In some instances I’d have to agree, however, there are.certain issues that I think are explainable.,
Many state that no real world street driven car could consume the amounts of fuel that some of their virtual counterparts do.
If we go to Forza Hub and check out the article on the purchase of the Starksy n’ Hutch Torino, you’ll read that that vehicle had a highway consumption of just 8miles per gallon!!!
That’s an awesome amount of fuel to be consumed by any street driven car. The owner, an expat from Europe, stated that the cost was bearable, especially considering that he was used to paying upwards of $us10 per gallon in Europe (4.? Litres?). His trip was to be over 1100 miles to get it home elsewhere in the U.S., which would require numerous fuel stops along the way.
Back to the game.
Prior to the last mini patch that fixed several issues with the Ford Daytona Prototype, the cars fuel economy was abismal. But since then, the twin turbo V6 prototype is giving reasonable drivability, given the size of the smallish fuelcell fitted to the car. Remembering that this class of car is aimed at the lower entries into Daytona, so some areas are skimped on in favour of others.
I set up a few Indy 50 lappers with the re-patched Ford DP, and initially ran out of fuel. Simply because I wasn’t paying attention to my driving and pitting techniques.
Second time I decided to run the car down to the last 2% of fuel as I left the last turn approaching the pits. It meant I pitted before many of the other Drivatars, which put me back to around 10th place once I was back on the track. Instead of throwing my hands up and crying about it, I decided to continue on regardless.
But, I also decided to pit at around the next 10th lap, rather than the usual 14-16th. This placed me in the lead, as the other bigger tanked cars had pitted while I went past and picked up the remaining 4 places. I then ran it to the tanks limit of 15 laps, now that I had clean air and no real traffic to contend with.
Then I jumped in for a 8 lap run again, and was out of pits just as the second place holder was coming around the bend.
That allowed me to pess on and hold them off until the final 50th lap.
During that time, other Drivatars did pit, sometimes I caught them as they were coming out of the pits, or as I saw them from the car as I went past the pits.
It might seem like the Drivatars don’t pit, but it’s been my experience that they do. We might just not see them when they do. I’ve even experienced them pitting with just a few laps left to go, as the Drivatar has obviously misjudged consumption etc.
With regards to Drivatars poor pit entry. Yep, they certainly don’t do the gentlemanly thing and enter via the pit entry, most if the time. A lot do, but I’ve suffered my share of ‘cut offs’ from Drivatars pulling directly in front of me to enter the pits.
However it’s now a ‘Lesson learnt’. I now know to judge the rough pitting times of various cars, and stay up high on the walls on exit from turn 4, or on the extreme outside area of pit straights etc, allowing any Drivatar that might jump into the pits to do so, without me ending up in the wall or being spun around.
While Drivatars are not perfect, I prefer them to the idiot wreckers that plague the lobbies.
Some of the fuel economy on the higher end cars can be stretched a little if you draft properly, and once in the top 3, do some coasting and allow the Drivatars to carry you a few laps. If the race is a long one, remember, that a race isnt always won in the first few laps.
Many a solid race winner has used the field and allowed it to do its natural nutrition and for the pack to break up, then using properly staged pits stops, and some skilful drafting, to make their push for the lead in the later stages of a race.
Far too many noises try and win by turn 1 or within the first few laps, while other more skilful drivers plan their attack on a track and then deal with the field as it occurs. One needs only to view the top leaderboard drivers to see their skill level in lobbies of ‘like minded racers’