- 57,628
- 29,607
Down to the car and the type of track. Tracks very from, say, in Shanghai, there are two HUGE straights with some medium-speed turns. In this case, engine-power/top-speed will make a huge difference. At a track like Monaco, where there are lots of short sections and slow-speed turns, downforce will play a bigger role. Engine power won't matter as much. If you notice, the cars at Monaco and Singapore will have more wings for downforce, while at Monza (the fastest race on the calendar), they'll use a very skinny rearwing to gain more top-speed.
Take Red Bull... they have weaker engines from Renault this season, but probably have the best downforce package right now, which was why they were able to qualify so well today. The slippery surface (cuz of the rain) makes downforce critical. They weren't as fast on the long-straights but were able to make up for it in the medium-speed sectors where downforce gave them more grip on the track. If tomorrow is a dry-race, we can expect Red Bull to fall back during the race.
There's also the issue of making the tires work for you. Some cars will use up their tires faster than others. The less downforce you have, the more wheelspin and sliding-around you'll have, the faster you tires get worn out.
As for Force India, they have a legitimately good car this season. They don't have the top speed of Mercedes (despite having a Mercedes engine) and they don't have the same levels of downforce as Red Bull, but they have a decent bit of both and just a good overall package, which makes them the 3rd or 4th best team out there. Given the right circumstances, they can finish in the top 6 consistently. The driver will make a difference, of course. Checo has always been pretty good at making tires last (he's not too hard on them), so that's always a plus.
Take Red Bull... they have weaker engines from Renault this season, but probably have the best downforce package right now, which was why they were able to qualify so well today. The slippery surface (cuz of the rain) makes downforce critical. They weren't as fast on the long-straights but were able to make up for it in the medium-speed sectors where downforce gave them more grip on the track. If tomorrow is a dry-race, we can expect Red Bull to fall back during the race.
There's also the issue of making the tires work for you. Some cars will use up their tires faster than others. The less downforce you have, the more wheelspin and sliding-around you'll have, the faster you tires get worn out.
As for Force India, they have a legitimately good car this season. They don't have the top speed of Mercedes (despite having a Mercedes engine) and they don't have the same levels of downforce as Red Bull, but they have a decent bit of both and just a good overall package, which makes them the 3rd or 4th best team out there. Given the right circumstances, they can finish in the top 6 consistently. The driver will make a difference, of course. Checo has always been pretty good at making tires last (he's not too hard on them), so that's always a plus.
Good thing Ricciardo is showing him up. 
Bizarre ending to the race. 
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
Hard to keep up, really! The pace is starting to get frantic in the forums... only 7 months to go. Glad to see it making a buzz so far. Running the game on a budget like this without a publisher is tough. Hopefully the "sim racing purists" give it a shot before putting down their judgment.
With that said, the worst case is that we will have an F1-like car representation (called the Formula A), which will be representing the 2013-spec F1 car (V8 with DRS and KERS). Formula B for GP2; Formula C for GP3; Formula Rookie for Formula Ford. The Formula Gulf FG1000 is licensed, though, as is the Dubai Autodrome (trying to make the in-game track the most realistic representation of that circuit - working in close cooperation with them). Aside from these "current-gen" open-wheel cars, you have quite a few historic racers, notably the Lotuses (I think Audi and Mercedes have one each, will have to confirm that). Oh, and go-karts and superkarts are in as well. Not sure if the go-kart is the fixed gear one or a shifter kart, though (kart in game looks like it has a shifter knob but you don't need to upshift 
