F1 2011 Qualifying versus race

Danielklees · Oct 24, 2011

Hello everybody,

I have a questions, I'm struggling between my performance in qualifying and race. I can usually get a pole or be in top 5, but when it comes to race, I loose a lot of positions and my car feels like I can't keep up with other cars. I do 100% races on professional AI with traction on mediu, and everything else off. I just finished German Gp, I qualified 1st and finished 10th. The whole race I had to defend my position but eventually I lost to faster cars, and there was no chance of me trying to catch them. I think it's my setup, and my tyres.... I use g27 steering wheel. Any suggestion on how to fix my problem, every feedback is well appreciated

Thanks

D

Mark Greenall · Oct 24, 2011

think you might be too dependant on drs, during the race you can only use it once/twice a lap so slower laps.
my guess anyway.

Danielklees · Oct 24, 2011

Well during the race I almost don't use drs, so I know my laps are slower but my car just feels so slow compare to the rest of the pack. Specially the top teams.

Thanks for the reply

taz1004 · Oct 24, 2011

Modify your race strategy so you only use one set of prime tires and use options for the rest. You will have to add one more pit stop but this is much better strategy because you should be about 2 seconds per lap faster with options. And you usually lose about 20 seconds per pit stop. So you will get that time you lost in the one extra pit stop in 10 laps. And you will gain 2 seconds per lap for majority of the race. For most 100% races, 3 pit stop strategy will finish at least 30 seconds ahead of 2 stop strategy. You can calculate this in more detail during practice if you want. Time your lap in options and then prime. Make sure you put equal amount of fuel. Then do the math.

Also, save your fuel by don't over reving the engine and use that for fuel mix 3 towards the end of the race.

Turning off the forcefeedback also helps you go faster. Or at least turn it way down.

Gary Bieber · Oct 24, 2011

I'm having the same issue, qualy times are good, but my race pace is off. My problem isn't me though, I pull up race director during a race and the other cars are running 1 or 2 seconds faster in the race than they did in qualy (I'm running half-distance races on PC with fuel and tyre wear on and all drive aids off). So apparently just like F1 2010, the AI in 2011 is not affected by fuel load, actually this year seems to be worse as they are running even faster in races than in qualy. I just applied for a license here because as far as I'm concerned the AI in the game is just absolutely useless.

Indrek Maeots · Oct 24, 2011

Hello

Hello
Same Q,playing online im fast in quali but in a race i cant keep up whit everybody?Some setup changes for race?

MARS3300 · Oct 25, 2011

I do 50% races. I never get qualifying time during the race. You do have to time your pits. If you can get two sets of options on, try it. You'll definitely pit at least twice in longer races. If you get it right, you'll post fastest laps as the race goes on. If you start with a fresh set of options, burn as much fuel as possible while you have them on(go fast!). Don't forget to turn it down though. When you are on the primes, don't chase for too long. Run very consistent and clean laps. Lastly, Pole position is very nice but get yourself a drive-able car. 30 to 60 laps is a long way to go. Before the race, I might change something in the set-up to make it more driveable, give it more wing, camber, or change the balance, etc. Sometimes its just another notch in gear ratios.

Danielklees · Oct 25, 2011

Thanks, I'll try that strategy

Veselko Lakobrija · Oct 25, 2011

Daniel, have you considered the fuelmix. Mix 3 is the fastest so... if you quali with that on mix 2 you will run slower. Dont forget you need fuel for whole race so easy on mix 3

Another thing could very likely be your gearbox setting. It could be too high. Heres why:
In practice where i usualy set up my car i used to run with open DRS and KERS together, this gives considerably higher speed (newbie flaw). Bear in mind last gear needs to be set just short of rev limit (my get to lit red lights, pink lights stay off<--- correct or too much?).
In race this means loss of topspeed since you dont get to drive with DRS and KERS together so often. With this acceleration is affected also, it takes you considerably longer time to reach top speed which never happens in race with setting i described.

TGApples · Oct 25, 2011

Might be just that you made your setup when you were on low fuel and it sucks on high fuel. Might be you're using time acceleration in qually which has been known to bug... especially if you have AI mods installed without corrected accelerated times. I've never seen the AI beat it's qually times in the race, unless qually was wet.

I don't like changing my setup between qually and race. It's against FIA rules, so it's against my rules as well. I set up my car in practise so that I run near the end of the rev limiter in 7th with KERS only and run that in race and in qually. If you're not changing your setup and you've optimised it for qually your ratios are going to suck in the race and you'll lose a lot on the straights.

Finally, it may be just that you're good at nailing a perfect single lap, but overdrive the car in the race and make too many mistakes. This is especially easy with high fuel and primes as your car won't be able to perform nearly as it did in qually, so if you drive it like it could you'll be braking too late and understeering wide a lot losing you a little each lap.

Nick Karshev · Oct 25, 2011

Probably you use same settings for the wings

Lets say Canada, on qual i play 6/9 or 7/10 Wings because when you use DRS rear wing plays a little role. In race i use 4/7 max and my laptimes at the end of the race are almost like qual.
Gears also play role here, because you don't use drs pretty much in race, so shorter 6 and 7 is better.

Dylan Thomas · Oct 26, 2011

im the complete opposite. 2nd year of career in a force india on legend, can't qualify higher than 6th (except for melbourne and kl) but i've won about 7 or 8 races (a couple starting from about 14th) and leading the championship with 2 races left. seem to overtake about 6-10 cars on the first lap every race. the fact that im leading the championship on legend tells me the game still needs work coz i'm only average at best.