Driver atrophy

How often does a driver's skills atrophy (assuming he/she is ~25 years of age)? Is there any kind of notification you receive if a skill does atrophy?

The atrophy occurs after every race. As your driver gets older they will atrophy more

So, if I understand correctly, that means that unless I train the driver after every race he/she will not improve? So young drivers don't get naturally better the more they race? In fact, they get worse? :O

Correct

Sorry if this sounds rude, but why wouldn't you train them after every race? XD

Not rude at all. I just assumed that training might be an added bonus to their stats. For example, I assume that as drivers race in more races, thier technical insight/experience increases naturally, with our without training in-between races. If this were the case, then I'd have the option to train my drivers on other things other than whatever increases naturally, or train my drivers in those same skills so it increaes even faster. Hope that made sense.

Either way, I understand how it works now, so I'm not complaining. The question was purely inquisitive.

Ah right I get ya, fair enough. But yeah everything decreases after every race. Personally I avoid mental and technical training any way (I reckon they make drivers slower) but each to their own ;)

...and this wonderful "feature" is one of the more annoying ones on the service. #DumbIsFast

So this is true then? Mental and technical training makes the drivers slower?

No one really knows, it's just a common theory that generally speaking proves pretty consistent.

After avoiding mental and technical training for awhile and observing a slump in my drivers performance, I have seen a return to consistancy and noteably improved speed after training in these areas. It may depend on the driver. But my experience is counter to the idea that mental and technical make the driver slower. Rather, I have the impression that attacking and defending are less important. At least in a league with 16 or fewer cars.

I've seen Mental and Technical training go both ways as far as speed over a lap. I think, rather than it being always bad or always good, that there is an optimal "sweet spot" where it's just right. I haven't figured out if that's really the case or where it is, but what I've noticed in my races is that drivers with low or high Mental/Technical don't do as consistently well as drivers with moderate Mental/Technical ratings.

Is that intended though? Or is this considered a 'bug'?

This is intended.

If making the best driver means simply training until all attributes are 19 then it's just a race to get there first.

By design this process is not linear.

That makes sense. Is this the case for solely Mental/Technical skills? Or is this curvilinear relationship between skill level and performance present for all skills?

There are many theories about this John. There is only one person who knows & I have offered him both money & my body, but he still won't tell me.

A good plan with this game is to look at what the best players are doing & copy them.

My understanding was no one at all knew what made the best driver? Even the developers?

It's all pretty random any way.

You can steal pole one day and be mega fast all race and then the next day qualify P20 and be super slow for no reason at all.

Some days both drivers are equal in pace, other days one driver is 30 seconds slower than the other driver for no reason, even though he qualified 10 positions in front of the other one - It leaves you sitting there confused wondering why they were so fast in qualifying if they were so slow in the race.

Some seasons you qualify pole at one track with an 80% car, then the next season you qualify P30 with a 90% car and your lap time is almost a whole second slower than the previous season even though you started on the same tyres and the weather is also identical.

I'm still convinced there is a random factor built in somewhere. Perhaps even a certain balance of stats suits different tracks. Maybe different stats effect drivers different based on their weight and height etc? We don't know for sure and we never will know for sure. Andrews advice is probably the best though, just copy all the fast guys and pray for some luck.

No I don't agree.  There is a lot of coding goes into the game.  All aspects of driver training, car set up, staff, weather, track - well everything really - goes into where the driver ends up.  The devs know exactly what is happening.
There is nothing random about any of this - no matter how much it might seem that way to you.  No two set ups and drivers are identical, that is impossible.  Just because you don't see the reason doesn't mean that there isn't one.  This is why the game is so much fun (and frustrating).

"The devs know exactly what is happening."

I don't agree with that. But each to their own.

I'm not having a go at them or trying to say they don't understand their system if that's how my wording was coming across, but I really highly doubt they could be able to say "Ok a driver with x height and 15-16 charisma will do better than a driver with x this and x that at Turkey" .. I really do doubt that anyone understands the system that well. I bet there are general principals on driver pace and what makes them fast on the day, but nothing that particular is all I'm trying to point out.

As far as I'm concerned, it is random. Not random because there is no reason behind it but random because no body understands what makes a driver fast on one particular day and not the next.

As for setups and driver stats, you can have two drivers with absolutely identical stats - Every single stat can matchup (all be it they will have different decimal values we can not see) and they do use completely identical setups (I have this very often, my two drivers I currently use often use identical setups on all 7 parts) but they still perform quite differently.

The game is a program and as such the people writing the code know exactly what thay are trying to accomplish. In that regard the devs know exactly what is happening. If the program is not achieving the programmers goals that is a bug. Being smart  people they are aware of some game theory and the history of gaming and how those games achieved the effects that they did. They incorporate x-factors into games to help give the impression that the drivers have character. It is more fun to manage a person than a "robot." Indeed the programmers probably incoroporate x,y,and z factors into the game that appear to be entirely random. But no real race is without these unpredictable events. It makes the game more "real." That is a good thing.