F1 2021: Is AI Sim Difficulty Easier in Driver/Owner Career vs Driver?

[shel311]

So I'm new to F1 2021 here, but I've been playing a lot this past month. I'm 2.5 seasons into a driver career, split between Mercedes and Red Bull. I'm not terribly good, AI Difficulty is set at 60.

On both RB/Merc, I've had the same results, basically around 8th or so best driver. The difficulty feels right, but I just have little screw ups here and there some races that cost me that I am slowly improving on. But given my skillset and those 2 cars, you could argue the AI Diff is a bit too hard. I wouldn't agree, but you get the point, it's challenging and fun, I do ok. I've won 2 races in 2.5 seasons.

Fast forward to yesterday...I started a Driver/Owner career. The way it plays out, it's like you're starting an entire new team, low on funds, etc. So I was assuming I'd start out really struggling in a slow car, which is good, I wanted that challenge. Looking at the sponsors, the goals are like, "Score points in 2 races" or "attain 15 constructor points on the season" so again, the expectation is back of the pack.

Keeping the AI Sim Diff exactly the same around 60, I get to the 1st race in Bahrain, and I take the pole. I'm about 10 laps into the race and up about 8 seconds on 2nd place, just flying by everyone.

So with that, I ask has anyone else noticed this? I know the easy answer is turn the AI Sim Diff up, but it still doesn't explain why it seems easier in a startup on Driver/Owner than it does with the best car in the game in just Driver career.

[Bullit]

There are a few video's on YouTube about setting and testing AI Difficulty. Basically go to Spain or any technical track really and run tests until you are with 10th of a second or so to your AI teammate.

That being said. Set it where you are having fun and having a challenge. You can change it every session if you so desire. Making things easier or harder for every track if that is your desire. Also Bahrain is NOT a good test for AI difficulty. It a fun, fast, not very technical track. In MY CAREER with a low tier car it is not very difficult to run well or even win at a lot of difficulty levels if you run a smart, clean race.

Don't get too hung up on it. Just remember to have fun and make changes as you feel it is needed or wanted. Be aware of track levels is my only real advice. As fast as you feel at Bahrain in your starting season. You will also feel like you are driving a horse drawn carriage at Monaco. LOL

[shel311]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bullit

There are a few video's on YouTube about setting and testing AI Difficulty. Basically go to Spain or any technical track really and run tests until you are with 10th of a second or so to your AI teammate.

I actually came across that and will have to try it. Very very dumb question but...how do I get my teammates time? So if I choose Bottel like I read is a good example and drive around Spain a bunch of laps to get a baseline of what my average/median time is...how do I get an AI Hamilton time trial time?

Quote: Originally Posted by Bullit

That being said. Set it where you are having fun and having a challenge. You can change it every session if you so desire. Making things easier or harder for every track if that is your desire. Also Bahrain is NOT a good test for AI difficulty. It a fun, fast, not very technical track. In MY CAREER with a low tier car it is not very difficult to run well or even win at a lot of difficulty levels if you run a smart, clean race.

That's good to know. I found a site, Sim Racing Games or something like that that had their take on AI Diff for every track that would give the most close to real life lap times. I've adapted that and basically use percentages based on the much lower AI Diff I use, so I change the AI Diff slightly with every circuit.

Quote: Originally Posted by Bullit

Don't get too hung up on it. Just remember to have fun and make changes as you feel it is needed or wanted. Be aware of track levels is my only real advice. As fast as you feel at Bahrain in your starting season. You will also feel like you are driving a horse drawn carriage at Monaco. LOL

I'm not one to ever quit but Monaco is getting me close to quitting that circuit LOL. I will be getting a racing wheel delivered today, Logitech G923, I'm hoping that'll help my drive overall but also make Monaco a possibility for me to actually do a little something.

I kinda messed up the experimenting in my driver/owner career above but for the best. I did that 1st circuit at Bahrain I mentioned above. But after that, I turned off braking assist entirely, it was set to low. So my next couple of races, I've had a couple of spinouts as a result, but just 1 or 2 per race, so I think it was the right move to ditch it, I just gotta be a little better coming into and out of turns to get that under control.

[Bullit]

You can always go to the Race Directors screen from the Pause Menu or when you are in the Pits you can scroll over to the Clock Icon and it shows current track times for all Drivers as well as watch them in a "Broadcast" cam.

The F1 games are one of the few Sport Video games that really and honestly require practice if you want to be legitimately good. I would recommend turning all assists off right from the beginning. It can be a painful process but so worth it in the long run if you truly want to be fast.

Now if you are just looking for casual fun. Then do whatever you want and have fun and don't worry about it. But if you really want to sink so time and effort into this game then it can be as deep as you want it to be.

I have individual setups for every track and variants for weather, etc. I recommend SimRacingSetups for your car and wheel setups. This guy is really tuned to sim crowd and has some real good info.

[shel311]

Quote:

You can always go to the Race Directors screen from the Pause Menu or when you are in the Pits you can scroll over to the Clock Icon and it shows current track times for all Drivers as well as watch them in a "Broadcast" cam.

Gotcha. Yea, I use that screen often. Would it be best to compare myself to a like teammate in practice session at Spain, or a Grand Prix? Am I comparing to our best, say, 5 laps or so or something like that?

Quote:

The F1 games are one of the few Sport Video games that really and honestly require practice if you want to be legitimately good. I would recommend turning all assists off right from the beginning. It can be a painful process but so worth it in the long run if you truly want to be fast. Now if you are just looking for casual fun. Then do whatever you want and have fun and don't worry about it. But if you really want to sink so time and effort into this game then it can be as deep as you want it to be.

I'm in a weird spot where I'm a mix of both. I want to get better and better. I hope the racing wheel I get today is a big help. My next step is to try to get good with traction control and ABS turned off, which seems like a daunting task. After that, I may be good to go, but then manual gear shifting is possible.

But all at the same time, I mainly just play the game offline and love to cycle through seasons with the individual/constructor standings and all that good stuff. I'd certainly love an online league. I made another post about that, but it's probably difficult to find one that is a good, active league that also suits my exact skillset and I just haven't found that as of yet.

Quote:

I have individual setups for every track and variants for weather, etc. I recommend SimRacingSetups for your car and wheel setups. This guy is really tuned to sim crowd and has some real good info.

That's the one I was trying to reference in my last post. I did stumble upon that site, and I do have every circuit setup saved from that site.

[Bullit]

You will want to compare your times to the other driver on your team. That way you are both in the same car should be pulling identical times. I usually run 3 laps at a time. What I do is start a Grand Prix and set it up identical to the settings I use in my Career. Then I enter Practice and will just keep running at tweaking until it is where I want it. Just restart the session from the pause menu to start over that way you always have fresh tires.

The Wheel can help. I don't use one. But I am a glutton for punishment. I race on 105 AI with all assists turned off and only use a standard controller. I also generally only race offline. But once in a Blue Moon I will get a wild hair and go online. I can hold my own in the Pro Lobbies but I have never had a Podium Finish while online. Its just not my cup of tea.

[shel311]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bullit

I race on 105 AI with all assists turned off and only use a standard controller. I also generally only race offline.

How is that even possible? lol. I'm at 60 with ABS/TC assists ON and feel like I'm maxed out and about as good as I'll ever be with a controller.



We'll see what happens with the wheel. It's good timing with the new game coming out.

I'll work on the Grand Prix/Practice Mode at Spain for an AI level. May not be that important since I'm about to switch games, but I'll still give it a whirl.

[Bullit]

Quote: Originally Posted by shel311

How is that even possible? lol. I'm at 60 with ABS/TC assists ON and feel like I'm maxed out and about as good as I'll ever be with a controller. We'll see what happens with the wheel. It's good timing with the new game coming out. I'll work on the Grand Prix/Practice Mode at Spain for an AI level. May not be that important since I'm about to switch games, but I'll still give it a whirl.

I have been playing these games since Codies has been putting them out. This and MLB The Show are the only sports games I play. I have put a LOT of time into F1 especially since the appearance of MY CAREER.