I have encountered a few issues which I’ll describe below.
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The grip level handicap system doesn’t appear to be working, or is intermittent at best. In both online private lobbies and in free play, the lap times and overall level of grip in the car doesn’t change when changing handicap settings. My weekly spec league relies on handicaps to level the playing field between skill levels of drivers. We are all of the mindset that we prefer close racing in a pack. The handicap system has always allowed us to do that. However, while running an exhibition race in a private lobby last night, the handicaps were not applied. Then, roughly 12 laps into the race they suddenly kicked on, and remained on the rest of that race. Then in the following race, some drivers that were supposed to have a handicap (set by the individual group settings) had the handicap while others in the same group did not. Then, in single player under free play test drive, the handicaps were not actually affecting the car even though I made major swings at them. I turned identical lap times with no handicaps as I did with a 50% front and rear handicap. Obviously, this shouldn’t be the case.
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I know their are threads about tune loading, but I’m experiencing the same issues as well. When I load a tune, it loads the parts, but not the actual setup. This has been verified via telemetry in both online lobbies and in single player free play.
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For the first time I started getting frame rate issues. Not up and down, but a major dip that lasted for a long time. Then, all of sudden it would go back to where it’s supposed to be. This was in the same multiplayer lobby. Then, today, in free play test drive I experienced the same thing. See the One Drive Video Links below, specifically the last 30 seconds or so. It’s hard to see due to the compression the xbox DVR does, but you can really see it in the wall around the track. Can also notice some screen tearing in the trees.
I’m not at all complaining, just bringing it to your attention. It’s understandable to have some quirks with a new release. However, I don’t remember tune loading or handicaps being applied ever being an issue in a previous FM release. I’ve also never experienced frame rate issues in an FM game before. Here’s hoping these issues get resolved soon. The next season of the spec league is meant to start on 11/7, but with these issues, I’m not sure I can effectively run the league the way we always have. Tuning and handicaps have always been a major component of our league. Here’s hoping these are easily patchable fixes.