Mh. Started with the career mode at 12AM sharp. So far so good, the game is brilliant, the handling doesn't even compare with the boat race that was F1 2017, but...
I had a very weird first race, with Hamilton getting a 10 position grid penalty because of a gearbox change (on the first race?), a whopping eight cars retiring, only two of which because of mechanical issues (apparently when no one is looking, the AI just likes to plow into walls?), a safety car straight out of nowhere (I think Hulkenberg and Ricciardo having a small and inconsequential tangle may have caused it) that didn't let the lapped cars unlap themselves (bug, or Codies just forgot?) and picked up some drivers at very odd points, resulting in me falling one lap behind guys that were ten or fifteen seconds ahead of me (and I had no chance whatsoever of catching, but hey!). The winner was Hulkenberg - don't get me wrong, I like him and believe just as much as the next guy he's overdue for a podium finish, but really?
And then there are some very noticeable issues with the statistics. Every single instance of a VSC (and you can believe there were many) resulted in five or six cars getting flagged as "speeding" in the Race Director screen (although I am pretty sure that in reality, they did no such thing and served no drive-through). The fastest lap was by Perez, with a 0:25 stunner (I figure it was his T1 time, and the game forgot to add T2 and T3?). Ocon finished right ahead of me in 7th, but was... 16 laps behind the winner?
Then there is the pleasant surprise of my Williams having put only a 2% wear on the engine components overall. Which means that I may finish the season on a single engine, and still have something left in it for the following season! I wasn't going much slower than my targets, and the car couldn't go much faster either. I certainly hope, for the sake of realism, that it is because the Australian GP is not too heavy on the engine and gearbox... Otherwise I may as well keep damage on just to see all those bits of carbon fly after the first couple of corners.
.
