I got my first official contract offer tonight after my 10th career race at the British GP in Silverstone.
It's to renew with my existing team, HRT. My current reputation level is 12 and Toro Rosso, Sauber, Lotus and Virgin are all showing interest (no offers from these teams are on the table yet). I was thinking of selecting one of the two Williams drivers as my rival, but I still have not even been asked to select a rival in the game. However I was reading some older "career contract" threads which got me thinking maybe I should not try to jump to Williams through winning the rival challenge yet. I may not have all of the reputation points and a ride at Williams might only be for one year if my reputation points are not high enough in season two? But I also got to thinking ... since I do 100% length races (with full weekend practice sessions) how many seasons in F1 2010 will I do before F1 2011 is released? Two maybe three? If F1 2011 is good, I will want it and will have to start all over again. So I am tempted to stay at HRT and treat my time here as a learning experience trying to improve my race craft in this game until I figure out if F1 2011 is worth picking up.
Question #1: if I sign with HRT for another year, do I get to keep all of the updates done to the car through the team R&D this season? If I don't get to keep the R&D upgrades in season two, then jumping to Toro Rosso or Sauber (if offers are made down the road) or trying to beat a Williams rival would be no brainers. But keeping the R&D upgrades might make me want to stay at HRT for another season?
Question #2: if I decline (or ignore this offer), am I done at HRT for season number two? There are still nine more races to do in season one and I wasn't expecting a contract offer yet.
It's to renew with my existing team, HRT. My current reputation level is 12 and Toro Rosso, Sauber, Lotus and Virgin are all showing interest (no offers from these teams are on the table yet). I was thinking of selecting one of the two Williams drivers as my rival, but I still have not even been asked to select a rival in the game. However I was reading some older "career contract" threads which got me thinking maybe I should not try to jump to Williams through winning the rival challenge yet. I may not have all of the reputation points and a ride at Williams might only be for one year if my reputation points are not high enough in season two? But I also got to thinking ... since I do 100% length races (with full weekend practice sessions) how many seasons in F1 2010 will I do before F1 2011 is released? Two maybe three? If F1 2011 is good, I will want it and will have to start all over again. So I am tempted to stay at HRT and treat my time here as a learning experience trying to improve my race craft in this game until I figure out if F1 2011 is worth picking up.
Question #1: if I sign with HRT for another year, do I get to keep all of the updates done to the car through the team R&D this season? If I don't get to keep the R&D upgrades in season two, then jumping to Toro Rosso or Sauber (if offers are made down the road) or trying to beat a Williams rival would be no brainers. But keeping the R&D upgrades might make me want to stay at HRT for another season?
Question #2: if I decline (or ignore this offer), am I done at HRT for season number two? There are still nine more races to do in season one and I wasn't expecting a contract offer yet.