Drivers
This screen shows your currently contracted drivers and allows you to extend contracts for the next season. Drivers have six main attributes, four minor attributes, and multiple 'traits' which determine their ability. These will increase as the driver gains experience, up to a maximum of 100%. Drivers have a salary which is tied to his ability. Good drivers unfortunately know their worth. A driver will age one year per season and eventually retire at the venerable age of 35.
A drivers name and nationality are purely cosmetic.
Main attributes (all main attributes fluctuate between 0% - 100%)
Talent
Talent is the most important attribute of your driver, because there is no way to increase it. A drivers talent will stay the same throughout the game and cannot be changed.
Talent is the raw pace of your driver, the natural ability, if this is high, he's world champion material.
Motivation
A drivers motivation will affect his performance, getting good results (top 8) will increase his motivation, but if he's a race driver (any driver that's raced for you this year), and you make him test your car, he will lose motivation. Race drivers don't like to test so why not hire a third driver to do the testing for you?
Motivation cannot be improved through testing, it can only be improved by getting good results
Passing
This attribute denotes how good the driver is at passing other drivers, it also helps him defend his position against drivers attempting to pass him during the race.
Passing can be improved by Testing & Racing.
Wet Weather
On a wet track, this attribute takes over from 'Talent'. It's almost a sub-attribute of Talent, which just governs a drivers performance in the wet.
Wet Weather can be improved by Testing & Racing.
Aggression
Aggression improves your drivers speed and helps to create overtaking opportunities. But beware a driver with high aggression and low experience, he'll end up in the gravel trap more often than not!
Aggression can be improved by Testing & Racing.
Experience
Like life experience, a drivers experience is not linear. Just because your drivers done 100 GP doesn't mean he's more experienced than a driver who's done 90. Some drivers will pick up experience faster than others because they can retain it better, and this experience will help them in most aspects of racing.
Experience can be improved by Testing & Racing.
Potential (fluctuates between 250% - 350%)
Potential is displayed by two attributes on screen, 'Potential' and 'remaining'. Each driver has a certain amount of potential (between 250% - 350%). This potential governs the four attributes Passing, Wet Weather, Aggression & Experience. Your driver will improve these attributes through testing & racing (or through young driver activities if you have a young driver programme). But once this potential is used up, their attributes will not improve any further, that's it for them. So be careful to hire a driver with a lot of potential, or you could see your opponents fly past you.
The other stat, 'remaining', simply refers to how much of this potential is remaining. Once this value hits 0%, your driver has used up all his potential.
Minor attributes (all minor attributes fluctuate between 1 - 5)
Starts
This skill represents your drivers ability to get off the line. A driver with a high starts stat should be able to catch a couple of people napping at the start, a low starts stat could see your driver lose ground into the first corner.
Tyres
Your drivers ability to look after his tyres could prove very handy on those long stints, you should see a driver with a higher stat here catching others towards the end of race stints as his opponents tyres go off
Qualifying
This stat gives better drivers a boost in qualifying, but if you qualify out of place, your opponents may not be too happy with you when you hold them up for half the afternoon.
Nurse Car
A driver with a higher 'Nurse Car' stat is more likely to get an unreliable car home safely. If one of your drivers seems to retire a lot more than the other, look at his 'Nurse Car' stat, and think about making the car a bit more reliable.
Driver Traits
As well as all the above attributes, each driver at least two traits. Below are some traits your driver may have.
Random Traits
These traits are randomly given out to drivers when they are created
Overzealous: Sometimes tries that little bit too hard.
Pussy cat: Not so great in the rain.
Silver Tongue: Will help you with your sponsorship negotiations
Drunk: Helps with sponsorship, but is more prone to accidents on the track, and not as good at setting up the car.
Dirty Tactics: Helps with overtaking, but your sponsors won't be impressed.
Space Cadet: Has a tendency to drift off in the race...and into the barriers. But when it matters can do some really nice overtaking.
Ex-Tester: Bonuses to car setup & component testing.
Good Timing: Bonus to Qualifying.
Concentration: Better concentration means fewer accidents.
Gamer: This driver will get a performance advantage at the specified track as they spent most of their childhood thrashing around it on their games console.
Earned Traits
These traits are earned by great feats (or particularly bad feats) on the circuit.
Epic Tester: A lot of experience could give a driver an advantage when it comes to testing car components.
Pole Meister: Get a lot of Pole Positions and gain this trait to get even more of an advantage in the fight for the grid.
Setup Pro: An experienced driver could develop this trait, if they do, get them to do your practise laps on a race weekend to utilise the bonus.
Berzerka: A lot of accidents could earn a driver this trait.
Rain Meister: Win a wet race and you might get this trait.
Drivers Champion: Win a championship to gain this trait.
Race Victor: Take the Win, Pole position and fastest lap all in the same weekend to earn this trait.
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