Early impressions

[Swift747 26]

Got the game at 11am today, played it until just now at 1am. What a day! What a learning curve. Went from 2-3s off the pace in a manor on legendary to a 7th place finish at Bahrain, time to switch it up to ultimate apparently. 

Ultimate, isn't that ultimate unfortunately. The AI back out of overtakes like little bitches unfortunately. 

Handling is is completely different. Cars handle like a boat compared to 2015, but you get used to it. Rain is very very tricky! Loving it so far!

Anyone with the game, have you figured out how to change laptop skins?

[F1randokalbus22 0]

Disagree that Ultimate is bad,you must find the right difficulty.What's your lap times compared to Ultimate AI in belgium

[R4pp3r 5]

They dont look like boats in any of the videos...

[F1randokalbus22 0]

I don't belive that you can beat Ultimate AI,if barely the aor Champions beat Ultimate AI like Noble,xmattyg,Mqrco fd etc

[Tuur79 0]

Everybody seems te play "all assists off" or "Ultimate AI" these days. I'm not buying it. 

PS.  I played F1 2015 on Legendary, with TC medium and flashbacks on.

[Lozzy 0]

Swift747 said:

Anyone with the game, have you figured out how to change laptop skins?

The Laptop skins are the same design as the Pre Order helmets, the helmet you choose changes the Laptop skin.

As for Ultimate AI all I know is the handling guys here find it a challenge.

[MRBakina98 0]

Tuur79 said:

Everybody seems te play "all assists off" or "Ultimate AI" these days. I'm not buying it. 

PS.  I played F1 2015 on Legendary, with TC medium and flashbacks on.

Well it's not that hard m8

[mgmikeyt 1]

I play with all assists off and cockpit view and I'm struggling on Legend in '16. Granted, I'm a bit rusty but in P1 I'm 2 seconds off the pace of my team mate Alonso. I don't know how I'm so far behind but I think a lot has to do with the fact I'm not using my CSR Elite pedals anymore. I bought a t300rs yesterday and am really not liking the pedal set that comes with it.

But yes, the old suggestion of "get better at the game" is probably valid.

Those who are finding Legend easy, what assists are you using and are you on pad or wheel? If wheel, what wheel and what pedals please?

[Swift747 26]

I just got 12th in a manor at Russia.. 

Ultimate is crap. 

[JupiterJoe 0]

Swift747 said:

I just got 12th in a manor at Russia.. 

Ultimate is crap. 

Have you got the Patch?  Do the AI still fail to complete passes when they are already alongside?

[Pepski 42]

Tuur79 said:

Everybody seems te play "all assists off" or "Ultimate AI" these days. I'm not buying it. 

PS.  I played F1 2015 on Legendary, with TC medium and flashbacks on.

Fortunately, the career score and leaderboard is dictated by difficulty and assists. I play on Expert (soon to move to Legend) but adamantly stick with traction control and anti-lock brakes. I only play career and private online races and we all stick by the same assists - as well as automatic gears.

Play with whatever you like. The forum is bound to have more members playing on insane difficulties with no assists.

[F1randokalbus22 0]

F1randokalbus22 said:

I don't belive that you can beat Ultimate AI,if barely the aor Champions beat Ultimate AI like Noble,xmattyg,Mqrco fd etc

Who did put disagree.You disagree with that,that I'm using no assists?

[Zviko 26]

F1randokalbus22 said:

F1randokalbus22 said:

I don't belive that you can beat Ultimate AI,if barely the aor Champions beat Ultimate AI like Noble,xmattyg,Mqrco fd etc

Who did put disagree.You disagree with that,that I'm using no assists?

I didnt but i disagree anyway. The game isnt even out yet so how could you beat it? Last year no one beat Legend AI at the start atleast not with likes of McLaren, Toro Rosso etc. They seem like a tough challenge, but beatable with some practice down the road.

[hobbsy777 0]

Speaking for F1 up to 15, I am not about to brag that I can cheese "legend" and can't wait for "Ultimate", but I must say all assists off is the only way to race. For me using a wheel that is.

[Zviko 26]

hobbsy777 said:

Speaking for F1 up to 15, I am not about to brag that I can cheese "legend" and can't wait for "Ultimate", but I must say all assists off is the only way to race. For me using a wheel that is.

Agreed. Im on pad and I think the same. After i got used to it on F12015 I just want more challenge now. Cant wait to be last with Renault on Ultimate AI actually...

[Swift747 26]

JupiterJoe said:

Swift747 said:

I just got 12th in a manor at Russia.. 

Ultimate is crap. 

Have you got the Patch?  Do the AI still fail to complete passes when they are already alongside?

Yes to both. 

They pull out of overtakes at every damn corner :(

[JupiterJoe 0]

Swift747 said:

JupiterJoe said:

Swift747 said:

I just got 12th in a manor at Russia.. 

Ultimate is crap. 

Have you got the Patch?  Do the AI still fail to complete passes when they are already alongside?

Yes to both. 

They pull out of overtakes at every damn corner :(

I have just read that the Beta testers, in their wisdom, asked the Devs to tone down the 'slipstream effect'.  Perhaps they should have toned it down for players but not for the AI.  Maybe the AI are programmed to stay in the slipstream, but now, thanks to the Beta testers, they sit there waiting for a slipstream that never comes.  Hence the 'bailing out' of passes we're seeing.

[F1randokalbus22 0]

@Zviko How could I beat them?Maybe I was one of the beta testers and tested this game.I did almost 1000 laps Between the betas so I should know,right?

[JupiterJoe 0]

F1randokalbus22 said:

@Zviko How could I beat them?Maybe I was one of the beta testers and tested this game.I did almost 1000 laps Between the betas so I should know,right?

Great, were you one of the Beta testers that asked the Devs to tone down the 'slipstream effect'?

[DauntingConch 0]

F1randokalbus22 said:

@Zviko How could I beat them?Maybe I was one of the beta testers and tested this game.I did almost 1000 laps Between the betas so I should know,right?

Did you beta test?  I would never have guessed... 

Anyway, in one post you're saying AOR champions struggle to beat ultimate AI and you don't think anyone else can,  to the next post where you did over a 1000 laps and allude to you beating them. 

Ultimate AI will get easier as people get used to racing them but probably too early to tell if they are too slow or fast yet, the game is not even released yet! Majority of players will get the game on Friday and over the next few weeks / months we'll start to see what the case is. 

[F1randokalbus22 0]

JupiterJoe said:

F1randokalbus22 said:

@Zviko How could I beat them?Maybe I was one of the beta testers and tested this game.I did almost 1000 laps Between the betas so I should know,right?

Great, were you one of the Beta testers that asked the Devs to tone down the 'slipstream effect'?

No,i want to start my Career with McLaren Honda,so why I should want to minimalise it

[F1randokalbus22 0]

DauntingConch said:

F1randokalbus22 said:

@Zviko How could I beat them?Maybe I was one of the beta testers and tested this game.I did almost 1000 laps Between the betas so I should know,right?

Did you beta test?  I would never have guessed... 

Anyway, in one post you're saying AOR champions struggle to beat ultimate AI and you don't think anyone else can,  to the next post where you did over a 1000 laps and allude to you beating them. 

Ultimate AI will get easier as people get used to racing them but probably too early to tell if they are too slow or fast yet, the game is not even released yet! Majority of players will get the game on Friday and over the next few weeks / months we'll start to see what the case is. 

I didn't say that I can beat them,im bit slower,Tyranotigger and Arwboy said that it was challenging and the beat Ai with 0,1-,0,3 tenths.Im like 0,5-0,9 tenths slower.

[Zviko 26]

F1randokalbus22 said:

@Zviko How could I beat them?Maybe I was one of the beta testers and tested this game.I did almost 1000 laps Between the betas so I should know,right?

Know what? That YOU cant beat them maybe. Or are you saying that if you did 1000 laps you are the best now so if you cant beat them no one can? #TrainHarder?

[scottishwildcat 187]

JupiterJoe said:

Swift747 said:

JupiterJoe said:

Swift747 said:

I just got 12th in a manor at Russia.. 

Ultimate is crap. 

Have you got the Patch?  Do the AI still fail to complete passes when they are already alongside?

Yes to both. 

They pull out of overtakes at every damn corner :(

I have just read that the Beta testers, in their wisdom, asked the Devs to tone down the 'slipstream effect'.  Perhaps they should have toned it down for players but not for the AI.  Maybe the AI are programmed to stay in the slipstream, but now, thanks to the Beta testers, they sit there waiting for a slipstream that never comes.  Hence the 'bailing out' of passes we're seeing.

The beta testers asked/suggested lots of things, many of which weren't implemented due to either the short development time remaining, or simple lack of consensus.  In previous years CM have acknowledged the slipstream is OP but preferred to keep it that way to allow more overtaking, so there's no guarantee they changed it. (We're still waiting for the official list of what changed between the beta and the Day 1 patch, though.)

Regardless, once you're alongside another car, slipstream is pretty much irrelevant to whether you can complete the overtake.

[AEROViperUK 0]

It's funny to see people who haven't played the game complaining about the slipstream being toned down. Firstly we don't know if it was actually changed yet between the beta and day 1 patch and secondly in my opinion it was definitely overpowered in the final beta version for both the player and the AI. 

As for Ultimate being slow, well all i can say is the fastest drivers in the community were only beating them by half a second at most, that was the likes of @TyranoTigger and @Arwboy90 who are both lightning quick and Arwboy was the fastest on every track in the beta on PS4. I was pretty well matched with Ultimate AI on the four tracks that were available in the beta(Spain, Australia, Belgium and Bahrain) and i was between 2nd-5th fastest on the PS4 TT leaderboards. 

I would guess the AI lap times will vary across different tracks and it may be that they are a little slower on some tracks in the full game but certainly on the four tracks in the beta they were very competitive. I'm also sure that as we all start putting in more time then the Ultimate AI will become easier over time but even so they are the quickest they have ever been on a CM F1 game.