I haven’t played any of the Rally career mode yet, only RallyCross, so I haven’t noticed above, or at least not in the time trials I’ve done.
What I have noticed was after I came first place in all 4 of the Rallycross qualifying heats for a location, I was only in 12th at the end of them. Basically I beat all A.I. in all 4 of my heats, but 11 of the 19 A.I. did better then me in all the heats I wasn’t in...
So the A.I. was ‘easy’ in the heats I participated in, but posted ‘hard’ qualifying times in the heats I wasn’t in. I found this strange.
Exactly that. I’ve progressed to the elite stage of the Rallycross career, with m’Polo now on Engine level 3 (hasn’t made a lick of noticeable difference to me yet, mind you, the AI is still SO much better off the line and on the straights), and I’ve found that on certain tracks I just can’t keep up, particularly in the wet, despite posting times that, on average, would be good for Top 5-10 positions on the multi-platform global leaderboard.
To sum it up, I barely made the semis and barged my through there into 3rd on the first corner despite the engine power differential. While the cars behind me fell of noticeably – 4th finished about three to four seconds behind me – the cars in front of me just rode off into the sunset, never to be seen again, and finished about nine seconds in front of me. From the brief visual analysis I did before that happened, it doesn’t look like they’re driving on a wet surface, their cornering speeds and handling are just so superior. I have to say, it’s not much fun playing that way at the moment, particularly considering I know I have absolutely no chance to win if I’m not in front after the first corner.
EDIT: Salvaged a third place in the final, but the ridiculous heat races cost me so many points I’m now down to second in the championship.
Also, I have noticed that a disproportionate amount of events takes places on wet tracks – it was bad in the previous tiers, but now it’s five out of six rounds in the current championship, which is ridiculous.
What a mess.