The people and readers who know me also understand I am a massive racing fan. This September is important to me not just because of Halo Reach – Formula 1 2010 will release in the same month. The latest developer diary shows the devs talk about weather affecting races, handling and strategy. To accompany the latest video, codies has posted a Question and Answer session in their forums.
Full Q&A below:
Just checked my inbox and T4RG4 was kind enough to send these over, many thanks mate!
Could it be possible that it rains lightly for a few laps, everyone scrambles in for wets, then the rain stops and we have to scramble back in for dry tyres?
Yes, that is entirely possible and it’s therefore wise to carefully consider a change in strategy if you feel there is a chance the onset of rain is just a brief shower. Your Race Engineer will comment on other drivers pitting for certain tyres and this can give you a clue as to the performance gain should you follow their approach…
What different levels of rain are available for us to set in races, offline and online? How will the AI be affected by the weather? Will different AI personalities struggle in the wet but be more competitve in the dry i.e. Massa?
Weather types at the moment are as follows: Dynamic, Clear, Light Cloud, Overcast, Light Rain and Heavy Rain.
Will there be different temperatures in dry conditions as opposed to just “dry”? How will they affect tyre wear and engine performance?
Each track has a different weather system, so Bahrain is guaranteed to be dry and very hot and Spa the unpredictable challenge it’s renowned to be. The ‘Sunny’ temperature variations track to track are only going to be noticeable to a few people but we’ll balance that nearer release.
What game modes will use the weather system?
All of them can utilise weather, but Time Trial is a user selectable Dry or Wet setup.
Can we drive in the wet in the time trial mode?
Yes
Is there a possibility of more than one downpour in a race? So you’re constantly dashing in the pits/gambling to stay on slicks?
Yes, that’s the idea behind dynamic weather.
For instance there is light rain and it has just stopped, will the intermediate (not wet) tyre wear out as the track dries out, can they get to the point were it could work as a slick tyre and set respectable lap times? or will they overheat and be useless?
Inters handle slight deviations from standard weather types very well but they too will eventually overheat in the dry and become useless.
Is the ratio of dry to wet grip different for the curbs/painted areas than it is for tarmac?
We have control over white lines and kerb grip levels in relation to tarmac, in fact we set a multitude of surface properties but the weather ratio is static. Having said that, you do not want to run the kerbs in heavy rain as it offers slightly less grip than the tarmac and that makes all the difference…
Will you be able to make your own weather scenarios over a race weekend?
Not over a Race Weekend, but across a Championship of your own creation in GP Mode and Custom Online.
Will it ever become so wet that we get a red flag in the race or to the point where keeping control of the car is near imposible?
There are no Red Flags in the game at present. Keeping control of the game is exceptionally difficult when the track is soaked and you’re running on slicks!Some AI will make brave tyre descisions during a race, will it be these same AI that do it every time and a pattern will begin to emerge?
There will be no particular patternIf a new team tries something rash with the tyres and starts doing personal best sectors/purple sectors will all the cars respond to this by changing ASAP, also causing cars to queue?
No, the AI cars do not look at the times other AI drivers are attaining but the implementation method means they are all likely to start following this strategy anyway it’s just some will do it sooner than others depending on where they are in the race.In F1 generally drivers seem to find more grip OFF the racing line, will this be apparent in game and if so will AI drivers take different lines.
AI drivers have slight variation in the lines they take anyway, but we’re not including the ability to gain additional grip off-line as that’s far too subtle for the vast majority of players to pick up on. At present you’ll lose grip going offline, especially as a session wears on because marbles form off-line.
Teams sometimes set their cars up in a dry qually for a wet race expecting it to be a Wet the following day. Will AI do this. Some cars also generally have a good set-up in the wet anyway, looking at the Toro Rosso a couple of years ago it suddenly found itself in a position to fight with LH in the Mclaren when in the dry it was seconds off the pace, and in Monza they actually won the race. Is this reflected as well or will speed generally be a constant with changing condition.
The AI modify their driving techniques based on current weather so they don’t ‘gamble’ on weather specific setups across the race weekend.Multiple times we’ve seen mixed up grids in the race when large teams have left it too late, will we see AI and teams make the wrong descisions?
This will occur naturally when the AI are looking for ideal slots in which to set their lap times e.g. blocked in traffic.
Is there any wind or any plans to include wind conditions in future games?
We’ve talked about it in the past and we could include this but I personally think that is taking it too far – it’s too subtle at the moment. I want players to be able to drive consistently and I don’t think it’s in anyone’s interests to damage our approach to attaining that goal through something the player cannot see whilst on-track.
I do have a question. If I am doing 20-30% races will the weather change to respect the race distance. For example on a 20% race will the track dry 5 times quicker?
Weather and pit-stops are likely to be balanced according to race distance but we’re still looking at the final approach to this. I think it might be a bit silly if, for example, we played out an entire weather system across a single-lap race. Pit-stops are currently required in 20% distances.
