F1 Games

How's your F1 2015 championship going?

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  • #301847
    MadDogMolloy
    Participant

    Hey thought I would set up a new thread here for the new game. Ok so there’s no career mode but the championship mode itself is a lot of fun. Couldn’t care less about emails and pretend social media posts anyway!

    This is my first rCe in Australia. It was quite eventful, especially towards the end. I added in some clips from the other drivers too so you can get a better perspective on what happened during the race. Especially with the lead always changing!

    First time I used ShareFactory on the PS4 too!

    Enjoy!

    #301973
    Bradley Downton
    Participant

    @maddogmolloy – Ricciardo has no right to be upset with 4th place after a puncture two laps from the end!

    #301975
    Bradley Downton
    Participant

    So, for my first Championship I’m using the following settings:
    Setup
    Season: 2014
    Team: Sahara Force India
    Driver: Sergio Perez
    Weekend Type: Long (60 minute practice, full Qualifying, 100% race)

    Race Settings
    AI Driver Level: Legend
    Flashbacks: On
    Parc Ferme: On
    Damage: Full

    Driving Assists
    Braking Assist: Off
    Anti-lock Brakes: On
    Traction Control: Full
    Dynamic Racing Line: Corners Only
    Gearbox: Automatic
    Pit Assist: Off

    I’ve just finished Australia, so the report will be up shortly. I don’t have video, but may look into it for future races!

    #301977
    Bradley Downton
    Participant

    Round 1 – Australia
    Practice

    I didn’t really bother with practice as I decided I knew the Melbourne circuit. Set one tardy lap on Primes and retired. Realised later I’d make a mistake by not utilising practice to test out setups to extend tyre life.
    Result – 10th

    Qualifying
    Q1

    Had no idea what to expect from Qualifying, but with Caterham and Marussia likely to go out in Q1 – or so I thought! – I decided to try and squeeze through Q1 on Primes, so as to save a set of Options. Like practice my lap was tardy, but solid, yet I ended 1.6 seconds off Hamilton’s fastest time.
    Result – 4th, Hulkenberg – 9th
    Out in Q1:
    22. Sutil
    21. Grosjean
    20. Kobayashi
    19. Chilton
    18. Ericsson
    17. Vergne

    Q2
    Went straight out for a lap on the Options, and could immediately feel the increase in grip. Set a mid 1:28 with my first lap, then continued for a second, and lowered it to a 1:27.4. This ended up the fastest time by over 9 tenths, but the biggest shock was Hamilton being eliminated, though like Bianchi, he didn’t set a time.
    Result – 1st, Hulkenberg – 10th
    Out in Q2:
    16. Hamilton
    15. Bianchi
    14. Gutierrez
    13. Maldonado
    12. Kvyat
    11. Magnussen

    Q3
    Having been so quick in Q2, I was brimming with confidence going into Q3, yet no matter how hard I tried on my first two runs on the same set of tyres, I couldn’t get near my Q2 time, managing a best of 1:27.7, to go second to Rosberg. My second set were better, I lowered the time to 1:24.4, albeit still behind Nico, but the second lap was a 1:27.0, taking pole by two and half tenths.
    Result – Pole, Hulkenberg – 9th
    Top ten:
    10. Button
    9. Hulkenberg
    8. Massa
    7. Raikkonen
    6. Vettel
    5. Ricciardo
    4. Alonso
    3. Bottas
    2. Rosberg
    1. Perez

    Race
    Having made Q3, I was tied in to starting on fairly worn Option tyres – they’d already done two fast laps in Q2! My first pitstop was planned for lap 13, but with no experience of tyre degradation I had no idea how I’d cope. I got a fairly clean getaway, and kept the lead into turn one. From then to my first pitstop I was just defending from Rosberg and Co. Ricciardo collided with a Ferrari early on and broke his front wing, but there was little action. My tyres started to drop off on lap 8 or so, but I held on until 12 to finally pit.

    I checked the weather before my stop, and was told dry, so I decided to get the stint on Primes out of the way. Halfway around the outlap, Jeff came on the radio to tell me to expect light rain in 15 minutes! Around ten later, he said heavy rain in 15 minutes, and despite having initially extended my lead to five seconds with the undercut, it was being rapidly closed due to my slower tyres. Hamilton got within DRS range and flew past into turn one, but missed his braking point and disappeared.

    The rain eventually came and the track gradually got wetter, and I waited for Jeff’s call to pit for Inters. This happened to be the same lap as everybody else, but it worked out just right, lap 27. I left the pits and struggled to find grip, and just as I did after a few laps the rain got heavy and I was called in for full wets. On my in-lap Maldonado got in my way at the final corner and I lost a heap of time – and all of my lead. With so many cars pitting together I lost my lead to Alonso, and found myself five seconds back. I cut the gap to 4.5 pretty quick, but no further, until he got held up by a lapped Bottas – who’d been hit by nearly everyone and with nearly every type of penalty – and lost over 3 seconds in the first sector. This was the break I needed and I didn’t let him escape, eventually sliding up the inside in the fast right hander before the penultimate corner after Bianchi shoved him wide in the corner before.

    A lap after I passed him he was all over me, swerving left and right, and got it wrong on the run to turn three. He was carrying so much speed he span in front of me and slammed into the wall, losing his front wing and extending my lead to 15 seconds, as it was now back to Magnussen. I was able to maintain this gap, and finding confidence every lap in the wet conditions on the full wet tyres. At one point Massa moved into second and started to close, but a collision with a lapped Bianchi moved him back behind Magnussen, and restored by advantage.

    With roughly 15 laps to go, the track started to dry, and – with a now 20 second advantage – I waited for Magnussen and Massa to move to Inters first before I risked it. I found a lot of grip in these, and managed to extend the gap to 26 seconds by lap 52, when the track dried completely and they pitted for slicks. I was in two minds, stay out and nurse a 50-odd second gap, or pit and risk sliding off. I went with the safe option, and after realising I was only losing just over a second per sector, decided it was a good call.

    Then on lap 54 out of 58, I suddenly lost a lot of grip. Not noticeably, but my times were suddenly three to four seconds per sector off the pace. I decided to pit but forgot to request the stop and which tyres I wanted, so bailed out so as to avoid driving pointlessly down the pitlane – I wasn’t sure if they serviced you anyway, which I’ve found they do! I got a penalty for cutting the final corner, and decided that I could hold on with three laps. The last laps were nervous and I started the final tour with just 22 seconds left of my lead that had been 50 plus not five laps earlier. I lost four seconds in the first sector, two in the second, but held on to take a rather surprising win, given I’m playing on Legend (though I think it’s significantly easier on 2014). The result was also quite random, but I think it was more about who stayed on track. When the rain came, there were yellow flags nearly every lap, and cars everywhere too, it was chaos!

    Result
    1. Perez
    2. Magnussen
    3. Rosberg
    4. Massa
    5. Hulkenberg
    6. Button
    7. Vergne
    8. Kobayashi
    9. Bianchi
    10. Sutil
    11. Alonso
    12. Grosjean
    13. Maldonado
    14. Ericsson
    15. Bottas
    Ret. Gutierrez
    Ret. Raikkonen
    Ret. Ricciardo
    Ret. Kvyat
    Ret. Vettel
    Ret. Hamilton
    Ret. Chilton

    #302000
    PorscheF1
    Participant

    Little hint; try to learn to race with ABS off, the amount of speed you’ll find will amaze you. Sure you will have trouble early on but the rewards are so big. For your second season you can turn TC off too.

    Also I find it more challenging to never use a flashback or even restart a session.

    #301987
    MadDogMolloy
    Participant

    @bradley13 sounds bonkers? I’m surprised your tyres lasted that long in the first stint. Not sure if it’s scaled due to my race being 50% race distance but I struggled to make them last 6-8 laps. Seems that was the reason for my puncture in the video above. Not sure if I need to be smoother with my driving or what but it’s tricky with a controller.

    Also did you use a predefined setup or your own?

    #302031
    Bradley Downton
    Participant

    @xtwl – After your comment, I attempted a few laps in Bahrain qualifying (I’ll post my Malaysia report at a later date) without ABS on. I ensured I did some with it on first to get some bankers, but definitely found speed with it off, it’s just a case of learning how to nail it more consistently. I tried it without TC too, but that was ridiculously difficult. I like keeping the flashbacks on, because I’m a stroppy sod, and if I were to spin/crash out with a few laps to go after leading a whole race, it’d go out the window! :P


    @maddogmolloy
    – It was! I think they are scaled yeah, but I’m surprised they lasted too as I put 5/6 laps on them in Q2, forgetting Q2 tyres were used for the race start! It is tricky with a controller yeah. So far, for both Australia and Malaysia I’ve used the pre-defined Balanced setup.

    #302089
    PorscheF1
    Participant

    Well ABS off will learn you the exact braking points and will just increase the maximum speed you dare take into a corner whilst when it is on you’ll always be under the impression you braked on time because you made the corner.

    #302093
    Asanator
    Participant

    if you are going to use traction control and ABS you may as well play Need for Speed ;)

    #302192
    Nic Morley
    Participant

    I’ve started a championship playing as Daniel Ricciardo, legend difficulty, medium weekend. Firstly I’m impressed with this game, despite the career mode I have found it very fun. It’s my favourite if the series so far.

    Round 1 – Australian Grand Prix

    Practice

    I did struggle on my first few laps, having a few off’s here and there. I got a good rhythm going setting a few consistent laps in a row. I ended up 5th fastest in the session, half a second faster then my teammate Daniil Kyvat who was ninth quickest. Rosberg led the session in his Mercedes, one and half seconds faster then me in a Red Bull!

    Qualifying

    With a positive practice session for both myself and Kyvat being in the top ten, we looked set to have a good run in qualifying. My first flying lap was shocking, hitting the gravel twice. My next lap I thought was a little decent.. Until I went only eleventh fastest.

    With time running out I decided to go out for another flying lap; at this stage Kyvat was in seventh and I didn’t want to be out qualified by him in my home race. My final flying lap was good, an improvement on my previous, but in the end I could only go seventh fastest, pipping Kyvat by just one hundredth of a second. Massa set a good lap in the end and demoted myself and Kyvat to 8th and 9th.

    Rosberg claimed pole position ahead of Vettel, Raikkonen, and Bottas. Hamilton, whom I had expected would be on the front row had a shocker qualifying managing only 5th in his Mercedes. Massa was 6th, Nasr in an impressive 7th in the Sauber, followed by myself and Kyvat. Perez rounded out the top ten.

    Race

    So here I was, sitting 8th on the grid ahead of my home race, 29 laps ahead of me, no chance if rain. Soon enough the lights went out and I had a sluggish start. Massa and Nasr pulled ahead of me while Kyvat drew alongside me. We charged into the first turn but Kyvat locked his brakes which allowed me to hold onto 8th place. For the first few laps I was following Nasr by a second or so, when I got close he was difficult to pass, his defence was superb!

    On the sixth lap I was chatting with my engineer. Apparently the radio was breaking up and in turn my engineer could not understand what I was saying. At this point I was getting frustrated, but nonetheless I continued trying to chase down Nasr. This was until on lap eight I went straight into the barrier at turn two. It was a silly error on my part. I was trying to talk to my engineer again, and ended up distracting myself to the braking zone. I managed to get back on track albeit with no front wing.

    I limped to the pits to make my forced first pit stop of the afternoon. I rejoin on track into last place. I spend the next couple of laps chasing the battling Alonso and Erricson, whom were twenty seconds up the road. This was until the pair collided, forcing Alonso’s Mclaren out of the race. A lap later everyone started to make their first pit stops. I moved up into 15th position.

    The next few laps were quite exiting. I had good pace to the cars around me and and I passed four cars in five laps. I moved into 11th position. The next few laps was just me chasing 10th placed Grosjean, until I made my second and final stop on lap 19. After everyone made their final stops I found myself in 12th.

    The final part of the race I attempted to chase down Grosjean and Maldonado who were running in 10th and 11th. On lap 27 I was lapped by Nico Rosberg. In the process I was handed a ten second time penalty for ‘ignoring blue flags’. Perhaps I was a little stubborn, but I was catching Maldonado and in the ‘zone’. Hamilton was the next to lap me who had moved himself into 2nd.

    I didn’t get to complete the 29 laps as I was lapped. I crossed the finish line in 12th position, later demoted to 15th because if the time penalty I received. It was another kick in the teeth after a somewhat disappointing home race. The final kick in the teeth came when Kyvat finished in 7th. It was great for the team for him to collect six points for the team, but I only wish it was me who had collected those points. I had a great pace, but my concentration levels let me down on lap six and on lap twenty-seven.

    Rosberg won the race ahead of Hamilton, a easy Mercedes 1-2. Vettel was 3rd Raikkoken 4th, ahead of the two Williams of Bottas and Massa in 5th and 6th. Kyvat finished 7th, Nasr 8th, Perez 9th, and Grosjean 10th. Alonso was the only retirement of the race.

    At this stage I am desperate to get some points in Malaysia. Surely it can be only up from here…..

    #302267
    ForzaAlanRabbit
    Participant

    So I started a career as Ericsson in the 2015 season on Xbox one doing 50% races(short quality, 30min practice)
    Legend AI , abs off, tc medium, autogears,racing line off.

    Australia went ok as far as I remember I probably finished about 8th or 9th and I fantasy I qualified any higher than that.

    For Malaysia I actually used a setup which made a huge difference (it took me a while to realise that you have load the setup again in qualifying) and I qualified in 4th. To my surprise I finished in 2nd albeit due to Rosberg and Massa colliding on lap one.

    China was very quiet I seem to remember qualifying about 12th and finishing 10th.

    Bahrain was decent but as with Malaysia luck played into my hands for me to come home 4th at a track where Mercedes powered cars were dominant.

    Spain – definitely one of the more satisfying results as I took a solid 5th and I battled hard with the Williams cars for 3rd at the start but dropped off throughout.

    #302268
    ForzaAlanRabbit
    Participant

    Monaco – I have no words. We qualified 17th with Hamilton ahead of us in 16th and we gained postions on lap 1 but come lap 4 Hamilton took me out at t1 and that was my race over and more annoying Lewis came back to come 2nd ahead of Kimi.

    Canada- to be honest I dont really remember what happened but I definitely didn’t finish higher than 6th or lower than 12th.

    Austria – Another track where Mercedes powered cars would be faster but it randomly started heavy rain around half way through and stopped again 5 minutes later. My team mate Nasr came home for a surprise 3rd only behind Vettel and Grosjean (the mercs both retired)

    Silverstone – truly amazing. We qualified on pole but as per usual a horrific start saw me down to around 7th by lap 2. I fought back into second but Lewis was so far ahead by then no one could have caught him. We comfortably bringing it home in 2nd with Rosberg 5 seconds behind them on the penultimate lap Hamilton gets a puncture and we take our first win at the British grand prix moving Nico into first in the championship and us into 7th.

    #302278
    Bradley Downton
    Participant

    So, I’m keeping my Perez career, but I’ve also started a new one as another user, playing as Jules Bianchi. FP and Quali coming tomorrow…

    #302279
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @bradley13 live up to the name

    #302282
    Bradley Downton
    Participant

    @octopotent – I’ll do my best. It’s on Legend because I don’t want to dominate and make it completely unrealistic, though I’m not sure a Marussia would ever have Qualified where I have managed… FP & Quali video coming soon! (as soon as I’ve pieced it all together)

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