Started career mode with the Clio Cup last night, was able to do Free Practice, Quali, and Race 1, all 100% length, at Donnington Park National. Free practice I had the AI at 60%, and just spent the whole session practicing the laps. Unfortunately I don't know much of tuning so I didn't really touch the tuning part. I'm also, at the moment, not the most skilled of drivers. I have the assists set at Real, but gears at auto since I can't seem to be able to shift at the same time trying to race the car effectively, so until more practice I'll have to settle with auto gears.
In the beginning of FP I was quite frustrated because my braking references were off, I couldn't get a handle on the car (much better later when I used someone's settings found on forums), and would run off quite often in the corners, negating my time. Finally towards the end of the session I got going a little bit and was able to set one fast lap at the end to grab first place.
I upped it to 70% for Quali. A bit annoyed that for quali the car has no tire warmers, but anywho, I was able to set a quick lap in my 3rd lap and be 1st. The next several laps again had my lap time taken out because I would outbrake myself at certain corners, and my position dropped to 6th. Again, I somehow was able to string up a fast lap at the end right before session ended to qualify for pole. A bit annoyed that once the timer ends the session ends immediately and you cannot finish the lap you started before time expired.
Race 1 comes, and I am antsy. Upped the AI to 80% for the race. Off the line I started pretty well, and held first place for 3-4 laps. Made a mistake at one corner, which allowed 2nd place to go through. Immediately started to try to counter attack, and another lap passed I made another mistake which allowed 3rd and 4th to pass. Ran wide again next lap, and I'm relegated to 6th. I was able to regroup however immediately repass the two cars to move myself back to 4th. At this point in the middle of the race I was about 2 secs behind 3rd, and I was able to string together some nice laps to try to get the last podium spot. After 3-4 laps I was able to close the gap and really get behind him, bumper to bumper. But I couldn't get past him and finally made a mistake and went back to 6th. Annoyed with myself that I lost my chance at the podium, with 2 laps to go I thought well 6th is not so bad considering the mistakes I made. Yea. Unfortunately I told myself with worn tires on lap 15 that I can brake at the same point for turn 1 as I did on lap 3. Yep, 3 more cars passed by as I tried to make my way back to the race track, finally finishing the race 9th. From pole.
One thing I noticed was the AI seems to not have tire troubles. I was able to keep up, and catch them in the middle of the race. But when my tires went off with 3 laps to go, making it very hard to drive, they sped away quick.
This game is frustrating. Annoying. But more importantly, freaking brilliant.
