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Do upgrades actually make a difference?

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I'm driving 50% Career Mode on Legend with McLaren (teammate - Button), but I've found that the upgrades to my car haven't made any difference since the start of the season.

In the first few races, I was consistently qualifying in the top 15 (even at China and Bahrain with their long straights). Over the year, I've focussed mostly on engine upgrades, having upgraded to the 4th engine now by Singapore.

However, as the season has gone on, my qualifying and practice pace has dropped dramatically, and I'm not able to get above 20th position unless it rains. (I've dropped down to Expert difficulty but I've been too fast in comparison to the AI there, so it's not a difficulty problem).

I did some straight line speed investigations at Monza, by putting on 2-1 wings and Maximum Top Speed setup, and then slipstreaming behind Button down the main straight (with DRS), only to discover that he was still pulling far away from me. What's more is that Button can easily overtake me at any point on a straight, and that he can successfully defend against Ferraris and Red Bulls on straights whilst I am left in their dust. 

Over the last few races, all the upgrades seem to be working well for my teammate, and he's been qualifying in the top 5 on numerous occasions since Hungary, but my pace, no matter how much I upgrade, is getting dramatically worse as the season goes along.

I spend qualifying and practice failing all my targets, and the race just defending all the positions I've made on the first lap. Codemasters have done an excellent job with the immersion of the Career Mode, and the paddock, presentation and graphics are all working a treat. However, the core of the game, the racing and the upgrading that they claim to make such a 'deep' Career Mode, are getting less and less enjoyable as I see that all the work I do to get upgrades isn't making a difference.

I hope this isn't just the case for me, so is anyone else experiencing similar problems, and is it something that can be patched?

Thanks.

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have you upgraded chassis and drag? because drag helps you reach your top speed and chassis allows you to accelerate quicker both really affecting you on the long straights if you only upgrade engine you will be increasing you top speed but might not get to it as easily, im in the manor car and for me chassis is easily the best upgrade to get followed by downforce


and yes it does help me noticeably

also is it possible that the AI teams are keeping up with you in R&D? cause that would also cause you to fall behind

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Hi @keynotedude perhaps you would be better to try to get some of the level 1 upgrades in other areas rather than just going straight to level 5 in one area. That way you should be able to get more upgrades more quickly and should get more competitive.

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I've upgraded chassis to its second level, and drag to its first, as well as fuel efficiency to its third.

I don't mind being off the pace (to a realistic extent) in comparison to the AI, who are keeping up with me, so I understand that I'm not necessarily up to speed with them all the time, but my pace in the corners is okay.

What I really don't understand is why I'm losing 5 or 6 tenths on every straight in comparison to my teammate, who should have the same car and same properties as me. I've seen some people find this issue, but that's more a difficulty problem than pure pace, and I really can't get to grips with why I'm getting it.

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I've upgraded chassis to its second level, and drag to its first, as well as fuel efficiency to its third.

I don't mind being off the pace (to a realistic extent) in comparison to the AI, who are keeping up with me, so I understand that I'm not necessarily up to speed with them all the time, but my pace in the corners is okay.

What I really don't understand is why I'm losing 5 or 6 tenths on every straight in comparison to my teammate, who should have the same car and same properties as me. I've seen some people find this issue, but that's more a difficulty problem than pure pace, and I really can't get to grips with why I'm getting it.
is your throttle working properly? like R2 button or pedal (whichever you use) go to your controls in the menu and press the throttle down and see if it goes to 100% a lot of people have this problem

even i can only get it to 98 or along those lines, i have to press hard to get it all the way to 100 sometimes

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Lozzy said:
Hi @keynotedude perhaps you would be better to try to get some of the level 1 upgrades in other areas rather than just going straight to level 5 in one area. That way you should be able to get more upgrades more quickly and should get more competitive.
That's a good suggestion, I'll try that from now on, but I still don't understand why I'm so much slower than my teammate in a straight line? Surely he should have the same properties as me, and even when I go for a more straight line-oriented setup, I'm still being blown away by someone in the same car.

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I am driving the McLaren as well and my upgrades are working fine. If anything the more upgrades I put on the car the easier it was to beat Alonso. He also does the exact same speed as me on the straights if I run with the default 6-6 wing setup. Like the last guy said maybe you should take a look at your input device and see if you are actually getting 100% throttle on the straights. Its also worth mentioning that the ai are a lot slower at Bahrain and China compared to most other circuits so its probably not the best idea to judge your pace on those race tracks.

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May i suggest that if you are in the Mclaren, its better to do engine & chassis weight. 
The downforce of the Mclaren is one of the best but the engine is not. Im doing my Career with Mclaren and have seen very good straight line speed difference just doing that

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I've got it working now - the throttle setting was on 0. Can't believe I've been doing almost a whole season with max 85% throttle. Thanks @SwearImSober and @TyranoTigger for the help!

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