Finding a Driver Guide for New Players

Best to first start with the two most common mistakes new players make, and quite understandably:

1. Even if a driver has the name Michael Schumacher in this game, (or any real life driver) that doesn't necessarily mean he will be as fast as the real life one! All names are randomly generated in GPRO so that driver has no bearing on his real life counterpart at all. Its very common to see 100 bids for a driver like this and salaries of 10m per race or more, and this is a big mistake!

2. The overall rating (OA) does not mean he is a better driver. It's natural to think "has higher OA, must be faster". Again, you may seem the same bids for an 85 OA driver at 10m per race, still a big mistake! Higher OA does not always mean faster, and I will go into more detail below.

So. You just signed up and you want to win races, that's why you came here!

When you first join you are allocated a driver by GPRO. Now more often than not, these drivers aren't great, BUT, you can sometimes be handed an absolute gem for free! It is very tempting to ditch that driver in the first race for a higher OA driver, but why not record his stats, run one or two races, see where you finish and make a decision after that? He didn't cost you a signing fee so this could be great info.

The great thing about rookie is that you have a lot of freedom to try new things and every season is reset so you get your $30m back, plus $5m extra if you complete all 17 races.

Firstly, where do I find a new driver?

Apart from the one you already got, who may well be good enough anyway, you can get one here. That link is available at GPRO's main office too.

What driver stats should I look for to make him fast?

One of the most common questions. Now the reason that you won't be told this directly by everybody is twofold. A lot of managers have done a lot of research finding this out, plus, as a new player; it may well spoil your enjoyment of the game, especially if you love management games and working them out for yourself.

So the real question is, how do you find this out?

The best way I found when I started was trial and error, lets take the 12 stats of the driver.

• Energy (decreases during qualys and races, increases between races, increases with a particular training, certain skills raising can improve driver's use efficiency)
• Concentration (May increase, stay the same, or decrease after the season reset, trainable)
• Talent (Never changes, untrainable)
• Aggression (Increase and loss in certain scenarios, lose points end of season, trainable)
• Experience (Generally increases with each race)
• Technical Insight (Generally increases with each race, trainable)
• Stamina (Trainable, lose points at the season reset)
• Charisma (Increases slowly, trainable)
• Motivation (Increases and decreases over the season depending on the race, increase when new contract is signed, trainable, can change during the season reset)
• Reputation (Increases and decreases in certain scenarios)
• Weight(kg) (Fluctuates depending on certain training, increases in the season reset)
• Age (Increases by one year every season reset)

So what do these stats mean? And which will affect your pace? When you first join, of course it's very difficult to know exact numbers but you can draw conclusions yourself from their very names.

There is however a way to find this out a lot more rapidly if you record your data. Try different drivers out.

They don't have to be expensive drivers, but why not pick a stat you think you will make your driver faster if it is high, and sign him for a few races? You can do this is a few ways:

• Pick one stat that a driver is particularly high in, that you think will make him faster, sign the driver, see how he performs.
• Pick a couple or even three of stats that the driver is high in and do the same.
• Make sure you are always recording the data. For example, you could lose a race with a great driver doing 12 pit stops and think it's the drivers fault and it's actually just the race tactic!

The beauty of rookie is that it's there for exactly this reason, try one out, he may blow your head off speed wise! If he doesn't, try again, you will see a pattern!

How much should I pay for my driver?

This is probably the second most common question and the most widely argued. Lets start here: Available Drivers.

Take a look at ALL the drivers with 85 OA or under. These are the ones that you can sign now. A tip is to filter them all by salary when deciding what is cheap, reasonable or ridiculous! Take a look at the lowest salary driver and also a look at the highest salary driver. You will probably see a huge gap!

You will see what you think is a VERY cheap driver and what you think is reasonable compared to the rest.

The key things to remember is money is very tight in GPRO, so I wouldn't recommend bidding very high amounts or you will go bankrupt! You can use the soft reset if this happens (Soft Reset), but remember:

• You cannot soft reset your account if you have done more than 17 races
• You can only soft reset your account only after Race 3 and before Race 14 of the ongoing season

The main thing here is if you spend a lot of money on a driver, especially with a long contract (As you have to pay half their remaining contract if you then want to change early) then you could seriously damage your finances!

So I advise as cheap as possible, and if you are experimenting, shorter contracts in case it doesn't work! Once you have found what makes a driver faster, you will have a great idea on what to offer and how long the contract should be.

Any more advice?

• If you are still stuck as to what you think is a good driver, why not check out their past history? GPRO records histories of all drivers and the managers they raced for and in what leagues, so if you find a gem that has scored points before then who says he won't score points for you? Its not always the case of course, but it may help. Or even help you to decide how to train your driver.

• Download the market file that is available on the drivers market page. This will give you every driver available that market and you can filter and search 'til your heart is content!

• Take your time, and don't make rushed decisions, you won't win Elite straight away, just learn the game and have fun. Afford yourself time to make mistakes and learn what makes a driver fast. If you rush in and bid stupid amounts of money on a rubbish driver, you may spoil your enjoyment of the game and even quit. You will then be missing out on a fantastic game!

• Remember that all the time you are paying huge amounts for your driver salary, you will have less money for upgrading parts, training, facilities and the many other important features in the game. Balance is the key.

• If you are still unsure what to do, join a team, speak to people in the community, there are always people willing to help out.

• You don't need to start a new post for every question you have, if you search the forums there will most likely be others who have had the same question as you (Not just drivers, everything!) and you can find some GREAT information in there too. Become a forum researcher, there is gold in them there hills!

• Your driver can be your god in rookie! If you want to focus on gaining more knowledge in the game, spend some time experimenting with drivers as it will pay you dividends in the long run.