Why is there such a difference between online and offline lap times?

Forza Motorsport Forza Motorsport (2023) Discussion
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Hi everyone, long time lurker that has specifically signed up just to ask this question.

So I’ve been playing racing games religiously for over 30 years (mostly sims) and throwing around real life cars for 20 of them, I’ve been very good at both from the very start - Usually in the top 100 on any racing game leaderboard when I give them a go and have had many number 1 times across a range of games, always using my own tunes. Currently ranked S4999 in Forza. I like avoiding the meta cars in games and almost exclusively drive FWD cars, with the aim of trying to win races online in a car that just isn’t supposed to.

But today I was left absolutely stumped and haven’t seen this following example discussed in this newest Forza. I booted up the game and had a look at the E class hopper that is currently on, saw that Miami Speedway was coming up and went into free play to check that I hadn’t messed up one of my cars last time I used it - A Peugeot 308.

I did 3 laps with a full tank of fuel in free play and confirmed all was well, it was running 40.5s laps, enough to keep up with most of the Porsche 550 that so many people online bring to this track. The Peugeot 308, while in E class and at this track, is 100% full throttle, you don’t need to lift and it doesn’t really struggle taking the corners.

And this is where the confusion begins - I only qualified online here with a 41.2 and this is with the bare minimum 3 laps of fuel, so the car is lighter and should be slightly faster. In the race, even while drafting a bunch of Porsche 550’s for entire laps, still didn’t get better than a 40.8s lap. After the race, I jumped into rivals to see what was up and ran a 40.5 straight away, and as you all know, rivals is with a heavier car as the fuel tank is full.

Does anybody know why on such a short 100% flat out track, that my car would be a whopping 7 tenths slower online? Has anybody else noticed something similar? I can’t wrap my head around it, my laps in free play and online where all in identical conditions as to what you have in rivals.

The only thing I can think of is that the physics between online and offline are slightly different. It wouldn’t be the first time a game has done this, I noticed this back in GT6 and it was a well discussed topic in the GT forums, lots of people knew about it there, that cars drive slightly differently if online/offline, but I haven’t seen this issue mentioned in Forza 2023. Is this a know thing here?

Thanks.

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Rubber wear on the track is most likely. But the game does simulate, afaik, track and air temp, humidity, track composition (different types of asphalt/cement), and even air density based on elevation from sea level. The difference in handling/engine performance with the same car, same tune between different tracks and hell, even the same track under different conditions, is wild. Always retuning stuff to make it just right for the current track under the current conditions.

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I already tried to consider those in my head but the sheer difference doesn’t seem right to me.

Track temps shouldn’t matter since as I mentioned, it’s 100% full throttle without struggling to take those turns, so it wasn’t because more speed was being scrubbed off as the tires are not slipping at any point. When I set up free play, I matched the conditions of what the online race was going to be (sunny), and in rivals you are given a perfect sunny day.

The race online did have a few clouds in the sky compared to rivals, so perhaps it would have been slightly cooler, but then in regards to speed, surely this should make the car faster, not slower, as the cooler the air temp, the denser the air which means more for power the engine.

Normally when I go from online to rivals, I lose a couple or few tenths on a much longer circuit, not the opposite way around and gain a whole chunk of time.
I’ve done the same thing before at Daytona Oval with this same car with the same tune and the difference between online and rivals is almost nothing, I could get within the same tenth, which makes sense to me as the car is basically at it’s full speed the whole time. The only difference with Miami Speedway is that the turn is a bit sharper, so you lose a few mph, but at no point am I understeering away from the racing line or screeching the tires.

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It’s a common issue caused by track rubbering in apparently, or so I read somewhere. Also as an FYI. The rival times will mainly be set at 5% fuel (at least the competitive ones)

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60 Frames Per Second

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It’s the same on console which is perm
Locked to 60

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That’s strange, usually in race u can post lap faster than in rivals due to tyre rubbering, in rivals tyre rubbering is set to 100%, while in races u can get over 100%. And btw in e class u just use soft tyres in race (they need to fix this meta lol)

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Unless… They made changes to rivals with update 6 and increased tyre rubbering to 200% or something l

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I think the tyre rubbering is at 100% by default in rivals

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So permanently crappy :upside_down_face:, thought I might throw it in just in case the OP was a PC user

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Diffrent laptimes, its because of diffrent weather, trackusage(grip) and lot of higher tyrewear in MP.

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My guess is the tire wear as well

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-Gas tank (if you’re playing club mode, your tank is 100% full, which is a LOT of extra weight.)
-Dynamic Track Rubber (Increases over time during practice and the race)

Other than that. No. I have always been faster in an online race than I am in Rivals.

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So to some of the replies here to help narrow things down a bit.

Yes I am on PC.

No race tires were involved, the tires are stock and it’s only a few laps online, tires wear is not an issue. I still don’t see how tires temps, track temps or track rubbering would be the cause when it is a 100% flat out event where the tires do not slip, it’s just an oval that is easy for this car to take. The Peugeot 308 in stock form is a D class car that you need to add ballast to, in order to get down to E class.

You can “change” the fuel level in rivals but the HUD says you have a full tank of fuel when you are out on the track. Regardless, my solo run in free play was with a full tank and tire wear on, yet it achieved the exact same time as rivals, which makes sense since the car is around it’s top speed the whole time… As I said and another user also mentioned, online is normally faster, not slower.

I’m off work today and will see if I can catch this race again, and will let you know what the race conditions and lap times are this time around.

Thanks all.

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Might be worth checking the telemetry. HP, top
Speed and tyre temps. If I was a betting man I’d say it’s a physics glitch caused by track rubbering.

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I dont think its a glitch. Go to freeplay set weather to sunny and turn track rubbering off do a few laps. Then turn it on and start at 0% do some laps, then start at 50% do some laps and then set to 100% do some laps.

They should all end up being different laptimes. You should be able to narrow down the lobbies settings this way. The other variable is time of day which is unfortunately trickier to narrow down, so even though it can be set to sunny, different times are well different. Theres also wind speed/direction but i cant say ive ever looked to see if its even a thing in forza.

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If u join empty lobby, then track during practice have 0% rubbering, and it will take quite a bit of time till u reach 100% (rivals setting) during practice, tho during race u usually get more than 100% rubbering so u usually get faster lap times in race than in qualify or in rivals

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Haven’t been around enough to catch it in the hopper online, but had another go in free play under these conditions:

0% track rubber
Sunrise
Looming clouds
Full tank of fuel
Ran about 7 laps

I thought I’d go for looming clouds and sunrise first so that the track would be around it’s coldest, as well as it having 0% rubber. Also the full tank of fuel should be adding a little bit of time as well. Now here, my front tires DO squeel very quietly through a a small portion of the banked turns, but I still don’t need to go full steering lock.

All of my laps were 40.8s, which is all I could get while slipstreaming 4 Porsche 550s in that race for the duration of an entire lap and still 4 tenths quicker than what I could qualify online. :thinking:

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Why not just post some videos?

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What I’ve noticed (at least I think I have) is that when in practice (Multiplayer-wise) the car seems to have better grip than in actual race. I don’t know if someone has experienced that.

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