F1 2017 beginner tips?
 

I got GT Sport this fall, which I enjoy quite a bit, but wanted a career mode racing game...after looking around, I decided on F1 2017. I've never played an F1 game before (and am honestly not super familiar with the sport)...

What are some good tips for getting going in F1, and for starting a career? What is a good beginner difficulty level?

(Also, I'm playing on PS4, with a DualShock 4).

Re: F1 2017 beginner tips?
 

I am not the best person to give you advice, but for me, not worrying about my finishing spot really helped. Just worry about keeping clean and finishing the race. After a while, I just got more competitive when I got into traffic.

Re: F1 2017 beginner tips?
 

You are correct, doesn't matter where you finish at first just try to stay clean especially at the start of the race as many of those first turns are mass caos. I also make sure I run all of the practice sessions and do all of the mini games associated with practice, fuel usage, tire wear and track awareness and then you will start to upgrade your car and its parts and that is when you should start to be more competitive. Most of the guys on this forum do 50% or 100% laps, 50 is good for me. You can start out at 50% AI if you want and raise or lower it from there if things get too easy or too hard. There is a lot to take in with this sport so just go slow and at a pace where you fell comfortable. Good luck!

Re: F1 2017 beginner tips?
 

Use all the assists you want as you learn how to drive and race and then wean yourself from some as you see fit. Gaming is supposed to be fun, not torture.

Don't listen to the knobs who say, "You're soft if you use assists," or "You're treating a sim like an arcade game if you use assists."

BS. Play the game you want to play it. Enjoy it. Hopefully it helps you become an F1 fan.

Other tips: I like career races of 25 percent length, no practice and short qualifying sessions. Long enough to require pit stops and some strategy changes but not long enough to inhale big chunks of time. I'm 52, with a wife and three kids. I also have a lot of games I like to play. So time is a bit scarce.

I recommend that you use practice sessions to get accustomed to the car and each track. Don't worry much about setups as you're learning how to drive and learning the circuits. Your engineer will give you a good base setup.

F1 2017 does feature car performance based on real life. So Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are the three quickest cars in the game, just like in real life.

Good luck, dude. Feel free to ask any questions.

Re: F1 2017 beginner tips?
 

Use time trial mode as a way to familiarize yourself with the next track on your schedule so you can save your car wear for the real practice sessions, qualifying and racing.

In TT mode you can run as many laps as you like. Enjoy the game and ask questions.

If it starts to interest you outside the game, check out some races on the net, and have a peek at movies like "Rush" , "Senna" , and "1", narrated by Michael Fassbender.

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

Re: F1 2017 beginner tips?
 

Here's a good method to figure out what your AI level should be at to give you a competitive race.

- On the main menu, go into Grand Prix mode. Pick your favorite track. Preferably one your good at it (because we all have our good tracks and our bad tracks, just like real F1 drivers).

- Pick classic cars and pick your car. I personally go with the 2010 Red Bull.

- In the race settings, for class, pick spec. That way, you are going up against an entire field of the same car so that you can truly gauge how you as a driver (and not the car) stack up against the AI.

- Go into qualifying. You can pick one-shot, you can do a whole session. Whatever. I do a whole session because one-shot puts a lot of pressure on me and I tend to always make a mistake on my lap.

- And basically, see where your time is. If the AI blows you away, drop the AI level. If you blow the AI away, then raise the AI level. Ideally, you want to barely take the poll (within a tenth).

This should help you find out what AI level you need to be set at. That way once you get into career mode, then you can get a realistic representation of where you are as a driver (for instance, not blowing the field away season one in a Sauber).

Re: F1 2017 beginner tips?
 

^^^^

That is funny because I do the opposite.

I pick a track and everything just like you first talk about.

But then I run laps and adjust AI until I am within a tenth or so of the LAST car in qualifying. I feel this sets me up for a more competitive race career. Especially now that they have added upgrading and tuning to our cars. I personally like tuning and adjusting my car throughout the practice sessions, race etc. But I am a glutton for punishment. For me it is more about the journey than the destination. If I win the whole thing in year 9 or 10 I consider my career a success.

Re: F1 2017 beginner tips?
 

Thanks for the tips! I am pretty dreadful thus far, but having fun! Ran a few practice Grand Prix with some different cars, running the 2010 Red Bull, current Mercedes and the Ferrari. Finishing in the top 10 at level 25. (Started at level 40 and got blown away.)

Anyway, started a career at level 25, running with the Haas team. (I know this means the car isn't as good...but I figure the goals will be more attainable than if I picked Mercedes to start with).

Just finished my first race weekend. I did all the practice, have full qualifying and doing 25% race length. (Like an above poster, I'm a father of 3...and my normal game time is from 6 to 7 a.m. Just don't have time for a 50% race).

I felt like I was running okay in practice, and was putting in a pace around what my qualifying goal was (15th). (Fun fact: During my first practice laps, I was inadvertently running on Max fuel and ran out of gas...)

Qualifying was not good. Put in an okay lap my first time, then got into some traffic and bumped against Raikkonen. Anyway...qualified in last place about a half second behind 19th.

Then on race day it was raining, which I hadn't practiced on. My finishing goal was 17th, and I was mainly just focused on finishing the race, hoping to get in front of a couple cars and maybe get lucky with some retirements...Started out fine in the first lap, moving up to 18th. In the 2nd lap, I came up to fast on the car in front of me and broke my front wing. (The visibility factor is no joke in the rain...) I had to pit, and that put me 35 seconds behind 19th place. I never could get back up to the pack, and ended up getting lapped by the end. Finished 19th thanks to one retirement.

Anyway...having fun with it so far! I did win the "classic car" challenge. Looking forward to diving into China over the next few days.