Race micro and strategies?

[Warzkins]

Is there any guide how to micro in the race? Im ask only when giving them overtake or max push and when slow down. Im just fell in love with this game but the more I played and lose every race when I take places from 16-20 the more I get angry.
I try diffrent strategies push on the start and for 2 laps and before pits or try to race on normal or push only with tyres but nothing work..
I really like that micro in races it make this game even better but for me it looks like AI is cheating and pushing without penalties for tyres or fuel I dont know, how to play those races really.

[Tig_green]

AI is not cheating. They generally change their settings more often than players, because, well, they can as an artificial intelligence. But they same rules apply to them. Once you learn it you will realize it is all fair. There is a guide here somewhere and you could watch some playthroughs from Youtube. Plenty of info to go around here in the forums if you really want to learn it.

[Hikyu]

Hi Warzkins, welcome to motorsport manager tunnel!
This game can be very addictive, but you have to learn some base mechanics to enjoy at max.
First question: in which League you start your experience?
Second question: which team you chosen?
This two questions seems trivial, but to learn base mechanics is important to start at lower serie (ERS) and with a medium strenght team. Infact starting with a bad team or, worse, in an higher serie can be frustrating and you tend to undervalue very important things like economic and strategic aspects.
Is normal to have some problems in your first season, but you have to learn very well, for example, tyre mechanics to choose right strategy, and focus on marketability to develop your car and your HQ. And you must consider also car parts priority to maximize money you invest on car and HQ (for example engine is A LOT more important then shock absorbers... and then you must consider to invest more on engine than other parts, if you can).
Micro management during race is not only choose when push or rest tyres, but there are also some other things to consider, like tyre wear, tyre temps, tyre band that force you to a 1 or 2 or 3 pit stops strategy.

[Warzkins]

Originally posted by Hikyu:

Hi Warzkins, welcome to motorsport manager tunnel!
This game can be very addictive, but you have to learn some base mechanics to enjoy at max.
First question: in which League you start your experience?
Second question: which team you chosen?
This two questions seems trivial, but to learn base mechanics is important to start at lower serie (ERS) and with a medium strenght team. Infact starting with a bad team or, worse, in an higher serie can be frustrating and you tend to undervalue very important things like economic and strategic aspects.
Is normal to have some problems in your first season, but you have to learn very well, for example, tyre mechanics to choose right strategy, and focus on marketability to develop your car and your HQ. And you must consider also car parts priority to maximize money you invest on car and HQ (for example engine is A LOT more important then shock absorbers... and then you must consider to invest more on engine than other parts, if you can).
Micro management during race is not only choose when push or rest tyres, but there are also some other things to consider, like tyre wear, tyre temps, tyre band that force you to a 1 or 2 or 3 pit stops strategy.

Well I started tutorial so its a lower european league and play middle team that supposed to be 7 in the season, but now I have third season and doesn't make any progress. I upgrade factory and build new telemetry center, also build the best car that I can after end of the first and second seasons. I got best drivers and sponsors (at least it looks like), also create new engines and other parts whenever I can.
I play on medium long of races but in every race minimum number of pits its 2 beacuse of max fuel in the car. I try to play on harder tyres (medium,hard) and drive longer but it doesnt work, I try play on soft tyres and make more pits but it doesnt work nethier. I got sometimes places like 10-11 but only when play like bots and pit when they and push almost all the time.(red,red)

[Tig_green]

Well if you have small fuel tanks (40%) then pushing all the time (if reliability and tyre wear allow) is the way to go. Imo you will get the best experience when you play long races without refueling rule. But the great thing is there are many rulesets and many ways to play. Note that if you tires get too hot or cold your tyre wear increases a bit on per lap basis. There is much more to say on the subject but I simply don't have more time to help atm. As said, all the help you could need can be found here in the forums.

[Hikyu]

Did you have weight stripping rule active? This can be the key. Consider all AI Teams strip before race and this can give them a great boost.

[Hikyu]

As said to you by Tig tyre strategy is a little bit more complicated than choose red/red and let the car alone between pits. You must consider tyre compound and his max wear % when you choose your strategy, for example. Some compound can drop at 15% Others at 20% and Others again at 0%. If you not consider this things can happen that you change your tyres too early or, worse, too late wasting a lot of precious seconds!

[Warzkins]

Originally posted by Hikyu:

Did you have weight stripping rule active? This can be the key. Consider all AI Teams strip before race and this can give them a great boost.

Nope its inactive, so how high can be the temperature to not get to much penalty? And the temperature have influence only how fast tyre are wears?

[steelreserv]

Generally you want to keep your car between mid and slightly into red. Overheat doesnt trchnically happen until the needle is pinned and the driver warns you. There is a significant tire deg debuff at that point, as well as (according to patch notes) a speed debuff. But ive found that if a speed debuff exists, its hard to pinpoint because you’ll drop pace by going conserve to cool the tires down as well.

[Tig_green]

Originally posted by Warzkins:

Originally posted by Hikyu:

Did you have weight stripping rule active? This can be the key. Consider all AI Teams strip before race and this can give them a great boost.

Nope its inactive, so how high can be the temperature to not get to much penalty? And the temperature have influence only how fast tyre are wears?

Only max and min temps cause higher tyre wear atm. Your driver will speak when you achieve those temps. We assume they intented there is performance drop also in those situations but it doesn't seem to be the case atm according to some tests players have done.

Tyre cliff points are as follows (in vanilla):

Ultra 20%
Super 15%
Soft 10%
Medium 5%
Hard/inters/wets 0%

Don't go under those values or you will be 6-8 seconds per lap slower.

Plus there are tyre bands also which vary in lenght etc. between different tires but the effect to performance is small compared to cliff. Note that ultras are of course much faster tires than hards but fresh hards can be faster or equal to worn ultras/supers for few laps.

[Warzkins]

Well I was always call my racers to pit stop when they got 30-35% of tyres maybe that was my mistake. I will try to use your advices guys and tell you a result later, thanks :)

[JagRacer71]

Hi!

Here are some strategies I use that might be helpful to you.

Match fuel level and tire wear to stint length

In a series where refuelling is allowed, it is important to know how long your tires will last during a race "stint" (i.e. from pitstop to pitstop) and fuel the car accordingly. So, for example, if you know that your Soft tires are only going to last for 12 laps before they fall off the cliff @ 10%, you should fill your car with enough fuel so that it is almost empty when you make your pitstop.

If you are always filling up the fuel tank to the maximum, you may find that you're not using all of the fuel before you pit for fresh tires. Over-filling will also make you slower (by the time difference per lap of fuel on the Fuel screen). It often does not seem like a very significant number--usually only a few hundredths of a second per lap--but if you over-filled by 6 laps, your car could be anywhere from 0.3 - 0.5 seconds per lap slower over an 11-lap race stint.

The Setup screen will give you a general indication of how long the tires will last, but you can verify this yourself during Practice. When you are doing your Race Trim or Qualifying Trim laps, also keep an eye on the fuel and tire usage per lap. See how these numbers change when you switch driving modes or engine modes. This will help you understand how long the tires & fuel will actually last based on your drivers' consistency & smoothness ratings. This data will be very useful when setting up your pre-race strategy.

So, going back to the 12-lap stint example from before: Let's say in practice, you discover that Driver A wears down a set of Soft tires at a rate of 7% per lap when in Attack mode, and 5% in Push mode. Driver B has a higher Consistency rating, so his wear rates on Soft tires are 6% on Attack and 4% on Push. Both cars use the same amount of fuel per lap, let's say 1.35 fuel per lap on Overtake and 1.08 on High.

Let's assume that you want both drivers to use the Attack driving mode & Overtake engine mode for the start of the race, and start on Soft tires. Driver A's strategy will be determined by how long the Soft tires last.

tire stint length = tire life (100% - cliff percentage) / tire wear per lap
tire stint length = 90% / 7% = 12.85 laps. So Driver A will do a 12-lap stint on Soft tires.

How much fuel should be put in? Assuming a 12-lap stint and Overtake engine mode fuel usage (1.35 fuel per lap)

fuel amount = 12 * 1.35 = 16.2 laps of fuel .
From this, you could either fill up with 17 laps of fuel and be a little bit slower (heavier car), or you can fill up with 16 laps of fuel, knowing that you need to lower the engine mode for a couple of laps to avoid running out of fuel. Any fuel amount greater than 17 laps is unnecessary weight and lost time on track.

Driver B, because of his better smoothness, can go longer on the Soft tires.

tire stint length = 90% / 6% = 15.00 laps , and will need 20.25 laps of fuel to use the Overtake engine mode for the entire stint.

Utilize race strategy with under-cuts and over-cuts

Let's assume Car A is about 1 second behind Car B. Car A is slightly faster than Car B, but Car A is unable to pass Car B. You have two race-management strategies to use to overtake Car B:

• The Under-cut : The under-cut is where Car A pits earlier than Car B, exploiting the benefits of a clear track to pass Car B when Car B pits. This strategy works because when in open air, Car A's laptime is faster than Car B during the time period between Car A's pitstop and Car B's pitstop (or, conversely, Car A has traveled more distance than Car B in the same amount of time). Assuming that Car A and Car B have similar pitstop times, Car A will be ahead of Car B when Car B's pitstop is complete.
  
  The under-cut is most effective when the fuel load of the two cars is roughly the same (no refuelling)
  
  
• The Over-cut : The over-cut is where Car A pits after Car B, exploiting the benefits of a light fuel load to stay ahead of Car B when Car A finally pits. This strategy works because when Car B refuels during its pitstop, the extra fuel load will make it much slower than Car A for a brief time. For example, if Car B is carrying 14 laps of fuel and Car A is carrying only 2 laps of fuel, Car A could be anywhere from 0.4 to 1.2 seconds faster than Car B based on fuel weight alone! This weight advantage, as well as a clear track, can allow Car A to be ahead of Car B when Car A's pitstop is complete.
  
  The over-cut is most effective when refuelling is allowed.

Attack on in-laps and out-laps

You've already mentioned pushing / attacking just before pitting (the in-lap), but it is also very important to push / attack on the out-lap as well to gain an advantage over the other cars. Assuming pitstop times are relatively equal, the time improvements from an excellent in-lap and out-lap can result in a huge gain in track position.

Air temperature (weather) effect on tire heating & tire wear

Finally, keep an eye on the air temperature before and during a race. When it is warm, tires will naturally overheat even if you're in the Normal driving mode. This means you'd either have to
A) shift your drivers into Conserve mode, keeping the tires from overheating, but having a slower laptime)

or B) let the tires overheat, keeping good laptimes but having more tire wear and less tire life (shorter tire stints)

or C) choosing a harder tire compound, which will heat up slower and wear slower, but have lower performance.

Conversely, with cold air temperature, you will have to push / attack more often to keep the tire temperatures up. This could be great for the soft tires, but also be aware of how much tire wear your drivers have when they are using the Push & Attack driving modes.

Hope this helps!

[steelreserv]

Worn is generally max tire life -3(?).

So if you have a tire that says 20-22 laps, worn is 19 through 22.

[Warzkins]

Well with new tyre tactic (I call them 1 lap later than before) I get slighly better places. Also try to play like bots and reduce temperature when they do, more attacks and more reducing. Playing on normal/normal doesn't give any benefits at least in my races.
But yea thx for answers I will try to be better and better and like @Hikyu say the game is very addictive.

[Kilo]

Great post JagRacer71. I was needing some math to use but couldn't come up with a formula.
I've only run one season to date and I just started over. Motorsport Manager is a great sim and I'm addicted bigly now.