The game isn't coded to choose the most inconvenient situation for every given player. If it was, Mootant should get some sort of super cookie for making the worlds first AI. Enemy tracers are always where they should be from what i've experienced. Just aim ahead of the enemy. The netcode isn't getting 500% more efficient any time soon.
Actually I looked at the code once again and vehicle MG isn't handled in prediction but a bit differently. If there is a bug that you can reproduce or it keeps happening report it and don't try to deduce how code works - that's up to coders.
Fucks sake the tracers are spot on mootant. They don't arrive instantly but they hit the exact spot your round does. Dick. Stop pinning shit on me. It's not my fault sources interpolation sucks balls.
We'd need a demo of 2 people, one person shooting a tank MG and one person running away from a tank MG. Then put those videos side by side. Like i said, the tracers when people are shooting at me always show up properly. when I'm shooting at someone else, I'll see blood coming out of the person, but no damage being taken.
The server plugin that shows you the damage you are dealing is a great help for knowing when you aren't hitting something, as opposed to just not killing it. That is, until you fire a shotgun pistol.
