Please Nerf the Assists - Assists Users Exploiting Setups

[Krisperfectline 63]

Bahrain time trial:
best times... all 1:25's with assists. I can't even go in 1:27's without assists...

[NickDahy 0]

By this point if it is not obvious I guess I might have to go to every track and take a screenshot of the leaderboards. 

It is funny that Codemaster's obviously knows this because if you look at the Esports Event you get a massive bonus for not using assists so if you want to be at the top you have to use no-assists.  This is the kind of incentive I do like.

[Rinehart27 25]

Is there a collective missing of the point here?
Just because the leaderboards are dominated by assist users, does not prove assists are quicker. Only that the majority of currently quickest drivers are using assists. 
But what does the presence of some non assist users amongst the top echlons of the leaderboard suggest. Answers on a postcard...
Shiesh! 

[LilBrown47 6]

@NickDahy

Agree with your statement mate, but:

Casual = $$$

If we want Codies to change this discrepancy positively, we need to offer solutions and speak with our wallets.

Sadly, usually, none of that actually happens on a larger scale as people blindly accept the product and keep on paying money directly to Codemasters by buying their games regardless of quality.

A phenomenon that isn't exclusively visible in Codies fanbase but other gamung branches as well, blame the likes of Activision / EA / KONAMI / Ubisoft etc. for these anti-consumer practices.

PS: I'll be posting a list of some ideas that my mates and i came up with to tackle the issue of assists vs. no assists later this day.

[LilBrown47 6]

Just a couple of ideas on how to make no assists driving more valuable and more attractive for F1 2018 and onwards, {seeing as Codies only took in around a quarter of all ideas that have been posted on their official Forums over the past 8 years it's safe to assume that this discrepancy of no assists vs. assists will take a long time to be adressed once again if the community does not actively demand it to be changed} and how to string it together with a experience based unlock ranking system to give the game more depth.

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-actual tutorial mode and a driving school where newcomers and scrubs get to learn how to drive any track, where to break / where to steer / where to accelerate, how to master no assists driving and how to be a clean driver making no assists driving the ultimate goal, completing this tutorial mode / driving school will give nubs and scrubs a huge amount of starter experience points that they can use to unlock new accessories (i.e. F1 Racing Championship by Ubisoft on N64)

-online ranking and experience points, experience points can be used for unlockable accessories used for your driver and or your online player card (i.e. alt. gloves, alt. helmet designs and visors to be used for your custom helmet, alt. shoes, alt. knee protectors, alt. balaclavas, new celebrations for podiums, alt. gestures used for career mode, alt. online player card designs etc.)

-actual penalty in time trial for running assists, so that only the no assists drivers will be showing up in the top positions whereas assists users get automatically listed behind the last no assist player (i.e. Melbourne 1:21 no assists p1 | Melbourne 1:55 no assists p5677 | Melbourne 1:20 assists p5678 etc.) All times posted with no assists will grant you higher xp bonuses especially if you are in the top 2000.

-time trial and regular gamemodes having a merciless penalty system for driving over the white lines, corner cutting is still a problem in TT and online racing unfortunately and getting the perfect lap without cutting corners will reward you with some experience points

-no assists being much much faster than assists, with the game leaning more towards no assists driving (i.e. you get more points quicker to unlock new stuff if you are driving with no assists), though driving with assists on makes the handling feel like being on rails and give you a much easier time in being consistent, also let us be honest here if you can't keep your car straight and massively struggle to complete a lap with assists off you shouldn't even be close to no assists drivers at all, hence why most leagues that allow assists and have two or three no assists drivers in there are a joke imho

-traction control lowering your speed coming out of corners by around 14kph - 30kph depending on whether it's dry or wet, abs making breaking distances 14m - 24m longer depending on whether it's dry or wet, auto gear shifting restricted at 11k rpm never reaching 11,5k rpm or 12k rpm, pit assists randomly making your time of travel in the pits around 0.4 - 1.4 seconds slower, using assists will also result in less total experience points earned for unlockable accessories meaning that you will have to play much more than a no assists driver, also in other words with assists on you would never be able to drive just as fast as a skilled no assists driver but would get a slower car that handles like a dream, in addition the best assists drivers would struggle to beat the master difficulty just to further showcase how the powerstruggle should look like

-dynamic BTS markers to get rid off the racing line for those who want to have another option in the racing line category and are close to make the switch to no racing line driving (i.e. Formula One Championship Edition ps3)

-car setup system copied from Project Cars and or rFactor or Assetto Corsa, it needs to be more in depth and have an actual difference in handling if changed, would be cool for setup geeks and racing enthusiasts alike, using custom setups rewards you with extra xp points

-driver stats visible in the menus as well as in online player cards, player cards that you can customize with the countless accessories that you could unlock with your eyperience points.

Etc. Etc. Etc.

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All in all no assists driving should always be faster, that's a no brainer in a competitive environment, to reward those that go the extra mile to gradually get better, otherwise there's no incentive to force yourself into becoming a better driver over time at all, is there?!

To all those that might come up with the excuse that this isn't meant to be a "sim" and or that the casuals would leave the franchise if Codies did penalize assists driving, hold your horses and think for a second for once, these changes i mentioned above would be a starter to approach that fallacious reasoning and will make players come back over and over again because of the game having a extra layer of depth that has been missing for 8 years now.

Serious talk, do you see some lazy fat pricks being drafted into the professional environment of the NBA / NFL / NHL / FIFA / F1 / Olympics etc., or rather where's the point in putting time and effort into becoming a better driver, if a person who bought the game yesterday and has got spastic fingers and thumbs / spastic hands and feet is able to compete and stay close to the much more experienced driver ahead?

Yes this is a game, but if the best drivers all over the world use assists in a "officially licenced" F1 game just to get the edge over their competitors despite it being banned irl and if bad or mediocre players use assists to keep on pace and or even to outperform much more experienced no assists drivers, the game surely does a bad job in representing Formula One accordingly..... 

There are many possibilities to make no assists driving more attractive and become the ultimate goal for everyone from a game design point of view, and evetually it's always great to see people become better at what they love, but it all depends on whether the community is vocal enough to pass this idea towards Codemasters, as only if we actively demand it, they will bother to look into it!

[Krisperfectline 63]

NickDahy said:

By this point if it is not obvious I guess I might have to go to every track and take a screenshot of the leaderboards. 

It is funny that Codemaster's obviously knows this because if you look at the Esports Event you get a massive bonus for not using assists so if you want to be at the top you have to use no-assists.  This is the kind of incentive I do like.

At Suzuka, best times are without assists. 

[pijin 49]

stephensmattlee said:

I do kind of wish it was more like f1 2013, the assists on it slowed you down so much compared to the AI that you had no choice but to master the game without assists to be fast enough  :D

Really? I could match Legend AI in qualifying with ABS and Medium TC on keyboard lol. I swear I'm not making that up. I did have some AI aggression mods installed, but if anything that may have made it harder, not easier. I couldn't keep up in the race, and would switch to Expert to keep up though... I did like the fact that assists made that game accessible even on keyboard though. I tried 2015 on keyboard and died because of how miserable it was.

[jamescoar 0]

Mate assist is faster if your a good driver, how can people who just want to play career and play for fun be expected to drive like an f1 driver, think about?

[FRACTURED 30]

jamescoar said:

Mate assist is faster if your a good driver, how can people who just want to play career and play for fun be expected to drive like an f1 driver, think about?

Play on lower level. The highest game modes should be locked to no assists, like pro season mode or whatever it was called on 15.

[NickDahy 0]

Krisperfectline said:

NickDahy said:

By this point if it is not obvious I guess I might have to go to every track and take a screenshot of the leaderboards. 

It is funny that Codemaster's obviously knows this because if you look at the Esports Event you get a massive bonus for not using assists so if you want to be at the top you have to use no-assists.  This is the kind of incentive I do like.

At Suzuka, best times are without assists. 

There's only 2 tracks where this is the case, Yes Suzuka and Silverstone.  You can tell they tried to balance them around Silverstone as the default setup works good there.  If you read my previous posts I said that was one of the biggest issues.  They are only balancing them around a few tracks and not looking at all the tracks.  Maybe those 2 tracks are out of balance the other way.

[Pacemaker1 0]

I totally agree with the topic .. it's just ridiculous how fast are the players who use assists ... In Singapore for example, I who did not play with any help did not even have rhythm to stay close .. In the qualifying were 2 seconds of pole .. In the race was an average of 1.5 seconds around .. And the worst: this type of player thinks they are "the guys" ...

[NickDahy 0]

Well gents and ladies it looks like we have had a development on the new patch about to be released that says "rebalancing medium traction control".  I am very happy that the developers have taken recognition of this one.  I am not sure if this post had anything to do with it, but I would like to hope that it did in a positive way and that codemasters is taking constructive feedback seriously.

I cannot wait to try this patch out and see how it is.  For the most part this thread had positive comments aside for a few, so I really appreciate the feedback even on the ones who did not agree with me.  If more threads can be constructive I think Codmasters are happy to hear our opinions and this is great for online competitive racing with all assists enabled.