F1 22 Grip Levels and Traction

I complained quite a bit about this in the other thread on Traction Control settings.  I have no problem with the reduction in grip this year; but the issue to me seems that they did not adjust the medium TC setting to compensate for that 20% loss in grip.  For controller players this is an issue due to how careful you have to be with such a small area of travel on the triggers.  Sensitivity settings only do so much, but you spend far too much time trying to manage 75% throttle or so with a controller trigger; it just ruins the fun.  At the end of F1 21's cycle for me I was able to manage some tracks with No TC and a controller. In F1 22; not a chance.   I imagine playing this game with a wheel and pedals is a ton of fun trying to manage the new slip in the rear out of corners, but on a controller for most I suspect will not be much fun.

Obviously this effect is much more pronounced in the My Team car at the start.  I also find I had alot of struggles at Bahrain where I was doing alot of my testing and practicing with controller settings.  Once I moved to race 2 at Jeddah; it was like a whole new game.  Then it dawned on me that Bahrain probably has far less grip in the track itself as well.   Jeddah was a nightmare for me in F1 21 and here in 22 in my Ferrari driver career I struggled to keep Leclerc behind me through sector 1, s2 I held my own, but S3 I would gain some time only to have Leclerc on my rear wing again into T1.  Made for a fun race.  Once I hit Jeddah; yes I had an upgrade come through R&D but it was night and day difference for me driving. The issues I had at Bahrain out of slow and medium speed corners was virtually non-existant.  I could still easily get the car to spin with Medium TC if I wanted to, but it didn't happen.  Yes I've gotten a bit used to and better at managing the throttle now; but there was a clear difference in grip to me between Bahrain and Jeddah and I suspect that's the track grip level; kudos to EA/CM on that if that's the case.    For further testing I jumped back to my backmarker My Team mode where I REALLY struggled at Bahrain; but once I went to Jeddah... same thing.  remarkable improvement. Maybe it was the track, maybe it was me.  However I then ran some laps at Monza, Australia and Canada and I did not have the major issues I had at Bahrain either. 

I do think it's a combination of the grip levels in the tracks being different and I'm getting more used to the increased sensitivity you need in F1 22.  It's not as bad as I thought but I do believe still that Medium TC was just not adjusted to compensate for the 20% reduction in grip.  I suspect it will be adjusted moving forward because for controller players which... lets be honest make up the vast majority of players especially on consoles many are going to find this unplayable.   Now there's enough extra settings in there with braking help and such to counter the lack of grip, but what fun is that?  I race with everything off assist wise aside from Medium TC due to controller limitations.

Many players also need to realize the AI settings you're used to are harder this year too I think.  Maybe it's due to me still needing to adjust to the new handling a bit, but I do get the overall impression the AI is stronger so you may need to adjust them down 5 points or so from what you're used to.

Overall I think the issue with the TC assist is it just wasn't re-balanced properly for Medium.   That's how it feels, but it also to those saying it feels more realistic I can't agree with that.  These cars produce so much downforce they're running wide open through the majority of corners, that's not possible in the game right now if you're playing with a controller for what I imagine will be the vast majority of players. You rarely see F1 cars losing traction and sliding around like they currently do in this game and watching on tv you can clearly see with their telemetry that there isn't as much feathering of the throttle as there has to be currently in the game.  Heck even drivers have spoken out in the past about the game having too little grip.  So; I can't see how we can say it feels more realistic this way.  Is it more of a challenge? Yes.  Absolutely.  IS that more fun? Well, that depends on who you are and what you're using to play.  

Id rather see Medium TC setting stay how it is; and add another option in between medium and Full really.  Medium is giving a nice challenge; but it's too close to None than it is Full in my opinion so for that reason I think they need to add another option in there to help the majority of controller players who will struggle.  Im adapting nicely so I'm not too concerned other than the ego hit I've had to take reducing the AI a bit lol but my fear is once this game hits a release to everyone the challenge that currently exists will be reduced to accomodate those who don't want to play with FULL TC, and can't find a way to play with Medium on a controller.  For that reason, keep medium as it is and add another option called high or something.  Or change medium to Low, and add a new medium that's boosted a bit.   I like medium how it is now that I've adjusted, but I just fear it's going to be adjusted to make it easier and I'd rather just see a new setting come in instead.