, but I also want a reasonable level playing field. Clearly with Legends AI plus fuel and tire sims on, it is not level.

 

[Andrew Bortz]

Well in my experience of doing the one or the other off its just way to easy, so I just stick to the working hard for my places in qualifying and just spend the first half of the race defending, then go on to maybe catch the next couple of cars ahead that im only realistically gonna catch.

 

[Kabba52]

AI : Legend
All aids : Off
Fuel sim : Off
Tyres sim : Off

Mod : Slow corner AI

This combo work good for me...

 

[Leon_]

@Kabba52
But what if you're on console, and no mods are available ;-)

 

[xelotfs]

In qualifying I use fuel sim on but in race I play with sim fuel off but it's quite easy, so I use the engine on cruise mode all the time to make it a bit harder.

In Spa and Monza I use Fuel sim on even in race, because the AI sucks in those tracks.

 

[melvatronix]

To be fair... fuel sim and tyre sim only makes a difference if you are driving a rubbish car OR your driving style is too throttle-heavy on corner exits.

I've been driving with both sims ON for 5 seasons... and the only time its made a difference is when I was driving for Virgin in season 1.
Bottom line is, the better the car, the less it is affected by fuel weight.
Driving for Mclaren and RBR - I have no notice of fuel handicap, and it was barely noticeable driving for Sauber - it was only on a few tracks.

 

[Laxatron]

lol, that is really a major downer that the AI is not affected by fuel sim and ??? tire sim. One has to think: " Wth, were they not thinking about the results or have tested it with some non pro sim racers???".
I can´t believe they didn´t cared about that,since I believe career is the most enjoyable variant of that game!!

Anyways, I will stay in the cockpit a bit longer. Managed to take the pole in Monaco with amateur and all driving aids off, besides medium track control to not screw up the start. But I´m having a hard time to pull away from the other cars, webber is allways on my tail and attacks me whenever he gets in range. And then later on it started to rain. And then I screwed up in not finding the quick menu for changing to wet tires .. bleh. I´m allready racing monaco for a week with around 2-3 hours daily. tough going

cheers

 

[Kazius]

Nice insights both of you. I also wondered if there even was a way to "compensate" the problem. But since you guys both advice to turn off the fuel sim, I will consider this option, because as you are saying, it ruins the bit of realism that is left in the game.

I have raced in both real life doing small club racing and have also done tons of game racing. I thought I could manage to keep up to the AI in races with fuel sim turned on. After awhile it just became way to frustrating when you get to those tracks and your team mate is lapping you 3 or 4 times during the race. So I ended up restarting with Fuel Sim turned off. Unfortunately there is no way you can compete with fuel sim on.

As for tire wear. After running traces while the game is running. I can guarantee the AI suffers tire wear. There race pace is based off who is in front of them. So all AI will race faster than you once they get past using the Catchup code. If you have the PC version of the game, there is a mod that removes the catchup code. However, once you reach one of the top teams, I am sure the game would be just a boring race.