results I got on mechanical failures as follows for anyone that is
interested:
I ran sample races on autopilot Australia, Monza, Silverstone and Canada and
varied driver strength, aggression, race length, mechanical failure type
etc. The way I did this was to start the race and then drop out shortly
after the start and run the rest of the race on autopilot.
Generally no real difference could be found on effects on mech failures
whilst the game, was on autopilot, between differing driver strengths and
aggression. The races gave between 9 and 15 'did not finished's varying from
clutch/electronics (false starts), and then most race dropouts were through
suspension, engine or accident. More failures were experienced when rnning
full length races compared to 50% races on time scaled settings and of those
most failures were experienced on full 100% races run with normal mechnical
failures compared to time scaled (usually around 11-15 dropouts). However
nearly every in race dropout was due to suspension or engine failures. This
is almost certainly because I was running the first few minutes and then
exiting the race to let it run on autopilot which seems to automatically
create only suspension and engine failures except for the odd accident. So
not very promising generally and of these two types of failure they were
always one after the other ie one suspension failure then an engoine then a
suspension etc for all the drop outs.
However the good news is that if you actually drive in the race yourself,
whilst youre driving the failures that take place are generally more
imaginative. For example in the few short races I have run I have
experiences AI cars failing through brakes and fuel loss. I have also
experienced wet races where all runners fell out by dnfs which I never got
in any races on autopilot. So it seems likely that the computer AI for cars
is far more accurate and detailed whilst youre in the race yourself. However
in the few races Ive run to the end Ive experienced less numerous dropouts
that when the races are run on autopilot.
So the summary is that whilst you are racing yourself, the cars do tend to
suffer imaginative failures but generally fewer of them. However whilst the
races are being run on autopilot you tend to get more dropouts but theres
very little variation between the failures experienced. The results do
suggest though that running full length races on normal mech failure
settings show more attrition than 50% races on timescale failures.
But unfortunately not many of us will be able to spend the time to run full
races much and certainly not having a save feature whilst during the weekend
or race this is practically impossible to do unless you are a) a student b)
unemployed or c) unmarried and preferably all three. When anyone develops a
decent save feature for this game please let me know!
This also all tends to suggest that if we were ever given a replay facility
where you could watch a whole race even when you have finished due to
failure or crashing etc it would porbably tend to be pretty boring to watch
anyway. Which is a shame because it would be great fun and works well in
GP4.
--
Nigel 'Nats' Stutt
"Its life, Jim, but not as we know it."
Remove NOSPAM to respond please.