Your answer have some points but about the " different story" you mention above there is no explanation and that what am talking about, the HUGE time penalty .
They afraid that might kill the spectators ?
Turn the car into rubbish ?
Save me from suicide attempt ?
At lemans starting your lap you can " cut " maximum 5 corners till penalty zone, no way to gain that much time by cutting which is a different story from keeping the car on the road because its capable to do so ( and the driver of course) .
Perhaps the penalties apply considering the AI speed at that time and not yours, but whatever it is ,its comical.
Next time ill try to cut deliberately ( on right tyres this time ) to see if is about dangerous driving ,AI speed or whatever.
In they dry if you lift of throttle or slow down after passing track limits,you might get unharmed .
In the rain its another story , a story of terror 🥴 .
The whole reasoning behind penalties is to set rules/boundaries for a fair race and provide a safe environment for all, drivers, pit crew, safety crew, fans…everyone, regardless of the track/weather conditions. Of course in a game it doesn’t really matter much because no one will actually get hurt or killed, but PD tries (though sometimes questionable just how much) to mimic real life scenarios, but still keep people interested in playing the game, which it is above all else.
The problem is we all have different opinions and ideas about when penalties should be given, how long they should be etc., but we all have to follow the same logic PD designed to be used, regardless of how we feel about it. We can’t pick and choose based on our own opinions, though you do have control of that stuff to a degree in Custom Races.
There are more than 5 turns/curves/chicanes that can be cut on the opening lap at Sarthe before you cross the penalty line, and even more on subsequent laps where you travel the entire course. Going a bit wide on a long sweeping corner won’t generally drop nearly as much time off your lap as any of the chicanes will, but if you blow through them all at full speed you cut a significant amount of time off your lap (easily 20-30 seconds or more depending on your car), which is why you get penalized a huge amount of time for doing so in these areas compared to taking a sweeping curve too fast and barely crossing the track limit line.
This is why Gr.B and other AWD cars have a huge advantage here as they can easily handle the rain and there’s little to no need to slow down at all in the rain, you can maintain normal speeds on racing slicks where AI cannot with their RWD.
In my experience, it’s not just where, but the frequency in which you exceed track limits and the speed in doing so also factors into the penalty times. If you do it once, and it’s minor as you’ve made an attempt to avoid it, you’re likely to get a low penalty issued, or maybe not even one at all as you’ve essentially imposed your own by braking or lifting to try to avoid, but if you keep doing it over and over, especially at full speeds, you get a higher penalty time because it’s apparent you are not making an attempt to follow the track limits, which the penalties are issued to enforce in the game. In real life with that type of behavior you’d likely be disqualified and ushered off the track, but that’s not part of the game design so not an option, just upping your penalty time is.
PD doesn’t always do a good job at trying to strike that balance between real life and video game and penalties is definitively one of those areas.
In the rain it’s the same thing, you need to do whatever it takes to avoid exceeding the track limits, if you can’t, you’ll get penalized for it. They don’t care what tires you’re using, if you keep doing it (which you did in the video) it’s apparent you’re not doing what needs to be done to maintain control of your car so you get hit with more penalties and the time keeps adding up.
