Super Formula - Fuji race difficulty

[TumeK5]

So I just completed the Super Formula menu...and something was fishy with the Fuji race - I always play on Hard difficulty, but this time I simply had to switch to Normal...

On Hard, the leader does roughly the same laps as you could, and runs on hards and does not pit. Considering you start from last, and cannot do qualifying, this race is simply unbeatable.

For reference, I tried again on Normal, and even with minimal mistakes, Fraga overtook me on the last lap. It seems Normal is more like what Hard should be, but even harder still. I won the other two menu races effortlessly on Hard.

 

[Nebuc72]

Yeah the boost seems busted with this one - you need weather to bless you or else a normal player stands no chance. I'm curious to see if a dry race is actually winnable by one of the top dogs - I couldn't come close to Hizal running the same tyres to do a no-stop.

As an added bonus, my race rained for a lap; Hizal didn't pit and just drove off doing a no-stop through the wet on hards, lol.

 

[Grayfox]

Its not just Fuji, but all of them.

 

[TumeK5]

Its not just Fuji, but all of them.

I won the other two menu races effortlessly on Hard.

?

 

[Nebuc72]

Its not just Fuji, but all of them.

Not at all, St Croix and Watkins are more than doable.

 

[DextroCat]

Easy was a bit of a struggle just because I didn’t know those tracks but but I managed 3 wins fairly easily in the Toyota SF23 on RH without using the over take. If I didn’t have VR it would have been harder but once I had a dozen laps of each down I could catch the AI while still making minor mistakes. Only won by 8-19 seconds though so I doubt I could win on normal.

 

[SrGS]

This race is quite unbalanced, compared to the others on this menu book. I watched the replay and it seems that the AI doesn't even use the overtake/nitrous/boost/thing that is available on the SF23.

I tried it on RM tires, had to do a single pit stop for tires, and I was driving as hard as I could and was closing the gap with p1 by something like 0.8 seconds per lap. I had rain coming down on lap 7/8 but it was just a drizzle, not enough to change tires so i kept on RM. It was not enough to get to p1, finished the race in p3.

 

[BangsMcCoy]

Its not just Fuji, but all of them.

Watkins Glen and Sainte-Croix are eeeeeasy wins with a tuned SF19 on Hard difficulty.

 

[TumeK5]

Watkins Glen and Sainte-Croix are eeeeeasy wins with a tuned SF19 on Hard difficulty.

I spun twice, but still won by a couple seconds. Stock

 

[BangsMcCoy]

I spun twice, but still won by a couple seconds. Stock

Nice, I have not tried any of the SF in completely stock form.

I got spun once by AI at Watkins Glen and still won with almost 30 second lead.
No real issues at Saints-Croix except attempting to take T1 too fast and going off into the grass a bit on one lap, and having to do a bit of tire saving on the last 2 laps, but ended up winning that one by around 30 seconds as well.

 

[Andy Lapi]

Won Watkins Glen on medium. Fuji is a nightmare..I will try Sainte Croix…these new races are very hard compared to all the others even the 1 or 2 hardest..
SF are quite stupid to drive, full throttle everywhere even on hard..not realistic..

 

[CCM284]

Glen and Croix were cake walks for me. 1 pit stop (Mediums to Softs) in both races.

Best I've done on Fuji is 2nd, 4.5 seconds back from the leader. Started on Softs, stopped on lap 7 for a new set of Softs but it wasn't enough. Race seems to be busted unless you get enough rain to hinder the AI.

 

[05XR8]

I haven’t bought an SF23 and obviously, not done the races, but the difficulty sounds good to me. Might have to join in.

Isn’t that what many of us want? Hard to win races?

 

[TumeK5]

Isn’t that what many of us want? Hard to win races?

Sure, but impossible to win is more than hard; impossible in fact.

 

[Grayfox]

Isn’t that what many of us want? Hard to win races?

We want a challenge.
Not Hard races, start last and 1km behind the leader.

 

[05XR8]

Sure, but impossible to win is more than hard; impossible in fact.

Finishing 3rd nets the reward. I’m fine with that.

Reading posts, seems like players are back to the Comedy endurance races, by lowering/raising difficulty.

If PD are going to up the AI speed programming, start using the Sport Mode qualifying feature, for offline play.

 

[Def-Infinity]

Sure, but impossible to win is more than hard; impossible in fact.

I just managed to do it (on hard). Very frustrating attempts. I forgot to take a screenshot at the end. Sorry for the crusty image.

The full replay is uploaded using the gtp tag. Don’t care if it’s clean.

Most of the attempts I did had no rain, and the medium tire seems really bad for this race. You basically cant make any great amount of progress on it, and then when you finally do pit, you get spat back out into traffic to redo all that hard work again. The AI has no issue fighting you here.

So, choosing the Softs for both stints worked out for me. Quickly made a setup in time trial and applied it here. Anti-Lag is on strong.

 

[Magog]

Am I the only one who did all the races on softs with a pit stop half way through? The softs are that much faster IMO that it's worth it.

 

[CCM284]

Gave Fuji another go and I finally beat it. Did 1 stop with both stints on softs and won by 5.5 seconds. The key is to be as efficient as possible getting through traffic which is easier said than done due to some questionable braking points and lines by the AI. Most of my laps ranged from 1:22:4xx to 1:23.5xx with a fastest lap of 1:21.9xx on lap 2.

 

[ScottPuss20]

This race is unbelievably hard compared to the other events. It doesn't make sense.

 

[DextroCat]

Formula GT was typically the most difficult championship in the game, well GT3 and GT4 were like that at least. I could never beat them when I was a kid either LMAO! So my first time winning the Formula races in a GT game LMAO!

 

[RobertHammer]

Fuji race is definitely a challange did the race like 3 times and only once i got the 3rd place lol - mostly because of my mistakes and i got rain xD

other races are a joy tho , especially the watkins glenn is so satisfying go to fast as possible

 

[ice311man]

Watkins Glen and Sainte-Croix are eeeeeasy wins with a tuned SF19 on Hard difficulty.

For me, Watkins Glen was the most difficult as the other two were won very easily. Especially St. Croix.

 

[sh33p]

Personally I had 0 issues winning all 3 on my first attempt, my difficulty setting hasn’t moved from the hardest setting.

All 3 of them I used the older versions of the cars SF19(?) with soft tyres and pitted for fresh rubber at the half way mark. I didn’t need to bother looking at fuel in general.

Someone mentioned that you needed the weather gods to help in Fuji. I was ahead before the rain started and I can’t see why I would have lost this if it was sunny regardless.

The ai was a shambles with the rain though and made it a very easy win. Most of them pitted 1-2 laps after the rain came and didn’t switch to the Intermediates and some pitted after it stoped raining and only then out on the nose resundant IW.
-I won after lapping every single car.

 

[Magog]

Personally I had 0 issues winning all 3 on my first attempt, my difficulty setting hasn’t moved from the hardest setting.

All 3 of them I used the older versions of the cars SF19(?) with soft tyres and pitted for fresh rubber at the half way mark. I didn’t need to bother looking at fuel in general.

Someone mentioned that you needed the weather gods to help in Fuji. I was ahead before the rain started and I can’t see why I would have lost this if it was sunny regardless.

The ai was a shambles with the rain though and made it a very easy win. Most of them pitted 1-2 laps after the rain came and didn’t switch to the Intermediates and some pitted after it stoped raining and only then out on the nose resundant IW.
-I won after lapping every single car.

Softs are the key I think. A lot of the posts I see about struggling are with hards and madiums. I also put a little more camber on the tires. In F1 they run at 3.5 and 3 I think. I didn't take it that far but I have it more than stock.

 

[djolliea]

SF are quite stupid to drive, full throttle everywhere even on hard..not realistic..

Actually, Formulas can go full throttle through surprisingly twisty corners in real life too.

 

[DK]

Not at all, St Croix and Watkins are more than doable.

Just as long as you win the game of "Will the car plow into the wall" RNG every time you try to accelerate out of a corner. Driving this car on a pad (as my wheel is out of action) is soul-destroying with that unpredictability...and that's before you factor in yet another 3 rounds of single-file rolling starts with AI who can just PIT you for having the temerity to move back onto the racing line after an overtake.

EDIT: OK, I've got St La Croix done, with a 6M/4S strategy. Having low downforce and staying in the slipstream is absolutely vital. The first time I tried this, it was with a 5M/5S strategy, and I almost finished 3rd...if not for my rear-left exploding on the run down to the final corner and making me do my best impersation of Vettel in the 2015 Belgian GP.

 

[TumeK5]

Cheers for the replies guys.

I genuinely didn't think softs would work, since that requires a pit stop. Furthermore, since I was able to win Glen and Croix with no issues using a stock SF23, I don't see why you would suddenly need to beef up the car for Fuji.

The difficulty ramps up regardless, and I'm sure PD will have a look at it.

 

[Fezzik]

Gave Fuji another go and I finally beat it. Did 1 stop with both stints on softs and won by 5.5 seconds. The key is to be as efficient as possible getting through traffic which is easier said than done due to some questionable braking points and lines by the AI. Most of my laps ranged from 1:22:4xx to 1:23.5xx with a fastest lap of 1:21.9xx on lap 2.

I see my problem now. My fastest lap was 1:23. Car is very twitchy on pad, struggling to find the consistency to go faster.

Got annoyed in the end and turned down the difficulty, just to finish the menu book. Roulette gave me an Enzo !

 

[MCA_84]

This was a really strange one for sure. (On hard difficulty) I won Watkins Glen and St Croix without much difficulty - both no pit on hard tyres.

My first attempt on Fuji with the same strategy, finished P2, but absolutely demolished by P1 by +20something seconds. I looked at the replay and they were doing high 1.22/low 1.23 laps, on hard tyres, no stop, and no apparent effect of tyre wear! Just untouchable.

I looked to see how other people did it - most were saying hope for rain. A few did it on softs 1 stop. Tried the latter and bingo. Got to P1 on the first stint, pitted lap 8, dropped back and reclaimed it with a lap to spare.

There's something up for sure though. As if the AI is reacting to your starting tyre decision. The P1 AI pace on hards is miles beyond the rest of the field irrespective of tyre - when the player starts on hards. But starting on softs the P1 AI pace drops by over 1s per lap, yet they're still doing the same no stop on hards strategy. Coding issue?