I’m angry again, but this time, I’m not angry about my results or the way I drove. Instead, I’m angry with Forza.
Since I had never driven at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, I drove several dozen practice laps. I wasn’t as fast as the fastest guys, but I learned my way around the track and my times were decent. I had a good feel for the car. I knew what it could do and what it couldn’t, which is important when making sure that I wasn’t overdriving the car or being unnecessarily hard on the tires.
Then came race one. First, it is irritating that my tires start out cold, while the drivatars are able to push hard from the very beginning. It doesn’t make sense. The game employs rolling starts, which assumes that all of the cars are doing at least one warm up lap. Yet, my tires start each race cold, and for whatever reason, they take forever to warm up at Laguna Seca. By the time the race starts, all drivers (me and the drivatars) should have warm tires.
But even worse, the car reacts completely differently during the race than it does during practice. I’ve noticed this at other tracks, but it was much worse at Laguna Seca. In fact, I started the race and rage quit before the end of the first lap. It was like driving on ice. The car was nearly uncontrollable. When I re-started the race, the car was a little better, but still not right. That is so annoying. It doesn’t make sense to practice the car if it’s going to be so different during the race. I’m really annoyed at Forza.
In the end, I qualified 19th and finished 8th, but almost all of those gains happened in the first couple of corners. During the rest of the race, I only gained one position. Not gaining position or finishing higher doesn’t bother me. Starting on cold tires and the car being uncontrollable does.
Okay, enough complaining. Here’s where the points stand after eleven races:
- Lou Mindar (149 pts)
- Alex Ravarito (76 pts)
- Don McGowan (72 pts)
- Pierre Blasno (62 pts)
- Hugh Navarro (59 pts)