Dear EA Sports F1 Development Team,
I am writing to report a critical balance issue and potential bug regarding the ERS (Energy Recovery System) mechanics in the 2026 Season Pack, specifically during wet weather conditions.
Issue Description:
In the initial release of the 2026 DLC, players were able to use ERS modes up to 'Hotlap' in wet conditions (even without manual Overtake button availability). However, following a recent patch, ERS modes were restricted to 'Medium' as maximum for the 2026 regulations.
While the player is locked to 'Medium' mode, the ERS actively harvests/recharges on long straights during wet races. This results in the player losing several seconds per lap on straightaways. Meanwhile, AI cars directly ahead and behind appear unaffected by this restriction, maintaining full straight-line deployment and pulling away easily despite identical setup and weather conditions.
This creates a severe balance imbalance during wet races, making it nearly impossible to defend or attack on straights regardless of difficulty settings or driving precision. The forced harvesting on straights combined with unrestricted AI deployment breaks the racing logic in rain sessions.
I hope the team can investigate ERS harvesting logic in the wet and align AI deployment parameters with the player’s restricted ERS modes in a future patch.
Thank you for your time and continued dedication to improving the game.
Best regards,
Jodifa / jodieepp