Me, Farina, and the Fittipaldi Twins

I had some time this weekend and was in the mood for racin’ so I threw down a solo game of Championship Formula Racing.  I had to dust off the rules since I hadn’t played it since this summer but after about an hour of setup and reviewing the Historical Driver AI rules, I was ready to go.

This race went a little long so I’ll catch you after the jump.

Thanks for coming back! I decided to use my Abu Dhabi map that was available as a download from the Kickstarter.  I set my car up to favor acceleration and tire wear along with giving me a jump on my starting speed at the expense of skill and deceleration.

After the Pole Bid, I ditched all my skill tokens and had a roll-off to gain second position.

My competitors this evening would be Giuseppe Farina in the green Maserati 250F, Young Emerson Fittipaldi in the orange March 761, and Old Emerson Fittipaldi in the red Ferrari 312T.  I wanted to try out the same driver in different strategies so I’m distinguishing them apart by the “young” and “old.” I’m in the blue Tyrrell P34 in second position.

I decide that I’m going to play greyhound to Farina’s rabbit and burn whatever wear I needed to keep pace with him.

Farina set an aggressive pace but the Fittipaldi twins didn’t seem to care.

We were only through the second corner and I’d burned almost half this lap’s allotted wear tokens.  Farina was not messing around.

I decided to take the outside on this corner to keep my speed up.  My topspeed is higher than Farina’s and with this long straight, I’m hoping to use it to my advantage.

Farina could care less.  He just pushes his green machine to match speeds, redlining it down the straight. Must be nice to just shed tokens instead of rolling dice like da peoples do.

Farina pushes his car again but this time I slipstream him to pull alongside.

Coming up to the corner, we both have to let off and Farina has the inside line so he takes the corner first and maintains the inside.  Luckily, this corner can handle the same speeds and I stay alongside.

This time Farina doesn’t push and my topspeed finally pays off.  I decide not to take the inside otherwise Farina will just slip me like I did him.

I’m able to fully command the lead now and take the corner first.

We negotiate the next few corners without breaking rank.

But in the penultimate corner, Farina is stuck going through it at speed but I’m able to accelerate out of the turn to gain a little daylight between us.

I maintain my lead out of the last corner of the lap.  At this point, Farina and I have both used 9 of our 14 wear tokens for the race and are just starting the final lap.

Farina hates being in second place so burns more wear to get almost alongside me.

Farina keeps the pressure on but is losing wear tokens fast.  I’m able to keep an advantage on him but the guy just doesn’t quit.

Farina is still playing hardball, blasting into the high speed lane of this squeeze corner.

With Farina out of wear tokens and I still have some to spare, I decide to take the outside line to maintain speed and set up for another topspeed run on the long straight.

Farina pushes through the corner and I totally forget he has some skill tokens to auto-pass the corner check. Bastard.  Now he has the inside line and we’re at the same speed.

We both push acceleration (passing the roll) and battle for the lane. My earlier mistake makes this even more difficult as Farina maintains the inside.

I decide I need to burn my last wear tokens and push the speed a little too fast for the upcoming corner.

I make a deceleration test and take the lead into the corner again.

I burn through my last wear tokens but Farina still has those skill tokens and auto-passes through the corner, matching my speed.

Farina drafts off me to pull alongside and I realize that he is going to risk another deceleration test to beat me to this upcoming corner.

The jerk totally makes his test and gets the jump on me.  I was trying to avoid this test but if I want to slip in behind him, I’ll have to take one as well.  He’s done very well to put me in a crap position as I’ll likely not have another chance to overtake him if I fall in right behind.

As I plot my turn I have a couple of options. I know I’ll have to take this corner at 80 mph or give Farina the line and watch him blast ahead and leave me behind. I can try to push through that 60 mph turn but it’s a heavy risk on the dice and if I lose, I’ll likely be in a battle for second place.  I decide instead to weave in front of Farina, give him the finger, and end on the inside exiting the corner.  This is a pretty dick move as I’ll be right in Farina’s path as he tries to exit the turn.  This will force him to either decelerate in the turn to land behind me or push through to fast and risk a spin-out.

Wow. Farina rolls the worst possible and totally crashes out of the race. Pretty crazy end to our race-long battle.

I’m not out of the woods yet as the Fittipaldi twins both have strong finish strategies and have gained ground.

At this point, I’m feeling pretty good as I negotiate the corner exit with my foe smoking ruin in the rearview.

Young Fittipaldi had been holding out on me and is now making his move to catch and maybe overtake.

Young Fittipaldi is able to stay just barely behind me but this corner seals his fate.

Not able to push through to the end of that corner, he was stuck maintaining his speed instead of accelerating through the end, losing him valuable ground.

We come around the short stretch to the finish and Young Fittipaldi tries for one more desperate grasp to catch up.

Ultimately, I take the chequered flag and rocket into the post corner at 140 mph.  Still a close finish as I’m really only 2 spaces in front of Young Fittipaldi at the end.

It was a lot of fun and it’s always fascinating how well the Historical Driver AI plays out in this game.  I’ll have to bump up the challenge rating to see if the next tier AI drivers totally outclass me or if I can keep up with the legends of the sport.