I don't think we should change the rule because the patch will come within four weeks and the first couple of cars (or four races) don't seem to drive that differently with tuning. If the patch doesn't complete fix this, then we may have to revisit using all loaners. I wish they would release more information since if I knew what caused the problem, I could avoid it. I could even get a leveled up MINI by Saturday.
The trouble is Robert I don't think there's any one thing that causes it, seems to be a multitude of issues hence why people are reporting it under pretty much all possible scenarios.
 
I've also just upgraded I'm running an AMD FX 6300x6 @ 4,62ghz and 16gb mem but I've only got a Geforce 560 gtx, my screen is an acer GN245 HD which is 3D.
How do you enable your 3D? is it a 3D beamer?
 
I've got the NVidia dongle which came with the glasses and I've tricked NVIdia into thinking I got a certified beamer so it enables the Ir emiter and I did not have to buy the 3D glasses for the beamer. Mind you, that last part took me 2 months to figure out. If your screen/beamer is not on the HCL the NVidia glasses will not work.
 
For the first couple of races, there really will not be much of a noticeable difference in the lower tier cars. (Take a MINI anywhere and I dare say you would be hard pressed to notice the difference in a loaner vs. tuned car...same with the BTCC cars).

The problem comes when it's pretty critical that you be able to tune the cars to stop them from unrealistic handling. Take the Group 1 Endurance Honda for example. Until you stiffen the suspension and open the diff, and apply some downforce, it's all but un-drivable in the turns. And for any car, being able to tune it adds tremendously to the enjoyment of the game. Just think if they took the tuning away from F1 Peter...all that work (which is really the fun part) trying to get the car dialed in would be gone. Also, some, like Railer, take tremendous enjoyment of being able to create their own design. Handling-wise, In GRID it's worse, because it takes some cars out of the realm of true handling. Just take a drive with an Aussie V8 around Bathurst and I think you will see. Add the fact that there are no pits and it compounds the issue. And even owned vs. loaner, it's not really an unfair advantage as much as a handling/comfort thing. The game was built for the MS Wheel. Others of us wheel users need tuning to get the into the realm of realism.

As for actually getting enough money to buy and level up a car, I think we have demonstrated that's not going to be a major issue, unless you avoid multi-player altogether. Those who don't get the bug seem to have plenty of cash to buy the needed cars (especially with the double points DLC) and it only takes a few laps around Indy to get to level 16, where you are fully tunable. So I guess my point here is -- it's not a handicap unless you choose to make it one. I think the Codies will have the patch out for me to recover my lost cars and XP. In the meantime, I don't mind running loaners. If the patch fails, then we can readdress the whole issue
 
Although I agree with most of what you say Robert I have to disagree with your multi-player comment I'm afraid. Not everyone is able to do the things required in this game. You only have to look at the fact that before yesterday I had managed a total of just 1 hour on the game over a two week period and a total of about 4-5 in total since release, with just the session with you and the one with you Hemps and Railer my only online sessions. It isn't by choice that I don't do much Multi-player its simply something that happens due to my being busy in other areas.

Regarding F1 setups I would say two things, 1) I enjoy the driving far more than the setting up, I've gone away from chasing setups too much and simply make small tweaks to my base each race and then concentrate on driving to get the performance I desire.

2) F1 doesn't force you to jump through loops to be able to set the car up. I enjoyed the little session we did have a few weeks ago and will do again but with little time I have to play it I really want to be able to enjoy racing properly when I get the chance and not have to do the workarounds to get what we need for cars and tuning. Just my opinion of course ;)

I'm happy to go with whatever is decided anyway regardless because I love the game as it is but of course would rather be in the position to do all the buying, tuning, etc. It's just not possible for me because I am unable to devote that time to that mode of the game unfortunately and that will for me always be a weak point of the game which leaves some people unable to enjoy it too is full potential. They needed to make it possible to achieve the same results offline as on.

Getting every car you need levelled up requires a hell of a lot of online play, level 16 in the cars I've looked at doesn't release all the tuning options either, I think some I looked at needed something like level 32 or more.

Anyway although we disagree on that particular side of things we both are in full agreement that the game on the whole is so much fun and a real breath of fresh air :)
 
It takes 16 levels to get all the tuning options opened on every car. What you are confusing the the degree to which you can fine tune each of those options. With Level 16, you get the ability to slide between -100 - 0 - +100 on each car. And that's what really makes a difference, especially since you need the diff, downforce and maybe suspension pegged to +100 on the tail happy cars anyway. Each tuning category has three levels. And as you progress up in XP, they all cost varying amounts to unlock. My point is this -- simply that you gain 2-3 levels in a 23 second race at Indy if you win it. That's not time consuming. Even by your standards. But I do understand you would rather not go through the trouble, and I respect that. However, others get their enjoyment from precisely this sort of thing. That's why the league is set up as a hybrid, of sorts. Tuning will not give you a time advantage in most classes. I have run the MINI at Washington and got roughly the same time. But the owned car sure was much more fun to drive, and even more fun to paint. I think that's an important consideration.

Have you tried to drive a properly tune Aussie V8 at Bathurst, then a non-tuned one there too? I don't know which one is faster (a good driver, I bet, could still beat a tuned up driver who is slower), but I sure as heck know which one is more dun to drive. Without tuning, some cars remind me of GRID2, and that's not good.

Also, remember, "online" includes the challenges. From what you have posted and said, you have spend quite a bit of time there and earned quite a bit of money too. I think you said you had $750K at one point. That's enough to buy four cars (eight races). Toward the end of the series, by doing the challenges alone, you can get them all. And the challenges are not time consuming.

I'll have to differ with your opinion that getting to level 16 requires a "helluva lot of time" since you can do it in about 15 minutes. Getting to XP 16 for the cars (the green numbers) can be done with a buddy at Indy in about 15 mins. Just ask Hemps...he did it in about 4-6 races. That's not a burden, unless you just hate to play online. Plus now you can get double XP and cash, making ramping up even shorter. But I do understand you are time constrained and you can't just magically have a buddy there every time you decide to get on. But I'm sure any of us would help.

But I don't think I'm going to change your mind on this one, so let's just go with what we have (for me, it's a loaner anyway until patch) and see how it evolves. I don't think it will matter a bit until parts options can be purchased. I can't test this because I'm not sure you can take them off. If the advantage is too great, we may have to limit the options (or parts) you can upgrade. I can see your point in this regard. Even so, that's how real racing works. The successful get better due in part because they win. But my guess is that few people will have achieved the level required to upgrade parts. They are all pretty high, especially the engine. That said, I'm not against banning parts upgrades if it's too lopsided.
 
That's what I was referring to, the fact that getting a car 'fully tunable' was not available with level 16 just the 'basic tuning' of three options (-100, 0, 100). I think we were just on a different page as to what 'fully tunable' was lol. So getting to level 16 and 'basic tuning' from what you are saying can be achieved quite quickly if you can get on when others are available.

I really can't comment on what difference the tuning makes in terms of handling / performance because I haven't had enough time to do any tuning at all so far.

You are correct in that I had spent a fair proportion of my time in the challenges (apart from the last two weeks) which I have found a great deal of fun. However that's been mainly due to no one else being around when I have had the chance to race. The money side of the game is less of an issue than the levelling up as I have stated previously because the challenges are a great source of game cash to enable you to 'buy' the cars although of course taking far more time to do so than if you were able to actually do as you have suggested with the Indy runs. The trouble with the challenges (as far as I know) is they do not give you the option very often of levelling up a car as most of the time you don't get to run your own car in them. I'm happy to be corrected on this one but it's my experience so far with them, maybe because I still only have three cars. What we all consider time consuming really comes down to the time we each have available. To put in a couple of runs on each challenge I would guess takes around an hour and fifteen minutes roughly Thats still a chunk of time for me.

However again they aren't what I want to do exclusively as that simply takes away from the game as a whole. Yesterday I had my first time running some custom cup races (other than a couple of quick attempts when I first got the game) which made me realise that by sticking to the cash generating modes of the game I had been missing out on so much of what it has to offer.

I currently have about 860k in the bank so do have the resource to buy more than I have but have been reluctant to purchase more while this bug has remained unresolved

I guess the main problem for me is that at the moment the way of getting levelled up just doesn't fit in very well with how I play the game. I certainly don't hate to play online I just don't have hours to spend on the game at a time and tend mainly to jump on for 20 minutes here, 30 minutes there, etc. and at times when very few people are around. The only time I have more then that is Tuesday when I can spend longer spells in the cockpit.

Anyway, I guess i've just got a bit of a bee in my bonnet regarding how they've structured this side of the game, it could have been made much more accessible in my view but it's not a deal breaker and isn't going to detract from my enjoyment hopefully.

Anyway, regardless of all this Robert I do appreciate all your feedback and comment on everything involved in this great game, its been a big help in getting the best out of it :thumbsup::)
 
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Up bright and early this morning and having installed the game last night on my HDD for the first time I tried it out to see if the load times were any quicker and it does seem to have made a bit of a difference.. I’m an impatient sod at times and just get annoyed sitting there waiting for the things to load when you start a race \ challenge lol.

Delighted to see that there is an Indycar challenge this week and at Spa as well.. what more could we want. Had a couple of attempts at it and managed to pick up a Gold but need another 9 seconds to grab that nice shiny Platinum :thumbsup: Are all these Challenges locked into one level of AI? I thought it was linked to your difficulty settings but I checked and mine were at Hard but the Challenge was locked into Medium I think and could really do with being a bit faster in this particular challenge as once you get past the shenanigans at Eau Rouge that seem to happen at the start they are pretty easy to beat.

The Indycars are certainly fun to drive, and the sense of speed is superb in them as always. I had a bit of a return of the zig-zag steering, not too bad but much more noticeable on the road coarse than at Indy where Robert and I experimented a couple of weeks ago trying to nail the steering settings for me. I’ll have to tweak things a little between the different types of circuit I guess. Just need to remember to note things down so I can quickly change back as and when needed.

Still have the feeling of the car turning on a central axis at times and the brakes need to be treated with some care and are certainly very different to what we have been used to in F1 but once adjusted to are not too bad. @Robert Waddell do you still find you have the locking up issue in the open wheelers?
 
I left it on default setup & no upgrade and did a 2:08.

On a side note DLC 1 - Best of British is out, Mclaren F1 GTR,Aston Martin V12 Zagato & Mercedes SLR 722
Is anybody here going to be buying this or the boost packs that are currently available?

Does it mean the cars are readily available or do you stil have to buy them with in game cash as well as real cash?

I see there have been a few issues with the Xbox download so probably going to steer clear until things are clarified.
 
It's really got crazy with DLC and micro transactions these days. You get a few garage spots to start with , but when you start buying these /more cars, then you have to buy a garage pack to put them in, from the way it looks. :confused:
 
The trouble with the challenges (as far as I know) is they do not give you the option very often of levelling up a car as most of the time you don't get to run your own car in them. I'm happy to be corrected on this one but it's my experience so far with them, maybe because I still only have three cars. What we all consider time consuming really comes down to the time we each have available. To put in a couple of runs on each challenge I would guess takes around an hour and fifteen minutes roughly Thats still a chunk of time for me.

I think I may be able to help out a bit here, unless you already know this....

Since you are a big fan of the challenges, when a challenge comes up with a car that you already own, use that car to play the challenge. What you have probably been seeing so far is just a choice of loaner cars, which is because you have not purchased many/any cars yet. If you went ahead and purchased the cars...here is what to do next:

Go into each challenge and treat it like a learning experience. That is, try to hit bronze, then silver, then gold, then platinum. Each time you better your previous time (even if you don't go up a medal I think) you get more cash (on the spot) and (if you owned the car) an increase in XP. One challenge alone could theoretically get you half way to opening all the tuning options. You still have to pay for your damage, but you have more than enough money to afford that and you don't seem to have a problem with cash-flow. Again, you will be able to ramp up even quicker if you get the 50% boost DLC.

BUT...and this is a big BUT...

My files became corrupted right after I got the boost DLC. Others have speculated that just by buying cars and leveling them up, you get the corruption bug. So, my advice is to keep doing what you are doing (i.e. don't buy cars for get the boost pack until this bug is fixed), with the added caveat of continuing what you talked about yesterday -- singleplayer custom cup.

Most of us, I think, go to SP Custom Cup a lot because we can do two things there. 1) Practice, with up to 20 mins. practice time (and the engineer telling us how we are doing compared to the "very hard" A.I., which we will need to beat to be competitive). 2) Test out all the cars in any given class on any track with all the tuning options available, so when we buy that car online and get it tunable, we have full confidence it's the best car in that class for us come race day.

SP Custom Cup really is a great experience. Too bad they didn't recreate it on the MP side. But that's what the league is for.

So that little bee in your bonnet has probably saved you from some serious aggravation. I'm now stuck from doing anything in multiplayer, including the challenges. If I did the challenges with my alternate I.D., all the money I earned could not be transferred to the cars I own stuck in the corrupted file. So best I can do these days is practice racing the MINI at Washington...which sounds like I need plenty of judging from Jordan's and Matthew's lap times.

I think me fastest there in a fully tuned MINI had been about 2:09 or so, and others report they can do a 2:08-2:06 in a non-tuned or tuned car.:confused:
 
It's really maddening because Codemasters are *this* close to getting it right, and delivering something close to a Forza/GT experience on the PC (don't deny it, there's a demand for that). And then they shoot themselves in the foot. Every time.

GAS is actually a fun game, the racing is interesting, the disciplines are nice, car and track selection isn't bad... but instead of adding more AI and difficulty options to let people play the way they want, they don't do that. Instead of an open career mode that lets you collect cars and unlock tracks, you're forced to follow their route of "playing for a team". And you can't even choose between all teams. Etc. Etc.
 
. Thanks Robert, interesting and informative as always. One thing, how do you know Jordans lap times? I saw Booth post about his but haven't seen anything from anyone else. It's the somewhere you can check other drivers times?

Did you read the post on the CM forum under the link you posted here that claimed you could get the rewards gained under a new save game onto your corrupted one. Unless I misunderstood that I'm sure that's what he was saying.

It sucks the problem you have had after putting in so much work in the game and I'll keep my fingers crossed that you can recover everything with the patch. In the meantime I'll do as you suggest and stay clear until things are sorted :thumbsup:
 

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