Perfect setup still losing?

[silencer4]

So I'm starting European League with custom team, when it comes to first race or any race I managed to get a perfect setup during training, the drivers start from top 5 position, first 2-3 laps they manage to increase the lead, but then they suddenly are takeon over by almost everyone and drop to position below 10. Any help why is this happening. I'm balacing tire temps between hald and ~75% and going to pitstop when tires are ~15% - should I go sooner? Some AIs specially those in the lead evern go below that and still have a huge lead. Heck I'm even noticing that when my car is at Aggressive stance they are taken over by AI with normal settings. How? Shouldn't this be fair from the start of the season ?

[Fritz]

Ya start with a crap car and subpar drivers. The fact your drivers start the race that far up given the ers reverse grid rule demonstrates this. You'll need to develop better parts if you want them to become competitive. Things like excellent setup optimization, heat and tyre management are great and useful for milking all of the available talent out of your team but there's only so much you can milk out of a dry cow.

Also, tyre thresholds vary depending on which hardness you're sporting, 15% is approx the limit for softs.

[cloister56]

There is a really good guide to tyres which clears up a lot of misconceptions I had about them (like always pitting at 25% regardless of compound) it's worth a read and will probably clear up a few of your questions.
I don't know how much of the game you have played but here are a few things that helped me:

In the lower leagues drivers make a huge difference so if your pair are well below the european league level then get a new one.
To offset the cost, get a pay driver for your reserve and run them in practice, it's a good source of cash.
Your team is probably going to be fighting in the midfield in your first season. It's a bit disapointing at first but if you accept that and set acheivable goals (usually meeting the lower sponsor objective each race and the chairman goal for the season are sensible) then it is really fun.

There are some other great guides which go through things like choosing sponsors, setting up your car and more.

[SBGaming]

You may have gotten a perfect setup, but there's only so much you can do with a crap car, which is what you have if you're in the first season and the first race (Create a Team car is rated Worst on the Grid). While a good driver might consistently get into the Top 10, you're never going to be able to consistently compete for the Podium if you don't have the car to back it up. There's only so much player strategy you can take advantage of to influence where your drivers ultimately end up.

The only decent thing the Create a Team has going for it, is the drivers, where you're basically rated as Average on the Grid).

With the ERS you start in Reverse Grids, but in the first race of the first season drivers are 'ranked' in alphabetical order by first names. Not sure if future seasons take into account the driver's previous season ranking, or if it goes back to alphabetical first names.

Your drivers stats will influence how they perform on the track. A driver with a high Overtaking will see overtaking opportunities more often, and be able to act on them more often than a driver who has low overtaking. Just because you're on an Attack Driving Style, and the AI is on a Neutral driving style doesn't mean you don't have to worry about being overtaken. What's your driver's fitness and focus stats? Cornering Stats? Maybe your drivers are losing focus which the other drivers take advantage of.

I've often seen races where drivers who start at the front of the grid with a weak car stay out front for a short time, only to begin the tumble back in places, as the drivers with the better cars start making their way to the front of the Grid. It's to be expected. The weaker drivers/teams start at the front of the grid, while the stronger drivers/teams start at the back of the grid. The inevitable conclusion is that by the first set of pit stops, the stronger drivers eventually make their way up to the front.

[Riftgardian]

Better parts doesn't do ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥. I can have fresh super softs vs used softs and I still can't pass an AI car even on ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ overtake mode and attacking tyres. Meanwhile, the AI has no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ issues and will often overtake you when you're waiting for someone who was blue flagged to get out of the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ way.

It's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. So many lost sponsership targets because of absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ AI garbage.

As I'm typing this now, I just lost a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ race because I ran out of fuel on the last lap. I was sitting behind an AI car, crawling all over his arse, but couldn't, in 7 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ LAPS, OVERTAKE HIM.

♥♥♥♥ that race, I'm save scumming. Like, what in the ♥♥♥♥ is wrong with the AI? This isn't fun, it's actually a piss-take. How can I not pass someone I'm clearly faster than in 7 laps but 2 AI cars can double overtake me and him? Nah, no dice bub. You're pulling my leg.

[Ohayoghurt]

^ Problem exists between wheel and seat.

[Riftgardian]

Then what the ♥♥♥♥ am I supposed to be doing. Because putting a perfect set up and using pit strategies to overtake seem to mean ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ when all the money I dumped into the car at the beginning of the season are useless as it says "your car is worst on the grid". Like, what the ♥♥♥♥. If it was explained anywhere, I wouldn't be pissed. But it isn't, so here I am.

[Ohayoghurt]

Originally posted by Riftgardian:

all the money I dumped into the car at the beginning of the season are useless as it says "your car is worst on the grid".

Need to ask whether or not you're dumping money into car parts throughout the season and not just saving it up expecting the chassis alone to get you off the bottom of the grid. You probably are, but it is a potential beginners trap to not be building new parts.

My previous post hinted at a driver problem though, not a car problem.

[Riftgardian]

I build what I can but surely the most important part is the chassis and HQ? They put so much emphasis on those that I've been focusing on them. The parts just seem to disappear at the end of the season so they seem like a waste of time other than minor upgrades throughout the season.

Am I getting this wrong?

[Ohayoghurt]

Yes, because the parts don't just disappear. Your two best parts in each area at the end of the season get converted into next season's orginal spec parts. If you dismissed parts entirely then you may have fallen even further behind 9th much less catch up.

[[PEQ] Beni]

You might want to check this guide for some help.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=853332410

[Riftgardian]

Oh ♥♥♥♥ me. Well, I'm in season 3 now. Lets see if I can catch up. I thought this game was measured in races, not seasons. I'll let it run for another 3 seasons and see what happens.

What about risk parts? Are they still risky after the new season?

Edit: Also, does "best" part care about the reliability metric or can I just ignore that?

Also, does it take the full stat and become the standard part or is it just the "whatever you got", like 350/400, so 350 would become the new stock part instead of 400?

[[PEQ] Beni]

Originally posted by Riftgardian:

Oh ♥♥♥♥ me. Well, I'm in season 3 now. Lets see if I can catch up. I thought this game was measured in races, not seasons. I'll let it run for another 3 seasons and see what happens.

What about risk parts? Are they still risky after the new season?

Edit: Also, does "best" part care about the reliability metric or can I just ignore that?

Won't be risky and ignore the condition.

[Tig_green]

Originally posted by Riftgardian:

I build what I can but surely the most important part is the chassis and HQ? They put so much emphasis on those that I've been focusing on them. The parts just seem to disappear at the end of the season so they seem like a waste of time other than minor upgrades throughout the season.

Am I getting this wrong?

Improving parts makes up ~80% of your cars performance compared to others, chassis doesn't mean a lot in this game atm though it has some importance. You usually need to be at least on push modes to overtake unless you have a lot better car, a lot better driver, lighter car and/or softer tyres (possibly with less wear).

Look at the performance values of your parts and not their names and you will see they don't just dissapear.

[Tig_green]

Originally posted by Riftgardian:

Oh ♥♥♥♥ me. Well, I'm in season 3 now. Lets see if I can catch up. I thought this game was measured in races, not seasons. I'll let it run for another 3 seasons and see what happens.

What about risk parts? Are they still risky after the new season?

Edit: Also, does "best" part care about the reliability metric or can I just ignore that?

Also, does it take the full stat and become the standard part or is it just the "whatever you got", like 350/400, so 350 would become the new stock part instead of 400?

Base performance is what carries over, not the max stat. Reliability will drop to ~40% at beginning of each season.

Risky parts carry over if they are among the best 2 parts of your car in their part category and they won't be risky anymore. Banned parts doesn't carry over.

[B✪✪tsy]

Originally posted by Riftgardian:

Then what the ♥♥♥♥ am I supposed to be doing. Because putting a perfect set up and using pit strategies to overtake seem to mean ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ when all the money I dumped into the car at the beginning of the season are useless as it says "your car is worst on the grid". Like, what the ♥♥♥♥. If it was explained anywhere, I wouldn't be pissed. But it isn't, so here I am.

You think to much in short terms I think. It takes several seasons to have a car that can compete in the midfield and even then you can get unlucky with the season. With my last carreer it took me 7 seasons to have a car that can race for a podium finish.