F1 2011: The Career of Bobby Dylan

[Rob Dylan]

Hello there!

I recently downloaded F1 2011 to play for the lols, just to see how inaccurate a career mode would be if I stretched it out. Also, I added the little intrigue that it is the forum and the Discord who shall make all of my career choices so far. For added intrigue, there are no replays, no restarts, no flashbacks, nothing. The difficulty's not high, but the key is consistency and not dying. So here's how it is so far:

My name is Bobby Dylan, and I am an American driver making his début for Team Lotus (that's the green one) alongside Jarno Trulli for the 2011 season. So far I have earned two points, the first points for the team, at Monza! At the start of his career, Bobby was very patchy in terms of performance, but has improved considerably since he managed to get the game working properly and a better controller. The standings look right now:


I hope this image shows up. If it doesn't I can just post up the results.

So yeah, Massa has had an amazing season: three wins and leading the championship until just after Korea, which is where I have just left from. Ferrari are doing super amazing, whilst Hamilton's had an absolute shite season ever since like round 4.

Bobby Dylan has received one offer, and that is a re-extension from the Lotus Team, but the Discord voted to ignore it and wait for a better offer.

[Rob Dylan]

India
The Indian Grand Prix was certainly eventful in terms of the championship. Sebastian Vettel choked yet again and is already out of the championship with two races to go! But the real ROTR was Fernando Alonso, who spun on lap 1 and finished 15th whilst his teammate Massa won. Here's the standings:



The absolute tragedy for Bobby Dylan was that all of his hard work at Monza went undone! Paul di Resta grabbed a 9th place, putting himself and Force India above Dylan and Lotus. With two races to go, can Lotus fight back?

[Rob Dylan]

Abu Dhabi
Lotus and Bobby Dylan needed a miracle, and boy did they get one! Absolute carnage on the first lap of Abu Dhabi - first laps have been crazy in 2011. Unfortunately for him, one of the retirements was championship leader Massa, who is absolutely desperate to win this season. It seems like Alonso is absolutely on point to win here, with three wins of the last four races. Five points separate him and his teammate going into the finale.





A tonne of the backmarkers benefitted from the first lap retirements, including Bobby Dylan who shoved that Lotus into 7th place and kept it there. Mark Webber, in a repeat of 2010 Abu Dhabi, was unable to pass the American. He and Jenson Button are out of the championship. It is now up to the Ferrari duo.

Bobby Dylan, despite getting 7th in a Lotus, STILL has no offers from any rival teams.

[Rob Dylan]

Brazil
It was pouring with rain in qualifying until the very end, when out of nowhere Pastor Maldonado of all people turned up with the pole position time! After his Williams has been barely capable of points all season, it was somewhat unexpected for him to then hold up most of the frontrunners to finish 2nd with the fastest lap at the end of the day

But as we all know, F1 2011 is an accurate simulation of what the 2011 F1 season was like.

If you're wondering about the championship, it was a foregone conclusion after a few laps into Interlagos. Fernando Alonso fell a bunch of places at the start and got caught behind Petrov AND Bobby Dylan, who proceeded to do everything in their power to help Massa win keep Alonso behind. Felipe Massa is the 2011 F1 World Champion, FINALLY!

(Sorry Fernando, next year maybe, but this year Felipe is faster than you)




CONTRACT TIME
So this is where you all help me out. Before now, Bobby Dylan had only received one offer, and that was from Team Lotus where he is currently driving. However, after the crazy final three races of the season, and after Bobby's excellent form in those races, he now has offers from THREE TEAMS. Here they are:

Team Lotus (where he currently is)

Virgin Marussia

Force India (where he beat his all-time rival Sutil)


Everybody vote. Where is Bobby Dylan going for the 2012 season? The poll is at the top of the thread

[Rob Dylan]

First of all, mistakes were made. Nobody's to blame, but this is just the way it is.

Bobby Dylan accepts a fax from Vijay Maliya, which honestly was probably the first sign of trouble:


I thought, like the majority of you, that Force India would be at least a bit faster, and it was, but unfortunately Bobby's middle name is either Fernando or Carlos, because here's what happened.

2012
Australia
So Force India and their brand new driver Bobby Dylan rock up to Melbourne, Paul di Resta his teammate, feeling all essence and tough. However, FI have an embarrassing weekend ahead. Di Resta qualifies 7 seconds off the pace and last at Melbourne, with Dylan 18th (I turned the difficulty up by one on the AI).

But the REAL embarrassment lay in how Tony Fernandes and his crew are doing:

After Dylan earned them 10 points, it seems to have amounted to $10 billion in prize money, because they're now fighting amongst the front. Jarno and recently re-hired driver Heikki Kovalainen absolutely blitz qualifying in their rocket powered Lotus car.


At least 6th place was got, Bobby's best finish yet and the first step to being unrejectified. If he can keep this up, Force India will be a solid midfield team in 2012. But damn did that turn out to be a bad move. If only he had stayed with Lotus he could have been fighting for podiums. Kov and Tru ended up 9th and 10th at the end of the day, so they weren't THAT fast.

This is going to be a looooooooooonnnng season I can just feel it.

[Frogfoot9013]

Nobody's to blame, but this is just the way it is.

Sure you could just blame us for this since we did fairly decisively vote for Force India!

[Rob Dylan]

Haha I would totally blame you all if it weren't for the fact that I was one of those votes

[Rob Dylan]

Oh my goodness what happened
So 2012 has been a crazy year so far, in some respects even crazier than the real-life season.

Malaysia - Bobby Dylan had a "difficult" race and ended up taking out Maldonado, Massa and both Red Bulls. Alonso won and Hamilton was now leading the championship with two 2nds.

China - A much more straightforward race except for Rubens Barrichello, almost 40 years old, got pole position! Paul di Resta, Bobby Dylan's teammate was 7 seconds off the pace of Barrichello's Williams for no reason at all.

NOTE: for 2012 I turned up the difficulty from intermediate to professional. But even this was very easy to exploit, so I turned it from professional to legend from Turkey onwards.

Turkey - Once again a little more straightforward. Button seemingly unable to get podiums or bother to fight for the front, so Rosberg is threatening to take his first race win. It seems like a direct fight between Team Lotus and Bobby Dylan's new team Force India for their place in the constructors.

Spain - Finally Massa gets his season back on track with a win in Spain. Hamilton had three dud races in a row and 0 points since China. Vettel's frontrunning consistency gave him a huge lead out of nowhere, whilst most of the championship runners have been patchy to say the least.

Monaco - Not Dylan's favourite race to drive in a borked game, he caused a pileup at the top of the hill and took out both Lotus-Renaults. Both Red Bulls then took each other out in an attempt to lap him!

Canada - THE GREATEST RACE IN GRAND PRIX HISTORY. Both Ferraris retired, both Red Bulls retired, both Mercedes retired, the McLarens were barely there to begin with but Button still retired. And the winner of the race was HEIKKI KOVALAINEN. Bobby Dylan was right behind the Green Lotus and unrejectified himself with a maiden podium in 2nd place! A case of what might have been, especially seeing as Kobayashi's car blew up from the lead with only a lap remaining. Not only this, but both Virgin and HRT finished in the points. It really doesn't get better than this.





Europe - A bit more down to earth in Valencia. The car not really up to pace, Dylan ended up retiring from last place with a lot of wing damage. Alonso's lights-to-flag victory sees him take the lead in the championship for the first time.

[Frogfoot9013]

For some reason when I first read this I was still thinking that Kovalainen was still with McLaren and so him winning was somewhat believable, but no, Fondmetal Team Malaysia won a race! Incredible!

BUT
What would Bobby Dylan have done had he not left that team and was still in that car for Montréal?

[Rob Dylan]

Honestly gutted for Kobayashi not winning that Canadian race. Seeing as Sauber could genuinely challenge for third in the championship this year, it would have been amazing to see them with more wins than McLaren.

[Rob Dylan]

Ok it was a rocky road to the mid-season, with basically no good performances out of Bobby post-Canada.

However, he DID get offered a contract extension for 2013 with Force India. I've put a poll at the top of the page as to whether he should accept it or wait for other offers.

The choice is yours

[Rob Dylan]

After a few weeks break, Bobby is back. Two races in Hungaroring and Spa after Mr. Dylan decided to refute Vijay Mallya's offer, confident in the belief that his strong season will land him a better seat for 2013.

So Hungaroring was pretty meh. Kept spinning and finished at the back.

Spa was pouring with rain and he finished 13th.

Also this game keeps teasing a Schumacher win. He was leading Spa in the wet 20 years after his maiden win, and nearly won again! Oof.

So the main news:

Guess who's come crawling back!

If it ain't Bobby's old buddy Tony Fernandes saying how "very pleased" and "excited" he would be if Bobby returned to Team Lotus for the 2013 season. Should Bobby return to his old team from 2011 and try to relive the glory days at a slightly less shite than before Team Lotus, or should he keep waiting for a better deal? Decide now in the poll at the top of the thread.

[Rob Dylan]

Well it's a good thing the votes say no, because Tony Fernandes withdrew his offer, probably because Bobby Dylan was shittalking him and Team Lotus so much to David Croft over the newsfeed.



At the front it was a bit crazier. Although still 3rd in the standings, Merc are consistently 2nd fastest team every weekend since the summer break. This means that Ferrari and Alonso have dropped the ball, and only a miracle will turn either of their seasons around against Vettel and Red Bull.

Also Schumacher won in Suzuka!

Bobby finished 6th in Singapore but got a bullshit penalty from the stewards, whilst in Suzuka he got disqualified for almost murdering his OFFICIAL RIVAL Heikki Kovalainen. Can Bobby beat his OFFICIAL RIVAL by season's end? Find out... whenever I have time!

[Rob Dylan]

2012 is over!

It was a crazy season, in which Bobby Dylan was eventually able to beat his MAIN RIVAL Heikki Kovalainen at Lotus by a few points at season's end. Congratulations to Fernando Alonso for winning his third world title at the last moment at Interlagos!

and of course, it's back to contracts. Even though he got 46 points in a car his teammate couldn't score a single point in, Bobby Dylan has only been given two offers. And yes, it's the two worst offers

Force India - Since summer, Vijay Mallya has put out the offer of renewal for Force India going into 2013. The offer's still there if Bobby wants to stay, assuming the car gets better than its 7+ seconds off the pace form in 2012.

Team Lotus - Bobby Dylan's former team has offered a second time for the American to return for 2013, presumably in the place of his replacement and MAIN RIVAL Heikki Kovalainen. The car is currently faster on average than the Force India, but who knows how fast they'll be in 2013?

I made a mistake in hindsight leaving Team Lotus for 2012, as the green car was much faster on average. But returning there could mean the same mistake happens again, and Force India end up as the faster package next season. What do I do? Vote now at the top of the thread!

[Rob Dylan]

Haven't updated this in a while.

So for once, Bobby Dylan's team is now in tier 3. The 2013 Force India is the best car he's ever driven! For some reason the difficulty was much higher, so from Monaco onwards I turned it down from Legend to Professional. I do want to have fun rather than sit in 14th every race.

So 2013 has been largely boring, except for the season opener when RUBENS BARRICHELLO won! Williams have jumped up to Tier 2, and have the pace for the occasional podium. And seeing as they're ahead of their Tier 2 rivals Mercedes, we could be looking at a championship duo including Maldonado for 2014

But yeah, with Mercedes losing pace, the top 6 is depressingly normal. But McLaren are at least winning again after a season of no wins in 2012. Bobby got a 6th place and is aiming to finish ahead of the Saubers, Team Lotuses and the Lotus-Renaults.

[Rob Dylan]

Bobby Dylan has entered the promised land! His craziest season yet, 2013 has offered Bobby Dylan his highest highs and lowest lows.

At Canada he qualified on the front row for the first time, 2nd place alongside polesitter Hamilton

Admittedly he and Hamilton murdered one another on turn 5 but nobody needs to know about that.

Anyway, Bobby's pace got quicker and quicker until Nurburgring, where he excelled in the wet.

The top 3 took each other out and from there on it was an easy win for Bobby! His first in the sport!

Lololoololollloloollol Toro Rosso with 0 points after 10 races and Virgin due to be promoted to Tier 3



So everyone was congratulatory, yadayadayada. But let's not dawdle, onto the next race! Here's how the championship looks

[Rob Dylan]

And before I forget!

Vijay Mallya has offered Bobby a renewal on his contract yet again for 2014. Should he take it? Answer in the poll above!

[Rob Dylan]

Pole position for Dylan at the Hungaroring, and then he got DSQd for murdering multiple competitors after spinning out of the lead lol.

Then in Belgium he was in a solid 7th before crashing out at Eau Rouge.

Then in Monza we had even crazier news than pole position for Dylan. Pole position for Di Resta of all people. Off the line, Paul got swamped and finished 9th, whilst Dylan started 4th and kept it to the end. We were so close to a Kobayashi victory, but Vettel took it on the last lap. But there we go.

Most importantly, Bobby's old buddy Tony Fernandes has come creeping out of the gutter to beg the American to return to his Team Lotus team. What should Bobby do? Vote above!

[Rob Dylan]

Bobby's been waiting a few seasons for somebody other than the slimeballs Vijay and Tony to turn up and offer him a contract. Just such people have turned up. Who else but Éric Boullier! Although his team are doing terribly and will 90% be a backmarker team in 2014, they have nonetheless become so desperate as to offer our American hero a drive for 2014.

However, what with Bobby's chief rival being Pastor Maldonado this season, and with the Williams about to enter Tier 1 in 2014, it seems obvious which choice Bobby should make.

BUT.

It's your choice to make! What should Bobby Dylan do? Vote in the poll above!

[Rob Dylan]

Thank you for not murdering Bobby Dylan's career just yet. To give you some context, if the F1 2011 game is as predictable as Aislabie has informed me it is, it means that coming 4th allows Williams to jump up to Tier 1 in place of Red Bull. Lotus-Renault are the worst of the Tier 3 cars this year, and face possible relegation to Tier 4 while Virgin will become a regular points scorer. All Bobby needs to do is beat his rival Pastor Maldonado to get a Williams drive for next year and be able to challenge for the championship finally!

[Rob Dylan]

The 2013 season is over! And what a crazy year it was. Well, actually in comparison with other years it was surprisingly tame. But, Bobby Dylan took advantage of the crappy AI to dominate at Buddh and take a second win of the season in that Force India - what a hero! There must be queues of teams ready to pick him up as a driver --- actually no. In spite of beating his rival Pastor Maldonado, Codemasters decided in their infinite wisdom not to give Bobby a contract offer for 2014 at Williams. Therefore Bobby has a bunch of crappy options instead.



Contract Time

Straight after winning the Indian Grand Prix, Bobby got two emails saying Tony Fernandes and Éric Boullier were no longer interested in hiring him So he has three offers for 2014:

Force India - ever-faithful Vijay is offering a third season at the team. The car will be faster yet again and gives the best chance of further success.

Virgin - Their two points at the Nurburgring will push them up a tier, meaning that we will have two of the "new" 2010 teams now scoring regular points.

HRT - need I give a reason?

Vote now at the top of the page!


Results from 2013:

[Rob Dylan]

You chose HRT. Ok I think this is where Bobby's career gets a little off-track...

[Rob Dylan]

A little off-track is putting it mildly. Bobby's headzone has been in a bit of a muddle, what with him somehow missing out on a Williams drive that he 100% deserved. Now we have a situation where the man he was supposed to succeed, Pastor Maldonado, is "Mr Consistency" (as Aislabie puts it) and is winning the championship by a mile!





This may be Bobby's final season, but it looks like there is still interest from other teams. Poll coming soon!

[takagi_for_the_win]

Pastor Maldonado, runaway Championship leader.
Rubens Barrichello, multiple race winner.
Jerome d'Ambrosio, race winner.
Tonio Liuzzi, HRT points scorer.

This is the universe we didn't know we needed

[Rob Dylan]

It's been a while, and in spite of his terrible season and current standing of 24th and last in the championship, Bobby Dylan has received not one but THREE offers. They are from:

- HRT: Who else? They would sure love to renew that contract!
- Virgin: John Booth is back for the third time. Will he be lucky with Bobby's favour?
- Force India: WHO ELSE? Vijay Mallya is just desperate for Bobby to return to the Force India squad. It hasn't been the same since he left.

Or of course Bobby could say no to all of them, which is totally an option. Vote at the poll at the top!

[Rob Dylan]

My playing of this has been choppy, but I am still slowly going through it. What has happened is rather interesting.

Basically, you all picked Force India as my final team to race with in Bobby Dylan's career. Which is cool, BUT what it really means is that, with FI a tier-2 team, they could be in championship contention if they beat Red Bull to 4th in the championship!

So.

Bobby has been doing his best to take off the Red Bulls every weekend. Now with two weekends to go, the RBs are only 10 points ahead of FI in the constructors.

Who knows, greatness could be around the corner for Bobby in 2015!

Also, Pastor Maldonado and Williams absolutely dominated from the beginning to win the 2014 Formula One Season with two races to spare each. Congratulations!

[Rob Dylan]

And so here are the final standings for the 2014 Formula One Season!







For 2015, Adrian Sutil has been fired for a second time to make way for Bobby Dylan's return. Narain Karthikeyan, who will turn 38 in 2015, has been hired at HRT to take Bobby's place.

[Rob Dylan]

And so the final season of F1 2011 and Bobby Dylan's career is over. The accursed standings are as such:






It's the championship that nobody wanted to win. In spite of only finishing in the points 9 times out of 19 races, somehow Bobby Dylan still won the title. Everybody competing in this championship, including Dylan himself, should be ashamed of themselves that F1 became as much of a farce as this Almost every championship contender took the lead and immediately destroyed themselves. Jarno Trulli, Paul di Resta and Rubens Barrichello all ended the season with a win, which Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button didn't. The Mercedes was one of the worst cars on the grid, whilst a 46-year-old Michael Schumacher somehow got a pole at Monza in front of the Tifosi.

It's the stuff dreams are made of folks, thanks for joining me.