R&D progression: McLaren to the top possible?

[Robere_Renaissance]

Hi all,

I'm wondering whether a back to front challenge is feasible in this game.
Basically, can you take the McLaren (or Sauber) through the grindstone for a few seasons and then end up challenging for the title in season 4 (or 5,6,7)?

If the performance upgrades all give the same gains for all the teams, regardless of initial progress, then I suppose that it would not be possible, unless you could accrue many more resource points than the AI, which would seam unreasonable. Regardless, it would make playing McLaren for 8 seasons kind of redundant, as it would be hard to challenge for anything(?).

Does anyone have some insights (and sources?)

Thanks!

[TommyEV]

I don't have source right now but Ive read that a dev said that it can't happen. But don't take my word for it

[Farts Are The Screams Of Poop]

Isn't there a cap to a cars max performance and all manufacturers have the same cap?

[Pharaoh]

I do actually ( I think...) and it should as the game specifies that that is your end goal

As far as I know it works like this. All teams have the same upgrade tree and upgrades. However, they dont all have the same power or effectiveness. So if you are researching the first engine upgrade for McLaren and Mercedes, you might have an improvement of 4 bhp compared to 2 bhp. Now of course this may vary depending on the quality of the component compared to the rest of the teams. I believe McLaren has the 3rd best chassis at the beginning of the game so an upgrade there might not get you as far as an upgrade to the engine. In other words, yes it should be totally feasable to get the McLaren to a championship winning position and I certainly hope that is the case because i have chosen them as well.

I don't have any sources to back this up, but this is how it worked last year and I would assume it would be the same this year.

As a side note, do you find the engine wear of the McLaren really high? Im doing 50% races with 100 AI and im going to have to replace most components on the engine after practice at Bahrain. I know its a pretty unreliable engine in real life, so is it just going for realism.

[Patata68]

In F1 2016, that was not possible. You came to the point, where you had a chance to win the title for 1-2 years and then the strength of the teams were the same as in the beginning, when everyone has made there upgrades.

I really hope, (and I hoped it also at F1 2016), that for the weaker teams like McLaren, your benefit from the upgrades is higher than from the better teams.
Like, at the first update, I get +10% power at the engine and Ferrari would only get 2% or something like that.

I play also McLaren and play with 50%. I am at China right now and have something like 20%, the rest is with lower wear. I will play now with all trainings and geht China over, then I push everything on reliability and then boost my engine, cause the Chassis is good enough to be competitive. But I notice how much i loose at speed.

[Robere_Renaissance]

Originally posted by Pharaoh:

I do actually ( I think...) and it should as the game specifies that that is your end goal

As far as I know it works like this. All teams have the same upgrade tree and upgrades. However, they dont all have the same power or effectiveness. So if you are researching the first engine upgrade for McLaren and Mercedes, you might have an improvement of 4 bhp compared to 2 bhp. Now of course this may vary depending on the quality of the component compared to the rest of the teams. I believe McLaren has the 3rd best chassis at the beginning of the game so an upgrade there might not get you as far as an upgrade to the engine. In other words, yes it should be totally feasable to get the McLaren to a championship winning position and I certainly hope that is the case because i have chosen them as well.

I don't have any sources to back this up, but this is how it worked last year and I would assume it would be the same this year.

As a side note, do you find the engine wear of the McLaren really high? Im doing 50% races with 100 AI and im going to have to replace most components on the engine after practice at Bahrain. I know its a pretty unreliable engine in real life, so is it just going for realism.

Well if indeed the performance upgrades give 'unequal' gains for the teams (e.g., mclaren should benefit a lot more from power upgrades than ferrari), then I suppose we would be able to get some data on that in the early game as well.

[Molda22]

Originally posted by Pharaoh:

As a side note, do you find the engine wear of the McLaren really high? Im doing 50% races with 100 AI and im going to have to replace most components on the engine after practice at Bahrain. I know its a pretty unreliable engine in real life, so is it just going for realism.

My engine parts on sauber will probably not even make it to bahrain practice without changing :D (50% race lenght) first race behind me and its around 30-35 % wear if i rememer correctly

[Robere_Renaissance]

Originally posted by Patata68:

In F1 2016, that was not possible. You came to the point, where you had a chance to win the title for 1-2 years and then the strength of the teams were the same as in the beginning, when everyone has made there upgrades.

I really hope, (and I hoped it also at F1 2016), that for the weaker teams like McLaren, your benefit from the upgrades is higher than from the better teams.
Like, at the first update, I get +10% power at the engine and Ferrari would only get 2% or something like that.

Indeed, I do recall that, but at least you could get that window of opportunity, even with manor. However, that was mainly due to AI teams just being slow with upgrades, which is unrealistic I suppose - however, if we would want perfect realism then we may be looking at a scenario where mclaren is simply doomed. Perhaps the offseason could give some opportunity for changes in the pecking order?

[Patata68]

I really don't know, I just hope they fix it over in the next few days while I am in vacation and can not play it...

[Robere_Renaissance]

Originally posted by Patata68:

I really don't know, I just hope they fix it over in the next few days while I am in vacation and can not play it...

It's fixed!

Now does anybody have any more information about the topic of the threat? I'm quite reluctant to start a career without this information...

[Mickster]

I played 2 seasons with mclaren, and fully upgraded the enginge. It was still slower than the benz engines, so i just switched teams after that.

[Robere_Renaissance]

Originally posted by Mickster:

I played 2 seasons with mclaren, and fully upgraded the enginge. It was still slower than the benz engines, so i just switched teams after that.

Thanks, that is disappointing but very useful information.

I suppose I'll start in a Red Bull then :)

[Patata68]

Originally posted by Mickster:

I played 2 seasons with mclaren, and fully upgraded the enginge. It was still slower than the benz engines, so i just switched teams after that.

Wow, that is disappointing.

[rick.vleugels]

So, I was wondering about your opinions being some weeks and updates later before I consider to buy the game: how competitive can you get now with teams like Sauber and McLaren?

[Molda22]

Originally posted by rick.vleugels:

So, I was wondering about your opinions being some weeks and updates later before I consider to buy the game: how competitive can you get now with teams like Sauber and McLaren?

I have finished first season with Sauber. I was upgrading the car a lot during the season but everything is the same as at the start of the season. I am stil behind Mclaren, and we are both the same distance away from the midfield teams. So nothing really changed and i guess it will stay that way in further seasons maybe only very minimal changes.

[DatFoxWhosSuper]

Originally posted by Patata68:

In F1 2016, that was not possible. You came to the point, where you had a chance to win the title for 1-2 years and then the strength of the teams were the same as in the beginning, when everyone has made there upgrades.

I really hope, (and I hoped it also at F1 2016), that for the weaker teams like McLaren, your benefit from the upgrades is higher than from the better teams.
Like, at the first update, I get +10% power at the engine and Ferrari would only get 2% or something like that.

I play also McLaren and play with 50%. I am at China right now and have something like 20%, the rest is with lower wear. I will play now with all trainings and geht China over, then I push everything on reliability and then boost my engine, cause the Chassis is good enough to be competitive. But I notice how much i loose at speed.

I do believe I have seen that the lower teams get higher bonusses such as end of year bonus.

However, do not forget it is a CAREER mode, focussing on the driver rather than the car.