Board Thread:Game Discussion/@comment-31526827-20190514081652/@comment-28169398-20190514180750

Unless the script of the SE specifically says something is damaged on the car, like the tires have degraded, the steering is shot and pulling to the left, etc. or it says that Eric's has added performance, in which case you will see a Blue Extension bar on the specific characteristic that is improved, FM does not change anything.

There are a few things at play, though.
 * In some races you don't always start last. Here, FM tunes the bots differently in order to accommodate the different starting position, so that may make it seem different.
 * Pressure: There is a time pressure to events and also the big red banner when you fail. That changes your perception of what is going on and how things are behaving. That is how the psychology of the freemium model in general is set up to work. Let the player start to stress that they are up against it and could lose out, especially after having spent resources and give them a high cost out to pass. That pressure effects performance as well... Get the car in the garage and the pressure lifts and you play more relaxed, usually improving performance.
 * Newness: It takes time to adjust, and SEs are set up to not give you that time. Each stage is locked after completion until the following day. You can't access the car to rerun some of the goals that you passed and you can't go back and try goals you have succeeded, unless you cloud restore. Then, you are on a new track the next day and you are running it under pressure for the first time, possible with new upgrades coming on line as well meaning the car is performing differently than it did the day before.