Simulating the 2014 season - Some thoughts

Posted by TomMK

Simulating the 2014 season - Some thoughts
Date: February 03, 2014 03:15AM
Posted by: TomMK

Registered: 20 years ago

So this year there are a lot of changes to F1 that we can try and simulate in GP4. Here's some ideas I've had, feel free to add your own thoughts:

Physics

These three major changes can all be simulated using the Physics .g3p file.

1) Engine torque: More torque because of the turbos and uprated KERS (or whatever it's called these days).

2) Engine RPM: 15000 max rpm, lower than in previous V8 seasons.

3) Car Weight: 690kg. Increased from previous years.

Here is a example physics file which I'll be testing using the 2014 GP4 Central Mod. Download here.

Fuel consumption

Teams are limited to 100kg fuel per race, about 70% the amount of previous seasons (approx 140kg). We can simulate this in the Magic Data for each track by reducing the player and AI fuel consumption values by a similar amount.

In the V8 years I used the following values (numbers in square brackets denote the Magic Data line number):

[70] Player Fuel Consumption = 17200
[71] AI Fuel Consumption = 16000

These were a good starting point and generally produced a good approximation for the racing in the V8 years. So, simplistically, if we take 70% of those values we get approximately (I like round numbers):

[70] Player Fuel Consumption = 12000
[71] AI Fuel Consumption = 11200

The amount of fuel per lap [line 48] (specific to each track) will also need to be reduced by the same percentage.

This needs testing and calibrating to suit each track but it gives a good starting point.

Fixed Gear Ratios

In 2014 each gearbox has 8 forward gears and the ratios are fixed for the whole year. We cannot simulate 8 forward gears because GP4 is limited to a choice of 6 or 7. However, we could simulate fixed gear ratios by simply using the same values in every 2014 Magic Data file. Whether this would bring anything worthwhile the game experience would need more experimentation.

Turbo Failures

A commonly held view is that the 2014 powertrains will not be bulletproof as they have been for several years. So I thought it would be nice to introduce turbo failures as a reason for cars to retire. I think replacing Oil & Water leaks would be most appropriate since you would get the smokey effects of a turbo failure. It should just be a matter of replacing the right text in the various game files.

Qualifying Power

Another race rule for 2014 is the average fuel flow rate cannot exceed 100kg/hour. Well, since the cars can only hold 100kg, that means it's pretty easy to work out that they would run out of fuel after exactly 1 hour if they ran at their maximum. Since races are longer than one hour, it is obvious that the cars will have to run at much less than this during races. But during qualifying, I would expect they will run at the maximum rate allowed for best performance.

All this is a long way of saying the cars will have much more power available during qualifying than the races. This could be simulated in the Performance File by creating a larger difference between qualy and race engine power numbers. Exactly how much would need some experimentation after we see the real world action but, for example, I will start with a value of +20 bhp for qualifying in the 2014 GP4 Central Mod.

So, over to you guys, what other suggestions do you have to bring 2014 F1 to life in GP4?

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