50% racers

Hello there!

Just wondering... have all 50% races become *deep breath*

"stop as many times as you need to run the whole race on the super softs even if every race means you stop a silly amount of times for the laps you actually race." *exhale*

or is it just me?

3 stopping on the super softs during a 50% race is becoming the norm. It's beginning to lose it's charm a little.

It's almost a penalty to run any other tyre at most times. The tyres themselves are awfully slow, add in the additional weight of attempting a 2 stop (or if you're totally mental, a 1 stop) and a race becomes how many times can i get lapped.

point in case, the league I am in, recently ran Germany. I took the softs, leaders took the super softs. I was 20 seconds behind after 5 laps. because of the slower compound, the insane weight penalty fuel brings along with it to run a two stop and because i was being mugged by everyone behind me running light.

20 seconds after 5 laps. in a race that is 30. If it was a 100% race I'd probably of called it a day there and then. 90 minutes of watching me fall backwards further and further down the order as i take a 4 stop race, while the winner laps me - perhaps - several times on a 6 stop!?

Or if i decide the one stop on the mediums... i end up 2! pitstops behind the 3 stoppers...

We have Spa today - i reckon a 3 stopper will win that too... 3 stops in a 22 lap race...

I know this sounds ranty and all grrrr angry-man-smash-keyboard. But I'm not angry! Honest!. I really do enjoy this game. This isn't one of those I hate everything! *slams door on the internet* moments.The people in my league are all lovely funny people. (even Ryan) But I dont feel like I'm racing against them anymore. It's cookie cutter racing now. we all have the same strats. give or take a lap.

3 stops. super softs. Push level 1. Ignore the race an chat with league members. final lap... deploy all of the kers at once in the hopes of holding onto 4th as my aging softs are eaten alive by the fresh super softs.

we have 4 tyre compounds... 3 of them are to be avoided if you want to win. That feels a bit awkward to me, is all.

perhaps a fixed compound for races might help, with some GP2 style minimum amount of laps to be run on each. Very high wear tracks like Bahrain, China etc require the use of the Hard and medium for example...  while Monaco/Hungary require you use the super soft/softs but you have to run atleast x amount of laps on both compound. i already see some flaws in that idea too... i dont envy having to solve these sorts of problems. lol

again, not a angry shaky fist moment... just one persons view on things after being left confused on many occasions by a game he thought he understood lol

Anyone... now that that's out there, off my chest so to speak. The kettle wont boil itself.

I am finding a similar situation in 100% races.  4-stopping on softs works on nearly every track.  Any other strategy seems to be slower.

I actually won with a 4 stop using SS at spa in a 50% race this season. 

Fair play for being fast enough to pull that off... But, that's just silly. 4 stops in a 50% race AND winning, is nonsense.

Let's discuss possible solutions, which would lead to the outcome we want.

I'm assuming that we want the fastest strategy in a 100% race to be a 2 or 3-stopper, or in a 50% race to be a 1 or 2-stopper.

Suggestions:
[list]
[*]fuel wieght to have less of a performance impact
[*]tyre degredation to differ more significantly between tracks
[*]smaller difference in performance between tyres
[/list]
What are your thoughts?

EDIT: maybe the performance of tyres and fuel should be scaled with the % of race distance?

they should do that you should take another tyre exampel like this if you 2 stop you use super soft then you HAVE TO TAKE soft,Medium or Hard or else you get penalty 

I'm perhaps not the best person to ask, because my 50% league is very small (5 cars including mine), but at this point the only tracks where a 3-stop Super Soft strategy seems to work consistently are Hungary and Europe. A number of the earlier races (most notably Malaysia, China and Bahrain) tend to have temperatures that are too high to keep the tires "switched on."

Anf, you losing 20 seconds in 5 laps seems unrealistic to me, unless your league is a lot larger than mine (it probably is) and you're just losing the time in traffic (dirty air kills you on the track). Perhaps Super softs work so well in your league because the people who run them qualify up front and get cleaner air. In my league, only myself and one other manager are truly competitive, so either of us can run a two-stop using Softs and/or Mediums and win. In a couple of races we've had, the Mediums (as far as a two-stop goes) have actually been quicker than the Softs.

James, 20 seconds is the most extreme example i've encountered in recent memory.
(Here, incase anyone wishes to see it - http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=race-result/444543#race)

The average time loss is about 12 seconds depending on track, traffic, etc. The additional weight carried in taking one less stop is crippling.

Its difficult to explain my point properly, but i'll try...

All figures are used purely for example...

15 second pitstop x 2 = 30 seconds.lost - additional weight of fuel + slower tyre choice makes you a couple seconds a lap slower (in the extreme, average seems around a second, once up to temp)

30 lap race = 60 seconds off the pace + 30 seconds in the pits = an entire minute and a half of race time lost to the leaders.

or stop 3 times on the super soft...

15 second pitstop x 3 = 45 seconds lost in the pits. but the tyre is a couple seconds a lap faster, due to additional grip and being light on fuel. so you gain a minute. in time... giving you a 15 second lead.

Like i said, these are extreme examples... but even if you half it, to a second a lap advantage... its still a win by 7.5 seconds.

I think one way to change the super softs is their ability to provide instant speed. Time and time again i have seen people on their outlaps... their outlaps... have the usual slow first sector, then go green or even purple in the 2nd and 3rd. It's almost like having additional kers after each stop. just BAM! instantly up to race pace.

Changing the weight of fuel wouldn't change anything. the super softs would go even faster still because the weight loss would affect them to. Though, i do think the penalty of large fuel should be reduced - somehow. i have no ideas for that at the moment.

I do think the super softs last to long at some tracks. The super softs to me have always been a qualifying tyre. sometime you want to get rid of as soon as possible once the race starts. not something you run all the way on multiple stops.

the softs are okay on the whole. except compared to the super softs. they are faster than the mediums but they wear just as the mediums hit their stride.

The mediums need to be improved in speed at nearly all tracks, although when the temp is higher than 30, they are faster than the softs, not just more durable, but actually faster, even with weight... goes against some of my arguement i know but...  the stars have to align for them to be useful two races in a row.

The hards are horrible. just, horrible. They have no place in a 50% race. its around 125L to finish a race, lights to flag.... the penalty for running long enough to take advantage of their durablity would be laps worth.