F1 2017...How is your career going?

[jasontoddwhitt]

I feel like our discussions were taking over the thread for the review, so I thought I would create this thread.

Round 3 at Bahrain. Dropped a new ICE into the car heading into qualifying as the engine was just horribly down on power. My gearbox started becoming dodgy towards the end of practice, but I didn't feel like taking a grid penalty. Luckily, it didn't give me any issues in qualifying, but I couldn't make it out of round one and qualified 16th. At least I out qualified Alonso.

Go to five red lights and start coming up through the gears, and right out of the gate, lose 5th gear. Oh jeez...this was a long race. Battling issues with the engine. Battling issues with the gearbox. Had more than a few moments of going down through the gears and then miss a gear and the backend would swing out in the corner.

I was running 13th, and I had Magnusson and Stroll breathing down my neck. Towards the end of the race, the gearbox quit acting up, and I owned Magnusson and Stroll in Sector 2. Unfortunately, their straight line speed absolutely trumped mine, so they would just blow passed me on the main straight. Thanks to some dive bombs that would make Daniel Ricciardo proud, I was able to keep Magnusson and Stroll behind me and remained in 13th place.

I've got multiple parts that are now orange....and there is no way this gearbox is going to make it six races. There are grid penalties coming in the near future.

[GoBlue7]

Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?

I started a career with Haas. Not great pace in practice in Australia and qualified 16th. I started the race on harder tires and that helped me quite a bit. Ended up finishing 9th and ahead of Grosjean. I was on the SS tire for the last portion of the race and just could not catch Kyvat who was in front of me. Lots of fun trying to chase him down.

Now I am getting ready for qualifying at China.

[Bullit]

Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?

Just for information purposes. There is a bug that CodeMasters is aware of with the Mclaren Honda in Career mode. This bug does not allow the engine upgrades to actually have any effect on the car, even if they are placed onto the car. They are trying to get a hot fix out as quick as possible.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?

So now that Codemasters have patched McLaren and the engine upgrades are working, it was time to head to Sochi. Qualified 15th, and there is rain in the forecast. My gearbox is sitting at 80%. I'm going to try and squeeze one more race out of this hunk of junk.

I make my way up to 8th and the rain is on its way. Front runners are starting to pit for their second set of slicks. I'm able to stretch my fresh ultra soft tires till it's time to slip on the inters. It was a great bit of strategy and/or luck, and now I'm running 3rd. Holy crap, I can put this hunk of junk on the podium. With five laps remaining, I'm still running third. I'm behind the Silver Arrows by about 30 seconds, and the Ice Man is slowly reeling me in. All I've got to do is hit my marks and I'll get my first podium.

Then the gearbox gets stuck in fifth gear.....for 2/3 of a lap.

It's a horrible feeling going down the front stretch at 150mph. Kimi easily passes me, but thankfully the gear box starts working again and though Vettel was able to close, he was too far back and I hang on to a very lucky fourth place.

Definitely going to take the grid penalty in Spain, and since I'm going to have to take a gear box penalty, might as well take an engine penalty as well and go ahead and add my fifth parts.

It's okay...I've got two upgrades waiting for me at Spain.....wait.....THEY BOTH FAILED?!?!?!?!

Welcome to McLaren-Honda.

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?

Amazing post, especially the end. Lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T377A using Operation Sports mobile app

[jasontoddwhitt]

Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?

Got two more races in. Work really cutting into my racing time.

Spanish Grand Prix was a very frustrating experience. It's a track with a lot of high speed corners, which would bode well for my McLaren chassis. And we did make it to Q3, and I qualified 8th. Unfortunately, and this was an issue for me in 2016, I couldn't protect my tires and maintain position at the same time. Ultimately, I ended up having to make an extra pit stop which put me down to 15th. Then the engine started to wear towards the end, and 15th is where we finished.

So it's on to Monaco. My bogey track. The bane of my existence. P1 and I'm bouncing off the rails. The car just will not turn. I break 3 front wings. Finally, I decide to find a setup online for McLaren instead of using one of the default setups for P2.

Suddenly, I can maneuver the car around the track. My McLaren is sticking in the corners and not sliding all over the place, especially through the swimming pool chicane. Make it to Q3 again, and qualify sixth. Thanks to grid penalties, I move up to 3rd. I'm starting behind Bottas and Hamilton.

I decide I have nothing to lose and go for it going into turn one. I come out side by side with Hamilton, but that Mercedes power out pulls me on the run to Casino, as Hamilton and Bottas both power past me and I settle into 3rd.

That's pretty much where I stay. It's hard to pass at Monaco, and Vettel is getting held up by Magnusson sitting behind me. I'm able to put a gap between us and I'm just riding around the track. Vettel is able to pass Magnusson on pit road, and he is quickly running me down. Unfortunately for me, I'm struggling for grip and in just a handful of laps, Vettel is all over my gearbox. I put up a valiant effort going into turn one and defend the inside. But Vettel aggressively take the outside line, and I gave him the room and he moves into 3rd. But then Hamilton retires from first place with a mechanical failure....

And I cruise to my first podium in 2017...at Monaco. Wow!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?

Jason keep these up!

I'm doing Monaco today, and my ONLY goal is to complete the race for the first time ever there LOL. I'm that bad at that track. I've been turning some decent practice runs in Time Trail to get ready but I'm still rubbing a wall somewhere 2 of every 4 laps.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?

Jason keep these up!



I'm doing Monaco today, and my ONLY goal is to complete the race for the first time ever there LOL. I'm that bad at that track. I've been turning some decent practice runs in Time Trail to get ready but I'm still rubbing a wall somewhere 2 of every 4 laps.

Oh I'm usually that bad at the track. Setup I found online went very aggressive on the wings (10 on both the front and rear wings) and the car just stuck to the track in the corners.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?

Well you inspired me so I did Monaco today.

Of course, rain through practice

Of course, I couldn't turn satisfactory times for the tire test, or fuel test and failed those.

Then, a rainy qualifying session (that I thought there'd be three of, but just one session w/3 laps, so naturally I quit after one lap and was stuck back 17th.

Then a rainy race....was not supposed to have to stop and stay on wets (25% races), but my front wing kept jacked by other drivers (not the track walls, though I did have a few replays for that too) so I wound up pitting three times and wound up lapped and 19th place. I also got to discover what blue flags are in F1 in this race since I was so off the pace.

So, that race sucked, but dammit I finished!!!!

I wanted some redemption so I broke the norm and ran another weekend for the next race in Canada I owned all of the practices and qualified 5th, and after some combat with Ferrari and a silver arrow I placed first in another 100% rain race w/one stop to switch from wets to intermediates.

Then I got promoted to 1st driver, moved up to 4th in driver standings, and the three teams who are most interested in me are Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Renault.

Take that, Monaco.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?

Well you inspired me so I did Monaco today.

Of course, rain through practice

Of course, I couldn't turn satisfactory times for the tire test, or fuel test and failed those.

Then, a rainy qualifying session (that I thought there'd be three of, but just one session w/3 laps, so naturally I quit after one lap and was stuck back 17th.

Then a rainy race....was not supposed to have to stop and stay on wets (25% races), but my front wing kept jacked by other drivers (not the track walls, though I did have a few replays for that too) so I wound up pitting three times and wound up lapped and 19th place. I also got to discover what blue flags are in F1 in this race since I was so off the pace.

So, that race sucked, but dammit I finished!!!!

I wanted some redemption so I broke the norm and ran another weekend for the next race in Canada I owned all of the practices and qualified 5th, and after some combat with Ferrari and a silver arrow I placed first in another 100% rain race w/one stop to switch from wets to intermediates.

Then I got promoted to 1st driver, moved up to 4th in driver standings, and the three teams who are most interested in me are Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Renault.

Take that, Monaco.

Very nice. I forgot to mention that I got promoted to first driver after my fourth place at Russia. Currently sitting in 8th place in the Driver's World Championship, 6th in the constructor's race.

[Finn]

F1 2017...How is your career going?

I just finished trudging around Bahrain. The car failed its diet and the weight reduction that was supposed to be delivered had to wait for another day.

Practice programs were hit and miss with a compete failed fuel management program. I don't like to replay them as a house rule.

Qualifying was respectable I slotted my Haas in 12th Grosjean a handful of places ahead in 9th. Little did I know that him being in front would lead to a brutal Sunday.

Race day and a solid start where I took 10th place in behind my teammate. However some dodgy driving from Romain resulted in minor damage to my front wing. The car still went where I asked so I kept going round keeping with the pace. That was until a couple laps later when, who cuts across me yet again but friendly Grosjean. Now with too much damage to sustain decent laps I had to pit and turn my aggressive 3 stop into a two and replace a front wing. This wouldn't have been the worst had I not been lapped by the two front runners followed by a safety car, where I was not allowed to unlap myself (bugged). The result of being queued up in the middle of the leaders and cars I'm racing created a mess of blue flags and multiple warnings after warnings. Finally sorting itself out I putted round the remaining 15 laps (100% Races) to grab 15th place and look forward to Russia and what should be a car a few pounds lighter.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[jasontoddwhitt]

Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?

Two more races in....Canada and Baku.

Canada went fairly well. Qualified eighth and ended up finishing sixth. The main reason being that I was actually able to get my tires to freaking last, while some of the front runners got a bit punchy and were a bit hard on their front wings. Kimi Raikkonen ended up getting the victory. Is it just me, or is the Ice Man OP in this game? Maybe Ferrari in real life should quit using team orders to allow Vettel to get ahead.

Baku...I hated Baku in 2016. I always struggled to negotiate that uphill left-right combination going into the castle section. I was guaranteed to hit something. Plus, this track isn't exactly McLaren friendly. I don't know what it is about 2017, but I actually liked driving this track last night. I don't know if they redesigned the course, or if its just these cars handle better, but I had zero issues negotiating this track like I did in F1 2016.

As for not being a friendly track for McLaren, that showed in qualifying. I did make it into Q2, but ended up qualifying 15th for the race. Was expecting to ride around and that be all. But the gods of autosport shined down on us at the start of the race.

Rain....sweet, glorious rain. Let's slap some inters on and go racing.

I don't know why, but I love running in the rain. Maybe it's because I played a ton of Dirt Track Racing on PC back in the day. For whatever reason, I love sliding around the track in the rain. I can get the most out of this McLaren chassis in the rain. The AI doesn't struggle as much in 2017 in the rain like they did in 2016, but they still struggle a bit.

At the start of the race, I just slowly start picking off guys left and right. No insane dive bombs. Just outbreaking into many of Baku's 90 degree turns, and I quickly find myself in sixth and battling with Verstappen. Now...maybe if I did this in real life, the FIA would probably park me. But this is a game, and I didn't hit Verstappen. I just put him into a position where he either needed to hit the wall or me.

I went for a move into the uphill left-right combination going into the castle section. I got through. Kevin Magnusson tried to follow me. He didn't make it through. Verstappen and Magnusson came to a dead halt and plugged up the entry into the corner. It was a parking lot.

Unfortunately, by lap nine, it was time to make the move to dry tires, so I slapped on a set of mediums that would take me to the end of the race. Because of my cheeky move, I had built up a big gap between me, sitting in fourth place after everybody made their pit stops for dry tires, and Verstappen in fifth place. But the dry track combined with an engine that's down on power even at 100% durability, let alone now that it's getting a bit worn, and Verstappen is taking seconds off my 30-second gap by the lap. With ten to go, Verstappen is up my gearbox, with Magnusson close behind.

With Baku's main straight, I was a sitting duck to Max and I just let him go, dropping me to fifth. With a VSC late in the race, I was able to save up some fuel so I would have some rich mix to try and defend from Magnusson down the straight. I owned the Haas in the castle section, but the straight line speed was another matter. Thankfully, in the closing laps, Magnusson started fading and I finished fifth place at Baku.

Still sitting in eighth place in the driver's championship, but we jumped Haas in the constructor's title race and are sitting in fifth place. Hey Alonso, how about some help?

[Hunkerdown]

Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?

I need a good racer. Was thinking PC2 for variety, but I only have controller, so worries me. How bout F1, controller possible or no?

Xbox GT: Hunkerdown
Mixer: HUNKERDOWN
Twitch: Hunkerdownuga

Madden 18 - Falcons Offline CFM
NBA 2K18 - Hawks myleague
FIFA 18 - TBD
NHL 18 - maybe

[jasontoddwhitt]

Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?

I need a good racer. Was thinking PC2 for variety, but I only have controller, so worries me. How bout F1, controller possible or no?

Xbox GT: Hunkerdown
Mixer: HUNKERDOWN
Twitch: Hunkerdownuga

Madden 18 - Falcons Offline CFM
NBA 2K18 - Hawks myleague
FIFA 18 - TBD
NHL 18 - maybe

Wheel is always the way to go with racers IMO. However, F1 does take a lot of care in making sure that controllers can get around the track as well.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Finn]

Re: F1 2017...How is your career going?

This is the best F1 of the series so far for controller users.


Sent from my iPad using Operation Sports