F1 2016 - NOT a wargame

[Bardolph]

Thanks for all the info on F1 Judge, it's the first one I've been tempted to try and a lot of that is based on what I've read here and over in the iRacing forum.
Given the sorry state my internet has been in for the past 6 weeks with no real apparent effort on the part of my ISP to fix it I may not be able to run this season in iRacing and something fun that I can drive offline might be just the ticket.

[JudgeDredd]

I did forget to mention multiplayer - and the truth is I can't pass judgement on this. I haven't tried it and in all honesty, I wouldn't bother. I may be tempted if I was in an online league, but even then, it's unlikely because in the past when I've tried it, being an arse and crashing into people is just as bad as being super competitive and not understanding it's a game - especially with warping over the webz...and I've met plenty of those types too.

I definitely think the AI in this is much improved. It won't give up so easily in corners and under braking. Also, anyone can make the AI look bad by undertaking and crashing into the AI or trying to outbrake and over cooking the corner and crashing with the AI...that doesn't make the AI bad.

IMO, where I have given the AI room and not "pulled a Rosberg" on them, the racing has been clean and tight. Where I have not, they haven't bailed out (an old criticism of the AI giving up).

[JudgeDredd]

I found this video I must've made of qualifying in Bahrain

It's just Q1 and Q2...I didn't record Q3 where I think I qualified 8th or something. I've noticed though that my qualifying pace isn't like my race pace. When you get to select your pit strategy, you get an "aggressive" and "conservative" choice.

If you select the aggressive option, it means your going to be pushing a lot and therefore it's MORE pit stops. Conservative means you're looking after your tyres and therefore you'll have less pit stops.

Because I know I'm aggressive, I choose the aggressive strategy and hence have another pit stop. Determining how you use the tyres and which pit stop to go for by the way is all due to the tyre management test - you can see where you're pulling too much in the corners, stretching that rubber or where you accelerate before your wheels are at the optimum angle - so these tutorials help massively

I did say I would post some negatives if I came across them - and here's two gripes I have with the game thus far...

• Safety Car - AI!
  More an AI issue than the safety car probably - either the AI is waaaaay too conservative when trying to catch up with the safety car or the safety car is way too fast. But sometimes the result is you not catching up with the safety car at all before it goes back in the pits.
  
  I had a race where the safety car was out and I was heading on the final part of the lap - so I changed strategy and boxed for fresh tyres. When I came out, I had to stay behind the car in front of me and we were trying to get attached to the safety car line - but the AI was driving so slow (or the safety car was so fast) that in the end it was called in (after 3 or 4 laps I think) which meant we didn't get attached to the queue.
  
  Another time, we did catch the safety car (I didn't pit this time because I had done so the lap before) and were instructed to overtake it as it was waiting to pick up the leaders - it took us 3 laps to catch it which I thought was hugely excessive.
  
  So that's a pain in the arse
• The Engineer!  >:(
  The engineer is a dick. He says things at the wrong time (coming into a corner etc, etc) or is just rubbish. For example, I had picked my pit strategy. My first stop was going to be between lap 10 and lap 13. I got the call from the engineer at the start (towards the end?) of lap 10 that the pit lane was open. I checked my tyres and thought I would extend a bit - knowing I could pit up to lap 13 where the window would close (presumably for my team mate).
  
  Anyway, I carried on, ignoring the pit lane open message...all good. I also got a call from the engineer telling me the pit window would close - again, a great point. However, I selected to pit on lap 12 and told the garage I was pitting. During my in lap, which is crucial, I then get this long bloody speech as I'm twisting round corners, that "We have a viable change of strategy...let us know whether you want to change or not"...what comes up is "Pitting lap 12 for soft tyres or pitting on lap 10 for soft tyres"
  
  Well lap 10 IS GONE and I've already let you know I'm pitting this lap!!! This is really annoying because of two things - first it's a long old speech he's giving you and you're trying to go through corners and navigate traffic whilst he's blabbering on so you aren't concentrating on engine revs and secondly, it's bloody pointless. I've told you I'm coming in!
  
  He also seems to give an "alternate strategy" soon after the race starts - which again is annoying.
  
  So the engineer needs ALOT of work.

However - more positives
Another great point however is the excessive fuel and how it's portrayed to you (and fuel use in general). First, how much fuel you have left is displayed great - not at all confusing like in previous titles and second, the amount you have "in excess" is very easy to understand - AND it doesn't magically "disappear" like in previous titles.

For example, in 2015, you could be shown you have +1 lap of fuel. Put the mix to rich, and that extra lap of fuel would be gone by the time you've done a lap. In this version, if you have say, +2.50 laps of fuel in excess, switching to rich could give you about 5 or 6 laps of running rich. This allows you to hugely change how you overtake and defend. Also the amount is relayed to you perfectly.

It also seems like you can build up excess fuel by driving conservatively on Standard fuel mix. So if you "change up" prior to max revs (called short shifting) then you can slowly build some extra fuel for those in and out laps.

Another great feature is the "beep" for changing gear.

Absolutely loving this title. Best F1 game by far in an absolute age - both from a driving experience and from an immersion perspective

[JudgeDredd]

And here's me at Sochi - part of 1st Practice

What you're seeing here is an absolute n00b on the track. I've never raced this, so buckle in and watch how I try and learn a track, overshooting, breaking too early, scrubbing the tyres and generally not doing too well.

I'll do a few laps like this (using the hardiest tyres available for durability - because they will take punishment) and then move onto the Track Familiarisation task. You could argue I could be doing that right away...that does make sense, particularly as you can run the tasks multiple times. But I just like to have a recce before hand.

Again, when exiting the pits, I had to go into the menu and setup my controls because for some reason if I don't do so, the brakes and accelerator seem to be "on" or "off"...resulting in too much torque and very, very easily locking brakes.

I don't know why this is - but it's been the same for EVERY Codemasters F1 game (maybe for Dirt too...I can't recall). I only have to do this when booting the game up (and should try and remember to do it in the menu system before jumping in). I don't have to do it each time I leave the pits.

[WallysWorld]

Thanks for the videos, JudgeDredd. I may finally upgrade to 2016 from 2013. The game looks very good!

[JudgeDredd]

My pleasure. It's a great game.

I will be doing a few videos of Sochi, including some of the test sessions, the race start and first few laps

[JudgeDredd]

Sochi Track Acclimatisation

I have not raced this track before. Only recently I've had about 10 laps practice, so my track acclimatisation test shows my n00bness

[GDS_Starfury]

how is Monaco modeled?

[JudgeDredd]

I've not been there yet...and I'm not looking forward to it. Historically I do terrible at Monaco

[GDS_Starfury]

just have to channel your Senna.
without the crashing and dying part.  :'(

[JudgeDredd]

just have to channel your Senna.
without the crashing and dying part.  :'(

I've done a video for you - showing how bad I am at Monaco and how bad I am at situational awareness - and you need it with the AI - they are aggressive (fairly though I should point out). Seems to me they genuinely know when they should back out and when they shouldn't.

[JudgeDredd]

A few points to note

• I am actually proper terrible at Monaco
• My situational awareness is poor - especially on a circuit I don't know because I'm looking mostly at the map or the car in front trying to find the bends - hence why I turned into Raikkonen
• The AI pit crew is back to front for me (not for Ferrari going in here) - so a wee bug
• The "mfd" at the bottom right doesn't help with situational awareness because it's right over your mirror (maybe my fault for driving in T-Cam mode!)

What is good about this is my season will definitely tail off. I have only ever once finished a season in an F1 game. So alot of the upcoming tracks, I don't really know. So I expect my team mate and rival will be able to close the gap on me.

[undercovergeek]

Heh I nearly got knocked down on this very corner

[JudgeDredd]

Well some of us can mix with the "hoity toity"!!  :P

[JudgeDredd]

omg - this is going to be a painful race. As expected, having never raced or practiced to any degree at Sochi, I am going to be beaten by my teammate. I didn't manage a single point for my Tyre Wear test and will not likely grab any from the Qualifying Pace test

This could be where my team mate grabs ground back (currently I am leading significantly in the rival battle).

Also - seems to be a bug here where the text wouldn't disappear.