I just had an interesting and thrilling race this weekend, at Suzuka. The qualifying was under heavy rain, blue wet tyres, but unfortunately, I did not find any good setups for this condition on the internet, so I had to search dry setups and rain setups alike, and draw my conclusions as to what would be best for that track condition, as I don't understand anything about mechanical setups other than aerodynamics. The only part of the setup I had to completely go blind were the gear ratios. I put all the gears all the way to the left (lower), as that was giving me the best lap times, which were still horrible (1:51, 1:52...while the A.I. were at 1:48, 1:47... Di Resta, my TM, was lapping at 1:48).
Then came the race. The first four laps were again, under rain, but not under such heavy conditions, as the tyres were intermediate for the start of the competition. When lap four was ending, everyone went into the pits for slicks, so I followed, but the lollipop guy held me in position and I lost touch with the drivers I was competing with. So I restarted the race, thinking to pit by the end of lap three (instead of four). I jumped from 18th to 9th during the start, in the first corner, but that was a mess, as there's not much space for twenty-four cars there. Then, from 9th to 5th during the rest of the first lap. Pitted on lap three, did the fourth lap with the "wrong tyres" (as everyone would still do intermediates during lap four), and when I crossed the line to open the fifth lap, I jumped to second place, with only Hamilton being the one I wasn't able to catch with my strategy of pitting a lap earlier than everyone else.
From there on in, it was on the limit the whole time. The rest of the race would be under dry conditions, and with such a low gear ratio, I didn't have the speed to overtake a Marussia or a HRT in a straight line, so I committed myself to push the car the whole way. Vettel eventually overtook me (and he's my rival, 2-1 for him... I didn't like Singapore, so I retired on purpose, and he won in Suzuka. I couldn't pick Massa or Grosjean as was my intention, because they were locked out on the rival selecting screen, so I could only pick Vettel, Webber, Hamilton or Button, and I picked Vettel because he is 5th in the championship).
I was in third place until my third pit-stop. I delayed this stop until lap forty-two, because I knew the Options could last at least eleven laps, taking me to lap fifty-three without any problems. The previous two stops, I chose options (lap 3, coming off the intermediates) and then primes (lap 16 to 42, original pit-stop lap would have been lap 38). I dropped from third to fifth, as Grosjean was right behind me when I took the car into the pit-lane, and Pérez passed by as I was exiting. Gave all I had with the Force India with slow gear ratios and heavy downforce settings, and was able to catch up to Pérez and finish 4th. Vice-leader of the championship, eighteen points behind Alonso. I really love Force India. lol XD I hope they can do this good in real life, someday.
I love Suzuka, always a thrilling race, and it's a fun track. Monaco, Spa, Suzuka and Interlagos, too much fun. I hate Hermann Tilke! lol XD
And that's why the next three races will be lame. Korea, India and Yas Marina, all Tilke's tracks, and Vettel will probably win the rival challenge, because I find them boring. Singapore was difficult to comprehend for me, I don't know how one can find a good pace there, or maybe it's because the game is so arcadey, that doing a F1 there feels like driving a boat. lol So I don't know which team will want to sign me up for next season. I have offers from Marussia, HRT and Caterham to be the no.1 driver for them, but I am at level 9 (almost 10), so I just hope I get a better offer after Interlagos, and since I only have three proposals as of now, I didn't get the "In Demand" trophy yet, and I hope it pops still during this first season.
Cheers.
PS: The Hungary race, which I won, was done under "Amateur" difficulty. How the difficulty reverted itself, on its own, from Pro to Amateur, I don't know... it seems it's one more bug with this game.
PS 2: If someone knows a good database for setups, let me and others know, because, the ones I did find, I don't know if they are good or not. Some people post their lap times with said setups, which I can't match, so I don't know if it's because of the DualShock3 (as they use wheels), or if they're trolling, posting fake lap times and giving away horrible setups.